<p>Birthright provided a rental phone on my d1’s trip. Check with your organizer. It was very reasonable, they provided a number in advance, and all was good.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure the phones were from Israelphones.com. I think that BR sent out an e mail with information and links to how to get the phones, packing lists and other information. As I recall, you had to set up an account with Israelphones to cover charges. They got the phones at the airport and turned them back in then.</p>
<p>re: Birthright
I sent D with her iPhone. We used V i b e r for phone calls. Birthright offers a Payoneer credit card that she used. It was perfect.
I don’t really remember how much cash we sent her with. Just enough, though, for small meals and souvenirs, maybe a hundred or so.</p>
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<p>Yes! Use the waffle side! Ours is the kind where you close the lid and both sides are waffle-like. No problem!</p>
<p>Re: Israel Phones. Both of my kids used them on month-long NFTY trips to Israel. Worked great. They also used the Payoneer cards. Going to try the free app noted up-thread when DD goes out of the country in January.</p>
<p>Re: How close is your kid? My DS is at Delaware, which can be as close as 3.25 hrs away or as much as 5 hrs away, depending on traffic, and my DS is at Miami, which requires only a 20 minute ride to a local airport for me. He does not feel any further away than she does, despite the 2.5 hr plane ride (for him). And, now that DD has a car at UD, her driving is more stressful for me than his flights. Unbelievable, she’s got only one semester left and then I don’t have to worry about that anymore! (I’m sure new worries will replace it!)</p>
<p>My son went on Birthright last year. He took an ipad and we skyped twice. He emailed a few times as well. The kids are so busy and the time difference is big–I have always just assumed that they are well and having fun unless I hear otherwise–and in that case it will be on the news!</p>
<p>Just an idea with respect to passports–my kids scanned their passports and emailed them to themselves and to us. That way they always have the info available if they lose their passport/have it stolen, so they can more easily get a replacement if necessary. I worry about whether emailing something with so much identification information is secure/safe, but they were told to do it by someone who had organized a lot of trips.</p>
<p>D2 spent last summer in Israel and her program recommended obtaining a phone through talknsave. We paid what I considered to be a very reasonable rate (I believe it was 40/month) and she had unlimited calling–both outgoing and incoming. She became ill and I was so appreciative as we ended up talking every day.</p>
<p>Received our first response from a college yesterday. He was accepted at Quinnipiac U and offered $20,000 a year for deans scholarship with an invitation to apply to their honors college? It was a safety for him but still feels great to have an acceptance anywhere and the money was a nice surprise?</p>
<p>Congrats momentscaught! Very relieving to get that first acceptance! My D got merit at 3 schools, 2 of which were wonderful surprises especially for us parents! Lol</p>
<p>mazal tov, momentscaught!</p>
<p>The daughter of one of my best friends just graduation from Quinnipiac. She was in their six year PT program. She was very happy there.</p>
<p>Definitely scan passports. ShawD is on the board of Hillel and very active. She’s at a women’s college and is going on birthright this winter break with one of the larger local schools. She’d like to stay longer but can’t find someone yo travel with.</p>
<p>shaw, last winter my son’s young professional Birthright group had a couple of pre-trip get togethers and he was able to find a travel companion.
Is your daughter’s group going to have a get together? or does she have an opportunity to group email her travel group to see if anyone else wants to stay on with her? Ten days goes so fast!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the phone tips. D had an info session regarding the trip and the group leader suggested that they just use their own phones, make sure they turn the data off and it’s only in wifi mode so that they don’t get extra charges. Also suggested the V I B E R app as suggested above. I think we will add a small international data plan in case D needs to use the phone and isn’t in a wifi area. </p>
<p>D still can’t make up her mind whether to extend the trip or not. She would only get a few extra days, not sure it’s worth the change fee to change the ticket. She has been to Israel before (family trips), so it’s not like she has to see everything on this trip. </p>
<p>D2 is still taking forever to finish her college applications. I am so annoyed. 3 left to go and the deadline was to have everything submitted before winter break. I don’t know if that’s going to happen. Not pleased with her! I can’t even get a straight answer if she is working on them now. She told me she would, but who knows. So ready to be done with this.</p>
<p>Boysx3, they have had a couple of meetings but no companion emerged.</p>
<p>Congrats Sandy on Quinnipiac…</p>
<p>Congrats on the acceptance, momentscaught!</p>
<p>I’m glad to hear that Mdmom’s and Shaw’s Ds are going on birthright trips. Both of my D’s had great experiences. Mdmom, I think your plan for the phone sounds good. We did something similar with D and things worked out well.</p>
<p>shaw–so sorry that no one in her group is staying on. I hope she has a simpatico group–S1 wasn’t crazy about everyone in his group (although he was fine because he had signed up with a couple of friends). On the other hand, S2 loved his group and apparently has made some friends for life…they get together frequently as a group, and he has also developed some individual friendships with certain group members.</p>
<p>Congrats momentscaught! That is great!!</p>
<p>Thanks guys, it is a relief to have an acceptance. Now we wait to hear from the schools he is most interested in going to, but a bit less stressful knowing he will go somewhere.</p>
<p>Hope it’s ok I’m joining back in after many months! Congratulations to you and your DS momentscaught! I wish my son had your son’s upward grade trend; he is just holding steady at B/B+, and I’m a bit nervous whether he’s going to get in anywhere besides the one that he’s heard from (UVM, thank goodness for that!). He might have even got a C + in Chinese this past quarter–we’re afraid to look at the actual grades! </p>
<p>We are waiting on U Miami, Drexel, Pitt (I think he messed up that application somehow though), U MA (our state school); he still is working on applications to American, Elon, and GW.</p>
<p>He has a nice list, naggymom. As long as he is happy to go to UVM, all the rest are gravy…and I am sure he will have more acceptances. But that first one is so especially sweet.</p>