Bright Horizon Travel

It’s always lovely to receive these messages once travellers return home. We represent the booking agent in NZ and looking after their clients is our top priority. Once travellers arrive in the UK or Europe, we make contact via WhatsApp and we support them every step of the way. This was a ‘Trip of a Lifetime’ for 2 people from NZ visiting UK, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Sorrento, Naples, Chania, Dubrovnik, Split & Copenhagen - 7 countries in 6 weeks! 🌍🗺️✈️

📍Dominion Theatre, London
When in London, we always recommend a visit to the West End 🎭 Sister Act, currently running at the Dominion Theatre comes highly recommended! We were blessed with seeing Beverley Knight as the leading lady, alongside Lemar, Lee Mead, Ruth Jones and Lesley Joseph! What a cast, what a musical 🎶

What a beautiful sight! ❤️🤍💙

The view of the spectacular Red Arrows flypast over the Tower of London from Tower Bridge, a few moments ago, as part of today's Trooping the Colour parade 🇬🇧

On behalf of we send best wishes to His Majesty The King on his official birthday!

📷 Danny Parlour, London Blue Badge Tourist Guide

Historic Royal Palaces

What an impressive display of pageantry this morning in London 🇬🇧💂‍♀️

For those who would like to know more on the origins of Trooping the Colour…
https://www.householddivision.org.uk/trooping-the-colour-origins

Members of the Household Division, including the regimental Wolfhound mascot Tor, marching in the King’s Birthday Parade in London. 242 military working horses, 250 military musicians, 40 pipers and drummers, and more than a thousand soldiers took part in Trooping the Colour.

📍Jubilee Walkway from Tower Bridge to the London Eye

Approx 2.5 miles, this walk takes in many sights along the South Bank of the River Thames, our photos show just a few!

📍The View from the Shard, London
🚆 Nearest tube: London Bridge

Offers some of the best views of the capital, firstly from level 69 and then from the open air level 72!

https://www.theviewfromtheshard.com/

📍Borough Market, London

Easily reached on the Jubilee or Northern Line to London Bridge station, right opposite the market.

Open 6 days a week from 10am except Saturdays, open from 9am. Closed on Mondays.

One of the largest and oldest food markets in London, with over 100 stall holders. Taste your way around the market with samples on offer every step of the way!

Well worth a visit. So much to see in this area too including A View from The Shard, Southwark Cathedral, Tower Bridge, HMS Belfast, Fashion & Textile Museum and much more. Enough here to keep you entertained all day.

🇮🇹 V E N I C E E N T R Y F E E 🇮🇹

❗️On 25th April, Venice introduced an entry fee for visitors to combat overtourism. For a trial period, the city will limit entry on 'black sticker' days between now and July, which will help preserve the authenticity of the city. Here is some useful information, please feel free to share!

💶Entry costs 5,00€ per person per day. Visitors over the age of 14 who are not staying overnight in the city and who want to visit Venice between 8.30am and 4 pm will have to buy a ticket. You do not have to pay if you enter Venice between 4pm and 8.30am.
If you are staying in a hotel within the Municipality of Venice, you do not require a ticket, but you must remember to request a QR-code from your hotel.

💳You can buy your ticket online here - https://cda.ve.it/en/. Once you have made payment, you will be sent a voucher with a QR code, which you will be asked to show at one of the 8 access points.

📆The 'black sticker' dates are as follows:
▪️25th April to 5th May (every day)
▪️Weekends in May - 11/12, 18/19 & 25/26 May
▪️Weekends in June - 8/9, 15/16, 22/23 & 29/30 (1/2 excluded)
▪️First 2 weekends in July - 6/7 & 13/14

❌If you do not buy a ticket, fines range from 50€ to 300€.

We’ve had the most fabulous day at Chewton Glen Hotel & Spa hosted by Iconic Luxury Hotels and Hotel Excelsior Venice Lido Resort. The day began with a cooking class at The Kitchen at Chewton Glen with Alessandro, the executive chef from the Hotel Excelsior Lido Resort, making Ravioli stuffed with red shrimps from the Adriatic Sea, followed by Tiramisu - did you know Tiramisu originates from Treviso? So the Venetians are very proud of it! We then had time to see more of this beautiful hotel, which we highly recommend to our clients!

We were very sad to hear of the recent fire at Maggie Jones's, which is one of our favourite restaurants in London. However, we were not disappointed by their sister restaurant, La Poule au Pot in Belgravia! Following the sad news of the fire, we moved our group booking to La Poule au Pot who were extremely accommodating, the staff were so helpful and the food was excellent! We wouldn't hesitate in recommending and we will be certain to use for our clients again the future.

Ladies and gentlemen, the moment we've all been waiting for... it's Friday

Great photograph by

This is exciting news for London! Time to dust off the skates, as Andrew Lloyd Webber's famous musical returns, for the first time since January 2002! I'm sure we will have visitors queuing up to see this 🛼🎭

Starlight Express | Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre | Official Tickets Returning to the London stage for the first time in over 20 years, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s STARLIGHT EXPRESS opens Summer 2024 in the specially designed Starlight Auditorium at Troubadour Wembley Park.

