Heh, heh...estimates...right, you mean we're going to have to pay for this stuff? Oh yeah.
We are 90% likely to take the kiddos. Ezra will be almost 7, Mercy 5, Gideon 3.5, Baby Awesome around 18 months--it's a little overwhelming to think about, but thinking about leaving them behind isn't fun, either. Anyway, that's the plan right now--with 18 months to 2 years to go, we have a lot of mind-changing time.
We're also trying to decide between spring 2010 and fall 2010--we want to avoid the rainy season (Dec-Mar) and the hot hot season (May-Sept). Oh, and I guess we probably want to avoid both Easters--the traditional one and the Orthodox one. It gets REALLY crowded in Jerusalem then, apparently. But we are flexible, especially if there are conflicts with dates.
Round trip tickets from SLC to Tel-Aviv (Ben-Gurion Airport), for say next April, are about $2150 (that is not counting checked bags fees, but is counting all applicable taxes). Who knows what the price of gas will do between now and then, but I'm certainly not counting on it to go down. So I would estimate AT LEAST that much for the plane ride alone.
I'm totally unsure about the whole lodgings thing--you really can go ritzy or cheap. Ditto on transport while we're there--Bradley says the taxis are good, and they have taxi vans and stuff as well. But who knows? Plus factor in passports for everyone--most of the kids probably don't have one, and I don't, either.
There's a ton still to even explore, but there are my thoughts on the subject. I'm excited that you are even thinking about it, Kim...we'll see what happens!
