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If you are planning your own trip and have some questions to ask or would like to see other information that is not posted here, please don't hesitate to contact me!  I would love to help other troops have a successful trip... someone ought to benefit from all we learned!

Day 14 - 0 0' 0", Fans, and Piccadilly, Oh my!

July 13 - Day 14: our last full day here in London... can it really be so?!?! there is so much more to see!

Lunch in the park, feeding the pigeons. (We liked our Swiss packed lunches the best... shhh... don't tell Pax!)

One wrong train and one wrong turn, but we finally found the Royal Observatory and the Meridian Line and 0 0' 0". Lots of cool exhibits.

Walked back down the big hill and found the Fan Museum. Which is the only fan museum in th world (and now we know why) :-) The most interesting thing I found here was the guy sweeping up the patio and his mohawk. But, it is something you can't see anywhere else!

Metro to Piccadilly, but another long walk is awaiting us. There was a bomb scare and the Piccadilly station is closed!

Lots of shopping... finally found the tourist trap stores the girls were looking for (and that we could hardly avoid in Paris!). I went on a power shop to find a tote bag to bring all my goodies home in. Found more choices then one could even need in the largest sporting goods store I have ever seen!

Dinner was at an interesting place called Nando's (again with the chicken/rooster theme!) All the chicken is marinated in Peri Peri sauce (apparently a made up thing) and it is spicy! But good! Portions are very big and we all eat till we're stuffed.

Back to Pax Lodge to pack.... wait... really?!? to pack??!?! we are all gonna have to sit on our suitcases!

Day 13 - The End is Near!

July 12 - Day 13: Today was our day to tour Pax Lodge after breakfast and we also enjoyed the flag ceremony. We were bummed that we didn't know the song, but it was a nice ceremony, short and sweet.

The tour of Pax Lodge was interesting. Lots of Guiding history there. Our tour guide was from the Czech Republic, I beleive. Our girls interest was again peaked by the idea that they could come back and work at one of the World Centers for a summer. I hope many of them take the opportunity!

First stop after our Underground connections is St Pauls Cathedral. Simply breathtaking. Many of us decided to climb the millions of stairs up to the Whispering Tower and Observation decks. Lots of steps, but great views!

Next stop was the Globe Theater. The actual Globe burned down twice, so this is a reproduction, but very interesting to all.

Our last stop of the day was the Tower of London. A few of us enjoyed the Bloody Tower (which turns out to be not so bloody) and others waited in line to see the Crown Jewels. We were hoping to get some pics with us looking like we were wearing the crowns, but alas, we viewed them from a people mover.

I have to keep reminding myself of the years of the history we are seeing...

 and we thought we had history in Philadelphia!

We decide to head back to the Hampstead area to try one of the local restaurants near Pax Lodge. Turns out we decided to travel home during rush hour. Ugh. The train rolls to a stop and I look acorss the crowded platform and into the more crowded train cars and say "Make it happen, ladies" and of course, now that we are all metro experts... we do! Can't see where everyone is, but no one is left on the platform, so we are all good!

The Giraffe for dinner was terrific. And just a short walk home!

Day 12 - Girls Worldwide say "Pax Lodge"

July 11 - Day 12: Today is a travel day for us. From Ace to Pax Lodge. We would have liked to stay just at Pax Lodge, but they were all booked up for the time period we needed.

It is a reasonable Metro ride to the Pax area. Then a walk uphill with all our luggage, but the town is lovely with all sorts of lovely restaurants.

We checked our luggage into the storage area and then headed out to explore. Parliment Hill was the place to go, we were told, and you can see a great view of London from the top.

Back down the hill for lunch at the Hampstead Tea Room. We threw them for a loop with trying to serve all 11 of us at one time, but the food was terrific. And our credit card was APPROVED!!

Off to a tour of Keats House. Interesting, but again, not enough "stuff" for it to feel like a real house.

