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Los Angeles Headquarters

11538 San Vicente Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90049

Tanya Bryant , General Manager, Groups & Leisure Katie Cadar , Director, Leisure Sales & Hotel Partnerships Lynette Dominguez , VP, Marketing Doris Reiss , SVP, Leisure Operations Danielle Serna , Leisure Operations Brentwood

Tel: 310-575-5540 Fax: 310-575-5541

Mon-Fri: 8:30AM – 5:30PM Meetings by appointment

18881 Von Karman Ave. Suite 1400 Irvine, CA 92612

Nancy Decker-Davidson , General Manager

Tel: 949-930-9260 Fax: 949-930-9261

Mon-Fri: 8:00AM – 5:30PM Meetings by appointment

Palos Verdes / So. Bay

24 Malaga Cove Plaza Palos Verdes Estates, CA 90274

Florence Brethome , General Manager

Tel: 310-373-0954 Fax: 310-378-8840

140 South Lake Ave. # 280 Pasadena, CA 91101

Heidi Hoehn , General Manager

Tel: 626-795-0291 Fax: 626-795-7161

Mon-Fri: 9:00AM-5:00PM Plus Sat & evening; meetings by appointment

333 University Ave, Ste 200 Sacramento, CA 95825

Mindy Crenshaw , General Manager

Tel: 916-929-5555 Fax: 916-925-0958

Mon-Fri: 8:30AM – 5:00PM Meetings by appointment

5414 Oberlin Dr. #310 San Diego, CA 92121

Tracy Anderson , General Manager

Tel: 760-827-6940

Mon-Fri: 8:00AM – 5:00PM

• TOLL FREE: 1-800-883--8124
• MAIN OFFICE : 538 North River Rd. Charlottetown, PEI

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We are Travel Store advisors and we love to travel. Chances are, if you have questions about any destination in the world, we've been there and have all kinds of tips, advice, and access to information and services you need to get there. Get to Know The Travel Store Team

Sheri atkinson.

Travel Advisor

Located in Charlottetown, PEI

We pride ourselves that our head office is on PEI and we are here for our neighbours and fellow Islanders to work with them to see all their travel dreams and needs to fruition.

Always know where you passport is, when it is expiring, and keep it up to date. You never want to be caught without your passport when your dream trip is ready for you.

I have never met a destination that I didn't love! As far as all-inclusive destination, I would have to say that Jamaica pulls a little more on my heartstrings. From the music, the food, fabulous beaches, culture, people, adventure experiences and let's not forget those gorgeous new and amazing properties Jamaica has it all for couples, friends and families!

Groups, groups, and more groups! From destination weddings, graduation celebrations, friends gathering together, incentive groups, I love all groups!

Those special once in a lifetime trips; like a beautiful destination wedding, that first family trip with excited children on their first plane ride, the young adults branching out on their own sending them in to the world to explore. Seeing a first is very special.

I love helping and working with people to create memories and experiences they will never forget.

Jackie Arsenault

Located in Summerside, PEI

Service and Knowledge.

Mexico. It has so much to offer everyone.

All-Inclusive south and Disney.

When clients tell me they had a dream vacation.

Christine Garnhum

Corporate Travel Advisor

The Travel Store has a variety of expertise. Each agent brings knowledge and we are a great team, always willing to help each other.

Save a photo album on your phone in photos, and have a print shot of your passport, drivers license, Health card, immunizations, etc.

Florida, the Caribbean, and have cruised a few times; future plans are to explore some of Europe!

Corporate Travel.

I recently booked an elopement in Santorini with GoWay travel. The clients had an amazing time.

Building relationships with clients over time getting to know their travel preferences, and quickly learning their needs.

Danny MacGuigan

Familiarity.

Take your time, go direct if possible. If not always go with the longer connection.

For South options, Cancun/Mayan due to the amount of options and rates for families. River cruises would be next, mainly due to customer satisfaction.

I like to think after so many years I am comfortable with pretty much anywhere.

Cruises to Antarctica. Trans-Siberian rail trip from Moscow to Vladivostok (hopefully that will again be an option someday).

I have always had great co-workers.

Olena Poltoratska

We are the best team, and we complement each other well.

To respect the traditions and values of the country where you are going.

My top destinations are Maldives, Greece, Montenegro,Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan.

I have travelled a lot as a travel advisor, participating in more than 80 familiarization trips around the world. I understand what to offer clients and what to advise them on because my knowledge is from my own experience.

