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Click here to register for the tour! Registration will close on July 1. The confirmed cost is $1400 per participant. There is a $600 extra fee if you wish to stay in a single room, rather than a double room. We accept the following methods of payment: US check, wire transfer, credit card or Paypal. For payments by wire transfer, a 30 USD fee applies. All wire transfers must be paid in US Dollars, namely, the amount we receive must be the amount owed in US dollars, plus the transfer fee. If your bank charges additional fees, these must be taken into account in addition to this. For payments by credit card and Paypal, a 50 USD fee applies. These fees apply in addition to Olympiad fees paid this way.

Payments for the post-Olympiad tour are due by July 1. Payments submitted after that date are subject to a $50 per day penalty. In contrast with our flexibility on payments at certain other events, no student will be allowed to come to the post-Olympiad tour unless all payments and applicable late fees have been paid prior to July 9! As for refunds, we can refund payments in full, minus bank transaction fees until June 14. From June 15-July 1, we can issue a 50% refund for payment. After July 1, no refunds will be given for any reason.
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Thank you for your interest in the Post-Olympiad Tour! We look forward to your participation in a fun and exciting week of sightseeing and university visits. The Tour will be led by 4 IHBB full-time staff members: David and Nolwenn Madden, Bunnie Hadsall, and Robert Byrne. During the tour, we will visit all of the major cities of the Northeastern USA as well as numerous universities and colleges for those who are interested. Participants in the tour can expect to take part in all of the activities described below unless a university visit would overlap with sightseeing. Depending on participant interest, we may also be able to arrange visits to additional sites and universities.

A note on accommodations: The exact hotels where we will be staying will be determined during the first week of July after the registration period has closed. In all cases, the hotels where we stay will feature free high-speed internet access and a free breakfast buffet. The hotels where we stay will all be brands within the Marriott, Hilton, or Hyatt groups. Possible hotel chains include SpringHill Suites, Residence Inn & Suites, TownePlace Suites, Fairfield Inn & Suites, Hampton Inn & Suites, Hyatt Place or comparable chains. The 31-passenger tour bus and driver will be provided by Oleta Coach Lines – www.oleta.com – of Williamsburg, Virginia.

Note: The tour only includes the following meals: Breakfast (hotel buffets) all days, barbecue dinner on July 20, end of tour dinner in Boston on July 22. While certain restaurants will be selected, in many cases, there will be other options within a brief walk if participants prefer.

Day 1: Wednesday, July 15 Williamsburg to Washington, DC (night in or near Arlington, Virginia)

The International History Olympiad will conclude by 3pm on Wednesday, July 15 in Williamsburg. The Tour will depart William and Mary by 4pm that afternoon. We’ll reach Washington, DC around 7pm and then have a chance to tour the main memorials (Lincoln Memorial, WW2 Memorial, Vietnam Memorial) and walk past the White House. We will have snacks on the bus and then a relatively late dinner once it has become too dark for sightseeing. We’ll then return to our hotel (which will be in Northern Virginia) for the night.

Day 2: Thursday, July 16 Washington, DC (night in or near Arlington, Virginia)

College Visits: Georgetown, George Washington, American, Catholic (if requested)

Sites: Smithsonian Museums, US Capitol, Holocaust Museum, Washington Monument

Students who are interested can visit Georgetown University in the morning and George Washington University in the afternoon. Robert Byrne, one of the tour guides, is a recent graduate of Georgetown and will lead the group that goes to visit there. Raynell Cooper, an Olympiad staff member, is a 2015 graduate of George Washington University, and will lead the group that visits there. If students are interested in visiting American and/or Catholic Universities as well, that can also be arranged.

In the morning, students who do not visit Georgetown will have the opportunity to visit the National Museum of American History or the National Gallery of Art. We then have 1pm tour reservations for an hour at the US Capitol building, after which we’ll spend 30-45 minutes at the Museum of the American Indian, which is a 5 minute walk from the Capitol. At 3:30pm, we have tickets for the National Holocaust Memorial Museum while at 5:30pm we have tickets for the Washington Monument. Afterwards, we’ll have dinner on or near the campus of George Washington University where Raynell will show us around before we return to our hotel around 8:30-9pm.

Day 3: Friday, July 17 Washington, DC to Philadelphia (night in or near Philadelphia, Pennsyvlania)

College Visits: Johns Hopkins

Sites: National Air & Space Museum, Baltimore Inner Harbor Attractions

Today, we’ll begin by continuing to explore Washington, DC in the morning. After an early breakfast, we’ll all visit the Air and Space Museum in the morning. Around 11:30, we’ll leave Washington for Baltimore for lunch at the Inner Harbor which has many restaurant options. In the afternoon, those who wish to visit Johns Hopkins University may do that; other participants will have a chance to visit the National Aquarium, Ft. McHenry, and/or the other attractions around the Inner Harbor. We’ll then leave Baltimore and head north towards Philadelphia, where we’ll arrive around 7:30pm. We’ll have dinner in the historical quarter of Philadelphia before returning to our hotel for the night.