Now that it is time to check into Pax, we head back to settle into our new rooms. Once we all get into our rooms, it seems like the Taj Mahal! Fresh towels, fans, easily accisible drinking water, ICE, and I don't have to sleep in a bunk bed! (well, at least for one night)

After a short siesta, we gather together to head out for Benjamin Franklin's house. It is the only remaining resideince of his standing and since we are from Philly and all, it seemed like we HAD to visit! The tour was different then any other hosue tour I have seen. The tour guide was in character and she moved us from empty room to empty room to see videos about his life. It was interesting, but again... not exactly what we were looking for.

Now it is dinner time and we head off to look for one of the restaurants that gives us a discount with the London Pass. To get there, we have to walk through Picadilly square... and we realize as we hit the huge crowds that tonight is the World Cup finals. We decide pretty quick that we will eat dinner and head directly home, before the game is over. There is a large screen in the square that we assume will show the game. We don't want to be part of the craziness!

We found the restaurant, which looks lovely, but the server was way cranky. He was not happy to have to serve our rag-tag group and was even less thrilled that we wanted to use the buy one get one free entree coupon. Hey... they are the ones who offered the coupon to us! The food was good - more expensive, smaller portions - but good. Luckily, by now we all end up sharing our meals at the end and everyone always gets enough to eat (and we get to try everything!)

Getting home was uneventful... thankfully!

Day 11 - It's like a heat wave! Burnin in my heart!

July 10 - Day 11: We keep hearing public service announcements on the Underground telling people how to deal with the heat wave. It is about 85 degrees each afternoon. We are thrilled as we have heard it is 100 at home!

We all head back to Buckingham Palace for a tour and then we find out that it is closed to tours will the end of July. Drat! But luckily the Royal Mews are open and so we enjoy an up close look at the Golden Coach, the Queen's car, and many other carriages.

Take away lunch was enjoyed on the royal lawn. Crisps in all flavors - prawn coctail, bacon, cheese and onion. Who knew London was the chip capital of the world!

We head on over to the Beatles store and It's Only Rock & Roll and pop into the Sherlock Holmes store since it is right there. We all expected a bit more.... bigger... more selection... but many gifts were purchased!

Off to Foyle's, a super huge book store. They didn't have any of the authors I looked for. Settled for a Jody Piccult. The girsl enjoyed thier shopping and Cafe time, though.

Dinner was at Kettner's, which was recommended buy that book we all hate... they made us order off the party menu, which was a bit annoying, but the food was ok. Except for Jessica's burger, which was served almost raw. Even after a trip back to the grill, it was mostly inedible. ick.

Back to our last night at Ace!

Day 10 - Bloody Good! First day in London

July 9 - Day 10: Breakfast at the hostel was an experience. Very crowded and lots of steps to get the food and then to find somewhere to sit. We are all about sick of cereal and toast.

First stop is the Guards Museum near Buckingham Palace. Interesting, especially for the musicions and marching band guros in our group. The one good thing about the stupid Lonely Planet book we had was that it suggested seeing the changing of the guard where it starts near the Guard Museum, rather then trying to see it at the Palace, with 10,000 of your closest friends.

We had a terrific view for the inspection, the band practice circle, and then the formal procession.

We head over to the Royal Mews (carriage house) and Buckingham Palace, but both are closed on Fridays! Boo Hoo!

So we decide to go ahead and get lunch. Donna and I tried to order crisps with our sandwiches and ended up with chips (french fries). We were not sure where to sit to eat, so we started walking a bit. Like a beacon in the night, the Guiding office shines out to all of us. Donna says - maybe they have a place we can eat in there? And of course, they do! Downstairs to the Members area, complete with sofas, air conditioning, and friendly employees who were more then happy to chit chat with us about all sorts of things.

After eating, we head to the back area where they have a small display celebrating the 100th anniversary of Girl Guiding. They also have a troop area that is decorated like a large tent, complete with tree stump closets. We could have slept here if we wanted to sleep on the floor (we are happy with our hostel!)

