Ze'ev Back Quality Private Tours

05/02/2025

February 5, 2025.

Almost a year an a half of an imposed vacation.
I am among the fortunate ones: being for so many years in the travel industry- I have been aware all along: “my” government is not trustworthy.

I have learned it the hard way ever since the 1973 war. On every dollar earned - another dollar has to be put aside for “a rainy day” - the halt of tourism.

Such imposed “vacations” occurred during the first intifada, the second intifada, the first Lebanese war, the second Lebanese war. Fortunately, “my” government cannot be held responsible for nine eleven.

Air carriers start rescheduling flights to Tel Aviv. The hesitations, to come to Israel or postpone and spend time in Europe are pushed aside gradually.

Many of the hotels which accommodated displaced citizens from the Galilee, evacuated in order not to targeted by Hizbullah rockets, are renovated. So are the hotels which accommodated kibbutzim refugees from the Gaza area.

My guiding vehicle was not used, in order not to let the greedy tax authorities claim that I had used the car for private matters. Weather is nice enough, sunny even in January, to use the motorcycle and not enable the tax authorities to demand “their share”.

Answering questions, help interested future visitors in planning…
We’ll be on the road again, as we always did after times of crisis.

31/10/2023

Covid 19 days were over.
After 2 years of a very well used imposed vacation, tourism resumed.
Many of the visitors scheduled their visit to Israel during 2020 or 2021, and ended up coming in 2022 or 2023, which had been so busy.

… until October 7, 2023.

We still do not know the exact number of citizens slaughtered by the Hammas. We are not sure how many hostages are held by this terror organization.

Rockets are still launched from the Gaza Strip to Israel, although, the launching was greatly reduced.
It has been now 3 weeks since all air carriers and all cruise ships companies avoided Israel - being a war zone.

For most of us, life would come back to normal. Not to the families who lost their loved ones.

Until we would meet again, I send you this latest anti-missiles protection, in front of the Western (wailing) Wall.

05/12/2021

As these words are being typed on my IPhone, the imposed vacation reaches a year and 10 months.

With swabs stuck in nostrils, at least one could fly away. (Fortunately, not during the entire flight, just as a precondition…😂)

The months of October November were so kind, nice and sunny, along the beaches of southern France. Hardly any soul, the beach, the promenade, the forest trails, were all mine.

I deserved it. When the imposed vacation seemed to come to a conclusion, clients started to make reservations - governments implemented more and more restrictions, quarantine, and clients hopes to travel had been replaced by more and more postponing.

We have seen crisis times along the years. It all comes back to normal sooner or later. Part of our future meetings would include the ultimate exchange question: ״How did you go through these Corona times״?

And then… we‘ll remember and live on, like we remembered and lived on after Desert Storm crisis, Achille Lauro crisis, Rome and Vienna airport attacks crisis, Lebanese war crisis, World Trade Center Crisis.

We ache the tragedies and live on, feeling fortunate and appreciate being fortunate.

29/04/2020

Sorry, Mr. Zuckerberg,

You ought to do something with your programmers...

Promote my business to reach 140,000 people within 1 mile of my business?
..but,... no one among my customers lives within less than 5,000 miles away...some - 8,000 miles... or more.

And your programmers suggest I would promote business in times when no customer would board a plane... for the simple reason: planes are grounded.

Oh, yes... some flights are coming in: religious Orthodox Jews who died from the COVID-19 and would like to be buried in Israel. Unfortunately the dead do not have the tendency to buy my services.

Nice try, though...

14/04/2020

One day tourism would resume.

As we are all locked up by an invisible virus - the hotels are empty from human guests, but instead - the ibex are enjoying the sun tanning chairs by the pool side in a hotel in Mitzpe Ramon - The Neguev desert.
(photo by EPA, published by Ynet)

07/04/2020

Sent to me by the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. I share it with you all.

16/03/2020

I ran into these 4 chapters describing the battle of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD by Invicta.

Visitors coming to the Western Wall are visiting the remains of this battle.

I find the soundtrack way too fast. There is a need for a preliminary acquaintance with the story, in order to take advantage and to follow.

Yet - the videos make both a good introduction or a summary to a visit to Jerusalem.

It would enable visitors to prepare homework until the Corona threat would be removed.

