To Do: London Literary Tour

I work on several travel blogs, and this one I like best because it’s more my corner than the others. And one thing you’ll always find in my corner, is books. So. Many. Books. I have a figurative nest – several of them – everywhere I go. It has books I’m reading, books I plan to read, books I started months ago and can’t quite finish because I keep starting others.

Fortunately, considering the given theme here, reading and travel have always gone well together. Both introduce us to new experiences, new worlds, and a broader perspective. It’s why we include literature tours for our theme-based group and student tours. Our themes are my favorite thing to promote, because I think it’s such an inspiring way to plan and take a trip – especially for groups. It’s fun to discover what attractions perfectly complement your focus. And it’s exciting to try and create an entire itinerary that stays within the theme.

One of my favorite literature-themed tours we offer, and the one I most want to take myself, includes attractions centered around some of the world’s most beloved authors. Still, this tour has so many beautiful locations in it, it’s possible I like the idea with or without the theme. The tour is in London (and beyond) and takes you to these literary scenes.

The world of Shakespeare

...but there was a star danced, and under that was I born.

-Much Ado About Nothing, William Shakespeare

I sort of missed the classes in school that studied Shakespeare, and I have to admit that Kenneth Branaugh and Emma Thompson were my first real introduction to the famous bard, and that was through film adaptations of his work. This quote is one of my favorite lines from his comedy, Much Ado About Nothing, in which both Branaugh and Thompson star.

This tour takes travelers to the Globe theater where the works of Shakespeare have been performed live since the writer himself still lived. To further search out Shakespeare’s world, you’ll also visit his childhood home and that of his wife Anne Hathaway.

Following Austen

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

- Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

Some books we sink into again and again, and for me Pride and Prejudice is one of those. I enjoy all of Jane Austen’s novels, though that’s the one I’ve read the most. Austen’s stories have been made into films, and some of us first discovered her that way. Most of us did, though, move on to the books and soon loved them and their author. Jane Austen’s life was spread throughout England. She grew up near Basingstoke. You can still find the church there where her father held the position of preacher. There’s no memorial here or banner flying in her honor, but fans still love to find this place so prominent in Austen’s life.

Of course, anyone who’s read or studied Austen knows that Bath features prominently in her stories as well. The city has a wealth of history and is famous for its Roman bath houses, and you can visit it on this tour. Chawton is perhaps the best Austen site as a museum exists in a home where she once lived with her mother and sister. It’s a charming tribute to the author, including a book and gift shop. Jane Austen’s final resting place is in Winchester. You’ll find her grave in the city’s beautiful cathedral.

The Brontes

There is no happiness like that of being loved by your fellow creatures and feeling that your presence is an addition to their comfort.

-Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

While searching out scenes of literature in and around London, you’ll have to consider Haworth as well. This is where the Bronte sisters lived. Both JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte and WUTHERING HEIGHTS by her sister, Emily, are among the list of books that some people return to again and again. (As a writer, I can only see this as the ultimate compliment to your words and to your stories – that someone would read them again). Other works came from the Bronte household as well, which interestingly begins with a clergyman for a father – just like Jane Austen’s family. Apparently, a preacher’s home makes great inspiration for novel-writing.

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Now, the problem with my love for books is similar to the problem with my love for movies. I tend to settle on the few I love most and end up missing a lot. These are the attractions featured in our sample itinerary for now, but it’s only the beginning. I’m sure you have other beloved writers whose homes or museums are located near these. Maybe John Keats’ home, for instance, or someone you turn to every holiday season or every time you’re between new releases and just want to sink into a favorite. The point to theme travel is that you visit the places that mean the most to you. And books offer sometimes a wonderful place to begin.

Photo by Anguskirk on Flickr.

Perspective

I recently watched one of my favorite travel movies, Only You. And I was struck as usual by this line delivered by Bonnie Hunt’s character:

You know what I think? I think anything can happen here.