Upstairs they have an interactive area for younger girls, but we were there alone and ready to blow off some steam. We enjoyed all the games and displays as much as any Brownie would! An improtu puppet show was good for a laugh and they had a treehouse movie room with a movie playing all about Guiding. Girls are the same everywhere.... even on the other side of the ocean!

A short walk from the Palace area is Westminster Abby. Only Trina and Melanie went inside. The rest of us enjoyed and ice cream cone with a wierd chocolate wafer thing.

Some pics with Big Ben followed (yes, yes, I know... Big Ben is the name of the BELL not the CLOCK).

Off to a modern art museum that turned out to only have one display... a large wood structure that went through the whole room, walls, and hallways. Interesting in a way that made us all say... what?!?!?

Off to Covent Garden for more shopping (ugh... enough with the shopping already! but that is what 18 year olds do...) and then off to Maxwells for dinner. The waitor here was super cute, the food was good, and the atmosphere was a bit more hip then any other place we had been to.

For about 5 minutes there was total panic as I tried to locate my credit card to pay the bill. After a purchase, I slide it into the wrong pocket, and then I couldn't find it. I dumped everything out of my bag and started figuring out plan B for how to pay, when Jessica found the card for me. Whew! Too bad that cute waitor didn't come over to help me out! ;-)

Day 9 - Chugga Chugga Chugga CHUNNEL

July 8 - Day 9: Our last morning in Paris... much last minute shopping is taking place. Donna and I are way short on suitcase space and I am pretty sure I am going to have to buy another bag to get all my gifts home in.

None of us are happy to be pulling our suitcases along behind us again, but we are hoping to arrive with plenty of time to make sure we are in the correct Coach and in the correct seats.

Getting out of Paris and into London, through customs and immigration at the train station was more then hectic. Carrying all our stuff, tickets, passports, pens, filling out forms, all in a massave line of people. We were all relieved to find our seats and just chill for a bit.

There is a 1 hour time difference between Paris and London, so our 2 hour train ride was really 3. But we saw lots of countryside, French cows (the breed is Charolais and they are all white... thanks Janet!) and many of us enjoyed a nap. Melanie and I giggled our heads off over the Jimmy Fallon Troll Doll songs, although the others didn't think it was so funny.

There were two sections of track that were all dark... not sure which was the actual tunnel under the channel, but we ended up in London, so no worries! Donna wishes they had big black lines drawn on the landscape so we will know when we entered a new country. Not sure how you do that under the channel, but...

We easily find the Underground station and naviagte to Baron's Court and then it really IS an easy walk to the Ace Hostel. It is in a lovely residential neighborhood with a strip of stores and a bank nearby. The girls were thrilled to be allowed out on thier own and the adults were thrilled to get REAL Diet Coke... no more Coke Light.

The hostel is clean, friendly, and has everything we need. A far cry better from the filthy standing water in our tub at the hostel in Paris, although we are all still spread out. In Paris we had to go down 5 flights and up 2 to see the other room. In London, we have to go down 2 and then up 3.

We gather after a bit of rest to find dinner, but none of us knew the adventure that was in store. There is no where around that can seat all 11 of us. We are walking and walking... finally we find a place and as we are looking over the menus, the waitress approaches us and lets us know they will not searve children after 6pm. I said, but they are all 18?!?!?! Donna says - well only 2 of them are 17. Ugh... I don't even argue with the lady, but if they didn't want our 250 euros, well then, we will move along. We then found a lovely little spot called the Pear Tree... cause there was a pear tree in the back dining area. We waited and waited and waited for the menus to be printed.... literally off an ink jet printer from the office... and then waited and waited some more for someone to take our order. The food was delicious, but the service was turtle slow.

Back to the hostel for laundry and planning out the next day and much needed sleep!

