Day 1: And She's Off to New Zealand and Australia!

After about a week of complete anxiety about this trip, the kid is finally wheels-up heading first to Los Angeles. The delegates were excited and happy and sad saying good bye to their wonderful parents. Of course, at the airport right before she left, we realized we forgot to pack something very important.

Once they get to LA, the Nor Cal gang will meet up with another (or maybe two other) delegations and they will board Qantas heading south. They land in Brisbane, Australia and then catch one more plane to Auckland and they will get busy with Day 2 (that I will write about tomorrow).

Now to follow along on this trip, I will be posting information for the day they are living, which is one day ahead of us. So they fly all night tonight (thinking real time) and arrive in Auckland about 7:45pm our time on July 4th. But it will be 2:45pm their time on July 5th. The flight to Australia is a little over 13 hours long.

As usual, I am using FlightAware.com to track her planes and basically stalk her progress around the globe (I love technology - and this gets geeky if you want to know speeds, flight times, etc.). If you want to watch, (and seriously, if you do, what's wrong with you! Get a TiVo!), here are her flights:

SFO to LAX on American 1740
LAX to Brisbane on Qantas 016
Brisbane to Auckland on Qantas 123

Before they left, we had a "pinning ceremony" where we review the responsibilities and privledges these kids have traveling as People to People Ambassadors. It's moving and was a little hard on Shelia McKell (pictured here) as her son was just deployed somewhere - she doesn't know where - as he serves in our military. That's the pin, there on the right.

Katie was super anxious before the trip - mostly worried about making friends with other kids in the delegation. This isn't the first time and I was relieved to get a text from her just before the flight left that said, "Other people said they felt the same way I did and now they are all just coming up and starting conversations with me so it's all good. Everybody is so friendly!" Thank god. Now I can finally rest easy.

Oh! I almost forgot to tell you what she (we) forgot to pack!

SOCKS!

Not one damn pair. So before she left, I went into a corner and took my socks off and slipped them in her bad. More poor feet went commando so she'd have at least one pair of socks for her poor feet! I hope she can buy some along the way.

< My poor feet!

Ahhhh. The Joys of Packing.

This week is flying by and I have been swamped with work so Katie has been mostly on her own on the packing front. Today I finally flipped out a little because I realized I need to engage or something could go wrong.

Things still missing: headphones, a waterproof jacket, a towel. But not too bad really. She's done a great job pulling things together. 

The biggest to-do was getting the ATT calling plan together. With "the plan" it will still cost a dollar a minute if she has to call me. She gets 50 texts she can send, but she can receive an unlimited amount. All other data has to be turned off or I will have to get yet another client to pay the phone bill.

On Sunday night, when she was hyper-motivated after the Bon Voyage Party, Katie decided she needed to take pictures of every outfit she was taking. So, a little weird but okay. I pulled up a lawn chair and parked outside her door just to watch for a little while. I had been working (like I said, really busy week work-wise) and I needed a break. 

Lulu jumped on my lap and proceeded to watch this little bit of theater. First she assembled the ensemble. Then she laid it out - we noticed there was a bra there to make sure the shirts had the appropriate lift - and then she snapped a photo. Holy cow. Ruby got in and out of the way and Lulu and I eventually got bored. 

By tonight, things are starting to come together. We bought gifts for her host family (I think she's there four nights?) and the bus driver and her in-country tour guide. Pizza My Heart shirts turned out to be the major score at $6 each with great graphics and a free slice of pizza. We have lunch tomorrow handled: two slices of Hawaiian and two pestos. Sweet.

We also got magnets and Shark Mints (in case there are little kids) and a rather cool surfboard incense burner - I know, random - for the host family because we had no idea what else to get. It's definitely Santa Cruz-y. 

Katie leaves ridicolously early on Friday morning. I'll write a post later on Friday with the details. It's very exciting but I am a nervous wreck! I am ready for her to go already just so I can let my guard down. Two more days. Please no broken bones. No head lice. No sickness.

Two more days.

Bon Voyage Party: Next Stop Rome (Well, the Airport is First)

Great weather, nice yard. Getting to know each other.

Today was the Bon Voyage party for the kids and families.

While we have been driving to Gilroy for most events (because this group draws kids from the Central Coast), today our lovely neighbors hosted the event and we were lucky to just pop in the car and be there one minute! Okay - we had to drive because I was packing an enchilada casserole.

Everyone was buzzing with excitement as the Europe kids get ready to leave this Friday at 6am - which means we have to be at the airport at 3am - which I think means I am pulling an all-nighter that night so we can get there on time.

That's going to be ugly. Not only will I be crying when she leaves but I will be over tired and under nourished. I expect to be ghastly for at least two days. Thankfully she returns at a human time, 9:30 at night.

That's the little kite with the poem. 

The kids made kites for the parents today that had a little poem about it being "okay to let them soar on their own". Sure, it was a little corny, but the sentiment was appreciated and if I actually started thinking about what the poem says, I am pretty sure I could start crying.


After that we moved to the back yard where we had a pinning ceremony to remind the kids of their responsibility as Student Ambassadors.

Oh yeah, year two! She's an alum!

People to People takes this responsibility very seriously and they expect a lot of the kids with regard to manners, preparation and appreciation for the experience. The pinning ceremony was very sweet. I pinned her People to People pin on her new lanyard and gave her a little kiss.


The Europe group (we have a set of kids that are separately going to Australia), will meet up at the airport with a delegation from the Central Valley - Reedly, Fresno, etc. Then those two groups will have one more delegation meet them in Chicago before they head to Rome. Those kids are from South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota (can you say that without sounding like an extra from Fargo?) and other close states. 


I will make every effort to provide a daily update just like last year. It so helps me feel close to her and helps me understand what she's seeing! This way I get to tour too! Can't wait for you to help me share the adventure!

Kids from both the Europe and Australia groups.