I think that’s one of the things we all love about travel, the pleasant shock that comes from a refreshing new perspective. Anything can happen here, we think. It’s a new place with new crowds of people. The energy is different. Potential is everywhere. We’re surrounded by unique opportunities, wishing fountains, fresh ideas. And it’s at some point, while imagining all the unfamiliar faces going about their lives in this fantastic place, that we hopefully come to the conclusion not that anything can happen there but that anything can happen. Period.

Remember when Mr. Keating had the students stand on their desks? When Elizabeth Bennet traveled to the country because “what are men compared to rocks and trees?” You can find the theme almost everywhere. What we need – all of us, very often – is a change in perspective. The ability not just to look in on other lives and lifestyles but to see our own lives from a distance.

This is the reason I love writing for a company that specializes in student tours and all kinds of educational travel for young people. And also why I admire the group leaders and administrators who work so hard to give these students the chance to have their eyes opened wide to possibility, the chance to realize for themselves, anything can happen here.

Anything can happen.

NYC Favorites: Fashion and Stage Door Delicatessen

Do you like what you do and where you do it? This is Tommy Hilfiger’s office, one of the surprisingly delightful attractions we visited on my Wednesday in New York, and it inspired all kinds of questions like this. The big ones – about life, happiness, and creativity.

We’d had an amazing morning at the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the World Trade Center site – all popular attractions for New York City educational travel, so we had to check them out. Then we visited a classic New York Deli we’ve used for groups because of its location in the financial district and its speed. It’s called Stage Door Delicatessen, and the variety of foods is perfect for a large group. You can please everyone when the menu offers fruit, salad, deli meats, burgers, fries, milk, juice, soda, tea, coffee, dessert, and even more. Visitors pick out some of their items like a store or call orders over the counter for the grilled, fried, and other hot items. What you order is prepared in an amazing amount of time. You pay and then you find a place to sit. A good indoor choice is around the corner and up some stairs to the deli’s second floor dining area, which overlooks the World Trade Center site. There are also several great outdoor places nearby. This is simply a great New York City experience and highly recommended for group tours there.

Full and happy, we made our way to the next attraction on our list for a look at the companies we feature in our fashion tours. The warehouse-turned-office-building looks industrial enough from the outside, but inside it holds two well-known fashion houses, each with their own personality, including the tours they offer.

First up, was Hugo Boss where we shook hands with a man dressed better than any person I’d ever stood beside. Here we got a glimpse at what a student tour there would normally look like, though it was all being renovated on our stop. It gave us an idea though. Guests are led first to the show room, which has a major remodel twice-yearly based on the seasons of fashion. The mannequins are redressed and rearranged even more often than that for pre-season showcases. That’s four times a year the room gets a whole new look, two of which require nail guns, new carpet, and ceiling tiles. Besides the excellence involved there, which was truly inspiring, I was also struck by the fact that students could visit several times a year and see fresh ideas every time.

Next, groups are led to another room where they’ll watch a media presentation, including a briefing on the importance of social media in our world today. It’s a fascinating look at the way this form of marketing is taking over the world, basically. Students will learn a lot about the influence of tools they probably use every day. This is also question-and-answer time. The Hugo Boss tour is a must for students of fashion, but any young person can learn from the innovation of this company and its success in a competitive industry.

If Hugo Boss makes you want to walk a little taller and buy a yacht (and the shoes to wear on one), the Tommy Hilfiger tour will make you want to push up the sleeves of your sweatshirt and start working on that dream you’ve always had – no matter what industry it falls under. Most tours are led by Tommy’s sister, though ours was conducted by the company historian, a man who teaches a Life 101 course and naturally, beautifully, led us through one on our tour.