Day 8 - From Flea Markets to Versailles

July 7 - Day 8: A few of us got together early to head over to a Flea Market. Well, even the flea markets in Paris open late, cuase many people were only just setting up when we got there. Funny how other people's junk is the same everywhere.

Back to the hostel where we explored the shops in that neighborhood and some of us walked up to see Sacre Coeur.

We assembeled back at the hostel at 12:30 to make the trip out of town to see Versaille. We knew our train pass didn't take us all the way to the zone Versaille is in, so we mosey up to a ticket machine to purchase tickets. But.... of course... our credit card is declined and the machine only accepts coins. So we all pool our coinage and start feeding 23 euros into the machine.... quickly of course cause if you wait too long, the session times out. Whew.... tickets in hand and we even made a mistake and ended up with an extra. We passed this along to a family having the same change trouble we were and were happy to do our Good Turn for the day.

We played saraspunda on the train... we've played it alot of places, but never on a train!

Versailles was interesting, but we were hoping for more of a full house type feel. It has lots of paintings hanging on the walls and hardly any furniture. Outside, some of us got caught in a crazy dust storm! It was whirling around like a mini-tornado and we had sandy dirst all over us for the rest of the day. Even in our teeth!

Heading back to the hostel we ended up on the Metro in rush hour.... ugh.... just when you though another body could not squeeze on, they did anyway.

We had dinner at a place near our hostel - Le Diplomate - salad and steak and fries and scrumptious dips and sauces. Very friendly waitor who kept the place open a little longer just for us!

BACK to the Metro... seems like alot for one day, but we were expert Metro riders by this point! And off to see the Eiffel Tower at night... which of course in Paris is at 10:30 at the earliest. The light show is terrific and some of us enjoyed an ice cream cone.

After realizing that all the people pouring into the streets were coming from a nearby "stadium" where they just finished watching a World Cup game, we deicded to just stick close to the tower. Not easy to navigate with hundreds of thousands of rabid fans, drinking, yelling and flag waving for thier side.

And then the ride home was interesting with 10,000 of our closest drinking football buddies!

It was a terrific last night in Paris!

Day 7 - Paris, the Mall and Beyond!

July 6 - Day 7: Are we only half way through this trip? I am tired just recounting it here, let alone when we were living it!

We decided that we needed a change of pace, so this day was a late start. The girls wanted to eat breakfast without the tiresome adults, so they met at 10am to find a nearby cafe. :-)

At 11:30, we all met to head off to a mall we stumbled upon the day before near the Pompidou. Thankfully Stephanie remembered where it was and rescued me from my nervous breakdown (ya'll knew it was gonna happen eventually, right?) and we successfully found the mall (Forum des Halles Shopping Center). The girls went off shopping and lunching. A touch screen directory helped us know where to go and we could touch the british flag to get it in english! Score!

Back to the hostel for an afternoon siesta. We assembled again at 4:40 for more sights and a late dinner.

First stop was Notre Dame. The climb to the top was closed, but the church is beautiful. A quick walk through the closing Marche aux Fleurs (flower market) and a stop at Saint Chapelle which was full of beautiful stained glass.

Dinner was at an interesting Chicken/Rooster themed restaurant. Even though many of us were unsure exactly what we were ordering, everything so far has been delicious!

Day 6 - Paris Part Deux

July 5 - Day 6: This was a very busy day! Off to the Metro station we go - Barbes Rochechouart - and we all hop on train.... 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10.... uh oh.... who's missing? where's Peggy & Melanie? At the next stop, I jumped off and told them all we would meet them. Up the steps, over the tracks, down the other side and back on the train. I get off and see them no where. Where could they go? Did they hear the name of the stop and got on the next train? I wish I had my cell phone! I go up the steps in case they went back up and out, but I don't see them. I turn around to go back down and just see the edge of Melanie's skirt! Melanie!! Hugs all around... I would never leave you behind! And off we went. We never lost anyone again, but then everyone knew that if they were left behind to stay put and someone will come back for you.

