Erbil Tour

One of UNIGLOBE Geo Travel's Corporate Agents shares her experience traveling to the Middle East:


From April 24-28, 2010 I went on a once in a lifetime trip to Erbil, Iraq. Lufthansa Airlines launched service from Frankfurt to Erbil on April 24th, and due to my having sent many Corporate clients there recently, I was invited along. We were in Erbil Iraq only 24 hours during the trip. Erbil is in Kurdistan in Northern Iraq, and one of the few places in Iraq that many westerners can obtain a Visa on arrival.

The moment we landed in Iraq, I had a number of questions running through my head: Will I be safe? What will I see? What are the people like? Is it still a war zone?


We were whisked into a VIP room at the airport and greeting in a warm and welcoming fashion with a cold drink. I spoke briefly with a local woman who was working for the Embassy temporarily. Her English was quite good and she was pleasant to chat with. From there, we boarded shuttle buses to take us into the city at the Erbil International Hotel. I noted no tanks or soldiers, and only local security on certain corners at at checkpoints. It did not have the appearance of a war zone, but of a growing Middle Eastern city.


The hotel has somewhat of a resort setting, and our luggage was screened on arrival. This is typical to have luggage x-rayed prior to entering hotels, as well as a separate luggage pre-screening at the airport. From the corner suite of my hotel room I could see the Unesco World Heritage Site known as the Citadel. Looking down at the bustling streets and the closeness of the Citadel, I fought back temptation to go out and explore on my own. Our hosts preferred us to be secure in the hotel, and escorted outside of the hotel.

We attended an evening VIP reception just outside of the city from another beautiful and peaceful resort-like setting, attended by members of the government and Iraqi Elite, such as the Barzani family. The beer was free-flowing and the food delicious.

After breakfast the following morning, a few of us were brought on a city tour of the Citadel and the local Bazaar. The Citadel is a fascinating site and one of the oldest settlements. In the colourful, winding bazaar we were the only Westerners and certainly had many eyes on us as we explored.

After the city tour, we were treated to a preview of the new Erbil airport, which is scheduled to open at some point in June 2010. It's a gorgeous building that is a source of great pride for the people of Northern Iraq. Our hosts rocketed us in SUV's down the new runway, which is the 5th longest public runway in the world. Following that, our hosts at Lufthansa officially launched the new service, with members of the Iraqi media,. local dignitaries, and again members of the Barzani family. There was a cake, ribbon cutting, and many speeches about how proud and excited the local people and Lufthansa were to bring this much-needed service back to Iraq. This is the first service Lufthansa has had into Iraq in many years, with Baghdad scheduled to follow this fall.

As I boarded the Lufthansa jet to fly back to Frankfurt, I felt confident that I had some good answers to my questions:

Will I be safe? - Yes, at all points I felt very safe. Not just because of the security guiding us through, but because there were no "incidents", no bombs going off, no shooting....just the buzz of a busy city.

What will I see? - A growing Middle Eastern City that is proud of where it has come from and where it is going

What are the people like? - Friendly and welcoming, and hopeful for the future of their country. Although they look back to some of the horrors or the past, they also look forward to progress and peace. We were advised that the North is tolerant and respectful of all different cultures and religions.

Is it still a war zone? - Erbil did not/is not experiencing the same volatility and the central and southern areas, although there have been many incidents lately in border towns north of Erbil, and there are ongoing feuds, skirmishes, and incidents in the southern part of Kurdistan.

I left the country hopeful for a better, more secure future for the people that I met, and deeply moved by their experiences.

Shopping For Power Adapters, Converters & Transformers

People are always needing power adaptors, converters and transformers for foreign travel. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of bad information out there and people lacking the experience and knowledge in this department, resulting in damaged merchandise and your dollars lost! Here are the basics of what you need to know when planning this sort of purchase.

• Have with you a list of all the appliances and /or electronics you are taking with you. Really think about what you want to take and what is a necessity.
  


• Are your items dual voltage? What this means is in North America, we work on 110 volts. Most places abroad are 220 volts. Some adapt to both 110 and 220. Once it is determined what voltage your appliance is, one can assist you with what exactly you will need to take with you. If your item is dual voltage, an adaptor plug is all you will need. If not, you will need either the converter or transformer.


• An adaptor plug is almost always needed. All that an adaptor plug does is allow you to plug in your appliance to the foreign outlet. It does not convert any voltage for you.