The historian got his job because he dug a pair of plaid ankle boots from a pile of castoffs and it made an impression on Tommy while everyone else had scoffed. He gave us insider details on every inch of the Hilfiger offices – it seemed to us – even pointing out his favorite swatches on the presentation boards that had been painstakingly discovered and placed there by hardworking interns and office staff. We saw Tommy’s own office, pictured above in its then-recent incarnation, as the decor changes regularly. This season features custom artwork and portraits of rock stars -  the owner of the office apparently loving the rock and roll community like his historian loves Hollywood – and pictures of Mr. Hilfiger’s wife and children. We also landed in the company closet stuffed full (though carefully organized and cataloged) with hundreds of clothing items, from last season’s sailor sweaters to a pair of jeans custom-made for Marilyn Monroe.

Through the tour we learned Tommy’s history, the true American story, rags to riches, great idea to multi-million dollar enterprise. And our guide taught us wherever our passion lies, to do that. “Success may not bring happiness,” he told us. “But happiness can sometimes bring success.”

I’ve always kind of thought that if you really love what you do it doesn’t matter where you do it but that also if you really love where you work, it doesn’t matter what you do. I don’t think that’s true anymore. Because as we walked by cubicles cluttered with fashion samples and sketches, I realized a cubicle is still a cubicle no matter what sidewalks lie below and you really better love what you are doing no matter what. Hugo Boss and Tommy Hilfiger taught me that. You see how great they are for student tours?

Experiencing the Holocaust Memorial Museum

In light of recent news and the repetition of a plea on my twitter and facebook feeds to “stop the bullying,” I’m reminded of our experience this year in the Holocaust Memorial Museum. If you’re looking for a lesson in the kind of atrocities than can arise from hatred, bigotry, and ignorance, this museum is a powerful place to begin.

A lot of us entered it with trepidation. Though we often promote the Holocaust museum for educational travel, surely we – full grown adults, well past the years of text books and college seminars – had seen enough over the years about this terrible era to be properly informed and could responsibly avoid any more stories from a time in history we did not want to remember and certainly did not want to be able to relate to in any way.

Only a few moments into our experienced we realized we were wrong. The stories were still troubling, but the faces seemed more familiar now. It felt right to remember them, to hear them, and to consider the ways we could, unfortunately, relate. And amazingly, at the end, there was hope.

The Holocaust Memorial Museum is just that, a living memorial to the people victimized by the holocaust and a tribute to those who lived to describe it to us. It’s as comprehensive a museum as any in DC. And though it’s one of the best-designed of any we visited, a little understanding of what you’ll see might help prepare you for the story you’ll experience through thousands of artifacts as well as photographs, video, and literature.

A Good Place to Begin

One of the difficulties in such a large museum is deciding where to begin and where to go from there. From our experience, in this museum, that place is Daniel’s Story. For many Washington DC educational tours, we suggest only this section as it was designed by child psychologists to present the information in a way young students can handle. But then, it becomes the perfect beginning for all of us.

Here, we walked through young Daniel’s home – shockingly familiar in its toys and belongings. We traveled through Daniel’s Germany, stood in front of his father’s store. Then we followed as his family was moved to the Jewish ghetto and finally to a concentration camp. We heard it all through Daniel’s own words, from the pages of his diary.

Then, So Much More

After Daniel’s story, we rode the elevator to the top of the museum and followed the exhibits around the building through the three primary sections: the Nazi Assault, Final Solution, and the Last Chapter. The exhibits are beautifully arranged. We were mesmerized, almost not realizing we were being carefully guided from one floor to the next and from each display to the others. We were captured by the faces and the stories and the reality of where our own families would have been had we lived in Germany at the time. Would we have been persecuted as well? Would we have been the persecutors?

And that is the ultimate goal of the museum, that we learn to recognize hatred in our own lives, in our own time, to prevent and fight against atrocity like this from ever happening again. The responsibility is ours.

