Back in the olden days (like in 1993), we went to Aladdin, the money changer, for all of our money changing needs. But these days, your best bet is to bring an ATM card and withdraw money from the machines.

Most ATMs in the Jerusalem District accept international ATM cards from Visa and Mastercard. Bring more than one card, if you have other accounts, just in case one doesn’t work.

You will get the best exchange rates from the ATMs.

Get your Shekels as early as possible–like at the airport. It will be quite a while before you have another chance to stop at an ATM.

If you sleep in or take too long looking for souvenirs in a gift shop, we just can’t wait very long. When we wait for a couple of tour participants, everyone else misses seeing sites that day. Please plan carefully and be respectful of everyone’s time. If we leave without you, you can catch a cab and meet up with us. We will welcome you with open arms.

Tell you driver that you need to go to the “Mormon University” on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem near the Hebrew University.

Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies

1 Hadassah Lampel St

Mount Scopus

Jerusalem, Israel

If you get in a bind, call the Jerusalem Center and they will talk to your driver to help get you there.

Phone: 011-972-2-626-5666

We are the luckiest people in the world to return to the Jerusalem Center, but our experience should not get in the way of what the administration is trying to accomplish with the students. All activities are required and attendance is mandatory for the students. Please do not try to tempt them away to explore with you on your free days when they do not, even if you knew them before the tour. Please do not give them ideas by telling them of your shenanigans from when you were a student long ago. And please don’t hang out in the student commons.

But do feel free to eat with the students in the Oasis, talk to them in the halls, spend time with them in the old city when we have common free days, and get to know them. Just understand that you are not as young or as cool as you think you are, and this is the time that they should be getting to know each other. We will probably have combined activities with the students and other fun times to interact. But just allow them to have a normal program. This is the most important rule we have and is a requirement for our privilege to stay at the Jerusalem Center.