Luxury Travel Advisor - August 2007 - (Page 72) JUST BACK St. Petersburg H aving grown up in the family business, I have been privileged to experience some of the best the world of travel has to offer. A large part of that has been because of Park Avenue Travel’s membership in Virtuoso. The past nine years have taught us to expect nothing but the best from Virtuoso meetings and events, and this year’s Overseas Symposium in St. Petersburg, Russia was no exception. One of two major annual meetings for Virtuoso, the Overseas Symposium has been designed to allow a “think tank” atmosphere where owners of member agencies can have an open dialogue with top supplier contacts. In addition to networking, this meeting strikes a balance of leisure and business that affords a high-level industry perspective while gaining an understanding of the destination. But the bottom line is this; whenever Virtuoso puts together a “destination event,” you know that it’s not to be missed! Park Avenue Travel is a family business, owned by my parents, Craig and Debbie, and we all attended the Symposium. Our exclusive experience began with Exeter International’s processing all of our visas for us with ease. Upon A Symposium on Style Joshua E. Bush is the director of business development for Park Avenue Travel (www.parkavetravel.com) in Swarthmore, PA. As a member of the Virtuoso network, Bush traveled in March to St. Petersburg, Russia for the consortium’s annual Symposium. Here is his “Just Back” report on the lavish, and educational, affair. JOSHUA BUSH, right, with parents and business colleagues Craig and Debbie. arriving in St. Petersburg, we were directed to our private customs line arranged just for Symposium participants. After being ushered through, we were then whisked to the Grand Hotel Europe. Our motorcoach was staffed with guides from Esperance, who would be with us throughout the trip and conduct the private tours at the museums to come. Our first stop was in the heart of the city, at the historic Grand Hotel Europe, where we were greeted by General Manager Thomas Noll. After getting situated in the hotel’s beautifully renovated rooms, we headed down for our welcome cocktail party, which spanned the entire public space of the hotel, taking over each of the four restaurants. With varying themes and cuisines, each featured a lavish buffet specific to each restaurant’s gastronomy. Musicians played in each venue and the vodka was handsomely dispensed by staff dressed in 19th-century costumes. It was de rigueur to try the Imperial Vodka! The hotel was impressively decorated with ice sculptures and marvelous flower arrangements. With nearly 600 participants, the Grand Hotel Europe was just the right size and handled the group perfectly. This must have been a daunting task, considering the Symposium felt a lot like a 72 LUXURY TRAVEL ADVISOR | August 2007 http://www.parkavetravel.com
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