Finally, Hope

The last portion of this amazing museum tells the story of those who fought against their culture and worked toward love and tolerance rather than bigotry. Because of the history it tells, this museum is a great addition to student travel themes in history, faith, or global change. This is the inspiration to be moved to action ourselves. The museum not only teaches history but opens our eyes to tragedy in our own time, genocide happening even today. We are asked to consider what we will do about it and given the immediate opportunity to answer these question: Do we see it and Will we care?

Missing Central Park and Writing About It

You know the cliche about cars. You consider buying a certain kind and suddenly you see them everywhere.

It’s the same with I’ve-been-there syndrome too. While I sat on Bethesda Fountain, I thought about only a few of the scenes I’d loved on film that took place there. But now that I’ve been there, I see it everywhere, even in films I saw a million times before. You don’t really know a place until you’ve been to it.

I had the time of my life in New York City, finally experiencing all those places I’d only seen on film, including Central Park.

Did you know Central Park is built to gradually descend toward the center? Because of that, the noise of the city disappears completely as you explore. I’d heard that. I’d even written it, that the beauty of Central Park is being able to sit within sight of Manhattan’s skyscrapers without experiencing any of the noise from its streets. But it’s even more true than I imagined.

Central Park is as natural and woodsy in parts as the state park near my home that we simply call The Lake. Central Park’s most rugged space is known as The Ramble, and we found ourselves in it without even trying, stumbling onto its roughly carved benches and simple walkways. I even saw a painter sitting on a rock by the water, working on his next creation. I was in heaven.

We found almost all the landmarks I most wanted to see – Bethesda Fountain as mentioned (and pictured), Bow Bridge (one of the ultimate highlights for me), even Belvedere Castle. And it was lovely. We’d done so many other things with a guide, and I recommend that by all means. (We always use them for New York City educational tours). There’s so much you’ll see with a guide that you never would have seen without them. You’ll feel you haven’t really seen anything until someone tells you about its history, its relevance, and the many interesting stories surrounding it – the stuff expert guides have at their fingertips. I’m telling you, it makes a difference.

Still, there was something kind of magical about wandering around Central Park on our own – no guide, no map. Just us and the city we’d only imagined ourselves in before. At least, that’s what I had done. And now I was there, and it really felt like finding myself inside a movie or a storybook. Central Park only existed in theory until that moment, and now I was there. So that the entire moment felt outside of time and reality.

And now, when I see it on film, I thrill to every grassy space, every beautiful walkway and tree-covered path. Because I was there. And if it’s real, I have proven it. And if it’s only in my imagination, at least I once was part of the dream. That’s what travel can do.

Travel By Theme

With so many great US cities and an overwhelming number of exciting attractions in each of them, choosing where to go and what to see can be as overwhelming as deciding who has to carry the map.

Here’s a solution to the first issue: Group travel theme tours. This is great for families and group or student tours. And it’s a simple premise. Find common interests in your group – like literature, film, art and architecture, or perhaps a love for all things green – and build your travel around that. Here are some cool ideas to get you started.

Architecture This is especially for cities by the water – New York City, Boston, and Chicago being some of my favorites. If you’re going to one of these, be sure to book at least a water cruise – one of the most refreshing views for any skyline – and a view from the top. Observation decks in places like the Willis Tower in Chicago (formerly Sears) and Top of the Rock in NYC offer not just the view but interactive information about what you’re seeing. Perfect for an interest in architectural design.

Movies: On Location Tours, Inc., offers tours that are, frankly, a dream come true for me. They offer them in Central Park and Greenwich Village (and throughout Manhattan) in New York City, and they have tours in Washington D.C. as well. They take you to the outside locations for all kinds of famous scenes from television and movies – some recent, some classic. Throw in a Planet Hollywood or Kevin Bacon’s voice narrating your simulated flight over NYC at SkyRide in the Empire State Building, and you’ve got a tour that’s all things Hollywood.