At this point, when this post placed, in mid-March 2020 - tourism is dead throughout the world.

One day - the crisis would be over, hotels and restaurants would reopen, flights would be renewed.

Stay healthy.

https://youtu.be/Hen0wmoj5RU?list=PLkOo_Hy3liEL-DFpCESTbk_fC2RVUFU5o

https://youtu.be/mdE3xz_G4pA?list=PLkOo_Hy3liEL-DFpCESTbk_fC2RVUFU5o

https://youtu.be/LywrNNgFVz4?list=PLkOo_Hy3liEL-DFpCESTbk_fC2RVUFU5o

https://youtu.be/ixOQFdDwa6s?list=PLkOo_Hy3liEL-DFpCESTbk_fC2RVUFU5o

(Learn about military history on the official page: https://www.facebook.com/THFE-Productions-1285697234827010/) The Siege of Jerusalem stands out a...

10/03/2020

March 10, 2020.
I am not sure who took the photo (hence offer the credit).
The photo is taken in front of the entrance of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre - Christ Tomb, one of the most important visits of any visitor to Israel.

The last tourists are leaving. I have informed my clients that 14 days of mandatory quarantine would have to precede their 8 days visit. In other words - there is no point in coming.

Most air carriers were willing to cancel flight reservations without charging penalty fees or reschedule the flights by the same terms.

All involved in the travel industry are getting ready for a long vacation.

2018 and 2019 had been excellent years with a significant increase in tourism to Israel. So some rest wouldn't hurt.

It is a great sense of relief to know that I do not own a multimillion-dollar worth of an aircraft fleet with a huge loan on its recent renewal but only a luxury tourism vehicle fully paid.

It's a good time to prepare some homework for your next destination, whether Machu-Pichu, Victoria Falls, Florence or Israel. We shall make the best use of our time.

07/02/2020

The Ibex - the wild mountain goat - is not unique to Israel.
Yet, in Israel, you could meet the Ibex inches away from you.
They became accustomed to the fact that they are protected animals.

In Ein Gudi they climb the desert cliffs like they climb the dam here - defiling the laws of gravity.
The dam in this video is built of solid construction. The desert cliffs they climb in the nature reserve of Ein Guedi are porous. The porous rocks crumble underneath their hooves. They do not seem to mind. By the time their grip underneath their hooves is gone - they are already up above.

The hikers down below are warned from possible pebbles and rocks rolling down.

An amazing animal.

https://youtu.be/RG9TMn1FJzc

Subscribe and 🔔 to OFFICIAL BBC YouTube 👉 https://bit.ly/2IXqEIn Stream original BBC programmes FIRST on BBC iPlayer 👉 https://bbc.in/2J18jYJ The spectacular...

01/02/2020

Tours in Israel are not necessarily visits to archeological or historical sites.

Interested in visits to innovative industries? It’s a field of interest - no less interesting than another nature reserve or a historical monuments.

Two Israeli companies are rushing to complete development of facemasks that could be vital prevention tools in epidemics like Wuhan coronavirus.

21/12/2019

Waiting patiently in line to get baptized in the Jordan River.

22/10/2019

Mitzpe Ramon is a small town in the desert.

Its location right above the Ramon Crater positioned the town as an ideal base for most interesting desert tours.

The finest hotel in town is “Beresheet Hotel”. (There are not too many...).

One can not stay in the hotel in particular or in Mitzpe Ramon in general without encountering the ibex - the desert goat, or the mountain goat.

It climbs rocks and mountains as if there was no gravity. In Mitzpe Ramon the ibex feels extremely comfortable. It feeds on the lawns of town, all irrigated, in extreme desert climatic conditions

In one photo I caught a female ibex walking on the stone wall which bears the name of the hotel. By the time I pulled out the phone - it was half way down, noticing a patch of greenery by the foot of the wall. The other photo has this female ibex already by the foot of the wall, hopping down as if it had been a little step.

As I drove along the hotel’s drive way towards the reception - a large male greeted me, pausing for a moment to take his photo, then continued, as if he had been on the way to check in himself.

The ibex can be met frequently in Ein Guedi, in Sde Boker, mainly coming to pay tribute to the late prime minister and one of the founding fathers of Israel - David Ben Gurion, since the burial ground is very nourishing, well irrigated lawns.