Before I became a tour guide, I went through several experiences that led me to engage in guidance, education and experience in nature.
It was a long road that is short
who helped me understand "what I want to do when I grow up".
Following the recommendation of my commanders in the army
who became a friend, I went hiking for Israel and immediately fell in love.
It seems to me that even then I understood how much power there is in going out into nature
I understood what values I want to teach myself and of course pass on.
When I am a tour guide, all the values I believe in are reflected
At the beginning of my journey, I watched many guides and tour guides in action. In my mind's eye, I saw myself as a tour guide after taking an example from the best I've seen. Who is considered good or good?
Exactly the same instructors who knew how to make the connection:
1. Among the group members
2. With the environment
3. Each to himself
There were probably better and lesser ones
I dreamed of being like the guides
And the guides who arrive ready, with energy
who came to give an experience
who listen to travelers, who know what to say and when...
I remember my first tour guide as a tour guide. Finally after a long road it happened!
I sat in the front seat on the bus, "in the guide's seat". I was really comfortable :)
I knew that at that moment I had made a real dream come true. But... what a pleasant feeling this is.
From then until now
I am writing these lines 7 years have passed.
I learned so much beyond my academic studies.
I took various courses in training as well
Guiding trips, creating, knowledge courses and more...
I learned from my good friends who are also colleagues and adopted things I liked.
I took a little from each and shaped my own way. And it is still shaping and changing, of course.
Along the way I collected 4 important values that I would be happy to share here:
- listening
- observation
- curiosity
- learning
For the full article about my travel values click here
We can briefly summarize that everything happened to me while on the move. While being a tour guide, going out into nature, meeting people and falling in love.
Have you ever thought of upgrading your next trip with a travel guide? Here are 3 good reasons to do it.
go for a walk Without a doubt one of the pleasures in life! Should you go alone or with a tour guide?
When you go for a walk alone, a lot of spontaneity enters the trip and it is this that turns it into a journey of exploration. A personal investigative journey.
It is quite clear that you went on a trip alone
or with a close guide but two different experiences...
I recommend combining them.
Don't give up on anyone
Because they are definitely different and there is no one better or worse. Depends on what you are looking for.
I share 3 reasons why you should go out with training:
- It makes planning easier
You may know
Exactly where to go when you have an idea for a specific trip.
Here are the tour guides
can be precise and say from their experience
How much time does each place require?
Does a 3 km walk really take an hour and a half or two hours as you thought, or maybe more? It depends on the terrain route. It depends on how long it takes to find parking. How do you get back to the starting point? Is there an option to do a circular route? And more...
2. Get to new places without getting into trouble
If it's about a new place you haven't visited yet but you've heard recommendations, a tour guide knows (masculine but of course also applies to the feminine) to be precise in the choice and get to the places you wanted without headache, mistakes and wasting precious vacation time.
- Investigation and depth
Guides specialize in the places they guide.
Becoming a professional means researching in depth, getting to know the area, the people around, their stories and the contexts between all the pieces of the puzzle.
You want to go on a trip with professionals.
Of course, you can read a few minutes on Wikipedia, but the information remains shallow.
You can ask the instructor questions and understand from those who already understood ;)
And the simplest, to hear a story!
There is no more fun than that. To go back to being children who listen to story time. To sail on the wings of imagination or facts, to be held by a pleasant shell of inspiring and motivating stories.
It can be said that during the Corona period, many people went traveling here in Israel.
Happily, the tradition continues and does a lot of good for travelers.
Of all the trips, whether it's a city trip or a walk in nature, you can take a professional tour guide for the most special ones👌
What is important to know after receiving a recommendation for a tour guide? Here are 5 points to think about:
When the service comes from the heart, write a recommendation! This could be a recommendation for a tour guide, a recommendation for a restaurant, a taxi driver or any other good service we received.
I know how fulfilling and fun it is
Get a recommendation from satisfied customers!
This is a wonderful way for me
To know I'm doing something right
and with all my heart.
