IN SEARCH OF HARRY POTTER – MAGIC AND MYTHS

 9 Days tour including arrival and departure

What a fantastic opportunity to visit England with the 'kids' or 'grandkids', introduce them to British culture, history and literature, while at the same time discovering the world of J K Rowling and Harry Potter through visits to film locations and sites and attractions associated with the boy-wizard and friends

Our memorable, fun-filled and magical tour has it all! Yes, there's Hogwarts School and a taste of riding a 'Hogwarts Express'. There are Harry's feathered friends, witches and fairies. There are giants (you!), ghosts, and a flight across London's rooftops...

All this and visits to the historic cities of Gloucester and Oxford. You'll see fabulous castles, timeless villages and prehistoric temples. You'll explore beneath the depths of the earth in deep caves and caverns and discover, too, the works of other marvelous, magical writers and their creations from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland to the Hobbits of J R R Tolkien.

DEPARTURE DATES & PRICES FOR YEAR 2002

This tour can also be taken by family groups from 3 to 12 in size wishing to have their own private tour. With your own tour, you can choose your own travel dates, start on any day of the week, and either extend the tour or contract it according to your own time and budget constraints. We can also offer a one-day Harry Potter tour, departing central London, that features film locations in Oxford, a steam train ride, and a visit to the miniature village. Contact us for futher details and to discuss your family's 2002 vacation.

 Price: Adult US$1795

Child US$1275

Single Supplement: US$195

Day One - Saturday
The wizardry begins on arrival as you're met at one of London's airports by your guide. After taking you first to your hotel, we'll then whisk you away into the world's most exciting city and the first of many adventures. We've no magic-carpet but a ride on the famed Millennium Wheel is a good substitute as the fantastic Ferris wheel that takes you, like Mary Poppins, above London's rooftops.

We'll complete our magical first day with some traditional fish 'n' chips.

There's an optional visit to the original Hard Rock Cafe for dinner tonight, or to Chinatown. Just tonight, dinner is not included in your tour price.

Day Three - Monday
ALL ABOARD! The Hogwarts Express leaves town! Will you be on it?

We leave London and drive towards Salisbury. Nearby, we'll board a half-gauge steam train and ride the watercress line in Hogwarts Express style! Next, you'll see one of England's most mysterious sites, the prehistoric Stonehenge, before we arrive at the medieval village of Lacock. It's going to be fun exploring the 13th century Abbey and spotting which bits were used for various interior scenes at Hogwarts School.

We're staying tonight near the mystic heart of ancient Britain, Glastonbury, where the leylines meet and there's always magic in the air and the promise of the unexpected!

Day Four - Tuesday
Today is a day of Celtic myths and magic. Glastonbury is, according to legend, the burial place of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. But there's more legend here than simply the 'Knights of the Round Table'. This is a city associated with fairies and where Gwyn ap Nudd, King of the Fairies, set up court in the magical hollow of Glastonbury Tor. And yes, you'll visit the Tor itself.

Next, we'll seek out the world of witches and descend deep into a world reminiscent of Tolkien's 'Middle Earth', the caves and caverns of Wookey Hole, home of the Wookey Witch.

Day Five - Wednesday
We're on a wizard's trail today. It's Merlin the Magician we seek (and yes, he really did exist) as we cross the Severn River to Wales, land of the Red Dragon! This was an area well-known to J K Rowling, creator of our boy-wizard, and places like the 12th century Chepstow castle and the Forest of Dean must have been a source of great inspiration when she attended school in this area. We'll explore the battlements of this fairytale fortress (where you can imagine defending the castle against the forces of darkness alongside Merlin). Later, we'll look for forest spirits and visit the Forest of Dean Heritage Centre.

Our final highlight of the day is to visit some of Harry's favorite friends - the owls and birds of prey at the National Bird of Prey Centre in Gloucester. The question is, will they tell us what they see...

Day Six - Thursday
Stand by Potter fans! It's another opportunity to place yourself in Hogwarts! This lovely, historic city of Gloucester has many wonderful literary connections, in addition to visiting Gloucester Cathedral and the King's School, both of which were used as locations for Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone. We'll introduce you to another Potter - Beatrix Potter - and her creation Peter Rabbit. And you'll learn why Humpty Dumpty can claim his origins here.

We'll tour through the magnificent Cotswolds, hearing exciting and mysterious tales of the area and stopping off to find fairy rings and villages where you'd not be surprised to find Hobbits! We'll be checking the locals to see if they've hairy feet!

Day Seven - Friday
Are you ready to practice a bit of magic of your own? Today you will be taking part in some authentic divining in the centre of a prehistoric stone circle! When the divining rods twitch what will lie beneath our feet...?

Then to the majestic Oxford, 'city of the dreaming spires'. Many of the scenes in the film were shot in various locations around Christchurch College. You'll be able to have your own picture taken in Hogwarts Hall, or on the great staircase where Professor McGonnigal greeted the new students. Or perhaps the child in all if us will prefer to be pictured in the cloisters of Christchurch, the setting for Hogwarts Trophy Room and where Harry is shown the trophy his father won as a seeker in Quidditch.

Oxford was also the setting for a magical book of another age but still managing to thrill today's generations. You'll see where Alice wondered through the small door into Wonderland, find a dodo, and discover where Lewis Carroll took his inspiration for the white rabbit, elongated necks and Mad Hatter tea parties on our 'Alice in Wonderland' walk.

You'll also see where J R R Tolkien (Lord of the Rings), C S Lewis (The Lion,the Witch and the Wardrobe) and T S Elliot (The Wasteland) all met to discuss their fabulous tales. What a super opportunity of introducing new generations to a wider but always magical world of English literature.

If there's time tonight we'll enjoy a flat boat (punt) ride on the River Isis.

Day Eight - Saturday
We've more great highlights than you can shake a broomstick at for our final day.

First, we'll visit the steam railway centre at Didcot where they celebrate the Golden Age of Steam. Then on to a miniature village where instead of seeing giants we'll all be them as we stride over houses and tiny people!

Our third event of the day will be to visit the caves where the Hell-Fire Club met. Why that shiver? Surely you're not scared of the spooks!

On to the quaint Thames riverside town of Marlow (where Mary Shelly's ghastly 'Frankenstein' was partially written) and a boat ride on the river, if we haven't managed one already.

Finally, our climax, tonight we'll enjoy a ghost tour of London, descending into haunted prison cells below the city's streets, graveyards where owls hoot, and to where the pirates met their 'orrible deaths!

What a finish to our Harry Potter tour and what a day to remember!

Day Nine - Sunday
Alas, it's time to return home and you're transferred to your airport of departure. It has been a truly special journey through some of the most beautiful countryside of England and Wales. Everyone in the family, young and old, will have photographs and memories to remind them of their time together in the magical world of Harry Potter.

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