Wow, My wife and I were discussing the pros/cons of driving vs being part of a tour. Driving definitely adds a lot of stress to your trip, but it provides freedom of all sorts, and totally eliminates the moo-factor of existing in large groups of headset-and-hat-wearing-tourists. We loved the freedom of seeing so much of this amazing country at our pace. Having said that, here are the challenges you will face, and if you can’t avoid them, at least you can expect them!
- Car rental: A friend recommended Eldan. It was right there with Alamo and Thrifty. We paid right around $500 for two weeks for our 4-door sedan with a spacious trunk. It cost about $65 (US) to fill the tank from empty, and we did that about 4.5 times.
- GPS: If you have a Garmin, you need to order a maps SD card online well in advance of your trip. This can cost $80-$120. Your cell phone is capable of doing what you need, if you set yourself up with data when you get there. If you rent a GPS with your rental, they will charge $15-20/day for your GPS–not worth it, and there is no Walmart to pick one up! Use Waze instead of Google Maps! Waze is more difficult to use, and displays in Hebrew (on my droid), but it speaks to you in English, and won’t lead you through closed areas (we learned this the hard way!). Google Maps works great, but will not keep you out of trouble.
- Speed Traps: This is still a big mystery to me. I dread finding out that I have several speeding tickets. Waze alerts you of the camera-speed-traps, but you don’t really have a way to tell if you are getting a ticket. Speed limits range from 60-110 Km/hr, but it was not unusual to find yourself doing 140 in a 70, behind other people!
- Driving: Thank G-d that you drive on the right side of the road! Warning, the yellow and white lines are reversed! Twice, I got in the left lane with a dashed white line in the middle of the road thinking it was two lanes going my way. Don’t confuse no parking with no-entry signs. It’s worth taking a few minutes to google the types of signs BEFORE you drive! In the older towns, there are tons of one-way roads, with seemingly no way to get back to where you just were (Safed). To make matters worse, building numbers are almost non-existent, often not numeric, and rarely in order. Street signs are usually in Hebrew, Arabic and English, except for when they are not!
- Gas: This was the most frustrating part of my trip. We had a rental car for two weeks, a Pugeau (sp?) that hated going up hills, and had a manual shift function (with no clutch!). We didn’t find out that there are two types of gas: 95 and 98 (octane?), and I think I was supposed to use 98, but I didn’t find out until my last fill up before returning the car. You definitely want the better gas for getting up the hills, which are very steep and plentiful! Most of the gas stations do NOT have an ENGLISH button! This means I always had to ask for help filling up my tank with my credit card. Sometimes they require the number off the passport ticket you receive upon arrival at the airport, and also the license number of your car. They rarely ask for a PIN or signature.
- Take a picture of your license plate. This will help you when you are getting gas, but may also help you identify your car if you lose it (don’t laugh.)
- Mark on a map, or take a picture of street signs where you park your car in Jerusalem. You can rarely park close to where you need to be, and it’s easy to get turned around. (Learned this one the hard way too!)
- Parking: Blue and Red means no parking. Blue and White means pay parking, but free on holidays. Always ask about parking, look for parking kiosks, but they often do not have an english button. Put in 5 NIS per hour, and press the big button. If you over pay, it won’t give change, but will continue your time the next day. Sometimes there is no kiosk (machine), and just a sign with a phone number to pay by phone. You can’t do this with a pre-paid phone. Parking tickets are 100NIS, but if God likes you as he does me, you’ll find the money on the ground to pay for your ticket.
- Junk Email–Confirmations: If you use HomeAway.com or Booking.com or something like that, they will send you the instructions on how to find your rental, pick up a key, enter the gate, where to park and everything you need. Use one email for ALL your reservations, and check the Junk, Spam, Clutter or any other boxes that may intercept this critical information. Also, if there is any way you can give them a (US) number where your voicemail goes to email, that will make things easier.
- Language: English may be the universal language, but Israel does what Israel wants. It doesn’t seem to matter if there is no way for you to pump gas, park, or read a street sign. Be ready to stop and ask. Many helpful people make everything possible.