“This the day…Judah!” Judah? Well, I had the use the whole quote or I would be committing sacrilege. I know, I am dating myself with the reference to epic Hollywood movie Ben Hur, but I am a history teacher, so it’s par for the course. Hopefully Judah Ben-Hur was more rested for his big day than I am however.

Hey kids, it’s go time! I’m currently sitting at my kitchen table, doing my best to collect my thoughts on this day that was a long time in coming. Ben-Hur won his race that day; I’m desperately trying to keep the motor at least idling. The trip hasn’t even started and I’m tired. Unfortunately I didn’t have a good sleep last night. I went to bed early as I usually do (I am getting old you know), but I spent the night tossing and turning. Not sure why, possibly too many things spinning around my subconscious. Maybe I can steal a nap here or there today, but if not, lets hope I can sleep on the plane…I’m not holding my breath though. Regardless, I am ready to go. My suitcase is packed and so is my carryon. I just need to do the last minute check and make sure everything is copacetic. Speaking of which, I should get on that.

Alright, so we’re now in the air; it will be nice leaving behind the -13C temperatures at home this morning for, fingers crossed, warmer places. It was a bit chaotic at the airport, especially getting through security. There were several flights leaving around the same time, so the line ups were rather large for our small airport. Anywho, at least that is behind us and we won’t have to worry about a major queue until we have to go through customs in Rome. Speaking of Rome, I have already been in touch with our Tour Director Kent and everything is ready for our arrival. Fingers crossed we will leave on time from Toronto.

Waiting, waiting. So, a seven hour layover is quite a long time. It’s now 4:00 and there’s still 4 hours until our flight leaves. But I guess it’s better this way than running for the plane…like we did the last time. The chaperones ate some lunch and had some together while the kids explored the terminal. Now we’re hanging out at the gate waiting to meet up with the group so we can move to the correct one (I love playing the moving gate game). The airport is quite busy, which is expected since it is the Saturday of March Break. The flight is currently on time, so hopefully it stays that way.

It’s about that time I guess. Shortly they will be boarding the plane for our flight to Italy. The kids seem to be taking this long layover in stride, playing games, talking and making friends. I’m going to sign off for now and pick things up when we’re in the air. Those musings will appear on tomorrow’s post. Until then…