2023 Camper Transportation
The online Transportation Form is now available in your CampMinder account. Please read below about luggage and travel and submit your form by May 1st.
Table of Contents
Luggage Overview
Camp Trucking
Camp Trucking Exceptions
2023 Travel Dates
DC Buses
New Jersey Buses
Mini Session Flights
Individual Flights
Driving to Camp
Helpful Contacts
Luggage Overview
Marci Galinkin, our long time summer Mirpa’ah (Health Center) Administrator, will serve as our Luggage Coordinator before camp. Please email Marci with any luggage-related questions.
Luggage must be fully packed in only 2 duffels. When using Camp Trucking, you may pay extra to send empty, sealed plastic drawers to and from camp. If you are driving your child(ren) to camp, they may bring small items in the car if they can easily carry them to their bunk on their own.
Luggage for current 2nd – 6th graders that is shipped to camp with Camp Trucking will be unpacked for them before they arrive. Counselors will help your child unpack their luggage if it arrives on opening day.
Camp Trucking
Camp Trucking is a luggage delivery service that we use for most of our families. Please read the 2023 Camp Trucking Packet for information, drop-off and pick-up times for each site and instructions on how to register.
This summer, Camp Trucking was included in the cost of your tuition, so there will be no additional fee for registering.
All families who live within 60 miles of one of our centralized luggage sites are required to register with Camp Trucking to ship luggage to and from camp. You may register to ship luggage to and from two different locations if needed.
Here is a complete list of our sites:
- Connecticut: New Haven and West Hartford
- Maryland: Rockville (1st/full session luggage will be dropped off on Thursday 6/22 so that it can arrive at camp on time)
- Massachusetts: Newton, Northampton, Pittsfield, Sharon and Worcester
- New Jersey: Teaneck and West Orange
- New York: Albany and Mamaroneck
- Virginia: Fairfax (1st/full session luggage will be dropped off on Thursday 6/22 so that it can arrive at camp on time)
Sign up here: Register with Camp Trucking.
Deadlines:
- First session, full summer: May 20th
- Second session, mini sessions*: June 24th
If your camper is attending one of our mini sessions: please register to ship luggage for the one way that lines up with our service (Sunday, July 23rd drop-off for Mini Aleph and Mini Amitzim, Sunday, August 20th pick-up for Mini Bet). For the other direction that does not line up with Camp Trucking, you may drive or ship your child(ren)’s luggage to camp or send it with them on their flight. You must call Camp Trucking at 970-949-0690 to register, as only round-trip registration is available through their website.
If your child is traveling on our chaperoned DC or New Jersey buses, you are still required to use Camp Trucking if you live within 60 miles of the Rockville, Fairfax or New Jersey sites.
Camp Trucking Exceptions:
If you do not live within 60 miles of a luggage site or you live within 15 miles of camp, here are your luggage options:
- Check luggage when your camper flies to and from camp.
- Drive luggage to and from camp in your personal vehicle.
- Drive the extra distance to ship luggage with Camp Trucking from one of our sites.
- Ship luggage on your own with FedEx or UPS.
On the CampMinder travel form, you will not be able to select the option for your luggage to arrive in your personal vehicle or to ship luggage with FedEx or UPS. If you want to choose one of these options, please email Marci Galinkin to receive approval, and we will update your choice in CampMinder for you.
2023 Travel Dates:
- Full Summer: June 27th – August 20th
- First Session: June 27th – July 23rd
- Second Session: July 25th – August 20th
- Mini-Kochavim Aleph: July 25th – August 6th
- Mini-Amitzim: July 25th – August 6th
- Mini-Kochavim Bet: August 8th – August 20th
We offer several transportation options for campers coming to and from camp:
- Chaperoned buses
- Chaperoned flights
- Individual flights
- Personal vehicles
DC Buses
We are providing chartered, chaperoned buses to and from Rockville, MD for a fee of $90 each way. The luggage trucks will arrive with the camper buses. Please register for the coach bus in your online transportation form. A line item will automatically be added to your financial statement for each way you register for.
We will not refund any bus charges after June 15 for first session transportation, or after July 13 for second session.
DC bus dates:
- June 27th
- July 23rd
- July 25th
- August 20th
June 27th Logistics
Please administer an antigen COVID test to your child before heading to the bus stop. If your child tests positive, do not send them to camp. Please call the camp office for further instructions. You do not need to report negative tests.
Location & Timing:
- B’nai Israel Congregation: 6301 Montrose Road, Rockville MD 20852.
- 6:30am – Arrive at B’nai Israel to check in.
- 7:00am – Depart for camp.
- 3:00pm – Arrive at Ramah.
- Campers will be met by counselors and staff upon arrival at camp and will be quickly integrated into the camp activities.
Food:
- Please send a Kosher lunch, snacks and bottled water.
- Do not pack any products with peanuts or tree nuts; the buses must be completely nut-free.
