Jaunted

Live Music Travel / Madonna / Celeb Travel / Israel Travel / Music Travel / Events / → All Tags

Madonna Will Kick Off Her 2012-2013 World Tour in Israel with Some 30,000 Tickets

The last time Madonna performed in Israel was in 2009, when she held two concerts as part of her record-shattering Sticky & Sweet tour. This time the newly-rechristianed Queen of Pop is not just holding any old concert in Israel, but using the event to kick off her entire 2012 world tour.

The Israelis are, needless to say, pretty excited. They're not as excited as Perez Hilton—who brought out lots and lots of exclamation points for the announcement—but they are still pretty excited.

The world tour will kick off on May 29th in the Israeli city of Ramat Gan and stretch all the way into 2013. After Israel Madonna will travel to a couple other Middle East venues before departing for Europe, where she'll do 26 additional spots over the course of two months. From there it's off to North America to do yet another set of 26 venues, then to Latin America, then to Australia. Before everything is said and done she will have played 90 concerts.

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Gay Travel / LGBT Travel / Jerusalem Travel / Tel Aviv Travel / Israel Travel / Jerusalem / Tel Aviv / Israel / Green Travel / Green Tourism / → All Tags

Tel Aviv Voted World's Top Gay Travel Destination

Israel tourism has been in an upward spiral over the last few years. Every year brings a new crop of travelers to the Jewish State—reflected in now-routine "this was the best tourism year ever" headlines—and they go home and tell their friends. That's how you end up with niche surveys about the popularity of Israel travel, like Israel being the number two destination for Russians.

Obviously part of Israel's tourism revolves around the country being a destination for religion travel. Jerusalem is and will remain by far Israel's most-visited destination (see our insidery tips for making the most of a Jerusalem visit here and here). But other parts of Israel are becoming famous for appealing to other demographics.

Forest-filled Haifa recently got the nod of being Israel's cleanest tourism city, part of a campaign to bolster green travel to and around Israel (El Al passengers flying from LHR to TLV can even purchase carbon off-sets).

And then there's Tel Aviv, which has just been voted the world's single best gay travel destination.

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Hunting for Hummus in the Old City of Acre, Israel

The city of Acre (Akko in Hebrew) is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in Israel. Probable references to it stretch back to the 16th century BC, and over the centuries it's been ruled by everybody who was anybody in the Middle East. The Canaanites, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Crusaders, Ottomans, British and now the Israelis have all had it at one time or another. The upshot is that there's been lots of time to build and tear down and rebuild the walls around the Old City, photographed here.

The entire Old City has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The problem is that it used to be something of a trap for the many travelers who came to see the ancient sites, many of whom promptly got lost in the winding roads. But over the last few years the Israeli travel and tourism people have made a major effort to make the city more tourist-friendly, posting maps at entrances and in squares. Recently signs have even appeared all over the city to direct people around.

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Martha Stewart Travels To Holy Land, Declares That It Is Good

Around this time last year, domestic goddess and noted Louboutin aficionado Martha Stewart waded into Philadelphia's intractable Geno's-vs-Pat's cheesesteak war, declaring that Pat's was "kinda bland" and giving her approval to Geno's. Having experienced a conflict of that magnitude, the celebrity was no doubt ready for this year's Labor Day trip to a part of the world where the battles are almost as heated: Israel.

Stewart spent her weekend in the Holy Land attending her nephew's wedding, scouting locations for an upcoming TV segment, and macrame-ing things (we're just guessing about that last part, though she still does that though, right?)

Her professional judgment on Israel? It's pretty interesting. Pretty interesting indeed.

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Israel Travel / Ancient History Travel / Landmarks / → All Tags

Israel's Caesarea: A Theater Balancing Both Antiquity and Modernity

The ancient port city of Caesarea should be a strong contender on anyone's Israel travel itinerary. During the days there are the Roman ruins to be explored, among the best preserved in the Middle East. They include carefully excavated living quarters, baths, and—most famously—a huge theater/colosseum finished around 10BC, because the Romans valued their entertainment. Those are for the tourists, something that we point out in a 100% non-denigrating way.

Of all the destinations on the interwebs, we take our tourism seriously. You should just know that that's what you're getting into.

But once the sun sets, and especially during the summer, there are all kinds of events and concerts that bring out younger and more local crowds. The modern town is one of Israel's most upscale areas, and the region is actually maintained by a private organization dedicated to economic and cultural development rather than by a city council.

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Jerusalem's 'Ramparts Walk': The Insidery Diversion You'll Want to Take

We're indulging in some Israel travel this week, as Jaunted writers are wont to do from time to time. The picture you're looking at is of the ramparts that line the Old City of Jerusalem, a two and a half mile walk that dates back to ancient times and has been immortalized in art. The so-called "rampart walk" is one of those insidery tourist attractions that, once you know about them, are actually worth signing up for.

