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Leisure Travel

The dream vacation. Now dreamier.

Your time with family and friends is precious, and with so many options to consider when planning your next vacation, we know that a little help can go a long way. From luxury travel to family-friendly excursions and cost-conscious journeys, we exceed travel expectations.

Next Travel is a family of travel companies based in Michigan and Indiana. With travel offerings ranging from Vacations and honeymoons to incentive groups and corporate travel, Next Travel has grown to become one of the largest travel agencies in the Midwest.

Leadership Team

Charlie o’neill.

Charlie founded HD Travel in 2010 while he attended the University of Michigan. His vision included a high level of service and customized packages while maintaining competitive pricing in the group travel market. Charlie met Chris Conlin, company CEO, at an industry event in 2015. Since then, Chris and Charlie have worked on building the foundation for HD Travel. Together, Chris & Charlie bring over 60 years of travel industry experience. With their knowledge and expertise of the travel industry, they are proud to work together to bring you a unique travel management company that specializes in group travel coordination for affinity groups nationwide. Our mission is to deliver expert guidance and organizational tools to make your group travel coordination seamless and successful.

Colleen Romanauski

Colleen joined the HD Travel team in 2016 and has been instrumental in the growth and development of Next Travel. As the Vice President of Operations she oversees a wide range of critical functions essential to the agency's success. She is responsible for implementing new business acquisitions, streamline operations, and maximizing efficiency. She plays a key role in managing vendor relationships, negotiating contracts, and ensuring the highest standards of service delivery to all clientele.

Kendal Sommers

Kendal Sommers joined Menno Travel in 1994 as a corporate travel advisor. As Chief Information Officer, Kendal is responsible for all technology in our office including the airline reservation system, QC software, and corporate reporting. In addition, he manages staff training relating to all automation systems.  Kendal’s travels have taken him to England, Hawaii, Canada, Costa Rica, Guadeloupe, Dominican Republic and India.

Nathan Troyer

Nate became a valued member of Conlin Travel in 2016 serving as the VP of Finance and seamlessly transitioned to Next Travel upon their acquisition of Conlin Travel Leisure in 2022. Holding a CPA designation, Nate now serves as our Chief Financial Officer, bringing expertise and strategic financial guidance to our team.

Michelle Finch

Michelle joined the travel industry in 1999, creating bespoke itineraries spanning the globe. Beyond crafting unforgettable experiences for her clientele, she actively fosters her love for the travel industry by sharing her knowledge and expertise with others. Michelle spearheads comprehensive training programs for new hires and continuing education initiatives for our sales team, ensuring they remain at the forefront of excellence in customer service and travel expertise.

The History of Next Travel

Next Travel now has four office locations in Michigan, one in Indiana, and over 40 employees, and is quickly growing to be one of the largest travel agencies in the Midwest.

Establishment of

Next travel.

Chris Conlin and Charlie O’Neill brought their leisure travel companies together to form one entity. They began to grow their group and leisure business, striving to be the largest leisure travel agency in Michigan.

Acquisition of

Suburban travel.

In January 2021, Next Travel acquired Suburban Travel of Rochester Hills, MI and Classic Travel of Okemos, MI. With these acquisitions, Next Travel gained a second brick and mortar location in Okemos, MI and seven additional travel advisors.

Menno Travel

In March 2022, Next Travel acquired Menno Travel, located in Goshen, IN. With this acquisition, Next Travel expanded its reach into Indiana, adding a third location in Goshen, and also added corporate travel into its business mix.

Majority Owner

In April 2022, Charlie O’Neill purchased Chris Conlin’s interest in Next Travel to become the majority stakeholder in the company.

Minority Owner

In January 2023, Charlie brought Colleen Romanauski in as a minority owner. Together, they have continued to grow the business acquiring several more travel companies.

Frankenmuth Travel

Next Travel adds Frankenmuth Travel to it’s family of brands.

Grand Hill Travel

Next Travel adds Grand Hill Travel to it’s family of brands.

Livonia Travel

Next Travel adds Livonia Travel to it’s family of brands.

Next Travel Family of Brands

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Day of Holy Trinity

Blessed by his holiness on the day of holy trinity in sergiev posad.

Holy Trinity is one of the major religious and popular festivals in Russia. On this festive and holy occasion, I provided a tour to Holy Trinity St. Sergius Lavra for my British clients, Christine and Hugh. It is difficult to explain our emotions and sense of excitement during this tour because we just happened to be located exactly at the hub of the festivities during the celebration of this great holiday and religious event. But to understand the majesty of this day and the place, it is helpful to learn at least some of the background history.

