Day 1 - Meet in front of Larkspur Middle School by the flagpole by 12:30 p.m. to start loading the charter bus. Bus will depart Larkspur by 1 p.m. AT THE LATEST to drive us to Dulles Airport in Washington, DC. Fly overnight on United Airlines to Heathrow Airport, London (dinner, snacks, and breakfast included on flight). Day 2 - Clear customs, get luggage, and meet our EF tour guide, Mansel David. Load coach, and begin coach tour of major sights. First we'll peruse the exterior of the Houses of Parliament, with photo ops of Big Ben and statues of Boudicca, Winston Churchill, Richard the Lionheart, and Oliver Cromwell (boo hiss!). Next we'll have an extended visit at Westminster Abbey/Poets' Corner/Cloister Brass Rubbing Center followed by a drive past Buckingham Palace! Next stop is a visit to Charles Dickens's House (Out Of Pocket expense), which is now a museum dedicated to this great English author. Drive past 10 Downing Street, Harrods, Trafalgar Square, etc. on way out of London. We will pass Runnymeade, where King John was forced by the English Barons to sign the Magna Charta in 1215. Continue to Windsor. Lunch and shopping in Windsor. Today you might take the "Fast Food Challenge" - is an English Big Mac the same as an American Big Mac?! Sightseeing of Windsor Castle and St. George's Chapel. Take coach back to London and check into our first hotel, where we will be dining tonight. After dinner, catch the Tube to visit Covent Garden and have a brief walking tour of Leister Square, Trafalgar Square, Soho, Picadilly Circus, etc. Then take a Tube ride back to the hotel for a good night's rest! Day 3 - Ride the world famous Tube to the Tower of London stop. There see the Crown Jewels, the "prophesied" ravens, and the infamous "Chopping Block"! Next walk over to the beautiful Tower Bridge to visit the Tower Bridge Experience exhibit. Next tube to the Monument stop for a visit to the Monument to the Great Fire of 1666 (OOP) - how many of you will earn a certificate for climbing the 311 steps to the top?! Next cross the Thames on foot for lunch and a visit to the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (OOP)! Then Tube back to the hotel to dress up for dinner at the annual Elizabethan Banquet, including transfers to and from by coach. Day 4 - Coach tour west through the English countryside to visit Stonehenge! Continue on to Glastonbury to see Arthurian relics, including visit to Glastonbury Abbey where King Arthur's alleged grave is - we all know he is *really* waiting on the Isle of Avalon to return one day! On to Bath to tour the Roman ruins - an ancient YMCA, basically! Return to London via coach. We'll be dropped off for dinner at The Green Man, a real English pub! Darts, anyone?! After dinner, return to the hotel by Tube, with a souvenir stop at the Hard Rock Café! Day 5 - Coach tour northwest through English countryside to Oxford University. Walking tour of Oxford led by EF tour guide, including yet another climbing challenge, this time to the top of Carfax Tower (OOP) for a fantastic view of Oxford. Resume coach tour through English countryside into Warwickshire, a.k.a. Shakespeare country, stopping at Anne Hathaway's Cottage (home of Shakespeare's wife) for a docent led tour. Continue on to central Stratford for lunch, shopping, and extensive sightseeing. Stick with Miss Fitch, resident Bardophile, for a tour of Shakespeare's Birthplace, the Gower memorial, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Holy Trinity Church (OOP), Shakespeare's grammar school, and New Place (OOP)(site of Shakespeare's last home). Continue on to Warwick Castle for an afternoon of exploring England's best preserved medieval castle. Coach tour northeast through English countryside to York, once the Viking capitol of England! Check into Harrogate hotel in Yorkshire. Day 6 - Visit York Minster, including entry into the beautiful Chapter House, and the "vivid" Yorvik Viking Centre before heading north by coach. In Hexham we will visit the Border History Museum (OOP) to learn about the Border Wars between England and Scotland as well as the infamous Scottish reiving clans! We will also stop for a photo op at the border of Scotland. After crossing the border into Scotland, visit Abbotsford, Sir Walter Scott's baronial mansion - not too shabby! Next we'll head north for Edinburgh, "auld reikie", Scotland's capitol and one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. After checking into our Edinburgh hotel and having dinner there, the coach will drop us off at the foot of the Castle to meet Adam Lyal, deceased highwayman, our guide for a Witchery Tour of Old Town Edinburgh (OOP)! Day 7 - Coach transfer to Edinburgh Castle to see the Honours of Scotland (Europe's oldest intact crown jewels), the Stone of Destiny, the War Memorial, and statues of Sir William Wallace (Braveheart, Scotland's greatest freedom fighter) and King Robert the Bruce. At the top of the Royal Mile, we will visit Edinburgh's Camera Obscura