7th Annual Europe Trip:
Mysteries & Muggles: Harry Potter’s United Kingdom
June 8-17, 2010
Tour a vibrant and Muggle-filled London before stepping into Harry’s magical world at Lacock Abbey, Christ Church College in Oxford, and Alnwick Castle in Edinburgh where many broomstick-flying and magic wand-waving scenes were filmed.
New: Italy Trip Web Site Posted
London, Bath, Stonehenge, Oxford University, Stratford, Warwick Castle, Yorkshire, Alnwick Castle. Edinburgh
Signup | Tour Cost | Itinerary |
About Explorica Inc. |
Payment Options & Deadlines |
Eligibility | Trip
Advice | Packing
Suggestions | Frequently Asked Questions
Exciting, Educational, Fun and Safe
- Visit The United Kingdom with experienced teachers from CLP.
- Experience the excitement of a custom planned trip created by teachers who have taken groups to the UK before and a trip tailored for CLP students. Not just another package tour!
- See the places you’ve heard about, read about and will study throughout your social studies classes.
- Enjoy the flexibility and safety of a private tour – only CLP teachers and students, no sharing rooms with strangers, We travel when we want, eat where we want and stay longer when we want, our own dedicated guide and our own spacious modern bus.
- Feel confident traveling with CLP teachers who have years of experience traveling with hundreds of CLP students throughout the United States and Europe.
- Arrangements made with an international student tour company that we have years of experience working with.
- This is our second trip to The United Kingdom
- Printable Itinerary with Costs
Signup in Three
Easy Steps...
1) Complete and return the CLP Application Essay to Mr. Jewett for approval.
(if this is your second time going on the trip
you don't need to do this)
Link to CLP Application
Essay
2) Complete the CLP Agreement Form.
(Payment of $80 to Ms. Evans. Check made out to CLP Middle School)
Link to the CLP agreement form
3) Complete the Explorica Inc. Agreement and registration.
Link
to Explorica Web Site - www.explorica.com/Denise-6553
(On the Explorica web site click on the button on the right hand
side that says "Sign Up Now ")
Tour Cost...
| Basic Tour Fee |
2,342.00 |
| Private Group Fee |
155.00 |
| Explorica Membership* |
95.00 |
Airport fees, taxes, and airline fuel surcharges
(Subject to Change) |
475.00 |
| Total Paid to Explorica |
3,067.00 |
Tips to tour director, bus driver, local guides and PSD insurance and fees.
(Paid to CLP Middle School) |
80.00 |
| Final Total Cost |
3,147.00 |
| *If you have gone on the trip before you will not need to pay this again. |
Note: Unfortunately as the dollar continues to weaken against the euro we will see price increases every year for trips. We are doing everything we can to keep the trip as affordable as possible. This trip is only $26 more than last years trip to Italy.
See current conversion rates for the euro to dollar.
Itinerary
| Day 1 > June 08 > Start Tour |
| Depart Denver International Airport |
| Day 2 > June 09 > Hello London |
| Meet your Tour Director and check into hotel
London City Walk
Thames River, Trafalgar Square, National Gallery Visit, Piccadilly Circus, Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Soho Fish & chips dinner
Details: London City Walk
Step outside your hotel, for a stroll through the streets of the heart of the English-speaking world. In this city of nearly seven million, you'll see everything from 12th-century fortifications to modern skyscrapers, formal parks to punk rockers. Your Tour Director will lead you to some of the most famous sites. Walk along the Thames River. Cross Trafalgar Square. See bustling Piccadilly Circus. Pass trendy shops and cafés in Bohemian Soho on your way to Covent Garden, a 13th-century fruit and vegetable garden transformed into a maze of narrow streets and pedestrian walkways burgeoning with street performers, open-air markets and boutiques.
