St Albans Day Trip by train on Saturday 2nd November

Join us on a Day Trip to the picturesque and historic town of St Albans (just 25 minutes from St Pancras International Train Station in central London). This month my brother and I spent the day in St Albans specifically to ensure the very detailed planning of the trip (as we always do for our events).

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Brief details of this Day Trip are included immediately below. However, you will need to scroll past the larger photographs of St Albans below to read the very detailed itinerary and what's included in the price.

St Albans was founded by the Romans as 'The City Of Verulamium' when they invaded in AD 43. At one stage it was the second largest town in Roman Britain and one of their most important strategic locations. Today St Albans has a fine blend of medieval and modern features grafted on to the original Roman site. St Albans is officially a Cathedral City. However, due to it's small size, it is usually described by travel writers as a bustling and attractive market town.

We'll be travelling by train instead of private coach as it's only a short journey unlike our previous trips. There'll be so many meeting points throughout the day that no-one will be left alone for long periods of time (although we do realise that some people prefer to explore locations by themselves and therefore following every aspect of the itinerary is not compulsory).

We've already privately arranged a professional guide to take us on a walking tour of the town when we arrive. Due to the demand for this trip, we have now booked two guides (the group will be split in two, although only for the duration of the guided tour). We'll also be visiting the beautiful St Albans Cathedral - the oldest site of continuous Christian worship in Britain.

In addition, we'll be visiting the award-winning Roman Museum of St Albans. This museum displays beautiful objects from the Roman City of Verulamium, featuring superb mosaics and re-created Roman rooms which are perfect for discovering the life and times of a major Roman city. Getting to the museum involves a beautiful 15 minute lakeside walk through Verulamium park.

If you are new to the group, please click on the links below to view the very positive reviews for the three day trips we have already organised through this new meetup group. Almost every member who attended each Day Trip gave a maximum '5-star Event Rating'.

• Bath Day Trip (https://www.meetup.com/Day-Trips-From-London/events/116804912/)

• Stratford Upon Avon Day Trip (https://www.meetup.com/Day-Trips-From-London/events/124763422/)

• Canterbury and Margate Day Trip (https://www.meetup.com/Day-Trips-From-London/events/133353012/)

Please scroll down past the beautiful photos of St Albans below to read the full plan, itinerary and what's included in the price:

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Itinerary and what's included in the price:

MEETING POINT - 9:30 am - We will meet by the main 'National Rail Tickets Office' in St Pancras International Train Station (this is near Starbucks and in an area known as 'The Circle'). This station is very large with two floors - the 'upper' and 'lower' levels. Our meeting point by the National Ticket Office is on the 'lower' floor'. We will be holding up a green and white hand flag to help you recognise us. Please ring us on the mobile numbers provided in the unlikely event that you can't find us.

Below we have attached a photograph of our exact meeting point location to make it easier for you. You can also view a map of St Pancreas International Station if you 'Click Here' (http://stpancras.com/media/177743/st_pancras_international_station_map-v8.pdf) - our meeting point is near number '26a' marked on the map.

The closest Underground Tube station to St Pancras International is Kings Cross (and St Pancras International Station is clearly signposted from this tube station)

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We will leave the meeting point at 9:45 am - so you 'must' arrive by this time. We will then walk 2/3 minutes to the platform and catch the 10:04 am train (trains run every 10-15 minutes to St Albans). Return train tickets are included in the price. Please note that as we have bought discounted group tickets, we must all travel as a group (you will not be able to travel separately).

10:24 am - Arrive in St Albans. We will then walk 15 minutes to the centre of St Albans where the Clock Tower is located (this landmark will be used for meeting points throughout the day). Everyone will then have a short break before our guided tour starts at 11:00 am.

11.00 am - 12:30 pm - Guided Walking Tour of St Albans with a professional guide. The guided walk is included in the price. The tour will take approximately 90 minutes. The tour meeting point will be at the Clock Tower (where we will already be located). Please can everyone ensure they are waiting at the guided tour meeting point at 10:55 am.

12.30 - 2.30 pm - The Guided Walk will finish at 12.30 pm outside St Albans Cathedral. We will then go into the cathedral. A brief visit to the cathedral will take approximately 20-30 minutes. After our cathedral visit, members will be given free time for lunch and to continuing exploring St Albans. We anticipate members will split into small groups or they can join my brother and I who will be having lunch in the town centre. The cathedral has free entry.

