Ok, here I sit in my 2nd row seat, back on bus #1. We got a very pleasant surprise this morning as we pulled up to Miner, other than the fact that we couldn’t get in the parking lot. Since I had the trip planner in my van, I wasn’t too worried. That bus was waiting for us no matter what. The surprise? Oh yeah – two full size buses, other than the one big and one small we were expecting, along with Charlie, who drove us to NYC a couple of years ago. Our tour guides were waiting, and we departed only five minutes behind the plan, which in school trip terms is probably at least 20 minutes early.
We just crossed into Quebec, which coincided with one of the best tour practical jokes I’ve ever seen. Dave, our tour guide, had been talking up the need for ID all the way along the 401. A good setup, he then had us drive thru the Quebec welcome centre stop with the kids all holding their ID, or if they didn’t have any, their information written on a piece of paper, up to the window so it could be scanned as we rolled thru.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, your children bought it.
So this is, contrary to my past trip experiences, a quiet and very WARM bus. I’m fully prepared for an icebox experience after NYC last June, and am finding myself delayering on a rapid basis. The noise level from the kids is surprisingly low – I don’t know all the grade 7s, but my impression overall this year has been a chatty bunch (particularly my class).
The films, however, have been a craptacular selection. So far we’ve seen Superstar, Benchwarmers and right now we’re about halfway thru Step It Up. If I was Siskel and Ebert, I wouldn’t have enough thumbs down to give.
We stopped around Port Hope for a bathroom break at a McDonalds, then in Brockville for lunch, where there was a wide variety of bad fast food available.
Oh, the 2nd best practical joke? Ever hear of the Quebecois dollar?
Your kids bought that too.
Seriously, though, we’ll be doing some real historical educating on this trip.
Just not yet.
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