Day 1

Your group will board an overnight flight to London.

Day 2

Your Joshua Expeditions guide will meet you at the airport then travel with you to the hotel. After taking some time to freshen up and grab a meal, you will head out to explore London. In a prelude to your focus on English literature, you will have an opportunity to enjoy many of the sites that have inspired British wordsmiths over the years, including Big Ben and the British Parliament building. The group will continue with an educational walking tour inspired by Charles Dickens that includes Trafalgar Square and The Strand, and you will later visit #10 Downing Street and see the Royal Horse Guards. The afternoon will allow for time at the National Art Gallery and the historic St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, and the day will conclude with dinner and a tour in Leicester Square before returning to the hotel for evening devotions.

Day 3

Your group will set out this morning for a tour of Westminster Abbey, site of all royal coronations. You will especially want to spend time in the "Poet's Corner" where you can see the markers for such literary greats as Chaucer, Tennyson, Dickens and Kipling. Later, the group will take a stroll through the park and observe the magnificent changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, and in the afternoon you will enjoy a tour of Shakespeare's Globe Theater as well as a visit to St. Paul's Cathedral, where John Donne served as a dean. Before the evening concludes, you will stroll around the neighborhood where Dickens lived while writing Oliver Twist and The Pickwick Papers. Devotions at the hotel will close out the day.

Day 4

This morning you will enjoy a walk across the famous Tower Bridge followed by a guided tour of the ancient Tower of London where you will be able to view (but not wear!) England's crown jewels. In the afternoon the group will tour the British Museum then take some time for shopping at places like Covent Garden and Harrod's. The night will conclude with devotions at the hotel.

Day 5

Following breakfast, the group will depart from London and head north across the English countryside to the picturesque town of Stratford-upon-Avon, where you can visit Shakespeare's birthplace and burial place. You might enjoy a stroll along the Avon River or take some time to browse through the many shops along the cobblestone streets. There may also be opportunity to catch a matinee performance from the Royal Shakespearean Players before heading toward Manchester to spend the night. Group devotions will conclude the day.

Day 6

Early in the morning, the group will depart for the beautiful area of the Lake District to discovery why Romantic poets like Coleridge and Wordsworth chose to escape there. In the afternoon, weather permitting, your group will board a boat for a ride on Lake Windermere and then meet a coach bus at Ambleside to be taken to Rydal Mount, the home of William Wordsworth. The group will return to York in the evening for nightly devotions.

Day 7

Today, your group will visit York Minster, the largest cathedral north of the Alps, as well as the ancient Roman walls that surround the city. You might enjoy shopping and relaxing in the shambles area of York, or you may opt to rent a boat to view this beautiful city from the river. York is one of the best spots in all of Europe! The group will return to London in the evening for a final night of devotions at the hotel. (Fees for optional activities are not included in the price of the trip.)

Day 8

Depart from London after an incredible literary journey!