2:30 pm - We will meet once again at the Clock Tower and head for the Roman Museum of Verulamium. The Museum entry fee included is included in the price. Walking to the museum will take approximately 20 minutes - it's mainly a beautiful stroll through Verulamium Park. We'll then spend approximately 45 minutes in the museum (members are welcome to spend more time in the museum, but that will mean you will need to make your own way back to the town centre). We have arranged a museum group booking, so we must all enter the museum together.

3:45 pm - We'll meet outside the museum and head back to the town centre. We've planned a different route for our walk back to the centre. This will take approximately 20 minutes through one of St Albans picturesque villages. When we arrive back to the centre, attendees can either continue exploring St Albans or join us for an hour in a great pub.

The pub is called The Snug and is located directly by the Clock Tower. We've specifically chosen this pub due to it's extensive history. While it has been party refurbished into a modern bar, it's still a listed building and therefore much of the old structure remains.

Note that we have now added another option. On our walk back to the centre from the Roman Museum, my brother Terry will branch off and head for the 'Ye Old Fighting Cocks' pub. This pub is officially recognised as the oldest in England. He will lead a separate group there if anyone wants to visit and have a drink for an hour. Just remember, if you visit the Old Fighting Cocks pub, you will have a 25 minute walk back to the train station (10 minutes back to the clock tower for our meeting point at 5:05 pm and then another 15 minutes from there).
5:05 pm - We will meet once again at the Clock Tower and make the 15 minutes walk to St Albans train Station. We will be catching the 5:48 train back to London.

6:10 pm - Arrival time back in St Pancras International Train Station.

As this trip is much shorter and we'll be arriving back in London much earlier than previous events, we haven't arranged a London night out afterwards (and we always have at past events). However, we can easily be persuaded to go for a last drink near St Pancreas Train Station when we arrive back in London if members ask :-)

Included in the price:

• Return Train Tickets

• 90 minute Guided Tour by a Professional Guide

• Entry into the Roman Museum of St Albans

• Fully planned Day Trip with very detailed itinerary and numerous optional meeting points and activities throughout day.

Emergency mobile phone numbers to contact during the day:

Please ensure you take these two mobile phone numbers that you can ring during the day (please only ring if it is absolutely necessary). My number is 0757 8360117 (Martyn). My brother's number is 078466 39420 (Terry). Ensure you take these numbers before your arrival at the start of the day. However, we will be unable to delay the arrival/departure times or other planned events as we have to adhere to a tight schedule.

Payments:

All payments are to be made online via PayPal in full if you decide to RSVP (you will be taken to the payments page after you RSVP).

Please note you do not have to have a Paypal account to pay via Paypal. If you do not have a Paypal account, choose the option to 'pay with a debit or credit card' and fill in your card details, address, email etc as directed by the screen.

Please 'click here' (https://www.meetup.com/organize/pages/HOW_TO_PAY_ONLINE_WITHOUT_A_PAYPAL_ACCOUNT/) to view an organisers meetup group set-up with instructions and screenshots on how to pay without a Paypal account.

Payments are non-refundable unless the trip is cancelled or rescheduled. Also note that included in the cost will be a contribution to my brother and I for organising this trip.

Tickets:

Due to the fact we have booked a discounted group ticket, individual tickets do not need to be handed out. This makes the event run much more smoothly. Organisers can collect the pre-booked tickets on the day, show the tickets to the guard and then we can all be let through as a group.

Another reason why we won't be allocating individual tickets is because group tickets have to be bought in groups of 3 or 4. Therefore, if we handed out individual tickets, you would be required to stay with the same group of 3 or 4 people as there is often a guard on the train (which is almost impossible in a large group). There can also be problems with attendees getting off at different stops if they have a separate ticket. So if an attendee got off early, the tickets initially allocated to that specific group of 3 or 4 would not be valid. That is why we clearly state above that we must travel as a group.

Additional Details:

Please note that we can only offer this trip to adults aged 18 or over due to concerns over increased legal responsibilities that may otherwise be involved.

For further details of St Albans (attractions/shopping/history etc) you can visit their official tourist website by 'clicking here' (http://www.enjoystalbans.com).

Finally:

If you have any queries then please do not hesitate to contact us. We'll be more than happy to answer any queries. You can contact us at any time via email (click on organiser photographs for the 'send email' option) or by mobile phone after 6pm (0757 8360117).

kind regards

Martyn and Terry