Day 4: Saturday, July 18 Philadelphia to Princeton (night in Northern New Jersey)

College Visits: Pennsylvania, Temple, Princeton (all participants)

Sites: Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, Constitution Center, Franklin Court

In the morning, students who wish to visit the University of Pennsylvania or Temple University may do so. Other students will have the opportunity to visit Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the Constitution Center, and/or Franklin Court (a museum about Ben Franklin). All students will then meet for lunch in Philadelphia (cheesesteaks are a local specialty!) before we leave for Princeton, NJ. We’ll arrive in Princeton around 2:30 and the whole group will tour Princeton together on an official Princeton University tour at 3:30pm. Tour leader David Madden is a Princeton University alumnus and has conducted admissions interviews of prospective candidates for Princeton. During the week of the tour, at a mutually agreed upon time (e.g. while traveling from one city to another or in the evenings) he will provide a personal half-hour session with any interested student where he can give personal advice on the American undergraduate admissions process and conduct a brief practice interview.

In the evening, we’ll get an early dinner in Princeton and eat on the campus. After dinner, we’ll then continue on to our hotel in Northern New Jersey, which will be our place of stay for 3 nights, as we explore the New York City area.

Day 5: Sunday, July 19 Princeton to New York City (night in Northern New Jersey)

College Visits: None

Sites: Harlem, New York Yankees Baseball Game, Central Park, Broadway, Times Square

Today we’ll take a break from college visits, and we’ll head into New York City. In the morning, those who are interested can attend a Gospel church service in Harlem while others can have an extended brunch in Manhattan. We’ll then meet up again as a group for a New York Yankees baseball game! We’ll arrive at Yankee Stadium at around 12pm, in time for a 1pm-4pm ballgame. After the game, we’ll head back into Manhattan, where, weather permitting, we’ll get some exercise walking around Central Park, where we’ll play some whiffle ball (an easy, non-dangerous type of baseball). Those who are interested in booking theater tickets for Broadway can do so tonight (not included in the tour price, though). In the evening, we’ll have dinner in the theater district and see Times Square at night. Those who don’t go to the theater will instead get the best ice cream in New York. Afterwards, we’ll return to our hotel in New Jersey for the night.

Day 6: Monday, July 20 New York City (night in Northern New Jersey)

College Visits: Columbia, NYU, Cooper Union (if requested)

Sites: Museum of Modern Art, Empire State Building, Katz’s Deli, Greenwich Village, 9/11 Memorial, Brooklyn Bridge, Wall Street, 1 World Trade Center, Statue of Liberty, American Barbecue

We’ll head into Manhattan early today, hoping to beat rush hour. Those who are interested will have a chance to tour Columbia University in the morning while everyone else gets a chance to visit the Museum of Modern Art, 5th Avenue, Rockefeller Center, and the Empire State Building. We’ll have lunch at Katz’s Jewish Deli (a New York landmark) before exploring Greenwich Village and Lower Manhattan in the afternoon. Those who are interested will be able to visit NYU or Cooper Union; if a group wishes to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, that can also be arranged. Later in the afternoon, we’ll visit Lower Manhattan, including the 9/11 Memorial, 1 World Trade Center, Wall Street, and close views of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty. We’ll leave Manhattan around 6:45pm (after the height of rush hour) and then enjoy a classic American summer barbecue (all food included in the tour price) at the home of Olympiad staffers Susan and Tim Madden in Ridgewood, NJ from 8pm-10pm.

Day 7: Tuesday, July 21 New York City to Boston (night in or near Boston, Massachusetts)

College Visits: Yale (all participants)

Sites: Cambridge, Harvard campus

After being introduced to the best bagels in the world for breakfast, we’ll leave the hotel in New Jersey around 9:30, reaching Yale by 11:30-12pm. We’ll then have lunch on the Yale campus, and then the entire group will tour Yale in the afternoon from 1pm-4pm. We’ll then continue on to Boston, arriving by early evening. We’ll have dinner in Cambridge and walk briefly as a group around the Harvard campus before heading to our hotel for the night.

Day 8: Wednesday, July 22 Boston (night in or near Boston, Massachusetts)

College Visits: Harvard, MIT, Brandeis, Boston College, Boston University, Wellesley (if requested)
Sites: Freedom Trail, North End, Boston Harbor, Boston Science Museum

Today, in the morning, participants can choose to visit Harvard, MIT, or the Boston Science Museum. If participants are interested in further campus visits, those can be arranged in the afternoon on request.

Everyone else in the afternoon will then explore the historic sites of Boston along the famous “Freedom Trail” containing many sites central to the early stages of the American Revolution, such as the Old North Church. Lunch options include the famous Quincy Market and/or Faneuil Hall. We’ll have a concluding dinner tonight at an Italian restaurant in the famous North End of Boston, which is also included in the tour price.

Day 9: Thursday, July 23 Departure from Boston

The tour concludes this morning; students can depart from Boston’s Logan Airport at any time today. If participants’ flights aren’t until later in the day, you’ll be free to explore Boston on your own before your flight (we can provide some additional sightseeing suggestions depending on your interests). We’ll ensure that you get to Logan Airport whenever you need to; the transfer to the Airport is included in the tour price. If you wish to stay longer in Boston, or continue on to other destinations before returning home, that’s fine too.