Therefore, recommendations for a tour guide or tour guide, like any other service we will look for,
They are a good starting point in choosing who you should go on a tour with :)
Here are some questions and details you should know or ask after receiving a recommendation:
- How many people are going to be with you on the tour/trip?
There are tour companies or tour guides who "load" as many travelers as possible on one trip
So if there is a bus and this is possible, you can fill it! (We are talking about 50+ travelers...)
In my opinion it is too busy and something
In connection with the guide and the travelers is getting lost...
A small tour is intimate, in-depth, calm and pleasant
much more (in most cases)
Only here, too, there is a limit that will not be too small.
What is the optimal number in my opinion? Between 15 - 20 participants.
2. What is your area of expertise?
This question is of course related to our desire as tourists. We can ask a question ahead of ourselves: what intrigues us? What attracts us in the trip we are looking for?
My good friend's brother moved to the US, and every year he comes to visit.
The friend calls me and shares with me
In that he wants to surprise
You are his brother on a culinary tour
And in a very specific place that he knew what it was.
He never visited there, and neither did I. Together we inquired with whom we could schedule a tour there and looked for a recommendation for a local tour guide.
He was very specific in the area of expertise he was looking for, in the specific tour he was looking for - and that's important.
from my side (the instructor's)
It is also important for me to say whether I am in control
In the place/subject/need that comes before me
And if not then I will definitely eat
Help find someone who does.
It is important to understand what we would like to receive on the tour, what kind of topics and places interest us, and accordingly to understand who is the most suitable guide.
3. How long should the tour be?
Sounds like a basic question, but sometimes among all the things that are important to know, it is missed.
When does the tour start and when does it end? What happens inside the tour itself?
Figure out how long we'll be in each place.
A derivative of these questions are other important questions such as
What should we bring? depending on the places we will visit.
If it's winter maybe you need an umbrella? Raincoat?
If it's summer, then a hat, sunscreen...
And even how will you get to the tour?
Does it start and end at the same point? (circular route)
This is how you can choose the methods of arrival.
It is very possible that there is an organized page with all the information, and it is still worth asking because sometimes there are details that may not appear and you did not think about them before asking :)
4. Is it possible to contact customers who have traveled with you in the past?
A question that can be "nosy" sometimes, but it is important.
If the instructors do a good job, they will have customers to give as feedback.
Many times I offer to those interested
Talk to my past clients
who participated in the same tour
Or have traveled with me in the past.
In addition to all the explanatory pages, videos and information.
Talking to a person who participated in the tour and knows me is the most reliable and direct way to gain confidence and get a recommendation for one or another tour guide, and to come to a decision whether to join or not.
5. Have you had any negative experiences with tour groups in the past? How did you treat them?
It is easy to boast about successes, it is very difficult to tell about failures.
Even though the left learns the most, you don't hear about as many failure stories as about the successful ones.
What negative experiences can there be with groups and on tours?
The train didn't arrive on time, so I arrived late and the whole group is waiting only for me, the guide who sided with everyone to be on time, everyone paid money and now the tour time is getting shorter.
There was an accident on the road and we are delayed for over 40 minutes.
A security situation that flared up in the area where we are traveling (Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, the borders of the country, the Jordan Valley and more...).
Of course there is more and more
But the point here is how do you cope?
You can take any situation
And to understand whether I as a guide come under pressure which of course affects the travelers.
How do I explain what happened?
What alternatives in such cases? Have you considered other options? What happens if the trip is canceled at all?
These questions and more can help in a deeper understanding of who the person standing in front of me and providing a service is, especially that this is a trip where of course no one wants anything to happen, but more than anywhere else, here you go out into the open and it is important to know what happens if...
I listed here questions that I would be happy to be asked after receiving a recommendation for me, and I hope that next time you will
A recommendation for a tour guide, ask him or her some or all of these questions and you will be happy with your choice!
According to what is it possible to determine what the cost of a tour guide will be per day?
Many times I have been asked what is the cost of a tour guide per day? We are 10 tourists who want to go on a trip together.