• Depending on whether your item is Electric, or an Electronic, will determine the need for either a converter or transformer. Heating items generally require a converter, where items with a micro chip require a transformer. Examples of these are: Converter ( Hairdryer, Clothing iron, Curling iron, etc…) Not included in this list is a Flat iron. This will be discussed later. Items needing a Transformer ( Battery chargers, Electric shavers, non-dual voltage lap tops, Electric toothbrush, etc..) Depending on how many watts your item is, will determine what transformer will work for you. Transformers come in different sizes. Why carry a 10lbs transformer, when all you really need is a 2 lbs one.


• Flat irons are the exception to the rule. There are many styles and grades of irons. There are the conventional ones that you can buy in just about any department store and then there are the higher end models found in most salons. If the iron is dual voltage and non-ceramic, it can be used in foreign countries with a grounded adaptor plug. If the iron is ceramic, regardless of voltage, it cannot be used overseas. One can purchase a flat iron designed specifically for travel.

If you have any questions about converters or adapters, feel free to contact Liz, the Manager at our "Geo Everything for Travel" store, at EGarcia-Bonnema@Geo.ca.

William's Journey to the Holy Land Pt. 5

UNIGLOBE Geo Travel's Managing Partner & CEO William Hsu recently returned home from a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. William shares his experience with us in his final entry:

May 5th

After breakfast, we drove up to the northwest side of the Sea of Galilee. Our first stop was Tabgha. (Yes, I did misspell that name in yesterday’s message.) The church there commemorates the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fishes, which is thought to have taken place near that spot. After touring the church, we went outside for Mass, at an area called Dalmanutha. The outdoor chapel there was being used, so the sister led us to a sort of campfire circle. Tim and Daryold decided that I should be the celebrant today (perhaps because the setting was so much like the Masses I used to have on hiking trips and canoe trips with Columbus Boys’ Camp). We used the special Mass texts (prayers and readings) for the Tabgha shrine. I found the experience to be quite moving, especially when breaking the bread during the “Lamb of God.”

We then headed down the road to the Church of the Primacy of Peter, honouring the story in John 21 of the appearance of the Risen Lord to the disciples by the Sea of Galilee. There is a large outcropping of rock right in front of the altar. The rock is called the “Mensa Christi” -- “Table of Christ.” It is believed that this was the site where Jesus had prepared a meal for the disciples, then asked Peter to add a few of the fish that they had just caught. After that meal, Jesus asked Peter “Do you love me?” three times. After each positive response by Peter, Jesus commissioned him to “Feed my lambs/sheep.” (Peter is the only person to receive such a commission in the gospels.)

We then headed down the road to the ruins of Capernaum. The archaeologists have been able to identify one set of ruins as having probably been Peter’s house. A church has recently been built over the site. Nearby are the remains of a 4th Century synagogue. While it would not, of course, be the synagogue where Jesus taught and healed, the fact that ancient peoples tended to practice a form of “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” when it comes to new buildings (i.e., building the new structure on the site of the previous structure) would seem to point to that synagogue as having been built on the site of the synagogue where Jesus did indeed teach and heal.

After Capernaum, we continued clockwise around the Sea of Galilee (which is actually a freshwater lake), stopping at the Jordan River (near where it flows into the lake), an outlook on the eastern shore of the lake, and the Ein Gev kibbutz (on the eastern shore) for lunch. When we got to the southern end of the lake, we re-crossed the Jordan River and headed straight south. We stopped near the old Crusader fortress of Belvoir in order to look out over the Gilead Mountains to the east and Mt. Tabor (traditional site of the Transfiguration) to the west. We then stopped at Beit Alfa, site of the ruins of the ruins of a 6th Century synagogue which had a beautiful mosaic floor. We then headed back to Nazareth, where we took a complete tour of the Basilica of the Annunciation.

We’ve gotten tired of the Middle Eastern version of “salad” (about 17 little bowls of various pre-dinner foods, only one or two of which resemble what North Americans call salad), so we had dinner here at the Nazareth Sisters convent. The Nazareth Sisters originated in France, so it was a very simple French-style “souper” (supper), staring with soup, continuing with chicken, peas, and potatoes, followed by salad (i.e., lettuce and cabbage with a vinaigrette), and ending with fresh fruit.

Almost home now, ready to take off. See you all very soon!

- William

William's Journey to the Holy Land Pt.4

UNIGLOBE Geo Travel's Managing Partner & CEO William Hsu recently returned home from a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. William shares his experience with us in Part 4 of this entry:

May 4

Today (May 4) was the actual date of Tim’s 25th Anniversary of Ordination. Thus, he was the main celebrant for this morning’s Mass, which took place in the St. Ann Chapel at the Basilica of the Annunciation (which is right across the street). After Mass, we headed up to Upper Galilee and the Golan.

