One of the most striking sights on a London vacation is a circular wooden building in Tudor style poking above the southern bank of the River Thames – a reconstruction of William Shakespeare’s Globe Theater.

Opened in 1997 after exhaustive research, it today is a hugely popular shrine to the greatest playwright in the English language, where you can enjoy live performances in roughly the same setting as audiences 400 years ago, either from gallery seats around the stage or standing in the courtyard as a “groundling.”  Its recreation was an improbable, 50-year saga that could be an Elizabethan comedy itself.  Far from being concocted by academics, the new theater was the brainchild of a successful American actor named Sam Wanamaker, whose Hollywood roles included The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines.  Read the rest of this entry »

When you travel “across the pond” to vacation in England your trip is full of Stonehenge’s mystical circle to York’s medieval grandeur.  During your trip you are sure to enjoy dining out at many local pubs and restaurants.  Consider this tipping tip when vacationing in England:

Some restaurants and most hotels add a service charge of 10 to 15 percent of the bill. If this has been done, you’re under no obligation to tip further. If no service charge is indicated, add 10 to 15 percent to your total bill.

As we prepare for our virtual vacation and transport you to London, England with our latest blog series we can only imagine that you wish you were really boarding a double-decker bus, stopping at a local pub, or witnessing the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace in person.

Well today is your chance to enter to win a free vacation and other great travel prizes.  It’s simple.  Monograms is offering a grand prize vacation giveaway for 2 to a Monograms travel destination, including London.  The prize package is worth up to $7,500 and includes airfare.

Enter today for your chance to win!

Today we depart “The City of a Hundred Spires,” Prague, to arrive in a city that is home to more than a hundred theatres, London.

Over the next month we will explore England and the largest city in Britain, London.  During our series we will go behind the scenes of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, learn the best films to get young travelers excited, explore the British Museum and discover some of the city’s hidden gems and must-see-sights.

Whether you’re off checking out a Broadway-style show or riding through the city streets of London on a double-decker bus, your vacation in England will leave you with a lifetime of incredible memories.