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Lawrence Davis, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher of Splash Magazines Worldwide, fights back tears when describing the powerful impact of his 2007 visit to
Israel with the tour company
Rent-a-Guide Tours. It was
Davis’s first visit to
Israel and he declares that
“it just couldn’t have been better” because of
Rent-a-Guide Tours.
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A view of Jerusalem
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“If I try to imagine what it would’ve been like to have gone to
Israel and have just been there by myself, it could have only been at the most 10% of what I experienced,” said
Davis. In fact,
Davis was so pleased with
Rent-a-Guide Tours that he believes making 10 trips by himself to
Israel still would not give him as much knowledge, experience or stir up as much feeling as this one trip did.
While
Davis had never been to
Israel, he travelled with his Aunt and Uncle who are world travellers and had been to
Israel a few times.
Rent-a-Guide Tours showed them parts of
Israel that they never even knew existed, leaving everyone
extremely impressed.
Davis believes that the tour guides’ knowledge and genuine care for their guests really make
Rent-a-Guide unique. As the guides are Israeli natives,
Davis found that their accents added to the flavour and they spoke clearly. They understood
Israel, were able to answer all questions asked and always provided a wealth of information to the guests. Their
educational knowledge was endless and to top it off, they were
gentlemen and always opened the doors for the elderly.
Davis’s group had
4 tour guides and each had a unique personality.
Offer was a fairly recent addition to the company but
full of knowledge and interesting tidbits.
Moshe, named after Moses, was formerly involved very highly with Kabbalah and he was
remarkable.
Ossi was full of stories and his immense knowledge was
fascinating, and
Reuben, the man who created it all, was
modest and
easy-going, leaking his personality throughout the entire company.
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Lawrence Davis with tour guide Ossi
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Rent-a-Guide was established about 23 years ago by
Reuben. He started the company when he was 21-years-old, thinking that it would just be a part-time job while in college. It is now the
largest tour company in Israel with
52
guides and
700-1000 tours every month year round. It is the only company that has received 2 awards from the Israeli Ministry of Tourism for
Best Tourist Company, and no tourist has ever heard a gunshot or had anything bad happen to them the entire time
Reuben has been giving tours.
Rent-a-Guide works with most of the big travel agencies in
Israel and they deal with incoming tourism and the military industry.
Rent-a-Guide has
private tours,
daily tours and
weekly tours. Their speciality tours include the
Jewish Heritage Tour, Christian Heritage Tour, Bar/Bat Mitzvah Tours, the Classic Tour of Israel and more. Tours are offered in all major languages and the transportation is provided in
luxury vehicles such as
Mercedes and
Cadillacs.
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Tour guide Offer and his Mercedes van
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Davis’s tour guides travelled in brand new
Mercedes vans that were clean and air-conditioned. He enjoyed that they weren’t quiet between locations. Instead, during almost all trips, the guides were answering questions, telling the group facts about things along the way or what was to come ahead. They even shared political knowledge with the group, telling the
good and the
bad.
Davis calls their words and communication
complete and
unfiltered.
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Car rides were always informative
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Davis recalls that
Offer, the driver who picked his group up from
Jerusalem and took them to
Tel Aviv provided a very
educational ride. He showed the group the
Arab village, the people selling different foods and the different neighbourhoods. It was a beautiful introduction before the group actually met
Reuben for the first time.
When they met
Reuben, he graciously gave them a tour of his offices and took them in his new
Mercedes into
Jaffa. There he bought them a phenomenal lunch where the food kept on coming and coming, and introduced the group to the woman who owned the restaurant.
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Awards inside Reuben's office
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Lunch with guide Reuben
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Davis was impressed by
Reuben’s ability to run this huge business yet have no trace of an inflated ego. He found
Reuben to be a l
ovely man who was very
laid-back,
relaxed and
calm. “His personality permeates the business,”
Davis believes, as
Reuben aims for nothing but the best and the guides he finds are understated people with
endless knowledge and care for their guests, young and old.
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Courteous guide Ossi
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The guides were really
kind and
helpful towards
Davis’s elderly Aunt. They would adapt the tour around the elderly to let
Davis continue to explore. For example, if there was still something to show
Davis but his Aunt and Uncle needed to rest, the guides would let them relax in an area with food or drinks while they took
Davis around.
“There’s no way to fake that
these people cared about us, and they cared about us being in Israel and they cared about us knowing about what we saw and what we experienced and they wanted us to know history and they wanted us to know current events and
it just couldn’t have been better,”
Davis stated.
The
spectacular guides took
Davis’s group wherever they wanted to go. They would make phone calls and set up tours for the very next day if
Davis requested. After dropping the group off, the guides would take a hotel room somewhere else but because
Davis’s group
felt such closeness to them, they invited the guides to join for meals on several occasions.
Rent-a-Guide made it possible to do things that
Davis’s group would not have been able to do on their own. One of the tour guides, took
Davis to a
firing range where he and his Uncle shot
oozies, hand guns and anything else they wanted to shoot. This was only possible because of the guide’s relationship with the
Rabbi of the
Kibbutz, as he used to live there. “I would absolutely definitely recommend them in all the cities that we did go to,” he said, which include
Jerusalem, Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Eilat,
Tiberias.
Even though
Rent-a-Guide doesn’t go to
Jordan, they arranged with another company that they have an affiliation with to meet
Davis’s group at the border of
Israel and
Jordan and take them into
Jordan.
Davis even got to enjoy rides on
camels, horses, carriages and
donkeys. After the tour was done, they took them back to the border where the
Rent-a-Guide tour guides were waiting.
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Lawrence Davis in Jordan
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When asked what his best day was, the memories bring tears to
Davis’s eyes. As the emotion overtakes him, he says that
Masada,
the Wall, and
the Dead Sea were all amazing in their own ways. “There was probably nothing more powerful than going to
the Wall,” he reflected. “Going to
the Wailing Wall would be number
1 and
Masada would be number
2 and
the Dead Sea would be number
3.” At
the Wall,
Rent-a-Guide took
Davis to where he could wrap
T’fillin and he was taken behind and under
the Wall. This memory will be with him forever and he is grateful that he found a tour company that presented him with this
wonderful experience.
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Putting on T'fillin at the Wall
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Masada
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Davis describes the tour guides “very much like somebody had set you up with their
friend in another country and they did everything that they could to make sure you had a
wonderful time and that you learned everything and that you wanted to come back.”
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Praying at the Wall
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He truly believes that he received the
best experience possible from
Rent-a-Guide Tours and will never forget his visit to
Israel because of them. “They were
far beyond just tour guides, they ended up being
like members of the family,” said
Davis.
To read about what happens next in Davis' trip to Israel, click here.
To read about Davis’ trip in Jaffa and Tel Aviv, click here.
To read about Davis’ ride from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, click here.
To read about Davis' interview with the Sheraton Jerusalem Plaza Hotel's Executive Chef, click here.
To read about Davis’ trip to Jerusalem, click here.
To read about Davis' trip in the Old City of Jerusalem, click here.
To read about Davis' trip to Jerusalem from his Uncle's perspective, click here.
For more information on Rent-a-Guide Tours, please visit their site by clicking here.
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