I think of these trips based on the most interesting itineraries and those which brought a lot of changes to the client's life. The most memorable was a month-long trip with sophisticated demands for accommodations and a big excursion program in every place, starting in Vienna ( Austria), visiting San Francisco, Las Vegas, French Polynesia, Singapore, and Bali.

To see happiness in the eyes of our travellers and hear how their trip inspired them.

Sonaz Jalali

We have reliable sources of information on must-see places and ones to avoid and based on that, we can assist our customers.

Always make copies of important documents and keep them with yourself.

Prague, Czech Republic. There are lots of things to do in the capital, but in my opinion, Prague just has so many things to offer, it is impossible to ever get bored in this city.

All-inclusive south destinations and tours in Europe.

An all-inclusive trip to Dominican Republic for a wedding anniversary.

Having customers come back from their trips with a big smile on their face and positive reviews about a destination.

Sharon Larter

Experienced staff and friendly service.

Use a travel agent and get insurance for your trip.

Grindelwald, Switzerland.

All-inclusive Southern destinations.

Meeting people and helping to make their dreams a reality.

Cicely Bethell

Personalized service tailored to your needs. With our extensive knowledge and experience, we ensure every aspect of your trip is carefully curated to exceed your expectations.

Invest in travel insurance.

Orlando for family trips and Las Vegas for couple getaways. Orlando offers fantastic family-friendly attractions, while Las Vegas boasts endless entertainment options and lots of things to do as a couple.

I specialize in all-inclusive vacations to southern destinations and the United States. I provide expert advice and personalized service for unforgettable travel experiences.

A long stay in Spain where the client got to explore off the beaten path and immerse themselves in the local culture, and a trip to Costa Rica that had many moving parts so it was great to see it come together.

It's fulfilling to know that I've contributed to creating lifelong memories and meaningful experiences for my clients.

Teresa Gogan

Located in Amherst, NS

Use a travel agent.

Cruising, because I love everything about being on a floating hotel. Unpacking once and seeing multiple destinations. The food, the entertainment and the staff.

My service.

River cruises, African safaris, family reunions and graduating high school students groups. Making memories they won't forget to keep!

The love I receive from my clients.

Linda Furze

Located in Halifax, NS

Africa. I recently went on a safari for 14 nights in Tanzania, then 5 nights at a resort on Mnemba Island off the coast of Zanzibar.

Vacation packages to the Caribbean and Europe.

Taking care of my clients. It means so much for my clients to enjoy their vacation as I respect the money they are spending and their vacation time.

Dale Turcotte

Located in Moncton, NB

Excellent service by all advisors in the company. Very knowledgeable and well-travelled.

Always do a bit of research on your own to supplement what we discuss about a destination.

Exotic Vacations.

Custom tailored vacations in Australia & Asia.

Helping customers have trips of a lifetime.

Jennifer Gould

A passion for customer service and desire to explore. Although new in this industry, I'm your person to plan an A to Z dream trip.

A leading expert on the topic of travel to Britain.

Planning the details for clients, and hearing all about their experiences when I send them on vacation.

Jennifer Moss

We work diligently to continually upgrade our knowledge. I have achieved my Certified Travel Consultant designation with the highest marks in Canada.

Britain, Iceland, Australia, Costa Rica, Italy, Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and has cruised the Western Caribbean, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Moselle and Rhine rivers.

Lani McCormack

Office Manager & Bookkeeper

Friendly and knowledgeable staff excited to find the best destinations for you. Travel agents love to travel so they can recommend places to go, plus what to see and do there.

Slow down and enjoy your trip. Takes lots of pictures, keep an open mind, have an extra copy of your passport, have good footwear, and most importantly have fun!

New York City! There is just so much to see and do there. Lots of great restaurants, so manys to see, shopping, and just walking around and looking at everything.

Planning a trip with your client and waiting to hear all about it when they come back.

RN, Travel Clinic

I work in the Travel Clinic giving immunizations and providing travel consultations. People should use our service to make sure they have the most up-to-date and accurate travel information so their trip is safe, healthy and fun.

Book early so you have lots of time to make sure you are protected before it's time to go.

European destinations and anywhere warm.

Paulette Soloman

President & Owner

We are committed to getting to know you; to use our knowledge and connections to find you the perfect vacation that will bring relaxation and happy memories.

Get to know what a travel advisor can do for you. You might be surprised at what we can plan or offer.

Switzerland. It offers active adventure, fresh air, diverse landscapes so different from home, amazing food, wonderful history, friendly people, and is so organized and efficient.

Recently, a family trip to Costa Rica went over well with lots of adventure for an active family, but plenty of relax time as well. Canyoning, jungle hikes, surf lessons...there was never a dull moment.