Other Notes:
- There will be bathrooms on the buses.
- Campers may bring their phones; they will hand them in when they arrive at camp. MAKE SURE THE PHONE IS LABELED WITH FIRST AND LAST NAME AND EDAH.
- The buses will have either plug-in or USB outlets for campers to use.
- We are sitting by edah (age group) on the bus.
- Bus One: Kochavim, Ilanot and Solelim (entering grades 3, 4, 5 and 6)
- Bus Two: Shoafim, Magshimim and Tikvah (entering grades 7, 8 and Tikvah)
- Bus Three: Bogrim, Machon and Nivonim (entering grades 9, 10 and 11)
If you want to send your camper on an individual flight, please scroll down for more information on booking instructions.
New Jersey Buses
We are also providing chartered, chaperoned buses to and from West Orange, NJ for a fee of $50 each way. This bus will also stop in New City, NY in both directions. Please register for the coach bus in your online transportation form. A line item will automatically be added to your financial statement for each way you register for.
We will not refund any bus charges after June 15 for first session transportation, or after July 13 for second session.
NJ bus dates:
- June 27th
- July 23rd (contingent on a minimum of 25 passengers)
- July 25th (contingent on a minimum of 25 passengers)
- August 20th
Mini Session Flights
We are providing two chaperoned flights for mini session campers traveling from the DC area. These flights are on Southwest Airlines between Baltimore Washington International (BWI) and Bradley (BDL) in Hartford, CT. There will also be a camp bus to shuttle campers to and from BDL.
On the other two travel dates for these sessions (7/25, 8/20) you are welcome to sign up for the DC chaperoned bus that is available, or you can choose one of our other independent travel options.
Mini session flight dates:
- August 6th: closing day for Mini-Kochavim Aleph and Mini-Amitzim
- August 8th: opening day for Mini-Kochavim Bet
Flight Information:
| Date | Session | Departing Airport & Time | Arriving Airport & Time | Southwest Flight # | Chaperone | Confirmation # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday 8/6/23 | Mini Aleph, Mini Amitzim Departing | BDL 10:35am |
BWI 11:50am |
3801 | Edward Pletman | 2JAGX5 |
| Tuesday 8/8/23 | Mini Bet Arriving | BWI 10:15am |
BDL 11:30am |
154 | Edward Pletman | 2J9FKT |
You will be prompted to enter our chaperone name and confirmation number for your date of travel after you click “purchase.” Doing so avoids any unaccompanied minor fees. You will need to book a separate, 1-way ticket for each direction of travel as the chaperone name and/or confirmation numbers will differ below. We currently have a placeholder ticket for our chaperone; once we have finalized our chaperone for each flight, we will email you that information so you can update your ticket with Southwest.
If you want to utilize our chaperoned flights, book ticket(s) directly with Southwest using the information above. After you purchase your ticket(s), forward your complete confirmation to Rutie Mackenzie-Margulies and enter it into the transportation form in your CampMinder account.
Answers to frequently asked questions:
- There is no “child” ticket category in the Southwest online system. Please select “adult” tickets when you search on their website.
- Southwest.com offers 3 levels of ticket pricing: “Business Select,” “Anytime,” and “Wanna Get Away.” If it says “sold out” in the column for the least expensive, “Wanna Get Away” rate (which unfortunately often happens rather quickly), it rarely, if ever, means the overall flight is sold out. Please check the other price level columns. You will need to purchase your ticket(s) at one of those rates.
- If your child will be 12 or older on the date of travel, Southwest will not ask for our chaperone’s name and confirmation number.
Please forward your confirmations to Rutie Mackenzie-Margulies, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
Individual Flights
On each opening and closing day, we provide school bus shuttles to and from Bradley International Airport (BDL) in Hartford, CT for campers who fly to and from camp. Your camper(s) must arrive or depart from BDL during certain time windows in order to catch these shuttles:
- Opening days: land between 9am – 12pm
- Closing days: depart between 8:30am – 11:30am
Please make sure to forward the flight confirmation to Rutie Mackenzie-Margulies and enter the information in the online transportation form.
If your child’s flight arrives or departs outside of these time windows, we must arrange special transportation for them. Families will be charged an additional $40 for each direction of ground transportation provided.
If there is an extenuating reason you wish to fly your child to/from another airport: please contact Rutie ASAP to see if we can make special arrangements before you book a ticket.
If your camper is flying to or from Israel: please do not book any flights until you have heard from us.
We will send further details about airport pick-up around two weeks prior to opening day.
Driving to Camp
If you are driving your child(ren) to or from camp, we will provide time windows for when you should arrive in the coming months.
Please click here for directions to camp.
Helpful Contacts
- Luggage: Marci Galinkin
- Transportation, forms and other questions: Rutie Mackenzie-Margulies, Registrar
- Camper questions/concerns: Talya Kalender, Director of Camper Care
- Tuition and finance: Ken Milgram, Finance Associate