We started the day at Eglise St-Eustache (affectionally called the Moustache Catherdral since none of us speak french!)

Then off to the Louvre - Mona Lisa, Cupid & Psyche, Venus - all the good stuff.

Lunch was at McDonalds... we had to! Trina said so... and we were all so proud of her! And then shopping at the tourist traps on Rue de Louvre.

On the advice of our guidebook, there was an interesting mechanical fountain at George Pompidou Place... so off we go. The fountain was a miss (I hate that book!) but the girls enjoyed the shopping.

Dinner was at a nearby outdoor cafe - Paris Beauborg. French Onion Soup is divine, the hotdogs are scrumptious, and the Boeuf Bourguignon was terrifi despite the little seed pods drifting down on us from the tree above.

Time to pay the bill and make our way home... oh wait... DENIED! So off I go to find an ATM and pay our bill with Euros. Very annoying.

Day 5 - Paris

July 4 - Day 5: For our first day in Paris, we set out early (ok, not as early as some of us would have liked), but with only one wrong turn on the trains, we made it to the Eiffel Tower.

After that, lunch at a river side cafe, and then a cruise on the Seine. The cruise was hot hot hot and sort of boring, but the hostess would make all the announcements in several languages and it was quite impressive.

We then took a short walk up to the Arc de Triumphe. Which is also the largest traffic circle in the world... impressive! And Kate counted all the manly naughty bits found on the Arc.

We enjoyed dinner at L'Etoile 1903 and then headed back to the hostel for the night.

<-- We saw this guy on the river cruise... he was as tired as we felt!

Day 4 - Kandersteg to Adelboden to Paris

July 3 - Day 4: So here we are, dragging our wordly posessions behind us once again, poor poor Girl Scouts without a home.... but only for now.

An early breakfast and lunch packing session and then a brisk walk down into town to catch the train and then the bus that will take us to Our Chalet in Adelboden. (Be sure to get off at Adelboden Oey not just plain old Adelboden)

We were greeted by a Chalet volunteer from California and we loaded our luggage into the van (thankfully!!). We started up the hill and just couldn't beleive the older couples who seemed to be sprinting past us flat landers over and over again!

We rounded the final corner, saw the sign and driveway and thought we were almost there... not! A last long trek up the driveway and then we were finally there!

The tour around the building was lovely - topped off with a rouding rendition of the Our Chalet song... High up, high on the mountain, we founded Our Chalet.... it was stuck in our heads for days!

The Chalet is filled with lovely old things, loads of history, and you can feel the Girl Scouty love just overwhere. It feels like home.

We enjoyed a quick stop at the gift shop and enjoyed our lunch overlooking the lovely town of Adelboden.

We wished we could stay longer, but we have a HECK of a day of travel to get to. There is no easy way to get from Adelboden to Paris. And we have some quick connections to make, so we packed up our lucnhes, pinned our Chalet pins to our vests, and started the trek down the hill.

Oh wait.... Donna had to throw open her arms and sing to the mountains.... The hills are alive style... THEN we could start the trek down the hill.... :-)

Ok, so I have to be honest and tell you that the rest of this day was really really really terrible. We made all our connections. We got on all the correct trains. But the rush and the worry that we would at some point miss a train or get on the wrong one, was alot for all of us to handle. The connection in Basel SBB was especially difficult. We had to get dinner in a very short amount of time in the station and we almost didn't make the train. Once we arrived at Paris EST, we looked at the map and thought the walk to our hostel would be an easy one. Well, it would have been long without our luggage and so with our luggage it was especially grueling. We were very very happy when the hostel came into view and were all ready for a good nights sleep.

Day 3 - Kandersteg & Oeschinensee

July 2 - Day 3: This was our first full day of our trip where we could relax and enjoy our new surroundings. Many of us woke very early (5am) and willed ourselves back to sleep. By 8am, getting up was harder then if we had just gotten up at 5!