A Christmas Markets River Cruise on the Rhine is another one that stands out. We added a week of hiking and touring pre-cruise in Switzerland, which made for a nice balance of activity and luxurious relaxation.

Hearing from clients who tell us about their trips!

BOOK WITH US

Journey to Moscow

   Welcome to Moscow - the capital of Russia, its political, scientific, historical, architectural and business centre, from which power and might of the Russian state developed.

2018 Primetime Emmy & James Beard Award Winner

In Transit: Notes from the Underground

Jun 06 2018.

Spend some time in one of Moscow’s finest museums.

Subterranean commuting might not be anyone’s idea of a good time, but even in a city packing the war-games treasures and priceless bejeweled eggs of the Kremlin Armoury and the colossal Soviet pavilions of the VDNKh , the Metro holds up as one of Moscow’s finest museums. Just avoid rush hour.

The Metro is stunning and provides an unrivaled insight into the city’s psyche, past and present, but it also happens to be the best way to get around. Moscow has Uber, and the Russian version called Yandex Taxi , but also some nasty traffic. Metro trains come around every 90 seconds or so, at a more than 99 percent on-time rate. It’s also reasonably priced, with a single ride at 55 cents (and cheaper in bulk). From history to tickets to rules — official and not — here’s what you need to know to get started.

A Brief Introduction Buying Tickets Know Before You Go (Down) Rules An Easy Tour

A Brief Introduction

Moscow’s Metro was a long time coming. Plans for rapid transit to relieve the city’s beleaguered tram system date back to the Imperial era, but a couple of wars and a revolution held up its development. Stalin revived it as part of his grand plan to modernize the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 30s. The first lines and tunnels were constructed with help from engineers from the London Underground, although Stalin’s secret police decided that they had learned too much about Moscow’s layout and had them arrested on espionage charges and deported.

The beauty of its stations (if not its trains) is well-documented, and certainly no accident. In its illustrious first phases and particularly after the Second World War, the greatest architects of Soviet era were recruited to create gleaming temples celebrating the Revolution, the USSR, and the war triumph. No two stations are exactly alike, and each of the classic showpieces has a theme. There are world-famous shrines to Futurist architecture, a celebration of electricity, tributes to individuals and regions of the former Soviet Union. Each marble slab, mosaic tile, or light fixture was placed with intent, all in service to a station’s aesthetic; each element, f rom the smallest brass ear of corn to a large blood-spattered sword on a World War II mural, is an essential part of the whole.

The Metro is a monument to the Soviet propaganda project it was intended to be when it opened in 1935 with the slogan “Building a Palace for the People”. It brought the grand interiors of Imperial Russia to ordinary Muscovites, celebrated the Soviet Union’s past achievements while promising its citizens a bright Soviet future, and of course, it was a show-piece for the world to witness the might and sophistication of life in the Soviet Union.

It may be a museum, but it’s no relic. U p to nine million people use it daily, more than the London Underground and New York Subway combined. (Along with, at one time, about 20 stray dogs that learned to commute on the Metro.)

In its 80+ year history, the Metro has expanded in phases and fits and starts, in step with the fortunes of Moscow and Russia. Now, partly in preparation for the World Cup 2018, it’s also modernizing. New trains allow passengers to walk the entire length of the train without having to change carriages. The system is becoming more visitor-friendly. (There are helpful stickers on the floor marking out the best selfie spots .) But there’s a price to modernity: it’s phasing out one of its beloved institutions, the escalator attendants. Often they are middle-aged or elderly women—“ escalator grandmas ” in news accounts—who have held the post for decades, sitting in their tiny kiosks, scolding commuters for bad escalator etiquette or even bad posture, or telling jokes . They are slated to be replaced, when at all, by members of the escalator maintenance staff.

For all its achievements, the Metro lags behind Moscow’s above-ground growth, as Russia’s capital sprawls ever outwards, generating some of the world’s worst traffic jams . But since 2011, the Metro has been in the middle of an ambitious and long-overdue enlargement; 60 new stations are opening by 2020. If all goes to plan, the 2011-2020 period will have brought 125 miles of new tracks and over 100 new stations — a 40 percent increase — the fastest and largest expansion phase in any period in the Metro’s history.