Literature: This post is inadvertently a followup tot he last one in which I asked why any of us travel at all. For some, it’s because of our favorite literature. For this theme, follow in the footsteps of your favorite authors with a three-state tour of some of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s homes or a visit to Mark Twain’s Hannibal, Missouri. Or stay in a New England Bed & Breakfast and take a driving tour of Concord and Walden Pond, the setting for many favorite authors and philosophers. In Concord and nearby Amherst and Salem, you can visit places from the lives of Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Emily Dickinson, and more, as well as museums filled with their furnishings and personal effects.

Black History This is extremely popular for educational travel. In Boston, Washington DC, or Atlanta, for instance, you can walk in the footsteps of civil rights heroes as well as some of the first African-American architects, church builders, and more. Boston, like several other cities, offers a Black Heritage Trail, a group of attractions that showcase African-American contributions to the community and to American history at large. This theme is perfect for families and student groups. (Note* A new favorite for me along these lines is beautiful Mt. Vernon for Washington DC tours. There’s a lot to learn about black history there, including a memorial (pictured above) for slaves, some of whom were tragically buried in unmarked graves throughout the estate and surrounding areas.)

So, you’re getting the idea, right? I bet you can think of several theme tours off the top of your head that would be just your style. How about destinations perfect for ecotours, cities made for music lovers, or entire tours built around the theater? Did you know, for instance, Broadway offers workshops to coincide with your favorite shows?. This is such a thrill for drama students. The possibilities are endless. And besides that, imagine how fun the fundraisers could be.

Why Do You Go?

Lately I’ve heard a lot about bucket lists for travel. Having faced cancer and the very real possibility of life being shorter than I’d hoped, I’m rather fond of the basic bucket-list concept. It’s a blip, the time we have here, and we really should adjust our goals every single day to make sure we’re getting out of it – and giving to it – what we intend. This definitely includes the places we want to see.

Someone asked me on twitter the other day what was at the very top of my bucket list for places to see, and I answered without hesitation. It used to be New York City, I said. But fortunately I got to visit there in the spring and it has moved from places-I’d-most-like-to-see to places-I-call-friend. I hope to visit that city many more times. In fact, you can put it on my epitaph if you’d like: Wife, mother, friend of New York City. My new number one, I told him, is Prince Edward Island. Ah, he said, you’re likely a fan, then, of Anne of Green Gables.

And HOW, is pretty much what I said next. An entire portion of my identity is wrapped up in what the Anne of Green Gables books mean to my life. But somehow it never made it to number one on my bucket list until the last year or so as I’ve begun a novel as tribute to my love for the books. Now I want to glean as much as I can about the author and the island she so dearly loved. I can’t wait to go there, and I hope it’s soon.

This, of course, intrigues me as yet another thing that sets us each apart and adds to the story of our lives. This is common for my life; the places I want to go most are usually tied to a book or a movie I have loved. My love for New York, for instance, I place almost solely on the shoulders of Nora Ephron – and other filmmakers – who told stories of New York and presented it as a place like no other, a place with a personality and a boatload of possibility and tons of charm. I want to visit Italy because of film and England so I can walk in Jane Austen’s footsteps. And of course, Prince Edward Island because of the author who shaped me most.

So I wonder, what makes you want to go? I imagine there are hundreds of different responses. I hope someone tells me they go to make a difference. I know many travelers have that pursuit. Are you moved by stories in the media? Or maybe you’re like my coworker. He has one country on his bucket list, and once he goes he hopes to stay. It’s Ireland, and his love for it grew from the time he first knew of his heritage there. Does that motivate you as well? The place you’d live if America hadn’t had that pesky pursuit of happiness thing going on that drew our ancestors here?

It fascinates me that some people want to go at all, while others want to stay exactly where they are and enjoy the comforting sameness of it. Beyond that, it fascinates me to find out why people want to go. What motivates us to explore? What keeps us from sitting still? What is it that makes us want to see and touch and taste and feel for ourselves the places we’ve only heard about or seen in pictures or – well – you fill in the blank. What is it that makes you go?