Congratulations Gleneagles 🍾🥳

Today, we have another group arriving from New Zealand; 16 students, accompanied by 3 teachers arriving in Athens ready to embark on their Classics Tour of Greece & Italy. Their tour begins with 3 nights in Athens, before embarking on a road trip across mainland Greece, before flying to one of the small Greek Islands in a weeks time 🇬🇷

As the UK tour came to an end this week for Jo Seagar and friends, I accompanied the group to Rome 🇮🇹 Having met up with their Italian hosts at Fiumicino Airport, I waved them off, where they will now spend a week in an Agriturismo in Umbria. I then headed into Rome to prepare for another group of NZ students arriving!

Afternoon Tea at The Ritz London is so special! 🥂🍰

After waving goodbye to James at the Chewton Glen, we headed to London for 2 nights at The Bailey's Hotel London. A pre-show dinner at La Poule au Pot, which was excellent, then on to Abba Voyage. A leisurely day yesterday before another special experience, which deserves a separate post of its own! Last night we dined at Princess Diana’s favourite Italian restaurant Da Mario’s, which we thought was a lovely way to end the UK part of the trip as we head to Rome! 🇮🇹 Big shout out to our 2 drivers, George & Jamie at Greys of Ely for looking after our group so well!

A few more from yesterday’s cookery class with James Martin!

This element of the tour for Jo Seagar and friends has been planned for many, many months. We love nothing more than creating life long memories for our clients and today was no exception! When Pam Young Travel - Designer of Holidays came to us and asked if we could arrange a James Martin cooking class, we were only too happy to oblige! It was a no brainer to include a stay at the stunning Chewton Glen Hotel, where we had a beautiful dinner in the Wine Room last night, followed by a private cooking class and lunch with the lovely James! Thank you also to the staff at The Kitchen at Chewton Glen today who looked after us all so well ❤️

Jo Seagar and friends have been busy touring the length and breadth of the country since I was with them last weekend, and today I met up with them at Chewton Glen Hotel & Spa! We arranged pre-dinner drinks in Tinkers Bar, followed by a private dinner in the wine room this evening, which was stunning! It’s been an absolute pleasure working with Pam Young Travel - Designer of Holidays to make this tour special ✨

We welcomed New Zealand’s TV celebrity, cook and author, Jo Seagar and friends on Friday for a 13-day tour of the UK, starting in Edinburgh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 It’s been an absolute pleasure working with Pam Young Travel - Designer of Holidays to create this very special tour. Tanya welcomed the group at Newcastle Airport and with trusted partner Greys of Ely, they took the beautiful drive up the Northumberland coast to Edinburgh. After a good nights sleep, day 2 began with a delightful foodie walking tour of Leith Port with Nell Nelson of Edinburgh Food Safari, followed by a visit to Edinburgh Castle with Afternoon Tea and an underground ghost tour in the evening 👻

After a delayed and eventful journey to Edinburgh yesterday, they day was spent preparing for the arrival of our group. As the saying goes ‘proper planning and preparation, prevents p!*$ poor performance’! Here’s a few photos taken around Edinburgh yesterday 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Off Tanya goes to Scotland to meet a small VIP group from New Zealand. Last year, our client approached us with an idea, which developed into something that, they could only describe as a ‘dream’. Late night conversations between the NZ agent and us went along the lines of “if only you could make it happen”. So the challenge was set! It’s not been easy, it’s taken some negotiating, and meticulous planning, but tomorrow this group of travellers arrive and we are beyond excited to be making that ‘dream’ come true. We’ve created a tour, which will provide them with memories to last a lifetime! First stop Edinburgh…keep following to see where their tour takes them! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇳🇿

We love receiving messages like this from corporate clients!

Yesterday afternoon, a client of one of our NZ partner agencies was due to arrive in Berlin. We had arranged an airport meet & greet with private transfer to the hotel. However, said client wasn’t on said flight!

We made contact with the traveller via WhatsApp who only had 2% battery! We quickly established the client was booked onto a later flight. We then notified our driver the client would be a no show and arranged another driver to meet & greet the client from the later flight…all done within 30 mins. At 10pm last night the client messaged to say they had made it to the hotel and were very grateful for our help!

We represent our partner agencies who are on the other side of the world in different time zones, and this is a prime example of how we can be there for their clients, when they can’t

Ready to start day 2 of IMEX before flying back to London this evening. We work with travel retailers all over the world planning and operating their client’s trips to the UK & Europe. Due to the many miles between us, we rarely get the opportunity to meet, but yesterday was one of those golden opportunities! Susan had travelled all the way from New Zealand for IMEX, so it was lovely to finally meet in person. Susan and her team put their trust in us with their clients, and we are forever grateful for all the business they send our way 🇳🇿

Out and about in Frankfurt 🇩🇪