Sietz Family

October 15th 2013

Now that we’ve been home for two weeks, all we can do is talk about our amazing trip to Israel after an absence of 36 years. Dealing with Shalom Stark was fantastic. Any questions I had about the tour, and I had a lot, were answered promptly. We were skeptical about sending money to a total stranger, and a company we had never heard of, but read good reports on Trip Advisor. After arriving at the airport, greeted by a lovely gentleman who held up a sign with our name, then driven to our hotel by a very informative driver, we quickly put our fears to rest. Everything was going so smoothly and continued to get better and better. When our friends ask us “what was the best part about your trip?”, we continue to say “Everything!”. Our group of 13 on our bus quickly turned into a family and everyone got along so well. Starting off with Yuval, who guided us for two days in Tel Aviv, we thought, “does it get any better?” and then along comes Eli Dabby, our next tour guide. By the end of our tour, Eli was not only our dear friend, but he became part of our family. We laughed, we cried (when we had to say goodbye at the end of the tour), we learned so much about Israel, and are already planning our next trip back because it was the most incredible three weeks we’ve ever had on a trip. Our final tour guide was Jacky, and he, too, was so personable, knowledgeable, and told jokes the whole trip. Rent-a-Guide has the most incredible guides that really make the touring fantastic.

We finally met up with Shalom at the end of our tour and were so impressed with him and his company. We would highly recommend this tour company to anyone who wants to have the most pleasurable, non stressful, informative, exciting trip to Israel. 

When our tour was over, and we had some extra time to ourselves in Jerusalem, Eli called us and came to spend an evening with us. Eli is not only passionate about Israel, but is such a caring, knowledgeable, funny man. He loves his job and you can tell. He called our group the Dream Team because of how quickly we all connected, did everything he asked us to, were always ready on time for the morning pick up, and made him laugh. We even had a sing song on the final journey home to Jerusalem to end the trip and then cried when we had to say goodbye. All in all, we can’t stop talking about this trip and thanks to Shalom Israel Tours, we will always remember Israel in the most positive way. Thank you thank you thank you!