The Holy Trinity of St. Sergius Lavra (the monastery subordinate only to His Holiness) was founded by one of the most revered and venerable saints in Russia, St. Sergius of the 14th century. Tatars and Mongols ruled over the Russian nations and lands, so it was a time of harsh living conditions. In 1380, Prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow came to seek St. Sergius' blessing before leading his army for the Orthodox faith and for the liberation of his native land. After his visit to St. Sergius, Prince Dmitry was victorious over the army of Tatars led by Khan Mamai on the Kulikovo field. This was the first major Russian victory against the Tatars. After that, all Moscow princes became the patrons of the Trinity monastery. During the struggle against the Tatars at the end of the 14th century (1390s), disaster struck and the wooden monastery was burnt by the Tatars at the time of the death of its founder, St. Sergius. The wooden church of St. Sergius had been built entirely by hand by St. Sergius and now it had been totally destroyed. Later, at the beginning of the 15th century in 1422, St. Sergius was canonized by the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. On the site of the former church of Holy Trinity a new monastery was rebuilt from stone. The monastery has a long and famous history throughout the centuries and has also played an important role in the life of the Orthodox church and the state. Our princes and tsars frequently visited this region and monastery. Ivan IV (the Terrible) built the great Assumption Cathedral. Alexey Michailovich built a grand palace in the baroque style here and his son Peter the Great erected a refectory with the church of St. Sergius and a library. Then Catherine the Great built the highest bell tower in Russia (about 88 meters or 264 feet). After the Communist revolution in 1917 until the beginning of the Great Patriotic War in 1941, this monastery was attacked by the Bolsheviks who wanted to build a completely atheistic sate. The monastery was closed as a religious house and the icons, bells and many treasures of the church were destroyed or disappeared. The building was then used as a club or as a local hospital or accommodation for the homeless. These dark times ended at the beginning of WWII and the monastery was reopened again to become the official residence of His Holiness in 1991 at the end of the Soviet Union. So now you can understand the reason why they called the Holy Trinity St. Sergius monastery a Russian Vatican and why thousands of pilgrims and tourists visit here every year to this shrine of pride and inspiration to the people of all of Russia. Its location inside the circle of Russian medieval towns founded in the 12th - 14th centuries, the Golden Ring of Russia, is also a very special area.

According to the old traditions, the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia visits the world famous Holy Trinity St. Sergius Lavra (Troitse-Sergieva Lavra) where he serves a festive liturgy and a special vespers that is chanted only once a year precisely on the Holy Trinity Day, the major celebration in the monastery.

The Russian St. Sergius prayed to the Virgin Mary and the Holy Trinity after the death of his parents. Together with his older brother, they decided to leave for the desert where they built a cell and a small wooden church which they dedicated to the life-giving Trinity. This was located in a clearing surrounded by thick forest on a low hill and was the founding of the monastery. The day of Holy Trinity is now one of Russia's most important religious celebrations and festival. According to the Orthodox Church, the feast of the Pentecost is the event in the annual liturgical calendar and commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit to the apostles. As it is written in the New Testament, this event happened during a religous celebration by the apostles.

"And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them: And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with diverse tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak."

Trinity day is marked as the birthday of the Christian Church by the Eastern Orthodox religion. As tradition dictates, church buildings are decorated at this time with birch tree branches and hundreds of flowers of the region during this celebration. True believers decorate the churches in a similar manner to that of the area around Mount Sinai and are meant to evoke images of Moses receiving the covenant from our Lord.

So, on this commemoration of the history of the monastery, we visited this holy place and booked a tour from a local tourist office. We arrived just before the end of the liturgy given by the Patriarch Kirrill (elected Patriarch by the Synod in January 27, 2009) in the Assumption cathedral (built in the 16th century by Ivan the IV). Hundreds of people were waiting at the end of the liturgy to meet the Patriarch. It was such an exciting moment that we asked our local guide to wait a few minutes to be able to see His Holiness and to take photos. I remember that Chrissie told me that she was in Rome several times and did not have an opportunity to see the Pope, but now we had a chance to see the Russian Pope and it was a superb addition to this tour. After waiting about half an hour, our patience was repaid a hundredfold: we saw him, I took great pictures and we were lucky to receive a blessing from him when he addressed the people with a speech and his best wishes. After this we finished our tour around the cathedrals and took more pictures. We would always remember how our souls were singing with excitement at this moment.

