Trip Report
Editors Note: The last group out of Edinburgh missed their connecting flight
and was forced to stay overnight in London. Fortunately our trip correspondent,
Peg McClanahan, is a member of that group and sends the following report.
Silly me. I made the mistake of assuming that we'd be home the day we left.
Here we are (flight group 4) in London overnight. It has been a long and
frustrating day. We left Edinburgh late due to foggy weather in London. A
similar thing happened to an earlier flight but they were able to make their
connection. Group 1 was not as fortunate. As we got off our flight in London
we were thrilled to see Ela (the Youth Music of the world representative) and
we all felt at peace. she has been wonderful all week and out kids love her.
she fought for us all day trying to get us flights back to Detroit and
was finally successful.
The kids never panicked. They have been so
well behaved and patient. you would never believe the way they rallied
together and were a team. and all but 2 of these students are freshman.
when they needed to sit and be patient, they pulled out their cards and entertained
themselves. when they needed to transport luggage or uniforms
they formed assembly lines and pitched in without being asked. Ela mentioned that in the 17 years
she has been a tour guide she has had
only one other group as amazing and well behaved as these 24 students
have been and that school was a college aged group. It brought tears
to her eyes.
Your students are in excellent hands. Mrs. Kramer has everything under control and
in spite of obstacles along the way (not the least
of which was 3 lost boxes) she has remained calm and reassuring with the kids.
The adults who are with your kids are loving and caring, hard working and
have also rallied together to make things happen. After we arrived at the
hotel we had a wonderful dinner and all travelers (except one) have gone to bed
... and I'll be there shortly. we will be leaving on various flights
and the fact that we all have reserved flights and are not flying standby is a
miracle and due to Ela's persistence in spite of being told "no" by numerous individuals.
Bear in mind that her being at the airport when we arrived was
not in our plans ... she just wanted to say goodbye and wish us well.
Instead she was here with all the contact names and numbers we
needed.
Please remember that in spite of our travel changes, travelers
will not be allowed to ride home any other way than on the bus with
their groups.
Cheers!
- Peg McClanahan
The bulk of the travelers remaining in London with return in two groups.
- GROUP 1 - J and K Hammersmith, B B B and S Bushong, P Morris,
D and J Stalter, Bechstein, Melkote, Crow, C Manning, Lein, Stevenson
- KL 1560 departing London City Airport 07:35; arriving Amsterdam at 10:10.
- KL 37 departing Amsterdam 14:15; arriving Boston Logan at 15:15.
- NW 373 departing Boston Logan 17:42; arriving Detroit Metro at 20:00.
- Estimated arrival at BGHS: 11:30 pm, March 31.
- GROUP 2 - T and N Burrow, 3 McClanahans, H and M Kramer, Eyer, McDermott,
Sundermeier, Wachter, Baron, Renny, Singh, Sorg, Knueven, 3 Grubers
- KL 1556 departing London City Airport 09:15; arriving Amsterdam at 11:30.
- KL 37 departing Amsterdam 14:15; arriving Boston Logan at 15:15.
- NW 389 departing Boston Logan 19:30; arriving Detroit Metro at 21:44.
- Estimated arrival at BGHS: 1:15 am, April 1.
The rest of the travelers will be returning in two small family groups. They will
make their own arrangements to get back
to BG from their final destinations.
Schedule:
4:15 Wake-up call
4:45 Breakfast
5:15 Depart for airport
7:35 Group 1 departs
9:15 Group 2 departs
The travelers are at Thistle Hotel at Heathrow Airport (011-44-208-624-4000).
They are six hours ahead of BG time.
Questions, call Denise Urbanowski 419-352-7354 eve. or 419-421-2348 daytime.
March 31 - Amsterdam
We have made it to Amsterdam and are ready to board for Boston. We will try
to connect once we get there. We traveled in 2 groups from London city
airport on a prop plane (6 passengers went from Heathrow airport) and are
traveling on the same plane to Boston where we will once again separate and
travel on 2 different flights to Detroit. There is a light at the end of the
tunnel!
On our way to the airport this morning we received a tour of much of the city
of London. We saw Big Ben and Westminster Abbey in addition to some other sights.
Off to board the plane. Everyone is doing well and continues to have a positive
attitude and is very helpful.
March 31 - Home
We are finally home! We arrived at the high school about 11:15pm tonight after
traveling 24 hours straight. We've been in 6 airports in the last 2 days. We left
Edinburgh airport yesterday and arrived at London's Gatwick airport. Six of our
party left through Heathrow, but the rest of Flight Group 1 (affectionately known as
the London tour group who tours by plane rather than bus) left our hotel this morning
about 5:30am for the London City Airport. We had a nice tour of some of London's most
well known sights, including Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the new Eye Ferris Wheel,
with Ela as our guide.
We split the remaining 34 members of our group into 2 groups to take two different
paths back home. And we had issues with ticketing and uniform boxes all the way.
(True to form, one of the McClanahan's uniform boxes went missing today.) Fortunately
we were able to make all connections, although some of them were closer than we were
comfortable with. Every flight was late except our final flight into Detroit, which
actually arrived early.
From London we flew to Amsterdam on separate flights but met up on the same flight to
Boston. (Coincidentally, I ran into the Biegel/Bushong group in Amsterdam, as well.)
The first group had a couple of hours in Boston before leaving for Detroit, but gather
luggage, sorting uniform boxes and going through customs used most of that time. The
second group we had about 4 hours. We had some dinner together (boy, were they happy
to see McDonalds) and then did some looking around and then off to the gate to wait
another hour or so playing cards, reading or just chatting.
The turbulence was pretty bad, the long waits in the airport got old quickly and
the uncertainty of how to do things at each airport had the potential of making very
unhappy and irritable kids. I have to say that these kids never complained, but
instead bonded together watching out and helping each other. When I asked them if
this experience had a negative affect on them traveling in the future, they all say
no. (I think they'll want to stay home for at least a few weeks before they venture
off on any new adventures, however.)
Friendships were cemented, knowledge of flying and airports was gained, a new depth
of character was witnessed and a true feeling of teamwork and camaraderie developed.
I can't praise Mrs. Kramer enough for her ability to remain calm and keep the kids
(and adults) at ease in the midst of crisis. While she is the newest of our directors,
she handled everything like a pro. In addition, I am grateful to Youth Music of the
World for providing Ela as our representative. She was not only knowledgeable and
indispensable, she truly loved our kids and wanted to help. She knew many of them by
name and hugged them each goodbye as they left her. In addition, Youth Music of the
World paid $200 per traveler ($8000 total) to get us home during the busy holiday
season.
I'm exhausted and happy to be home, but I'm glad I was with this group of students.
I'm proud of every single one of them for rising to the occasion. Parents, you have
every reason to be proud!
Good night, all...hello, bed.
- Peg McClanahan
|
