06-05-96
San Antonio - Dallas - LA
Well, here goes. I had been preparing for 6 months to go on this trip, and
the day had finally come. I had been interested in Australia for a long time,
and when the opportunity came, I jumped at it. It was a bit inconvenient,
however...you see, the branch of People To People which served my county
(Williamson county, just north of Austin, TX) was going to England, so I
got in with the San Antonio group. This created a whole lot of extra driving
and whatnot, but, goshdarnit, I was finally going to see Australia! So I
packed furiously all night and all morning, and, to make a long story short,
we drove on over to the San Antonio airport.
My parents wished me luck and then went home. It was quite an ordeal to get
all our stuff checked in at airports (an ordeal we would be all too familiar
with once our journey came to an end) but it finally got done and we waited
for our plane to arrive. The ride to Dallas was uneventful, but resting on
the plane was helpful considering we had to run full speed through DFW
airport to make it to our next plane on time. We barely made it. And
then another boring flight followed.
We arrived in Los Angeles International Airport late that evening. It was
a maze, but it turned out we had about two and a half hours between flights,
so we had plenty of time to find our way to the next terminal (which included
crossing streets and walking about 3/4 of a mile. When we got there, who was
waiting for us but a group of 14 rowdy kids one or two years below our age
group. They were wearing the same bright purple "Student Ambassador" shirts
we were. They were the kids from New Orleans, LA with whom we were going to
spend the next few weeks. First impressions we not good - to us they seemed
very immature and somewhat uncivilized; to them we seemed very backwoods
and stupid (although you can see which of these opinions is based on
observation and which is based on stereotype.) We also seemed very mean.
This was because most of us refused to talk to them. Our plane finally
arrived, and we boarded. The real trip was underway.
06-06-96
Somewhere Over The Pacific Ocean
I am writing this approximately a year after it happened, so little details
may be off. If my memory serves me right, this was a 757. But that's where
my memory lapse stops. This was by far the most uncomfortable plane I have
ever had the misfortune of riding in. I sat between Patrick and Mike. The
seats were very narrow and very close to each other. It was terrible. And
this was the situation for fourteen hours. The movies were okay...I had
already seen "Grumpier Old Men" but it was still funny the second time;
"Broken Arrow" was good; and I slept through "Mr. Holland's Opus" (though I
later saw it at school and wished I had watched it on the plane rather than
sleep uncomfortably.) Whenever I woke up I took a little trip to the
bathroom. Not to...you know...but to stretch out! It sure was
cramped in that plane. The only other thing I recall about that plane ride
is Emily, one of the Louisiana kids, kept taking pictures with the flash on,
waking many and annoying many more. Fourteen hours later, we were landing
in Australia.
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This page was created by Nick Huinker with lots of help from Lacey Tauber. Main People To People graphic courtesy (much thanks!) to the People To People Student Ambassadors Website.
I would also like to thank Mr. Sam Montgomery, Mrs. Jo Beth Oestreich, and Ms. Debra Davis, our fearless leaders, as well as everyone else whom I shared this experience with.