Harry Potter: Sussex, England

 
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April 18-21, 2022

 
 

After all the enthusiasm for our first Harry Potter pilgrimage in October, 2019, we’ve decided to invite another group of pilgrims along for a second trip! Join Vanessa Zoltan and Ariana Nedelman in rural Sussex, England for a Harry Potter pilgrimage this spring. Together, we’ll explore Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets through the theme of love. Each day, we will have a morning discussion about our theme, viewing it through a passage of the text. We will engage in sacred reading practices while reflecting on the text and our own lives. During the day, we will walk through the beautiful South Downs National Park. Using the landscape as a source of inspiration, we will spend our days walking, reading, and joining in conversation about the second book of the series.

For the time we are together, we will be thinking about what role love plays in this book and the Harry Potter series as a whole. We’ll connect these themes and conversations to our own lives, asking ourselves questions like: What types of love do we want to see grow in our lives? What types of love are we ready to let go of? How can we better express the love we feel?

We’ll meet at King’s Cross Station in London on the morning of the 18th and then travel to Tilton House where we’ll stay for the remainder of our time together. Each day, we will make space for writing, reflection, reading, silence, ancient reading practices and of course, for walking.


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Vanessa Zoltan

Vanessa is the CEO of Not Sorry. She is on three of our podcasts: Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, The Real Question, and Hot & Bothered. She founded Common Ground Pilgrimages in order to travel with brilliant faculty to beautiful places and talk about books with amazing pilgrims. It was a great trick she pulled off. She is also the author of the book, "Praying with Jane Eyre".

Vanessa was trained as a non-denominational chaplain at Harvard Divinity School. She is a proud California girl who currently lives in MA with her gorgeous, blended family. Her Romance novelist pseudonym, if she ever publishes a Romance novel, will be Lorelai Mason, as you can see in her profile pic.

 

Ariana Nedelman

Ariana Nedelman is the Executive Producer of Not Sorry. She produces Hot & Bothered and The Real Question, and oversees all of the content that comes out of Not Sorry. She has her BA from the University of Chicago and enjoyed a brief stint at Harvard Divinity School before dropping out to become a full time podcaster.

In her spare time, Ariana is working on an audio project called When We All Get to Heaven, which tells the story of how a LGBTQ Christian congregation responded to the HIV/AIDS crisis in 1980s and 90s San Francisco. She loves contra dancing, British panel shows, and reading aloud.

 

What's Included:

  • Three nights in a shared room in wonderful countryside bed and breakfast, Tilton House

  • Vegetarian food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner from tea on the 18th to breakfast on the 21st.

  • Transportation within England from April 18th in London until April 21st in Sussex

  • One-on-one chaplaincy sessions with Vanessa

  • Private walking tours, picnics, and talks with local experts

  • Customized journal

Logistics:

  • Registration is first-come, first-served.

  • We will reach out to the first registrants with a link to make an initial deposit within 72 hours of receiving their registration link.

  • The rest of the payment will be due eight weeks from the day the deposit is made for the remaining payment.

  • We are open to creating payment plans as needed. If you’re interested in a payment plan, please email commonground@notsorryproductions.com.

  • When you sign up through our registration system, it will act as a waitlist, and we will let you know via email once a spot has been confirmed for you.

  • If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at commonground@notsorryproductions.com.

COVID Policy:

We are so excited to begin traveling with you again, and as always, our first priority is to make sure that the trips are safe for everyone involved, including the communities we visit and the people who host us. To that end, we are keeping a close eye on the evolving COVID situation and will update you as frequently as we can if the situation with the pilgrimages changes. 

Below are some potential expectations we could have in terms of covid safety. Only sign up for the trip is you feel comfortable following any/all of the below guidelines:

  • Wearing masks indoors or outdoors, no matter group size

  • Social distancing, both indoors and outdoors 

  • Getting proof of a negative COVID-19 test within a certain number of hours before arrival

  • Getting a negative COVID test upon arrival at the destination

  • Proof of vaccination

  • Quarantining upon arrival to destination country

On our end, we will refund fully any payments made for the trip in the event that we at Common Ground Pilgrimages have to cancel due to change in travel restrictions, variants, etc. 

By making a deposit, you acknowledge the above precautions and are willing to follow them, or any similar recommendations, when you come on the pilgrimage. 

Refund Policy:

Please be sure you can attend the event before booking. If an unforeseen circumstance does occur, we will do our best to find a replacement for you. If we are able to get someone to take your place, we will refund your full payment minus a service charge (usually 10% of the deposit depending on the credit card processing fee). For cancellations within six weeks of the beginning of the trip, we are not able to find replacements. If you can find a replacement independently, we are happy to transfer your registration to them after receiving the new participant's payment and refund your purchase minus a 15% service charge. We strongly urge you to purchase travel insurance in the event of a personal conflict, health issue, or unexpected circumstance.