A travel journal, part 9

The unthinkable happened. We tell the kids to keep their passports safe and secure. Barcelona, beautiful city that it is, is also well-known for its pickpockets.

On our last day we stopped to have lunch in a mall (El Corte Inglés) that has a rooftop restaurant with great views of the city. You have to go through security to enter the mall. The bottom floor has stores like Gucci, Prada and Versace. Fancy place. The restaurant, La Rotonda, is on the ninth floor and you have to go through additional security to enter.

We picked a spot near the cashier. It had a security camera above the table. It felt like a fairly safe place. I had my satchel with all of our important papers next to me; I was touching the strap.

One moment it was there; the next it was gone — including my passport!

In stead of spending the afternoon at the beach, I got to spend it visiting three different police stations to file a report. It was a Friday afternoon — siesta time — in Spain, so of course the U.S. consulate was closed. No chance of even starting the process for a replacement passport. And we were scheduled to fly out early the next morning. 

Not a situation you want to find yourself in!

They told me that there was a small chance I could fly out with the group. I still had my wallet with my REAL ID, my only glimmer of hope. The only bugaboo was a stopover we had in Zurich. 

Nope.

I went with the group to the airport early the next morning. They turned me away at the airline counter. It was the Zurich thing.

I had to stay behind while everyone else went home. The tour company was able to book me a hotel room near the airport for three days, which should be enough time to get an emergency passport. And the airline was able to reschedule my flight, so I didn't have to pay any rebooking fees.

Bu t I was stuck there. In a country where I didn't speak the language, with no passport, all alone.

I didn't take a lot of photos that afternoon. Here's one of us going to the first of three police stations.

A travel journal, part 8

One of the fun things we had an opportunity to do while in Barcelona was to attend a night of flamenco dancing. Unfortunately, some of the kids didn't understand what flamenco is, so they opted out of a wonderful, educational and entertaining evening and decided to go shopping instead.

Just a short walk from our hotel was a beautiful beach. The water was warm and the weather was beautiful.

One of our boys was so excited to go wade into the water that he forgot that he had his phone in his pocket. Oops. Bad news is, the phone died. Good news is that most of his photos were stored in the cloud.

TOP: The beach was a short walk from our hotel. We were ahead of the tourist season, so it was pleasant and not crowded at all. 

BOTTOM: Our three-star hotel was a little quirky and about an hour's drive from Barcelona, yet it was a nice place to stay.

Editor's note: We're almost done with the travel journal and we'll soon be back to our regular programming. Stay tuned!

 

A travel journal, part 7

Barcelona is a big, beautiful city with so many things to see and experience! 

One of the unique sights is Park Güell, a park designed by Antonio Gaudi (and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site). If you're not familiar with Gaudi, imagine if you will a park designed by Dr. Seuss brought into the real world. 

It could have been an amazing visit...but, for reasons never fully explained to us, we had one guide when we should have had two (group sizes are limited). So we got half a tour of half the park. And they made our teacher stay behind. 

I'd highly recommended visiting the park if you're ever in Barcelona. However the same cannot be said for the tour company, bless their hearts. 

Another mind-blowing site is the Sagrada Familia, a cathedral also designed by Gaudi and another World Heritage Site.

It's been under constant construction since 1852, and they keep saying that it will be finished in the next year or two.

The outside is covered with stories from The Bible, and every nook and cranny is filled with detailed designs. Definitely worth a visit. Maybe it'll be done by the time you get there!

TOP: View of the city from Park Güell. It's wild!

MIDDLE: Detail of Sagrada Familia depicting the Nativity.

BOTTOM: They were filming a commercial while we were there. A couple of our kids were captured on film!

 

A travel journal, part 6

One of our exciting stops was in Pamplona — the site of the running of the bulls! Although it only happens once a year, it's a year-round draw. We walked the course and saw the pen where they hold the bulls before they're released. Many of the shops show a countdown clock until the next run in days, hours, minutes and seconds.

