Category: Travel and Tourism
Hello:
My fiancae and I are planning to travel to Israel next year. I hear it is quite difficult to maneuver: narrow doorways, lots of steps at holy sites ETC. If you live in Israel or have been there, please share your experiences.
Also, I hear a lot of European countries have bathroom attendants and are paid, can anyone tell me how best to navigate these? I may not always have a sighted female to accompany me. Will attendants help, are some restrooms attended? Are attends located inside or outside, I've never experienced a paid/attended bathroom. Also, how accessible is Turkey, we're also planning to visit Istanbul, and the South of Turkey. Any hints/advice/insight would be great!
All I know is a blind female friend went to China and apparently some "bathrooms" are just holes in the ground. Between the blindness and the language difference, it was a real challenge for my friend to figure it out.
It'll probably be way easier for you to use the bathroom than it is for all the Palestinian kids behind barbed wire to use the bathroom.
The American government just sent over billions of dollars to the Israelis to fight not just Hamas but the Palestinian people. Over a third of whom are Christians.
I understand the AmeriChristian support of the Israeli occupation is to bring about their version of the apocalypse, one which is supposed to wipe out 2/3 of the Israeli population according to their Book of Revelation. How ironic is that? A growing number of Jewish people are onto the Christian Reconstructionists' game, however, and aren't buying it.
If you're going as a tourist, you'll probably be in Eurocentric hotels and locations, visit the sites that the Israeli Tourist Board has set up for you to visit.
Hell, the Israeli Tourist Board has considered putting a stone pathway through the Sea of Galilee so the Christian tourists can experience what it is like to walk on water. I wonder how much per person that one's gonna be.
If you stick to their touristy places, I'm sure they'll have some kinds of accessibility for you. Israelis are first and foremost Europeans, culturally. Their occupation of that area only started in the late 1940s. So they fully understand Western thinking. And they also want Western dollars, like most nations. They're very smart people: they'll accommodate you to let you go through the tourist areas and buy your tickets.
You might want to read up on the treaty before you go, the uN treaty that gave expatriated Jews land in the middle east after World War II. It's not your fault that the American Public Schools don't teach you anything. You also may want to get familiar with the geography of that area. Typical Christian apologetic claims that the Gaza Strip is not irrigate because the Palestinians are just too uncivilized to irrigate. They don't tell you that there is no available water system for which they can irrigate the land. It's no more and no less a fiasco than what we did to the Native Americans, putting them on untenable lands and then claiming they were savages because they couldn't farm the unfarmable land.
Your tour guides won't show you any of this, and most who go won't know any of this either.
I haven't been, but me as an atheist, I would take note of how the Israeli people and the Palestinian people both would rather just get along with one another. It's the fools running Hamas and the Israeli government that are screwing everything up, and those over here who want to bring about their apocalypse, killing Palestinian Christians and 2/3 of the Jewish population in the process. Again, how ironic is that?
And in case someone gets any ideas, I am not a national traitor. I support the treaty the U.S. agreed to that established borders in 1948, in the context of the agreements that were made at the time. That doesn't mean I have to support subsequent conquests, and the resultant damage. I definitely don't think we need to send them billions of dollars from the U.S., unless we own the Israeli territory and can install a military lookout installation on their temple mount. If the Fundamentalists want raw American power ... that, precisely, is what it looks like.
Okay, thanks, I really just want some advice on navigating restrooms and other areas. I don't really want to talk politics!
I live in europe, well the UK, and have never been in a bathroom where there's an atendant. Don't you just walk around, use your cane, figure out where stuff is there...that's what we all do...it really isn't hard.
And leo is right, Israel will strictly control where you go so it will probably be westernised.
Turkey may be a different story though. I have been to Turkey and it was nice, but we had a tour guide and were only there very briefly. Don't expect them to have the same access laws as we do.
When I was in Ireland, there was a bathroom attendant at most pubs, but honestly I think that's more or less because everyone was trashed they needed someone to hold their hair back while they puked. Not me, mind you, I hold my own. Usually. Hahahaha. But yes. Cane it up. Not all European bathrooms have attendants.
That's my plan! Thanks.
Christiangirl, I'm not claiming the situation over there is your fault: it's not. And if you buy trinkets for souvenirs, many of the craftspeople are Arabs and Israelis, most the Arabs who make Christian trinkets are themselves Christians. As I say, I have not been, but am well read on the area, because although I may myself be an atheist, I know quite a few Christians - am married to one, so.
Just be careful, stay in touristy areas. There have been British and other citizens who have been wrongfully held by the Israeli government in the past 6 years. If you're going with your fiancé, you two stick together. A lot safer that way, and the Israeli Tourist Board makes sure the touristy / religious pilgrimage sites are undisturbed by the ongoing skirmishes. Call me what you want, I understand. But this advice is the same I would give to my daughter if she was headed over there. She may follow the faith of her Mother, but she and I have had these and similar conversation RE: certain places around the world, either tourist or mission type things they get into: she understands. It bothers me not what you think of me or those who are as I am: just be safe, stick with your group, and stay in the touristy areas where all the money is being made / protection is paid for. In Turkey you might be able to explore a bit more freely, Istanbul and the like, but they're not involved in conflict set up and created by colonial powers.
thing is, she was asking about bathrooms, not your opinion on the humanitarian or political situation over there, as disgusting as it may be. nice highjack of the board and a bit unnecessary.bb
now back to the matter in hand. I have never travelled to Israel or turkey personally. I live in the UK. I can tell you that you will rarely, if ever, see a bathroom attendant in any of the places I have visited around Europe. if you are in a higher class establishment you may find something like that, but as a rule no. people are usually very friendly and will be more than willing to point you in the right direction should you need them to.
Hi Christiangirl,
I have travelled a bit through Europe and have never come across a bathroom attendant,
although I have heard of them. I don't think you'll come across any, perhaps in a high end
establishment maybe but not in typical daily life.
Most people are cool about letting you be and allowing you to cane navigate freely,,
occasionally you get some well meaning but uneducated idiot grabbing your cane or arm
and trying to steer you, but I've experienced that in north America as well, so education is
ideal if there is no language barrier.
Happy travels.
Victor
I think perhaps basic orientation and mobility training before travel might help as well. If you are confident enough to travel by your own, going to the correct bathroom shouldn't be a problem, regardless of where you go.