Facts: 14 lines Opening hours: 5 a.m-1 a.m. Rush hour(s): 8-10 a.m, 4-8 p.m. Single ride: 55₽ (about 85 cents) Wi-Fi network-wide

Buying Tickets

• Ticket machines have a button to switch to English.
• You can buy specific numbers of rides: 1, 2, 5, 11, 20, or 60. Hold up fingers to show how many rides you want to buy.
• There is also a 90-minute ticket , which gets you 1 trip on the metro plus an unlimited number of transfers on other transport (bus, tram, etc) within 90 minutes.
• Or, you can buy day tickets with unlimited rides: one day (218₽/ US$4), three days (415₽/US$7) or seven days (830₽/US$15). Check the rates here to stay up-to-date.
• If you’re going to be using the Metro regularly over a few days, it’s worth getting a Troika card , a contactless, refillable card you can use on all public transport. Using the Metro is cheaper with one of these: a single ride is 36₽, not 55₽. Buy them and refill them in the Metro stations, and they’re valid for 5 years, so you can keep it for next time. Or, if you have a lot of cash left on it when you leave, you can get it refunded at the Metro Service Centers at Ulitsa 1905 Goda, 25 or at Staraya Basmannaya 20, Building 1.
• You can also buy silicone bracelets and keychains with built-in transport chips that you can use as a Troika card. (A Moscow Metro Fitbit!) So far, you can only get these at the Pushkinskaya metro station Live Helpdesk and souvenir shops in the Mayakovskaya and Trubnaya metro stations. The fare is the same as for the Troika card.
• You can also use Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.

Rules, spoken and unspoken

No smoking, no drinking, no filming, no littering. Photography is allowed, although it used to be banned.

Stand to the right on the escalator. Break this rule and you risk the wrath of the legendary escalator attendants. (No shenanigans on the escalators in general.)

Get out of the way. Find an empty corner to hide in when you get off a train and need to stare at your phone. Watch out getting out of the train in general; when your train doors open, people tend to appear from nowhere or from behind ornate marble columns, walking full-speed.

Always offer your seat to elderly ladies (what are you, a monster?).

An Easy Tour

This is no Metro Marathon ( 199 stations in 20 hours ). It’s an easy tour, taking in most—though not all—of the notable stations, the bulk of it going clockwise along the Circle line, with a couple of short detours. These stations are within minutes of one another, and the whole tour should take about 1-2 hours.

Start at Mayakovskaya Metro station , at the corner of Tverskaya and Garden Ring,  Triumfalnaya Square, Moskva, Russia, 125047.

1. Mayakovskaya.  Named for Russian Futurist Movement poet Vladimir Mayakovsky and an attempt to bring to life the future he imagined in his poems. (The Futurist Movement, natch, was all about a rejecting the past and celebrating all things speed, industry, modern machines, youth, modernity.) The result: an Art Deco masterpiece that won the National Grand Prix for architecture at the New York World’s Fair in 1939. It’s all smooth, rounded shine and light, and gentle arches supported by columns of dark pink marble and stainless aircraft steel. Each of its 34 ceiling niches has a mosaic. During World War II, the station was used as an air-raid shelter and, at one point, a bunker for Stalin. He gave a subdued but rousing speech here in Nov. 6, 1941 as the Nazis bombed the city above.

Take the 3/Green line one station to:

2. Belorusskaya. Opened in 1952, named after the connected Belarussky Rail Terminal, which runs trains between Moscow and Belarus. This is a light marble affair with a white, cake-like ceiling, lined with Belorussian patterns and 12 Florentine ceiling mosaics depicting life in Belarussia when it was built.

Transfer onto the 1/Brown line. Then, one stop (clockwise) t o:

3. Novoslobodskaya.  This station was designed around the stained-glass panels, which were made in Latvia, because Alexey Dushkin, the Soviet starchitect who dreamed it up (and also designed Mayakovskaya station) couldn’t find the glass and craft locally. The stained glass is the same used for Riga’s Cathedral, and the panels feature plants, flowers, members of the Soviet intelligentsia (musician, artist, architect) and geometric shapes.

Go two stops east on the 1/Circle line to:

4. Komsomolskaya. Named after the Komsomol, or the Young Communist League, this might just be peak Stalin Metro style. Underneath the hub for three regional railways, it was intended to be a grand gateway to Moscow and is today its busiest station. It has chandeliers; a yellow ceiling with Baroque embellishments; and in the main hall, a colossal red star overlaid on golden, shimmering tiles. Designer Alexey Shchusev designed it as an homage to the speech Stalin gave at Red Square on Nov. 7, 1941, in which he invoked Russia’s illustrious military leaders as a pep talk to Soviet soldiers through the first catastrophic year of the war.   The station’s eight large mosaics are of the leaders referenced in the speech, such as Alexander Nevsky, a 13th-century prince and military commander who bested German and Swedish invading armies.

