At 2:00 AM this morning, I was startled awake by the "Old Car Horn" alarm setting on my phone. Though this would be insanely early for me on a normal day, today I was able to function considerably well because I was so excited for the start of our trip. I met the rest of the girls in my group, the chaperones, and Don at El Cerrito High School at around 2:35 AM. Don gave us some final pointers about the trip, weighed our luggage, and snapped some pictures of us. I said goodbye to my mom, and at 3:30, a shuttle came to take us away to SFO International Airport.
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| We had a loooot of luggage to carry around |
At this point, we still had an incredibly long day of traveling ahead of us, much of it consisting of waiting in long lines in various airports. SFO was surprisingly busy for 4:00 AM, and we spent over an hour and a half waiting to check our baggage and then go through security. We boarded almost as soon as we got to our gate, and settled in for a 5-hour flight.
We arrived in Newark, New Jersey at around 2:30 PM, and after a bathroom stop, immediately turned around and got on another plane to Rhode Island. In fact, we nearly missed our flight - we arrived just as one of the airline personnel was about to close the plane. Fortunately, we all made it on, and it was just a short 1-hour flight to Providence.
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| A first glance of Providence after getting off the second plane |
We got off the plane and collected our bags, and then headed over to the rental car area. Here we waited for a long time too, as Ms. Timmes and Ms. Williams worked out the details of the car rental and made some changes to the reservation. After about another two hours, we were finally able to load everything into a huge 12-seater van. Everyone was squeezed in between pieces of luggage and it was a tight fit, but we got on the road. We were greeted by bouts of pouring rain outside. We also witnessed several different rainbows, including a double rainbow and two separate full rainbows. This was a bright ending to what had begun as a hectic day of travel.
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| Our hotel is really unique and quaint |
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| The church tower by our hotel has bells that ring every hour |
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| Our hotel is dog - friendly, and even has a doggie lounge |
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| The rising moon after our dinner tonight |
We soon reached Hotel Providence, where we were met by Mrs. Kaplan. We checked in, rushed up to our rooms, dropped off our bags, and rushed back downstairs - everyone was starving and more than ready for some food. Mrs. Kaplan took us to a restaurant called Viva Mexico, which was conveniently half a block from our hotel. After eating food, everyone was much happier, and we strolled back to our hotel to relax for the evening. Currently everyone is hanging out together in one room and blogging.
Tomorrow we are beginning our college touring by going to Wellesley College in Massachusetts. I'm looking forward to learning a lot and meeting inspiring people there!
Molly,
ReplyDeleteI’ve had numerous conversations with people today about your departure and--it would be imprudent to say who said it--it was mentioned that had this been Men & Leadership instead of Women & Leadership, the amount of luggage would have been only a third as much. I’m not saying he was right but you’re not the first of your cohort to comment on the size and quantity of luggage you all brought.
From the looks of things your hotel is pretty nice. If they take care of people half as well as they take care of dogs then you have it made.
As hard as we plan our trips, we still can’t seem to avoid the delays caused by the travel industry. Your wait at SFO as well as the wait at the car rental desk were both inexcusable. Let’s just hope that this is not a precursor of things to come.
About the photo of the moon. A full moon sets at dawn so that is a picture of the rising moon. Beautiful too.
ReplyDeleteGreetings I am a teacher at Pinole Valley High School. Iteach special education. I am amazed when I come across blogers of students that are doing great things!Keep the blogs coming and I am very pleased to know our future leaders are out there representing our District. Hello Ms. Kaplan..
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