Out with Israel, in with [read on]

After almost two years of planning my trip to Israel, today I canceled.

Why I canceled my Israel trip

I recently wrote about the complexity in planning my Israel trip. Even though Israel has recently eased Covid-based restrictions for tourists, they still weren’t making things easy. And then this week Ethiopia declared a state of emergency. They’ve been at war with Tigrayan rebels for a while, and now the rebels are advancing on Addis Ababa, the capital. 

I called OAT this morning and asked them about their plans to cancel the pre-trip extension in Ethiopia. They said they are monitoring the situation but haven’t canceled that part of the trip.

Between the uncertainty and complexity of traveling to Israel and the situation in Ethiopia, I decided now isn’t the time to plan a trip there.

Where I’m going instead

I was always planning to do a stopover in Turkey before the Ethiopia/Israel tour. So now I think I will still go to Turkey. I’m just working out dates, probably in late February or early March, and an itinerary.

Where else I’m going instead

One of the other tours OAT runs that I’ve been wanting to do is Machu Picchu and the Galápagos. So I booked that for April/May. This trip has a pre-trip extension, but it is already fully booked. However, it does have a post-trip extension to Colombia.

Here’s the itinerary:

• Lima, Peru (3 nights)
• Sacred Valley (2 nights)
• Machu Picchu (2 nights)
• Cusco (2 nights)
• Quito, Ecuador (3 nights)
• Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island (1 night)
• Carina Galápagos Cruise (3 nights)
• Bogotá (3 nights)
• Medellín (3 nights)

The most convenient flight are on Copa Airlines, a Panamanian airline. They offer a stopover in Panama for no additional cost, so I am planning to add three or four nights in Panama City.

I’m disappointed that I won’t be getting to Israel as soon as I was hoping, but I am excited beyond measure to be planning these other two trips.

I’ll share more about my itineraries as we get closer.