Another interntational breakfast in the cafeteria at KISC and then we were off for a Swiss adventure. Sure we had a map. Sure we asked for directions from the front desk. We still got lost. :-)

An "easy 15 min walk" to the gondola turned into a 45 min hike up and down the mountain. One wrong turn and it was all over. But we recovered quickly, found some local hikers who pointed us in the right direction, and finally the gondola was in sight.

We hopped on the gondola and were once again awed by the incredible mountains and awesome landscape. Sheep and cows and goats grazed on the side of the mountain below us. A few adventurous hikers were carefully making thier way down a very steep and rocky hillside. And after a too short gondola ride, we were at the top.

And who could have guessed.... there was a super fun Alpine Slide at the top! So we all buy tickets and some of the nervous nellies pair off to ride together and off we went up the hill with me snapping pictures all the while. Donna was in front of me and she went around the top turn and then stalled just before the down slope. I was so busy taking pictures that I didn't realize in time and couldn't stop and strongly encouraged her to keep it moving! No whiplash was invovled so it was all good! This was super fun and even our nervous nellies had a great time.

With lots of laughs behind us, we set off for the glacier lake - Oeschinensee. Of course, it was a longer walk then we all thought it would be and it was all down hill. Which was fine for the way in...

Over the last hill a beautiful blue lake came into view,complete with grazing cows and waterfalls. None of us could beleive it - it was so picture perfect.

We enjoyed our packed Swiss-inspired lunch (would all the cheese here be called swiss cheese?) under the trees and then a few of the girls were feeling adventurous enough to brave the chilly water. Donna and I longingly watched the couples dining on the restaurant deck, wine glasses in hand, but we resisted and focused on the lovely scenery instead.

If this place was in the States, a few things would be different....

• First, you would have to pay an admission fee to even see the lake


• There would be a roped off area for swimming with lifeguards to spoil the fun


• The row boats would have to be on the other side of the lake, well away from everything


• And I doubt the cows would have been welcome to swim along side the customers

After a lovely afternoon, we decided to head back. Janet and Donna opted for the taxi service (which was 8 CHF to get to the lake and 10 CHF to get back!) Katie, Jessica, and Trina decided to walk back to KISC through the hiking trails, rather then the gondola ride. Off the rest of us went, back down the gondola, back through town, and back to the Scout Centre.

The hiking crew returned a short time later, with a few more scrapes and bandages then they left with, unfortunatly. Katie slipped and slide a bit down the mountain, skinning both knees. Luckily, there was a hiker from Denmark nearby who had some bandages with him. Katie was patched up and the girls made it the rest of the way home in one piece. Katie would not be the only one of our group to take a fall during this trip.

Dinner was spaghetti with meat sauce and was delicious. After dinner, several members of the group enjoyed an international camp fire at the Centre, while others enjoyed resting and reading.

Tomorrow is a travel day... boo hoo... but it is also the day we get to see Our Chalet!

Day 2: Zurich & Kandersteg Interntational Scout Centre

July 1 - Day 2: Thankfully all of our luggage arrived in Zurich and we easily made our way to the nearby train station. We set up home base around a bank of chairs and split off from there.


Some girls went off in search of an ATM and took out some Swiss Francs.


Some of us enjoyed breakfast from McDonald's (i know... i know... typical american... but there were LOTS of non-american's eating there too!)


We all enjoyed checking email and updating our Facebook status on my yet-to-be-decommissioned Netbook.


We had 2 hours till our reserved train, but we noticed there was another a bit earlier. Off to the ticket counter we go to see if we can hop on the earlier train. No go on that. They said we could not change a group reservation. I am not sure I believe that... we sort of got the vibe that they didn't want to deal with it. Anyway... back to our mountain of luggage and settle in for some great people watching.