The first stop was at Banyas, which is the headwater of the Jordan River. More importantly for Christians, Banyas is the place that the Romans called Caesarea Philippi. In Greek, the place was called Paneas, since it was the site of a number of temples dedicated to the Greek god Pan. (Paneas became Banyas in Modern Hebrew and Arabic.)

Banyas is a very special place in the Gospel of Mark. In the first half of Mark, Jesus teaches in the synagogues of Galilee, gathers disciples, etc. Then he heads north to Caesarea Philippi/Banyas, the farthest north he ever goes. He’s in pagan territory, looking at the temples there when he asks the disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” After they tell him of the various theories, he asks them, “But who do YOU say that I am?” Simon Peter answers “You are the Christ.” Jesus responds with “Blessed are you, Simon, son of John. . . . And tell you that you are Cephas (the rock) and upon this cepha (rock) I will build my church, and the Gates of Hades/hell will not prevail against it.” Standing right there in Banyas, you realize that Jesus was talking about the pagan religions represented by those temples right in front of him.

The other thing is that right after this, Jesus heads south along the Jordan, through Galilee and Samaria, down to Jerusalem for his passion, death and resurrection. In mark’s Gospel, at least, Banyas is the location where the Gospel story changes direction.

After Banyas we drove through the Golan, stopping at the Quneitra outlook — a spot where you can look over the town of Quneitra, part of the UN presence in the separation zone separating Israel from Syria.

We then headed down to Zefat for lunch. Zefat (also spelled Tsfat, Safad, Sefad, Sefat, etc.) is the centre of Kabala, the Jewish mystic tradition that has gained a lot of celebrity followers lately, including the singer Madonna.

When we got back to Nazareth, we stopped at Mary’s well. There is only one well in Nazareth, so we know that Mary would have gone there often. The well itself is in St. Gabriel’s Greek Orthodox Church. Orthodox traditions state that the archangel Gabriel met Mary while she was at the well; thus, icons of the Annunciation usually have Mary carrying a water jug. Thus, for the Orthodox, St. Gabriel’s Church is the site where the Word became flesh. Catholic traditions have Mary at home when she encounters the archangel; thus, the Basilica across the street from where we’re staying is the centre of Catholic attention in Nazareth.

When we got back to the Nazareth sisters’ place, we got a tour of the archaeological excavations under the house. The convent is built directly over the remains of a Crusader area Church, which was built over the ruins of a Byzantine era church. Below the Byzantine church is a first century house and tomb. The tomb is from the period of Herod, and includes a rounded stone that was used to seal the tomb — just like in the traditional depictions of the Resurrection!
Tomorrow we will head over to the Sea of Galilee to visit Korazin, Capernaum, Bathsaida, Tagbah, etc. The following day (Wednesday, May 6) we’ll head back to Tel Aviv, stopping at various sites along the way. William and I leave (for London Heathrow) at 6:30 am on Thursday, while Tim and Daryold leave (for Toronto) just after midnight on Friday.

- William

William's Journey to the Holy Land Pt. 3

UNIGLOBE Geo Travel's Managing Partner & CEO William Hsu recently returned home from a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. William shares his experience with us in Part 3 of this entry:




We started off by celebrating Mass at the Chapel at the Convent of Ecce Homo (from Pilate’s words to the crowd “Behold the Man” after he had had him scourged). We then walked along the Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which is built over the site of both the place of the crucifixion (Golgotha, or Calvary) and the place of his burial and resurrection. (Note: The archaeological evidence indicating that the Church was indeed built over the right spots is VERY strong.) We waited in line quite a while to actually touch the spot where they are pretty sure that Jesus was crucified.

BY the time we finished that, the line-up to enter the tomb had gotten WAY too long, so we headed out of the Church and left the Old City by the so-called “New Gate.” We had lunch at Notre Dame (where Tim lived for 8 months while studying in Jerusalem back in the late 1980s) and then took a bus across town to the Israel Museum (which contains a scale model of Jerusalem in AD 66, right before the attempted Jewish revolt that led to the destruction of the Temple and much of the city by the Romans in AD 70) and the Shrine of the Book (which is where the Dead Sea Scrolls are being studied and preserved — many of them are on display, including the Isaiah scroll, the oldest known copy of the Book of Isaiah in Hebrew).