After the tour inside the monastery, we stopped to buy some small Russian handmade souvenirs and then had dinner in a local restaurant called Dachnava Zhizn (Dacha's Life). We drove back to Moscow to finish our sightseeing itinerary that I had preplanned. The excitement of the day plus our memories of the previous day's visit to the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour kept us very animated for the rest of the evening. At the cathedral, we had seen the holiday service in the main and biggest cathedral in Russia. It was richly decorated with the birch tree branches and all the archbishops and priests were also dressed in robes that were bright green in color to match the color of the leaves.

I hope that the imagery of this text and in photo-album Holy Trinity Day Sergiev Posad can leave you with a picture of what we experienced.

Previous News

Fairy-tale town suzdal, 64th anniversary from great victory.

• Russian Patriarch Alexy II dies Today, on December 5th 2008, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II who led greatly the Russian Orthodox church from Soviet times died at age 79... Today I worked with my repeat clients from Germany and England and  listened to today's news on the car radio.
• Meeting Johnny Weir and his trainers At the second half of March 2005 I had an opportunity to meet Johnny Weir, his mom and official trainer (Precilia) while we enjoyed sightseeing and shopping together.
• Walking Tour with Repeat Client on The Red Square Today, on February 8th, 2007, I provided walking tour around a historical part of Moscow city including the Red Square for my repeat client from Germany, Romy Brock. It is her 6th business trip to Moscow and this time she found some spare time between her meetings to walk around the famous Moscow attractions together and take some pictures of our memories (tomorrow I have to see her off again).
• A Letter with Season Greetings from Canada At the end of the past winter holidays (in Russia Dec 30 - Jan 08) I received via post a letter from Olga and Bill Rogers who used my services in Moscow during almost a week (6 days) at the end of June 2007. When I opened a big envelope I was greatly surprised with a handmade calendar.
• Museum of Bells Changed Location The Moscow Museum of Bells, headed by Konstantin Mishurovsky and under the supervision of one of the most famous bell ringers in Russia, Igor Konovalov (Patriarchal bell ringer of the Moscow Kremlin and Cathedral of Christ the Savior), moved from the Izmailovo Kremlin into the ancient Petrovsky Monastery in the city center on Petrovka street.
• 64th Anniversary from Great Victory Today on May 9th, 2009, the weather in the capital of Russia was a real treat for both citizens and visitors of Moscow during the celebration of one of the main holidays in our country, Victory Day. This is the date of the final surrender of Nazi Germany to the U.
• Fairy-tale Town Suzdal Today I was in Vladimir and Suzdal with my repeat client and great friend from NY, USA, who came to Russia again to see more sights in Moscow and to discover St. Petersburg. I work with my current client from June 25-29 and again from July 3-7, after her return from the “Venice of the North”.
• Moscow is ready to meet Obama Obama will visit Moscow on July 6-8 to meet with President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin. So now if you walk through the Red Square and Kremlin areas or any tourist attractions or crafts markets Vernisazh in Izmailovo you can see the ubiquitous nesting doll with Obama on them and also the American flag!.
• Bombing in Moscow Metro On March 29, 2010, another tragic event happened in Moscow that shocked not only the citizens of the Russian Federation, but also many people from countries that oppose the threat of terrorism. In the early morning rush hour, two women bearing suicide weapons blasted themselves in the subway trains of the Moscow Metro.
• Story of Artem Justin Hansen (Part II) Details of arrival Artem Saveliev to Moscow on April 8, 2010. It was sunny and pleasant morning. I got up early, saw my wife, and checked the mail just in case, but there were no more letters from Nancy...
• Sergiyev Posad One of my guests’ favorite tours is a visit to the wonderful city, cultural and historical center of Russia, Sergiev Posad. Located 52 km from Moscow, the city is a real gem of the Golden Ring of Russia. The history of the city begins with the foundation of the Trinity-St.
• Venerating relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh in Sergiev Posad Every day, all day long, pilgrims come to Holy Trinity Lavra (high rank of a monastery) in Sergiev Posad and venerate St. Sergius’ relics in the white stone cathedral of Holy Trinity built in 1425 by the efforts of the closest disciple and successor of St.

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About Me in Short

My name's Arthur Lookyanov, I'm a private tour guide, personal driver and photographer in Moscow, Russia. I work in my business and run my website Moscow-Driver.com from 2002. Read more about me and my services , check out testimonials of my former business and travel clients from all over the World, hit me up on Twitter or other social websites. I hope that you will like my photos as well.

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