for unique and amazing overviews of the city. Next we will visit the Edinburgh Old Town Weaving Co. (OOP) with a real working mill at the foot of the castle. There we will learn about the history of tartan and kilts and even get to try our hands at working a loom! Before we continue down the Royal Mile, we will make a quick visit around the corner to the Writer's Museum (OOP), where we will see items relating to Scottish writers Burns, Scott, and Robert Louis Stevenson. Next we'll visit St. Giles's Cathedral and Cannongate Cemetery (the burial place of Scottish poet Robert Fergusson). At the foot of the Royal Mile, we will view Holyrood Palace and Arthur's Seat. Next we will climb to the top of Calton Hill to see monuments to Burns and Nelson, Edinburgh's Shame (an unfinished replica of the Greek Parthenon), the Memorial Cairn, and an incredible view of the city. For dinner, our coach will take us to and from a Scottish Ceilidh, complete with haggis, bagpipes, and highland dancing - maybe Miss Fitch can be persuaded to wear her Dress Ferguson kilt and bust out a Sword Dance to show Scottish Americans can represent! Day 8 - Coach westward through Scottish countryside towards Stirling. First we will visit the Bannockburn Visitor's Centre (OOP) and learn about the Battle of Bannockburn in which the Scots, led by King Robert the Bruce, whipped the English soundly and established Scotland's independence from England. Next up, a stop at Stirling Castle, considered the "key to Scotland" and much contested by the Scots and the English. Mary, Queen of Scots, grew up here. Don't miss the outstanding Regimental Museum of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, world renowned Scottish army regiments, which is housed inside Stirling Castle. Visible from the castle is the National Wallace Monument, which we will visit next. The climb to the top is arduous, but well worth the effort, both because of the amazing view of Stirling's countryside, where Wallace, Guardian of Scotland, won his greatest battle, and also the extreme beauty of the monument itself. The coach will next take us to Loch Katrine, near by where Rob Roy was born, for a cruise on the S.S. Sir Walter Scott. Next we'll have a photo op stop on the "bonnie bonnie banks" of Loch Lomond followed by a shopping stop at the Scottish Wool Centre in Aberfoyle! We will coach further southwest to Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, to check into our Glasgow hotel, where we will dine. Day 9 - The coach will drop us at the Hunterian Art Gallery to learn about Glasweigan architect, designer, and artist Charles Rennie Macintosh, whose unique and unmistakable style is now indelibly stamped on his native city. Next we'll visit the Piping Museum (OOP) to learn about the history of bagpipes in Scotland. Following lunch, perhaps at the Willow Tea Room, one of the Macintosh-designed Glasgow tea rooms (OOP), and shopping on Sauchiehall Street, we will visit the Paisley Museum to learn the history of this Scottish fabric design. Paisley, by the way, is where Elvis Presley's ancestors came from, and the Scots take great pride in this! The coach will now take us south to Kilmarnock, where Robert Burns's first edition of poetry was published, to visit the Burns museum/monument. We'll continue south to Tarbolton to visit the Tarbolton Bachelors' Club (OOP), founded by Burns and his associates. Continuing along the Burns Heritage Trail, we will also make stops for pictures at Souter Johnnie's Cottage (the home of the inspiration for one of the characters in 'Tam O' Shanter') and the Mauchline cemetery, where many of Burns's associates are buried. We will check into our hotel in Girvan right on the beach with a lovely view of Ailsa Craig. Dinner tonight will be fresh fish caught locally served at the hotel! Day 10 - A visit to the Tam O' Shanter Experience is first up today, followed by visits to Brig O' Doon, the Alloway Burns Monument, and Auld Alloway Kirk (in the daytime!). The coach will next take us to the Burns Cottage/Museum, where Robert Burns was actually born! The museum houses a great deal of Burns memorabilia. We'll make a stop at the gorgeous seaside Culzean Castle before heading north for Glasgow. In Uddingston, just outside of Glasgow, we'll stop to visit Bothwell Castle (OOP), a beautiful red stone ruin with the best surviving example of a medieval donjon, or castle tower, in Scotland. We'll check into our hotel in Glasgow. After dinner at the hotel, everyone should organize their belongings and PACK! Day 11 - Coach transfer to Glasgow International Airport for flight to Heathrow on British Midland Airlines. Board United Airlines for flight to Dulles Airport, where we will be picked up by a charter bus and brought back to Larkspur Middle School. (Food included on all flights.) Once we hit Williamsburg, we will initiate the phone chain to give parents an accurate idea of when we will be arriving back in Virginia Beach. Recover from jet lag!!!