- William

William's Journey to the Holy Land Pt. 2

UNIGLOBE Geo Travel's Managing Partner & CEO William Hsu recently returned home from a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. William shares his experience with us in Part 2 of this entry:

April 29th

I was awakened at 4 am by the Islamic prayer broadcast from across the street but that still got me 4 hours of solid sleep. It was chilly last night, and I eventually got up at 6:30 and had breakfast at 7...... and as planned, we had mass at St. Ann's. The crusader's built church (in the basement with just the 4 of us, although a group tour walked by, which made me nervous cause I left my backpack by the bench only 8 ft away from the alter but that was when nobody was there...). This church is about a 15 min walk from our place through the old city. It’s right beside the healing pools or Bethzatha where Jesus healed a cripple man.

St. Anne’s Church is honoured as the site of the home of Joachim and Anne, the parents of Mary, and is thus considered to be the birthplace of the Blessed Virgin Mary. While there is little (if any) historical or archaeological evidence to back up that claim, there is very strong evidence that the Church was built on the site of the pool with 5 porticos where Jesus healed a paralyzed man (See John, chapter 5). The pools have been excavated, and we were able to climb down to an ancient cistern which fed the pools.

After that, we headed to the Mount of Olives, and visited the tomb of Mary, the Church of Dominus Flevit (“the Lord wept” -- site believed to be where Jesus was standing when he wept over the city of Jerusalem), and the Church of the Pater Noster (where the Our Father is posted in dozens of languages). After lunch in a cafe in the Old City, near the Damascus Gate, we took a bus and a cab to Bethlehem to visit the Basilica of the Nativity and the Grotto of the Milk. (That later spot is the site where an old story says that Mary spilled some milk while feeding the baby Jesus as she and Joseph began their flight into Egypt — some of the old stories honoured here are very earthy.)

After lunch, we went to Bethlehem and visited the church of Nativity where Jesus was born. Next to it the Franciscan church and the tomb for St. Jerome who lived here and translated the bible from Hebrew to Latin I think in the 4th century. (Everything that Fr. Tim had explained to me today is a blur right now).

We had an interesting souvenir shopping experience after our tour of the church (I bought some necklaces and rosaries from a couple called “Joseph and Mary” in Bethlethem … can’t believe that Fr. Tim didn’t tell me there names before I paid them), and an eye opener crossing the security check point from the Palestinian side back to the Israelis side. We had a two hour rest in the afternoon and went out for dinner .... at a Palestinian restaurant that serves dolphins soup ( I think its the name of the restaurant only and not real dolphins).

We had dinner in a nice restaurant in East Jerusalem, which is actually the area north of the Old City. Tomorrow we’re schedule to celebrate Mass at the Church of Ecce Homo (“Behold the Man”) which is near (or at)_ the beginning of the Via Dolorosa (“Way of Sorrow,” the original Stations of the Cross).

- William

William's Journey to the Holy Land Pt. 1

UNIGLOBE Geo Travel's Managing Partner & CEO William Hsu recently returned home from a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. William shares his experience with us in Part 1 of this entry:

The following is a casual email type diary that I have kept.

It's just a 1 min walk from the guest house (ran by sisters from a French order), and it’s very noisy in this area. The Damascus gate leads into the Muslim area and that's where we are located. While I am here, it reminds me how so very thankful I am for living in Canada....... we have the best place in the world!

April 28th

We arrived safe and sound and I met up with Fr. Dave at the airport and took a cab together. We walked around the old city of Jerusalem with Fr. Tim and Fr. Daryold. The guest house that we are staying is just across the road from the 'old Damascus gate". I had spaghetti and mint tea at the Christian quarter of the old city tonight. It’s the Jewish holiday starting tonight for one day (like the Independence Day) and we saw the West or Wailing wall with lots of people celebrating.

I have the biggest room on the top floor which is meant for a triple with 3 small beds and it’s very clean here, a place run by Franciscan Nuns. There are probably 50 guests staying here including an Italian tour group. It has the smallest shower I have ever used though. I am sitting right by my door because the Wifi is only available around the staircase outside my room and I can barely get it on my laptop.

The temperature is very pleasant here but I need my jacket to walk around with. I will do some reading and sleep. Breakfast will be at 7 and mass at 8. The 3 of them will celebrate mass at St. Ann tomorrow morning which is an old church built by the crusaders from the 16th century I think........the regular French Mass is 6:30 but Fr. Tim 'reserved" an 8 o'clock for us.

- William