| Trave

WEST Vancouver’s
Travel Experts and
North Vancouver’s
Infinity Travel
Professionals have
merged to form Infinity
Travel Concepts.

Six months of planning and
negotiations have resulted in a
new company with current
annual sales in excess af $8
million. The combined
resources andl staff will create
one of the Larges: tre-ord-
ented travel agencies on the
North Shore.

Both agencies will continue
to serve their cients from their
existing locations in Ambleside
at 1716 Marine Drive and in
Edgemont Village at 3195
Edgemont Boulevard. All cur-
rent staff members will remain
employed by Travel Concepts,
the working name of bork
compaiies.

Travel Experts with a pre-
sent staff of nine,was estab-
lished in West Vancouver in
1983. President Ellie Hender
joined the company in 1987,
becoming the sole owner in
1991, She is convinced that
the future of the travel agency
lies in tuming dreams into
realities not in just selling tick-
ets, “Recent changes in our
relationship with the airlines
and ease of access te ticker
bookings on the Internet have
changed the way we do busi-
ness. Our value to our cus-
tomers lies in our first-hand
experience, in offering exciting
travel alternatives, in facititat-
ing complex travel itineraries
and in personalized service.”

Ciady Horton, who
opened Infinity Travel
Professionats in Edgemont

WEST Vancouver's Ellie Hender (left) and North
Vancouver's Cindy Horton have merged their com-
panies to create Travel Concepts.

Village in 1992 and currently
empleys a team of'seven,
expresses her vision in a similar
way. “While many travel agen-
cies today are choosing to
become part of a national
brand with standardized meth-
ods of processing travel, we
feel it is essential to maintain
individuality, and a personal
style of service.” She cantin-
ues: “There are significant
advantages to the clients in this
merger. It allows us to increase
our buying power and com-
bine our resources cn their
behalf. The accumulated
knowledge of so many senior
travel professionals within our
company cai only be of bene-
fit to the consumer.”

Both women are strong
supporters of their communi-
ties and together have pledged
to continue involvernent in
previous programs while reach-
ing out with a variety of new

You're probably saying you've heard
it aH before: rich Soy falis fer the
beautiful, sickly girl from the wrong

side of the tracks. His father, fear- im
ing damage to the family name, sets
out to separate the blissful pair.
Passion moves from bal!iroom to
boudoir to hearthreck city.

initiatives, such as a major
sponsorship of The Great
Capilano River Duck Race
schediiled tor March 7.
“Together we can do so much
more than cither of our com-
panies can do individually,”
states Ellie. “And our intention
is to help community events
and organizations to the fullest
possibie extent,” adds Horton.
Travel Concepts intends to
specialize in tive specific areas
of travel, Adventure and
Exotic Travel — helping,
clients get off the beaten track
whether in style or roughing it;
Luxury Cruising for those
secking semcthing more than
a mass produced expericnee;
Concierge Planning, a new
fee-based concept for clients
with high expectations, a
desire tor personal service and
limited time to research and
plan their own trips; Speciaity
‘Tours, a department dedicated

forces

to planning unique trips for
groups of 10 to 200; and
Fanaw Travel, with wips
designed for finiily members
of all ages.

With the merger tinalized
on January 1,1999, ‘Travel
Concepts has unveiled their
new logo which includes the
words “The Future of Travel.”
Ie is the concept of this future
that has been newly detined on
the North Shore. Travel
Concepts invites clients to cail
for an appointment so as to be
directed to the appropriate
acent in either the North
Vancouver office at 986-2262
or in West Vancouver at 926-
S51].

Family fair set
for Hollyburn

TRAVEL Concepts will pre-
sent a Family Travel Fair at
Hollyburn Country Clab on
Tuesday, March 2 trom 4 to
8 p.m. .

Liz Irving, an acknow!l-
edged ieader in the field of
family travel, wil! head the
staffas they meet the parents
and children who drop in
during the evens.

Travel Concepts Family
Travel Fair is by invitation
only, Those wishing to
attend should call 926-8511
or 986-2262 for pre-registra-
tion and an invitation.

© PACIFIC COLISEUM * PACIFIC NATIONAL EXHISITICN 2

London
calling

& London: the lives of the
city. Granta 65, Spring,
1999: The Magazine of
New Writing, 352 pp.,
$20.75.

S Lights Out for the
Territory: Nine
Excursions in the Scerct
History of Loudon by Inin
Sinclair. Granta Books
1998, 375 pp.

|
SAMUEL. fohnson
described London asa
“wondertul immensity”
and Granta takes this as
their theme in two recent
hooks on the city.

Walking, through the
streets Of London as if it
were an archaclogical dig,
fain Sinclair unearths the

| secret alphabet of urban
lite: “The past is fluid, a
black swamp; dip for what-
ever you need. Stepping off
the main road at this point
lands you right in it the
psychogeographical had-

jands,” he writes. Sinelair’s

very personal take deconstructs traditional conceptians of
“his” city and makes fora great read,
aim of nine million people
means the boundaries have been drawn too freely ifone
accepts London’s figure of seven million. Almost a quarter of
the English capital are part of a multicultural diaspora that
has grown in che fatter half of the 20th century. Amit
Chaudhuri’s description of how one section became “A Small
Bengal” and Stephen Gill's photo essay on “Soho Now” are
just ovo of the many highlights in Granea 65.

— jon Goodenan

Granta suggests that Paris

FESRUARY 26, 27 & 23

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