Donna and Melanie headed off to see if they could get some info and/or change our reservation and came back with a funny story about not being able to get into the office. The doors were all clear glass. No handles, no sensors, nothing on the floor. How do we get in? Of course, they open automatically as you approach, but I wish I could have watched them trying to figure it out!








Finally it is time for our train to Kandersteg. These 2 hours are uneventful... reading, sleeping, snacking. We could not beleive the views we were seeing already and everyone was taking pictures. When we arrived at the station, we all had to stop and just enjoy the mountains for a minute. They are incredibly beautiful.









And then when we were done taking in the view, we had no idea how to get to the Scout Centre. No worries... Jess and Katie head off to the information window to see where to go. There is a bus that runs every hour or it is just an "easy 15 min walk". Ok... we are game... we will fall for this "easy walk" line...







...off we go... up hill... dragging our luggage behind us... juggling the luggae for those who could not manage it all... and wishing we were on the bus. But it was all ok. The little town is just wonderful and finally we arrive at the Scout Centre.









At check in, we find out that CHF are only taken for key deposits and internet payments. Darn. Wish I had tapped mac back in Zurich. Luckily a few girls had some and we worked it out. The Centre is lovely, clean, well organized, and very welcoming. The girls stayed in Irish and the adults in German. Each room is themed for a WAGGGS country.



The windows of our rooms opened to a lovely cool breeze, the sound of sheep grazing on the hill behind the building, and views of water and mountains like you would not believe.









We were all ready for some sleep, but we stuck it out and stayed up at late as we could. I was counting the minutes till dinner time cause I told myself I could sleep after I ate. SO TIRED. Dinner was in the cafeteria with lots of other international groups and was pretty good for what it was. I ate my food and was back up in my bed, eye shade on, and drifting off before anyone else even returned to the room. I have no idea what else happened this evening as I was out cold. No need to count sheep this night (although we could have, right out our window!)

Day 1: Heading to the airport!

June 30 - Day 1: we met at our meeting place at 1:15pm to make the drive to Newark Airport (about 2 hours). Finding drivers and then enough space for luggage was a bit challenging, but we squeezed into a minivan and a large SUV. Our flight departed at 6:35pm, so this gave us plenty of time.

The trip to the airport was uneventful until we had the airport in view and were making our way up the off ramp. The minvan was suddenly not behind us anymore... they had followed us the whole trip! We continued on to the departure area and then the phone rang... uh oh... turns out the minivan bottomed out on the exit ramp and had a flat or a broken axel or something. Good thing we had plenty of time.

So we dropped off the first car load of people and they headed into the airport to wait for carload #2. Carol figured out how to get back to them (i have no idea how... thank god i wasn't driving) and we picked everyone up. George called AAA and we were on our way... again.

Check in lines were LONG. Security was as expected. No one even questioned the 2 girls with our group who were under 18. I had notarized permission slips with me, just in case, but they didn't even ask any questions. Not sure if that is a good thing or not...

We arrived at our gate with enough time to grab water bottles, snacks, and some of us were hungry enough for sandwiches. Smashed potatoes purchased at the airport are not really smashed at all, unfortunatly for Stephanie.

As we boarded the plane, we realized that our seats were all over. In hindsight, I should have been more clear to make sure we were all sitting together. Some of us were switching seats, which then gave the stewardesses a run for their money, as 2 of us ordered vegetarian meals and they had to track them down.

Take off was uneventful (aside from my concentrated breathing and the death grip I had on the armrests). Donna refused to hold my hand, which I thought was pretty un-Girl Scout- like. :-) The on board entertainment system kept having an issue and many of the options were not available, but many of us enjoyed movies or tv shows. A few of us even slept... ok, only Trina slept... with her head-down-on-the-tray patented method. The rest of us were too tall to pull this off, unfortunatly. Most of us didn't get any sleep at all.

We were all very ready to get off the plane... thankfully the Alps are in view!