It's interesting to note that Pamplona is also a site on the Camino de Santiago, a spiritual pilgrimage that leads to the shrine of the apostle James in Santiago on the west coast. A stylized scallop shell marks the way.

That these two events share the same path intrigues me.

This is as much of a travel tip as anything. 

One of the girls on our trip was given a credit card and told she could buy anything she wanted — except a suitcase. What she had was good enough, they said.

From the beginning he bag was held together by duct tape and bungee cords. And the more stuff she bought, the more the strain showed on her suitcase. Finally one of the chaperones made her buy a new suitcase and told her that if there was any problem, she'd be more than happy to talk with her parents.

Almost every trip we have two or three people buy new luggage. Here's the tip: if you send a kid on an international trip, don't send the cheap luggage. When you pack for a trip, be sure to leave plenty of room for things you might pick up. You won't be sorry!

Markers show the path for the running of the bulls (above) and the Camino.

A travel journal, part 5

It may seem that a lot of the travel cartoons focus on food. Napoleon is often credited with saying that an army "travels on its stomach." The same it true with a tour group. If you can get some good sleep and eat some good food, then you'll have a good trip.

In this particular hotel, there were two tables set up for breakfast. One had fruits, pastries, juices, cereals, breads, cheeses and more. That was for the regular guests. Our table is as described, with the addition of a couple of carafes of water.

I saw more than one member of our group "accidentally" grab breakfast from the other table. Can't say that I blame them!

We have certain travel rules set up for safety. One of those is to not wander off alone in an unfamiliar area at night without letting a chaperone know. It's easy to get lost. And if you've ever been lost at night in a foreign country where your understanding of the language is rudimentary at best, you'll understand why this rule is in place.

It only happened one time. Never again.

Lunch that day was in San Sebastián, Spain, where they have a variety of excellent food, including these wonderful empanadas that helped us survive the meager breakfast!

 

A travel journal, part 4

One of the boys on the trip Really wanted a croque monsieur sandwich while he was in France. With the food challenges we had, it was difficult for him to find one. One of our last opportunities to get one was in the beautiful seaside city of Biarritz.

He finally found a restaurant that had croque monsieur on the menu — but it wasn't available that day!

The good new was that there was a McDonald's right next door to our hotel. It was a popular spot that evening. We kept them busy!

They may not have had a croque monsieur, but the had some amazing chocolate and a fantastic cheeseburger with pommes frites!

 

A travel journal, part 3

We next traveled to Bordeaux, but it was just an overnight stay. We got in late and left early. The highlight was the hotel, the Meininger Hotel Bordeaux Gare Saint-Jean, a funky hotel in a happening spot. My favorite feature was the square toilet. 

Our next stop was Dune de Pilat, the tallest sand dune in Europe. We had good weather that day, and the kids had great fun climbing and playing in the sand dunes.

The bus driver was a little less excited about the kids tracking sand into his workplace! He was very thorough in making sure we all had clean feet before getting back onto the bus.

Seriously, the toilets had square seats!
 

A travel journal, part 2

If you've traveled in Europe, you may have noticed that restaurants and stores either close down or have significantly reduced hours on Sunday. That's great — unless you want to eat while you're on the road.

Our itinerary had us eating at the restaurants or kiosks at Chenonceau, a famous castle/château in central France. There was one restaurant open, but it could only serve about eight people at a time. Our group was 40+ people.

Despite the variety of selections in the vending machine, we left hungry.

We were able to talk our tour guide into stopping for food at a gas station along our way. The Eni station isn't like your corner Chevron or Texaco with overwarmed hotdogs and nasty nachos. It's more like a refined Buc-ee's with a grill and restaurant.

It wasn't the fine dining we might have had at the château, but it was good enough for our group!

A variety of wonderful food in one of the cases at the gas station.

A travel journal, part 1

We're doing something a little bit different this week! As we do every couple of years, we took a group of students to Europe over spring break. When we get home from our trips, I usually do a series of cartoons to recap the trip and smile at some of the things we experienced. Because of some unfortunate events, I wasn't able to get to those cartoons until just recently. So here are some highlights. I hope you enjoy!

