Florida without my Parents- A Disaster Waiting to Happen?

            Of all the nights I have trouble sleeping; it just had to be this one. I looked at the clock at my phone- 3am.

            Tomorrow, the students in the music program were going on a trip to Florida. It was a whole week spending time with friends, eating in great restaurants, going to parks, performing a few times, staying up late and all this without any parents. Unfortunately, I had to be at the school at 4 am- exactly an hour from now. Giving up on sleeping, I went to brush my teeth, change, and do a last minute check on my things. Just as I finished, my dad came into my room.

            “Hey Leeza, I’m heading off to work now, I can drop you off at the school now if you want,” He said.

            “Yeah sure, I’m not sleeping anyway.” So with that I said bye to my mom, and my dad dropped me off at the school where I said bye to him. When I went inside I saw a bunch of my friends gathered in the auditorium, and I joined them.

            “Leeza! Did you even sleep? I didn’t! I’m so excited!” shouted Nicolle

            “No, I didn’t sleep, but lower your volume; my head is pounding!” I said. I was just now beginning to get sleepy. That was my first lesson learned- never pull an all-nighter before a trip.

            Within an hour, we were at the airport waiting on endless lines. Rachel and I were standing in line and talking about the trip.

            “Oh my god, can you believe it? We are going to go to the Hard Rock Café on your birthday! How cool is that?” Rachel said

            “Yeah that is pretty awesome, what a coincidence!” I said. I just couldn’t wait to get on the plane and be in Florida.

            Then after a few hours of on the plane we were on the ground, outside in Florida. The sky was beautiful, the sun was shining, and it was perfectly warm. There were palm trees everywhere. It was the total opposite of New Jersey. All of us got herded into three coach buses, which took us to Magic Kingdom, where we were spending that day.

            While waiting in line for a ride, the sky began to darken, and within 5 minutes, a downpour started. We ran for the nearest shelter, which we found in a bathroom. When we got in, all of us checked our bags. Our cameras, cell phones, and iPods were soaked, but still worked. Our clothes were soaked through as well. Lesson number two- hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Luckily, the rain cleared up within the next few minutes, and though it was still cold, we all managed to make the best of it. At least the rest of the trip was sunny. Well, except for the most important day.

            On the second to last day, we performed a final concert. As we were walking onto the stage, another downpour started. Our audience was devoted and stayed to the very end of the performance. The stage was covered, so our instruments were safe. After the concert, we packed up our instruments on stage, and started the walk out to the bus. You can only imagine how everyone looked at the end. Lesson number three- Always keeps an umbrella handy.

            I’ve learned more on that trip than on any other. That was the first time I was independent, and even though there were many disasters, the trip was amazing.