Never has there been such a buzz at the Tribe offices or at Chigwell shul as there was on Wednesday afternoon! As the 17 participants climbed up the coach steps the atmosphere was full of anticipation and excitement.
During the whole ride to Heathrow the participants were chatting and raring to get going. With everyone introducing themselves and getting to know each other better, we wondered whether they’d have anything to learn about each other when they have their team-building sessions!
David Collins, Tribe Israel Manager and the brains behind Tribe Israel Tour said: “As an organisation that loves Israel, it’s exciting that Tribe are returning there with another tour group. It just goes to show the success of last year’s trip. Participants have come from all around the country showing we are a modern, inclusive and authentic organisation that everyone here feels a part of. We have fantastic madrichim who we are sure will inspire the group and give them a great time.”
We arrived in Israel on schedule, wearing our bright blue Tribe Israel Tour t-shirts, and waiting there to meet us was our Israeli tour guide – David, Sahal – our security guard and Anna – our Israel Tour Coordinator. We loaded the coach and headed to Mini Israel, where the group had fun visiting all the sites we are going to be seeing over the next few weeks, all in miniature form! It felt odd to tower over the Western Wall and see little people mechanically shockeling (swaying) in prayer! We boarded the coach to travel to our next stop, Burma Road. It was amazing to hike along the road that the pioneers created to reach Jerusalem. We also got to take in the breath-taking scenery and we all really started to bond as a group.
After our tiring hike we went to Mevesaret Tzion mall where we got to choose what we wanted to eat for lunch. After lunch, we arrived at our first base – Ein Tzurim – where we will be staying on the kibbutz for three nights. Here we had an orientation with some icebreakers, went for a quick swim, talked about our expectations of the coming weeks and heard the rules. The group had done so well considering the night-flight and touring during the day, so after dinner we advised the group to hit the sack and re-energize in preparation for everything to come!
Over the next 3 ½ weeks, Tribe tour will be hiking, abseiling, swimming, jeeping, cycling and, of course, coaching across the length and breadth of Israel. They will float in the Dead Sea, snorkel in Eilat, volunteer, experience Jerusalem’s Old City, ride a donkey, fly in a helicopter and much, much more.
We’ll try to include some quotes from the kids most days in the blog; here are the first!
“It was a tiring flight but an awesome day and weather. Today was fun. Just been for a swim – it was great to cool down. Now we’re off to play some Frisbee!” - Georgia Silver
“Today was hot! The hike was quite hard but really good. Everyone enjoyed themselves and came together as a group. The group has grown together even after one day and I feel that everyone has made close friends in just 24 hours. Can’t wait for the rest of Tour!” – Jake Haddon
Watch this space to follow everything they get up to!
The Tribe team
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