Details: Fish & chips dinner
Nothing’s more British than fish and chips—there are eight fish and chip shops (“chippies”) for every McDonald’s in the country. Head to an authentic pub with your Tour Director for a taste of this national food, generally served with malt vinegar. |
| Day 3 > June 10 >London Landmarks |
London Guided Sightseeing Tour
Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge, Hyde Park, St. Paul’s Cathedral,
Tower of London
Details: London Guided Sightseeing Tour
Join a licensed local guide for an in-depth look at London, from the royal haunt of Buckingham Palace (the official London residence of Queen Elizabeth II) to the slightly more democratic Speakers’ Corner of Hyde Park, where anyone can pull up a soapbox and orate to his heart’s content. You’ll see the changing of the guard (season permitting), the clock tower of Big Ben with its 14-ton bell, and Westminster Abbey, where almost every English king and queen since William the Conqueror has been crowned. After a stop at the Houses of Parliament, continue on to the magnificent St. Paul’s Cathedral, the masterpiece of London architect Christopher Wren. |
| Day 4 > June 11 >London--Bath |
Travel to Bath via Stonehenge
Stonehenge visit
Lacock Abbey visit
Chippenham visit
Details: Stonehenge visit
Visit prehistoric Stonehenge, built in 3,000 BC, a mysterious monument of four concentric rings of hefty stones, believed to be a sacred place of worship or some type of calendar.
Details: Lacock Abbey visit
Evocative Lacock Abbey, rebuilt in the 18th century, was used as the setting for many of the classroom scenes in the Harry Potter films. |
| Day 5 > June 12 > Bath--Stratford |
Bath Guided Sightseeing Tour
Pulteney Bridge, Roman Baths visit, Abbey
Travel to Stratford via Oxford
Oxford Tour Director-led sightseeing tour
Christ Church College visit
Details: Bath Guided Sightseeing Tour
England's most fashionable spa town in the 18th century, beautiful, Georgian-style Bath was where the society set headed to "take the waters" and attend the theaters. But the spa scene began bubbling long before then. The Romans built baths here between the 1st and 5th centuries to capitalize on the area's natural hot springs. A professional, local tour guide will lead you to the Roman ruins, some of the best in Europe. But keep your clothes on! Your tour continues to the remains of the Medieval abbey church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (built on the site of a nunnery from the 670s). Look up at the fan-vaulted ceiling. Step back outside to see the ornate west front featuring relief sculptures of Jacob's ladder. Continue to Pulteney Bridge, built in the 18th century after the style of Florence's Ponte Vecchio. As in Florence, shops line the span.
Details: Oxford Tour Director-led sightseeing tour
Explore the oldest English-speaking university in the world. Founded in 1096, Oxford got a big attendance boost in 1167, when a tiff between the English and French kings caused all English students to be expelled from the University of Paris. Many came back to Oxford, and since then the university has been home to many of England's most illustrious thinkers and writers, including Sir Walter Raleigh, Roger Bacon -- and Dr. Seuss.
Details: Christ Church College visit
Envision flying candelabra, floating school crests, and swooping owls all hovering over the deafening din of a typical school cafeteria. Now step into Christ Church College, and see the location for Hogwart's dining hall. Don't forget to check out Bodleian Library, which was used as Hogwarts library, and the Divinity School, which was transformed into the hospital wing! |
| Day 6 > June 13 > Stratford Landmarks |
Stratford Tour Director-Led Sightseeing Tour
Anne Hathaway’s Cottage visit, Shakespeare's birthplace visit
Warwick Castle visit
Details: Stratford Tour Director-Led Sightseeing Tour
See William Shakespeare's childhood home, furnished in a style typical to the Elizabethan period. Then tour the thatched cottage where his wife, Anne Hathaway, lived before her marriage. The adjoining Shakespeare Tree Garden is planted with trees and flowers mentioned in Shakespeare's plays.
Details: Warwick Castle visit
Rising up from a cliff overlooking the Avon River, Warwick Castle is one of the finest medieval castles in England. Built between the 13th and 17th centuries, the castle has turrets, towers, and a turbulent past. Enter through a passageway cut in a slab of solid rock. See the "apartment block" containing the chapel, great hall, staterooms, and apartments. Then climb a narrow spiral staircase to the top of Guy's Tower (named after Guy of Warwick, a legendary warrior featured in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales). From the tower, look out over the lush countryside of Warwickshire. That small hill to your right is the castle mound, the site of the original 11th-century wooden castle. End with a stroll of the sweeping lawns planted with grand trees. |
| Day 7 > June 14 >Stratford--Yorkshire |
Travel to Yorkshire
York Tour-Director Led Sightseeing Tour
York Minster visit
Details: York Tour-Director Led Sightseeing Tour
Charming York combines medieval mysteries with modern flair. Gothic buildings and cobblestone streets lead to bustling shopping districts; ancient stones make up the now-picturesque city walls. Explore the birthplace of Guy Fawkes with your Tour Director.
