Travel for Dummies

Speaking of traveling, I'll be chaperoning 51 orchestra students from my daughter's school on a bus to Orlando.  Yee-ha.  Ya know how many hours that is in a bus???  

This will be my fourth trip.  The first year, I was mostly a spectator.  Bus trip to Orlando.  A long trip, but a lot of fun.  During this trip, one of the other chaps asked me to join the Orchestra Boosters Board of Directors, which I did.  That pretty much guaranteed me a spot on any trip we took.  

The second trip was to NYC.  Short trip, crazy trip and although I enjoyed NYC, I don't want to escort 50 teens there.  We saw Phantom of the Opera and hadn't really told the kids where the bus would be afterward because the chaperones were supposed to call the bus driver after the show and he'd tell us where he was able to park the bus.  (Not many bus parking lots there!)  So, when the show was over, we had to herd the kids and try to scream to them the location of the bus.  We had a few mishaps, in addition, that night, but we eventually got everyone to the bus.  Moral of that story:  it is really crowded after the shows let out in NYC.  The theaters are generally in the same area of town, many on the same block, and they all finish their shows at approximately the same time.   It reminded me of the hallways in high school.   

The third year's trip took us to Atlanta.  Okay, so it was quite a bit less exciting than the other trips.  We did, however, get to hear the Atlanta Symphony play.  Earlier the same day, our kids had the pleasure of performing in that very same performance location!  If you are a performer, the previous sentence means more than if you've never performed.  

On the ride home from Atlanta, the one of the other chaperones and I talked about where "we'd" like to go this year.  I told her, in no uncertain terms, I would love to return to WDW in Orlando.  Why?  Well, in spite of the fact that the trip would be long, the thing I like most is that there is so little to plan.  Really, most of what you do is arrange a bus trip down and a hotel for the stay.   When you visit a city, you have to do that AND arrange some sort of entertainment.   The Broadway show and a walk through Times Square at night.  The kids were walking blindly down the street trying to take pictures in every direction and the chaperones were having to herd them back onto the sidewalks and keep them from crossing streets in front of cars, etc!  It was crazy.     Try to find a restaurant that will feel 50-60 people at once in NYC that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.  Try to find things to do that are legal that 50 teens won't roll their eyes at!  When it comes right down to it, Orlando is a chaperone's dream.  Take 'em to the park, tell them you want them to check with you at noon so they can pick up the money you have for them for lunch, then repeat for dinner and give them a time for evening pick-up.  

Just in case you ever find yourself planning a trip for a large group of teens!