PARIS

It rained in Paris. Not that unusual for spring, but it rained hard. One day, after visiting the Louvre we were supposed to go to dinner at a restaurant about a mile away. Our guide went back and forth on whether we should take the Metro and get out of the rain or walk. She chose to have us walk. Not only was it a downpour, there was thunder and lightning! We were soaked by the time we got there. The quote in the cartoon is almost verbatim.

The next day we were scheduled for a bus tour of the city, stopping at some of the sights for a photo opportunity. But because of the rain, many of our stops were just drive-bys. We circled the Arch de Triomphe several times, but only one side of the bus had any sort of view. 

Luckily it cleared up in time for the Seine River cruise and the Eiffel Tower, but the morning was disappointing.

Now I can't complain too much because, yes, we were in Paris! A little more sunshine would have been nice, though.

Join us tomorrow for part 2!

This is the best photo I got of the Arch de Triomphe this trip. 
 

 

A sacred space

Of all the places we visited during our field trip to Europe, the most meaningful was Normandy. Visiting the American Memorial Cemetery was stirring.

One thing I didn't know was that only 40 percent of those who were killed in the battle are buried there.

There was a particularly poignant moment for me when we stopped at Omaha Beach — the beaches are beautiful — and our students waded into the water amongst the floating piers. I watched as they came back in, and I realized that our kids were about the same age as many of those who took part in the battles there.

We also stopped at another cemetery in Normandy: La Cambe — the one for the German soldiers. Many of those buried there were also still in their teens. It certainly put a whole new perspective on the war.

A galaxy close, but far, far away

Our hotel in London was directly across from a convention center, which would be hosting a huge, multi-day Star Wars Celebration that began the day after we left.

One of our students is a HUGE Star Wars fan and kept trying to make deals or work out scenarios where he could stay behind, attend the celebration, and then join up with our group again later. The best we could offer him was to walk through the center after hours and see if we could get a sneak peek at anything the night before. All we found, however, were a few stormtroopers in their civvies and lots of signs excitedly talking about what he'd be missing.

It didn't help his mood any to know that all the Potterheads got to visit Platform 9 3/4, and the Whovians found their blue police box. But at least he'll have the memories... of missing it by that much!

How do you feel?

We had one of our students who felt a little ill the first couple of days, so then it became a thing to ask him how he was feeling every time one of us ran into him for the rest of the trip. It didn't take long for it to get old for him, but for the rest of the kids it was hilarious!

Saints alive!

I guess we should have been glad that it wasn't Irish coffee....

A taste of Europe

There are few things more sad than dropping a big scoop of ice cream on the ground. One thing that is worse is dropping amazing gelato — not just onto the ground, but onto a busy sidewalk in a major European capital! Dang!

Landmarks

Every couple of years we take a group of high school students on a European excursion. This year we had a group of 30 students that we took to Ireland, Wales, England and France (Paris and Normandy).  Invariably, there are amusing things that happen. This week I'll be sharing a few of those.

One of the boys we took is a varsity football lineman, Ben, He's about 6-feet 4-inches and weighs in the neighborhood of 275 pounds. He's a big kid. He was thrilled when he finally got to meet the other Big Ben!

Leftovers: Shopping

One of the other faculty members wanted to be in included, and was very specific about she wanted.

Does anybody really know what time it is?

The kids weren't the only ones who wanted cartoons drawn about their experiences — some of the teachers did, too. This is Mr. Haws' experience of enforcing curfew.

Olympic leftovers

One of our stops in Munich included the Olympic Village. Most of the kids didn't understand the historical significance of the Munich Olympic Games — and not just Mark Spitz!

Leftovers from Europe

Now that school is back in session, the students are asking for more cartoons — that show them. This is from one of the boys who bought just about every Swiss Army knife he could see.

One more memory to share

This one somehow didn't make it in with the rest of the Europe trip cartoons.

I was amazed at how quickly the kids were able to get stuff posted on social media — even in places without WiFi. It was also amazing to see how many historic and significant sites you could almost see in the backgrounds of the selfies!