Details: York Minster visit
Spectacular York Minster has the largest medieval stained-glass window in the world, and holds half of all of England's medieval stained glass. The largest Gothic building in the country dazzles visitors with these intricate works, from the silvery Five Sisters Window to the apocalyptic East Window, which depicts both the beginning and the end of the world. |
| Day 8 > June 15 >Yorkshire--Edinburgh |
Travel to Edinburgh
Alnwick Castle visit
Details: Travel to Edinburgh
Travel through the heather-covered hills of Yorkshire, a wild, rugged landscape that looks like the setting for Wuthering Heights. Stop at York Minster, the largest Gothic church in England. "Large" is not a big enough word to describe this 534-foot-long cathedral. Step inside and gaze up at the 90-foot soaring ceilings, gargantuan pillars, and stained-glass windows so intensely coloured, they look like jewels. Bring binoculars to get a good look at the cobalt and garnet glass in the church's 128 stained-glass windows.
Details: Alnwick Castle visit
Magnificent Alnwick Castle, the second largest in the country, has been a favorite setting for movies, with several Harry Potter and Robin Hood films to its credit. The Hogwarts crew used Alnwick when they learned to fly their brooms, and for several of the Quidditch game sequences. |
| Day 9 > June 16 >Edinburgh Landmarks |
Edinburgh Guided Sightseeing Tour
Royal Mile, Old Town, Sir Walter Scott Monument, Edinburgh Castle
See the Elephant House coffee shop
Details: Edinburgh Guided Sightseeing Tour
Edinburgh Castle, the historical and emotional heart of the city, is just one of the many sights you will see on this tour, led by a licensed professional guide. Make your way along the Royal Mile, the main thoroughfare of the 16th and 17th centuries. (It's actually one mile and 107 yards long--from Edinburgh Castle to the Palace of Holyrood House). As you make your way along cobbled streets, you'll see a handful of the several thousand buildings officially protected in Edinburgh because of their architectural or historic importance. The 200-foot spire of the Sir Walter Scott monument soars above the East Princes Street Gardens. Grand figures from Scottish history adorn its heights, make sure you also look down -- the figure below the marble statue is Scott's favorite dog, Maida. |
| Day 10 > June 17 >Return to Denver |
Explorica Inc.
We work with an excellent tour company called Explorica Inc.. All of your financial transactions will be between Explorica and you. Please make sure you pay close attention to payment due dates when signing up. In order to reduce costs all communication between you and Explorica will be through email. Your will not receive a printed bill or invoice.
Payment Options & Deadlines
Please be aware that your pricing does expire; the valid dates will be listed on your TourCenter.
Participants have three payment options with Explorica:
- Pay in full at the time of enrollment
- Monthly Automated Plan: Pay the $95 Lifetime Membership Fee upon enrollment and divide the balance into equal monthly payments automatically debited from a checking account or charged to a credit card until 65 days before departure
- 3-Step Manual Plan: Pay the $95 Lifetime Membership Fee immediately, $450 one month later, and the remainder any time before 99 days before departure
Eligibility
- 7th, 8th grade student at CLP Middle School or 9th-11th Grade Student .
- Attend Cache La Poudre Middle School or were a former student in good
standing.
- Good Academic Standing (2.0
GPA or higher)
- No discipline issues or referrals
- Complete application essay (if this is your second time going on the CLP trip you don't need to do this.)

Trip
Advice | Packing
Suggestions
NEW: Take
a look at the web site from last years Greece trip!
PLEASE READ - Frequently Asked Questions
Previous Trips - Details and Photos
England & Ireland (2004)
Italy
(2005)
Spain (2006)
Germany (2007)
Greece (2008)
Italy (2009)