London 2023 for the Alabama Symphony Chorus + Friends and Family

We are working up a trip for members of the Alabama Symphony Chorus and their Friends and Family. Final details aren’t completed yet, but it looks like this:

Destination: London

Travel dates:  June 4, 2023 - June 13, 2023

Performance: June 10 

Performance Hall: Southwark Cathedral, London

Musical work: Stabat Mater, by Richard Burchard

Conductor: Nicholaus Cummins

Estimated Cost:  $3500 for performers, $3250 friends/family; $3000 for traveler-only

Hotel: Millennium Glouster Hotel

London 2021: March 7 - 14

Aren’t you ready to get out of the house?

Travel Collegiate, LLC is planning another trip to London in March 2021!

Surely this virus thing will be over by then, right?

We last took a group to London in March 2019. That trip was a great success and we are ready for another venture to a world class city. Here are the details:

Dates: March 7, 2021 to March 14, 2021

Departure: A group flight is ready for you - it departs from Birmingham and has a comfortable layover in Atlanta before departing for London.

A private coach meets us in London to take us to the Hotel, the 4-star Millennium that is just a few steps away from the Gloucester station of the London Tube. It is a grand hotel that used to be a hospital - because of that, the rooms are a little larger than normal in this world-class city!

A £40 Oyster card will help you travel via the Tube that is - literally - right across the street. The hotel is in an ideal location and just a short walk from the Victoria and Albert Museum.  Other famous locations are near; the Natural History Museum, The Royal Albert Hall and Hyde Park are just a 10-minute walk away. Fantastic bars and restaurants surround the hotel and the fashionable Knightsbridge district is a short walk away.

Here are the prices:

Single Room:  $3025

Double Room: $2499 (per person)

Triple Room:   $2399 (per person)

Here is a suggested payment plan (per person):

$250 deposit               immediately    (50% refundable until December 1)

$500 payment             July 1               (100% refundable until December 1, 2020)

$500 payment             September 1    (100% refundable until December 1, 2020)

$500 payment        November 1    (100% refundable until December 1, 2020)

Final payment             January 1, 2021

Here is a flyer that contains the basic information about the trip.

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Ready to travel again?

London 2023: June 5 - 13, 2023

The Highbury part of London

Tracy and I have been exploring London for the last week or so in preparation for setting up some tours for 2019.  It has been a fantastic trip and we are going to document a bit of the meals, hotels and experiences that we've had.

Today we woke up in the City Continental Kensington Hotel and our main task for the day was to transfer to The Highbury Centre, where we will stay for two nights.  The Highbury area is quite lovely!  We ate at a place called Iznik and Tracy left a little review on Yelp.  Our meal at Iznik:

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Iznik

Delicious Turkish Meal

After a little walking around and a rest at The Highbury Center, we ate at Little Sardegna:

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Little Sardegna

Italian - Pasta and Sea Bass

Highbury was a quaint place to be.  Pictures from our walk:

 

Travel Quote Wisdom

It seems like the famous Augustine quote about travel wasn't actually from him:

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”

But it is a great sentiment, isn't it?  Traveling enriches a person's life; people that don't travel miss out on a variety of experiences, but the biggest thing they miss is a changed perspective on their own reality.  These two quotes, one from Henry Miller and the other from Mark Twain capture that spirit:

One's destination is never a place, but always a new way of seeing things. (Henry Miller)

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness. (Mark Twain)

Susan Heller, however, may have one of the best quotes about travel as she lays out advice for packing a suitcase:

When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money.  Then take half the clothes and twice the money." 

Words to travel by.

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