Visitors can enter and tour the ramparts, which ring the Old City, for about $5. You have to climb up some fairly steep stairs to get to them, but once you're at the top - as you can imagine - the views are spectacular. If you turn and look inside the city, you get to see iconic structures that have been written about for thousands of years. If you turn the other way you're presented with modern Jerusalem.

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Israel is About to Get Google Mapped So Hard

Israel is finally set to allow Google to map out the country's roads using Google Maps Street View, which is something of a bold move since terrorists routinely brag about using Google Earth to target their missiles and rockets at Israelis. Since we're talking about the Middle East, the decision has naturally engendered a robust debate about costs and benefits. On the costs side: the terrorism and people dying thing. Supposedly on the benefits side: tourism.

We're not really going to belabor the security issue, partly because it's convoluted but mostly because it's way, way too depressing for a Monday morning. You can go here for a will-it or won't-it backgrounder. The tourism debate, on the other hand, seems a little bit more straightforward and a little closer to our wheelhouse.

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iPad / Travel Bans / Apple / Technology / Travel Gadgets / Israel Travel / → All Tags

Israel Ends Ban on iPads, But What About the 3G Model?

Just under two weeks ago, Israel laid down a ban on bringing the new Apple iPad into their country, a ban no one knew about until travelers began to have their iPads confiscated at Israeli airport customs.

Why did Israel deem the device dangerous? Well, it wasn't that it was dangerous, but that the country didn't know much about it and they were concerned that it didn't meet European standards of wireless connectivity (which means the iPad's connectivity might have been too strong for them). Finally, Israel has concluded their testing of the iPad, found it to be just fine, and have lifted the ban. For the twenty or so iPads they did confiscate, the owners may return for them, but they will most likely not be refunded for the "storage fee" they had to pay while the iPads were held by customs.

Now we have one final worry: what will happen when the iPad 3G releases in a few days? Will Israel want to take a two-week look at that one too? All we can suggest is getting a good, inconspicuous case for the device and hoping that the customs agents have had their coffee.

Related Stories:
· Israel Approves iPad Imports [Mac Observer]
· Israel Bans the iPad; Gadgets Will be Confiscated at Airports [Jaunted]
· The TSA is Cool with iPads, But What About International Airports? [Jaunted]
· iPad Travel news [Jaunted]

[Photo: Jaunted]

Free Stuff / Cell Phones / El Al / Airline News / Israel Travel / → All Tags

El Al Airlines Will Give You a Free Phone if You Fly Them

Heading to the holy land for a whole lot of summer fun? If you're flying on El Al, and there's a very good chance you might be if you're going to Israel, then you get a free phone for use in the country!

The promotion comes directly from the airline, who are giving away 1,000 free Motorola V3 (aka the Razr) loaded with sixty free minutes to passengers holding roundtrip tickets to Israel with departures before June 30, 2010. You don't even have to give the phone back; it's yours to keep, along with the phone number in Israel, both to be used on any future trips to the country.

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Easter Travel / Holy Travel / Religious Travel / Israel Travel / → All Tags

Hop on the 'Jesus Trail' with the Holiest of All Easter Trip Packages

A group of tourists enjoy the view from the Arbel Cliffs.

As Kanye once said, "Jesus walks with me," but you can walk with him too during Easter in the Holy Land. We told you about the Jesus Trail before, the rugged self-guided 40-mile hike through the Galilee in Israel. But now you can mark Christ's resurrection with a Jesus Trail tour package from Nazareth.

The Jesus Trail peeps offer "self-guided tour packages" that include accommodations, luggage transfer, orientation, site entry fees, guidebook, shuttle and optional meals. Packages start at $299 for six days and five nights. The bonus is that you can determine your own departure date (as long as it doesn't conflict with Shabbat observance). The company has a couple booked for a tour leaving Easter and another group departing the day after, and there's still time to plan your own holy holiday.

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Pet Travel / El Al / Airline News / Airlines / → All Tags

El Al Wants To Make Sure Your Pets Are Getting Plenty Of Travel Love

Israeli airline El Al is very proud of having a pet frequent flyer club, where your dog or cat will get a free trip for every three round-trips they survive. What's more, El Al has been kind enough to offer us some tips on flying with our pets, and speaking as people who've never done it, we think they sound like good ideas.

The most important tips seem to be to exercise your pet shortly before the flight, but feed him a few hours beforehand to avoid a poor air-sick doggy. El Al also suggests getting the appropriate pet carrier far enough in advance that your pet can get used to the contraption before they're stuck in it on a flight.

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Head To The Holy Land This Holiday Season For Cheap

Why not consider going beyond the commercialized gift-giving this holiday and make a trip to the Holy Land? Travelzoo offers a package that'll take you to the sacred spot and other sites in Israel. It's a 10-day, eight-night trip with airfare and accommodations included that'll cost you $1,299.

For the three-city tour, you'll be shuttled around in a bus to places like the ancient Roman port of Caesarea, the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth and the Old City of Jerusalem. You'll stay four nights in Jerusalem, two in Galilee and two in Tel Aviv. As part of the package, you'll get nine meals—eight breakfasts and one dinner.

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