Day 0 - OK Ambassadors of Music - Friday, 5 June 2015 – OKC airport to London

Oklahoma Ambassadors of Music (OAM) 

Europe Tour: 5 – 20 June 2015

250+ students, staff, family from Oklahoma and Alabama traveling to London, England; Paris, France' Crans-Montana, Switzerland; Zermatt, Switzerland; Lichtenstein, Seefeld, Tyrol; Venice, Italy; and Rothenburg, Germany; to perform in a chorus, band, and/or jazz band.

Eve, Seth, and Amina Switzer 

Camp was over, the concert in Ada was done, bags were packed and we had to be at the airport 3 hours before our flight left at 10 am. Over the course of many months, we made our payments to Voyageurs International, sent in paperwork and more paperwork, paid a surcharge (fees that were tacked on to our package price due to increases in travel costs according to Voyageurs), received information and, finally, the week before our trip, an itinerary.

Preparing for an overseas trip even when I wasn't doing the actual planning of the itinerary is still a lot of work. I had lists in my lists. So getting the itinerary just a week before we left drove me crazy. With our schedule entered into my phone calendar, new clothing and shoes purchased, bills paid, credit cards and bank notified, pet supplies purchased (that last minute run to the store to get more dog food), copies of important documents made, chargers/cables/converters/adapters located, what few reservations made, and international AT&T data purchases made (Passport Pro - $120 for unlimited messages, 800 MB data, and $0.35 per minute phone calls), we were about as prepared as we could be. After spending an hour on the phone with credit card companies and a few Google searches, it was obvious that the best choice was my Capital One MasterCard which had no fees associated with international ATM use. The Disney Visa card, our most used card, was associated with all sorts of fees when used internationally. Seth's American Express card was also a good choice with no fees. The advice was to definitely stay away from currency exchange centers at the airport and to stay away from bank counters. The hands-down consensus was that credit cards were the best way to go for both purchasing and for cash withdrawals.

When we arrived at the OKC airport slightly early, there was already quite a few Ambassadors there.

A line had formed to pick up our airline tickets. We were flying Delta and had already received our flight numbers, seats, and confirmation code but I had Googled and then called both Voyageurs and Delta to upgrade our seats to at least business class. I was told by both Voyageurs and Delta to check at the airport but when I Googled it, business class upgrades were going to run several thousand dollars for each of us. I knew there was a reason we don't use domestic airlines to fly internationally.

We had each received a purple “backpack” which would be used to help identify us and this proved to be very important so that we could recognize each other. A Voyageurs representative was on hand to pass out our tickets and directed us to the Delta check-in line. Check in was pretty unremarkable and the excitement in the airport was palpable. It wasn't hard to sort out the non-student members traveling with us and those having to stay behind.

There were 5 buses each with about 6 coordinators divided by color: red, blue, yellow, green, and brown – bus color assignments were mostly according to school areas so all of the Enid area students were on the same bus - blue – denoted by our color coordinated wristbands. A group huddle for our first orientation was held (although we really couldn't hear the Voyageurs rep) – many other such orientations were held during the remainder of the trip.

Security was uneventful but it became quickly clear the students who had never been through airport security and/or had never flown before. Will Rogers airport actually gathered us together for a nice group photo of the students/staff/family who were on close flights. Voyageurs had all 450+ travelers on several different flights routed through either Atlanta or Minneapolis. Our flight at 10 am was one of the first off the ground.

A sea of purple backpacks made its way through Atlanta airport where we had a pretty significant lay over – about 6 hours. Once we reached our departure gate, instructions were given by our bus coordinators – Randy, Jane and Matt Johnson – and we were told when to meet back at the gate. Seth and I headed to the food court where we had spied a piano bar that offered food/wine. We settled in with a bottle of Tempranillo, charcuterie board, and some chicken wings for me.

After lunch, we hung out in the Delta Sky lounge using Seth's American Express card to gain entry but the lounge rules had changed and he was no longer able to bring in family members – we had to pay a fee for me to use the lounge too. The lounge was huge and packed with people but we found a nice quieter corner and Seth napped while I caught up on Spartacus episodes on my iPad. With electronics all charged and potty stop made, we headed out to the gate.

We checked once again with the lounge desk about upgrades for the overseas flight to London but, as I had found out, it really was several thousand dollars to upgrade. Bummer. One thing I will say about Delta, they're trying to be nicer to their customers – they had a “Just Because” event where they had complimentary snacks and drinks for passengers, gave out prizes, and provided a little diversion and entertainment for us. It was all advertising but the passengers were appreciative.

 Our flight ended up being delayed and we actually boarded and sat on the plane for a while waiting for more OAM who were arriving on a delayed flight. Thank goodness the plane waited for them – there were another 30 or so Ambassadors on that plane.

The flight to London was long and I was going back and forth for the next 8 hours about whether business class would have been worth it. At least the drinks were free. After a restless 8 hours and multiple attempts at sleeping for more than 10 minutes at a time only to bumped awake by Seth, the person behind me, or some passer-by, I gave up and tried to watch an in-flight movie.

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