<p>So, we are starting to prepare for out daughter’s upcoming birthright trip; have gotten all the emails with advice/guidelines, but have a few questions:</p>
<p>1) $$- how much money did you give/provide for your kids/day? birthright suggests $20/day…sounds like too small an amount but would like to know parents’ opinions…</p>
<p>2) anything you didn’t know or prepare for? did your son/daughter need anything they didn’t have?</p>
<p>thanks for the help; daughter is up to her neck in finals/projects/internship interviews and really is not focusing on the fact that this trip is less than a month away…</p>
<p>Not a parent, but I went on birthright a few years ago.</p>
<p>1) $20 a day should be fine, since at least two meals a day (more if you’re in a place without restaurants) plus admission to any sites is covered. There will probably be days your D doesn’t spend anything, so figuring on 20 a day should leave her with enough money to buy what she needs and also get souvenirs.</p>
<p>2) I needed more clothing than the organizers said I would. In particular, I remember that my trip recommended bringing one bathing suit, which is something I very much regretted given the paucity of opportunities for laundry! Just keep in mind when you pack that summers in Israel are really hot and birthright keeps you moving - there are days you may feel so disgusting that you want to change.</p>
<p>My daughter brought significantly less clothing than the organizers suggested, and was fine. In fact, she managed with a backpack and a carry-on bag, and even stayed one extra week (she did do some laundry during the last week). </p>
<p>She put money on the debit card she got through Birthright, and also had a credit card. I don’t recall how much money she had at the beginning, but she had plenty left over. For some reason $500 sticks in my head, which actually does work out to about $25/day for the 3 weeks she was there.</p>
<p>If your daughter can extend the trip, do it. My daughter found the Birthright experience was valuable but exhausting, and she was very glad to have time on her own. For example, they don’t let the kids wander all through the Old City – they are restricted to the Jewish Quarter. Other kids on her trip also extended their stay, so a group of them traveled together afterward. And the ones who didn’t extend the trip were kicking themselves for not doing it.</p>
<p>Packing light was really important when she was on her own and responsible for her luggage. From my vague memory, she didn’t bring hiking boots (sneakers were fine), never used the flashlight.</p>
<p>My kids each brought Teva-type sandals. They probably spent about $20 - $25 per day. I’m fairly sure they brought their credit cards as well as cash. </p>
<p>They went on trip by different organizers and both had wonderful experiences. Your daughter is in for a fantastic experience. I wish I could go!</p>
<p>Great post as my daughter is leaving May 26. due to a job waiting she can’t extend her trip. I haven’t seen any of the emails since they are all sent to her. Reading this thread I guess $500.00 would be too much to send over with her for the ten days. Are their any items of clothing she absolutely should not leave home without for comforts sake? I am so jealous and wish this trip had been available when I was her age.</p>
<p>also can’t extend the trip due to job requirements, but suggestions are much appreciated…
Peg: have your daughter forward the emails to you, especially if she won’t be home until close to date of departure…</p>
<p>Rodney, she will be home for two weeks before she leaves. I will have her send them to me though. The way she understood things, they will not know their itinerary until they land which I am totally fine with.</p>
<p>yup…just curious…is she flying out of a nearby airport? for some odd reason, we are flying out of an airport over 2hours away from our house…and it’s not because the kids on her bus are from there; they are all from our area…</p>
<p>Look into a payoneer card that you can load from your computer at home. You can track the balance, etc. and get money on it at different speeds depending on how much you want to pay. You can also arrange a cellphone through Israelphones. They are efficient.</p>
<p>It’s such a great program, I’m so glad it’s continuing. You know they “invested” with Madoff. I heard it was scaled back as a result, but at least it’s continuing.</p>
<p>My niece went about a year after college graduation and she loved it so much and found it so life changing she convinced her boyfriend to go and he was even more enthusiastic when he got back. Sort of their point though, isn’t it?</p>
<p>They lost a lot of money with Madoff, really unfortunate. There’s not telling how long the funds will last which is why eligible young people should go when they can.</p>
<p>I don’t recall how much extra money we sent with our d… but she did have her ATM card with her-she did some shopping for gifts but not too much. She did feel that she wished she would have had more clothes for the “going out at night” in both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv-also it was really hot when she was there-record highs that June… and so you do need additional clothes to change into-no opportunity to do laundry.</p>
<p>both of my college kids went last December, separate trips with each of their Hillel groups…trip of a lifetime. their trips included Israeli students/soldiers as well…who they continue to stay in touch with. my kids used atm cards both to access cash, and to make gift purchases, might want to check what your banks charge, one of my banks did not charge fees, others charge $5 per transaction, and an exchange rate fee. they loved the evenings out, drinking age is 18 in Israel. on my d’s trip her trip organizer set up a website with pix, and they all wrote about their travels…</p>
<p>they extended their trips and we actually met them in Israel when their trips ended and had my younger s’s bar mitzvah at the western wall. such a beautiful experience.</p>
<p>Rodney, she is at school at UMass but they fly out of JFK, great for us since we are in Northern NJ and most of the kids are in Ma. I really thought we would have to get her up to Boston but lucked out.</p>
<p>I went this winter, so here’s a couple of things to keep in mind:</p>
<p>They recommend you give $60 at the beginning of the trip to tip the bus driver, tour guide, other staff members, etc. So if possible, that’s a nice thing to do for all the birthright people making the trip happen (and if they don’t gather up as much money as expected from the group they’ll likely guilt the group near the end of the trip into donating more money, lol, that’s what they did for us anyhow).</p>
<p>It’s easy to exchange American dollars for shekels on the first day of the trip; they exchange money right nearby the birthright buses before heading out. However, if one runs out of shekels you’ll simply have to find an ATM or money changer (which is not too hard; they’re in hotels and various shopping areas students will be brought to). I personally have never used the pay pal card they handed out to us, so I can’t give advice on its reliability. I didn’t use my credit card for purchases either, but its recommmended that if you go abroad to notify the bank first. Also, the PIN for credit cards has to be changed to 4 digits if its not already; otherwise, you can’t use it on ATMS in Israel.</p>
<p>That’s all I can recall for now, but let me know if you have any specific questions about it (whatever I don’t remember my parents probably still do :)).</p>