January 05, 2005

Trip of a lifetime

In less than seven weeks, I'm leaving for what I anticipate to be an amazing and life-altering experience: Baha'i Pilgrimage. I'm trying to strike a balance between focusing on it too much and not preparing for it enough. Those of you who've been recently, are there things you wish you'd done or books you'd read beforehand (or things done/books read that you're glad you did)?

It's cheaper to buy two sets of tickets, coming all the way from here. (We're almost -exactly- on the opposite side of the world from Israel.) So we're spending a couple of days in New York, flying with Anis to Zurich where we'll spend 24 hours, meeting up with my parents in the Zurich airport and then flying into Tel Aviv together. After Pilgrimage, we'll all spend my mom's birthday sightseeing in Tel Aviv and then do the trip in reverse, without the extra time in Zurich and just a night's stay in New York. Gracious. All the ticket wrangling has thrown me into a bit of a tizzy.

Posted by Shokufeh at January 5, 2005 01:05 PM
Comments

Hi Shokufeh!
I got your card. I've enjoyed going through your blog!It sounds like you are doing well. Not a lot new here. It pains me to say this, but yes I am still at County. However, I am in the process of applying to grad school( which has been very stressful), all on the east coast. So there is in an end in sight, and hopefully I will be moving in the fall. In other news I wanted to let you know that Laura recently got engaged to Keith (not sure if you know who is or not) Send me your e-mail address. Happy New Year!
Maggie

Posted by: Maggie at January 5, 2005 04:17 PM

Sounds like a fabulous trip :) Be safe and enjoy your time.

Posted by: stef at January 5, 2005 04:22 PM

The last few chapters of God Passes By were so perfect to read while in the holy land...

Posted by: roya at January 6, 2005 05:21 AM

To truly take full advantage of Pilgrimage, I suggest reading Door of Hope by David Ruhe. It's a history of all the sites and events of relevance in the Holy Land. It's also an easy read and has terrific photos.

Pre-reading this will help with some of the feelings of being overwhelmed with new information that can sometimes come with Pilgrimage's historical aspects.

Please do try to remember Arash, the baby and I when you are in the shrines.

Posted by: poonehplusone at January 9, 2005 08:48 PM