I assume that you have reached an independent guide
who does not work through a travel company, therefore the price is set directly in front of him or her.
There are some criteria you should know:
The price of the entire trip consists of what you get on the trip:
Is there a shuttle?
is there food
Is there accommodation?
Entry cost to the sites?
Generally, tour guides do not work by the hour. This is a global wage per day.
You can say that there are "steps" of cost according to time: an hour and a half, three hours, a whole day...
But not by the hour.
There is also a fixed daily wage in the law for guides, based on this wage you can roughly know the price.
About why?
Because as with any service,
Some are more expensive and some are less expensive.
For example, the cost of a tour guide per day will consist of experience and time the guide has been in the profession.
A certain guide can demand a high payment for the fact that he has been in the profession for years, is very experienced and you can know for sure that there is someone you can trust.
It is true about the type of trip - if it is a very niche trip, on which the guide worked hard, researched and implemented, it is likely that the price will be higher.
The price is determined and fed by those who are willing to pay.
In Bethel, if there are people who really want a certain tour, with a certain guide, and they have money
They can agree to pay the price the guide will demand.
One thing leads to another and thus the price is "fixed" for a certain target audience.
At the same time, there are reasonable prices to get certain.
For example, family trips.
It is known approximately how much a family will pay for participating in the trip, especially if it is about several families together.
They can divide the cost of the guide between them all.
In practice, the price ranges from NIS 150 (very cheap) to NIS 400 per family for a day trip with a guide.
It depends on how many families are coming and what is being done on the trip (as I detailed above).
I hope I managed to convey the message, and that the next time you want to go on a trip, you will do a short market survey and check what the average cost of a tour guide is per day - and the main thing! Go for a walk together, enjoy and be in nature.
They were looking for a tour guide in the Golan Heights, they reached out to me and we set off on a journey along the Golan Heights. Since then we have been touring the entire country!
A surprising phone call from a customer: I came to you from a recommendation, I'm looking for a tour guide in the Golan Heights.
I was very happy with the phone, I know the Golan Heights well
Although I don't live there
But he travels there a lot and loves the plateau very much!
After a few minutes of talking
We've come to the really interesting part -
After many years of hard work, raising a family giving time to the environment and fulfilling the dreams of her loved ones, she retired.
Now, she explains to me, she has time to fulfill her dreams.
She kept in good physical shape
And most importantly the love and passion for adventure
which over the years have become dreams
And almost all of them are related to travel
in Israel and abroad.
"I want to share one of my dreams with you" she told me. What a privilege I had to listen to her dream and that she wants to share it with me...
I was very intrigued.
A dream she wanted to fulfill was to go on a journey and hike the Golan Trail.
I was really excited! And I was immediately engaged in the task.
We started building the base for going to the Golan Trail.
First of all we understood the distance
that we would like to walk every day
Based on this, we built a detailed plan that included:
From where to where are you going? How long will it take us to march everything, where are we sleeping? What and where to eat and more...
From here, I created a detailed equipment list and began preparations.
I went to get to know parts of the route
I met great people along the way who asked me what I'm doing here?
I said that I was a guide and that I was preparing for training.
They asked if I was a tour guide in the Golan Heights?
I said yes but not only…
I am a guide all over the country, on routes and places that I specialize in. I love our country very much, as small and dense as it is, it is so surprising and fascinating.
After a few months of preparation
A wonderful group of explorers has formed
And we're off!
We toured the Golan Trail for 10 days which were divided into 2:
One segment of 5 days and another segment of 5 days.
We have chosen the best months to travel along the Golan: March and April.
After the rains, everything is green and full of water!
The weather is simply excellent, the Hermon is watching us from above along the way when it really looks like its nickname: "the grandfather".
Since then, the patrols and I have remained on good terms
We go on many trips together
Touring the country throughout its length and breadth.
And as for the dreamer of dreams?
There are a few more dreams she wants to fulfill...
If she's looking for a tour guide to make them come true, I'm always here ;)