One more stop clockwise to Kurskaya station,  and change onto the 3/Blue  line, and go one stop to:

5. Baumanskaya.   Opened in 1944. Named for the Bolshevik Revolutionary Nikolai Bauman , whose monument and namesake district are aboveground here. Though he seemed like a nasty piece of work (he apparently once publicly mocked a woman he had impregnated, who later hung herself), he became a Revolutionary martyr when he was killed in 1905 in a skirmish with a monarchist, who hit him on the head with part of a steel pipe. The station is in Art Deco style with atmospherically dim lighting, and a series of bronze sculptures of soldiers and homefront heroes during the War. At one end, there is a large mosaic portrait of Lenin.

Stay on that train direction one more east to:

6. Elektrozavodskaya. As you may have guessed from the name, this station is the Metro’s tribute to all thing electrical, built in 1944 and named after a nearby lightbulb factory. It has marble bas-relief sculptures of important figures in electrical engineering, and others illustrating the Soviet Union’s war-time struggles at home. The ceiling’s recurring rows of circular lamps give the station’s main tunnel a comforting glow, and a pleasing visual effect.

Double back two stops to Kurskaya station , and change back to the 1/Circle line. Sit tight for six stations to:

7. Kiyevskaya. This was the last station on the Circle line to be built, in 1954, completed under Nikita Khrushchev’ s guidance, as a tribute to his homeland, Ukraine. Its three large station halls feature images celebrating Ukraine’s contributions to the Soviet Union and Russo-Ukrainian unity, depicting musicians, textile-working, soldiers, farmers. (One hall has frescoes, one mosaics, and the third murals.) Shortly after it was completed, Khrushchev condemned the architectural excesses and unnecessary luxury of the Stalin era, which ushered in an epoch of more austere Metro stations. According to the legend at least, he timed the policy in part to ensure no Metro station built after could outshine Kiyevskaya.

Change to the 3/Blue line and go one stop west.

8. Park Pobedy. This is the deepest station on the Metro, with one of the world’s longest escalators, at 413 feet. If you stand still, the escalator ride to the surface takes about three minutes .) Opened in 2003 at Victory Park, the station celebrates two of Russia’s great military victories. Each end has a mural by Georgian artist Zurab Tsereteli, who also designed the “ Good Defeats Evil ” statue at the UN headquarters in New York. One mural depicts the Russian generals’ victory over the French in 1812 and the other, the German surrender of 1945. The latter is particularly striking; equal parts dramatic, triumphant, and gruesome. To the side, Red Army soldiers trample Nazi flags, and if you look closely there’s some blood spatter among the detail. Still, the biggest impressions here are the marble shine of the chessboard floor pattern and the pleasingly geometric effect if you view from one end to the other.

Keep going one more stop west to:

9. Slavyansky Bulvar.  One of the Metro’s youngest stations, it opened in 2008. With far higher ceilings than many other stations—which tend to have covered central tunnels on the platforms—it has an “open-air” feel (or as close to it as you can get, one hundred feet under). It’s an homage to French architect Hector Guimard, he of the Art Nouveau entrances for the Paris M é tro, and that’s precisely what this looks like: A Moscow homage to the Paris M é tro, with an additional forest theme. A Cyrillic twist on Guimard’s Metro-style lettering over the benches, furnished with t rees and branch motifs, including creeping vines as towering lamp-posts.

Stay on the 3/Blue line and double back four stations to:

10. Arbatskaya. Its first iteration, Arbatskaya-Smolenskaya station, was damaged by German bombs in 1941. It was rebuilt in 1953, and designed to double as a bomb shelter in the event of nuclear war, although unusually for stations built in the post-war phase, this one doesn’t have a war theme. It may also be one of the system’s most elegant: Baroque, but toned down a little, with red marble floors and white ceilings with gilded bronze c handeliers.

Jump back on the 3/Blue line  in the same direction and take it one more stop:

11. Ploshchad Revolyutsii (Revolution Square). Opened in 1938, and serving Red Square and the Kremlin . Its renowned central hall has marble columns flanked by 76 bronze statues of Soviet heroes: soldiers, students, farmers, athletes, writers, parents. Some of these statues’ appendages have a yellow sheen from decades of Moscow’s commuters rubbing them for good luck. Among the most popular for a superstitious walk-by rub: the snout of a frontier guard’s dog, a soldier’s gun (where the touch of millions of human hands have tapered the gun barrel into a fine, pointy blade), a baby’s foot, and a woman’s knee. (A brass rooster also sports the telltale gold sheen, though I am told that rubbing the rooster is thought to bring bad luck. )

Now take the escalator up, and get some fresh air.

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