(Bus rides make us meshugge!)We just recently got back from a 3 day field trip to St. Augustine with LO's class. I usually avoid all the field trips since I just don't love the noise level. However, this one was over several nights, so there was no way getting out of it.
We obviously survived the trip but here is a little overview of what I will always remember as the "Punishment for Being Jewish" field trip...
Day 1
We got up at 4:30 am to be on the bus by 5:30 am. The bus drives to a rest stop on the turnpike for breakfast. Breakfast was anything you wanted at Burger King. (Thankfully, I had brought some fruit in my backpack.) Back on the bus for several hours we head to Ocala to Silver Springs. Lunch was a hamburger and chips. (Guess what we ate?) Back on the bus again for several hours we head to St. Augustine where we stop for dinner at Applebee's. (Guess what we ate? Or should I say guess what we didn't eat? Do you see a theme here?) Then back on the bus to go to the Old Florida Museum. Eventually we get to the hotel. It was just shy of 10:00 pm. Exhaustion doesn't begin to describe it.
Day 2
On the bus at 8:30 am. Off and running the whole day - you name it, we saw it. The St. Augustine lighthouse, the Lightner Museum, Ximenez Fatio, a tram tour, Ripley's Believe it Or Not Museum, the Oldest Jail, the Heritage Museum, ended the day with a walking Ghost story tour. We got back to the hotel after 10:00 pm. The highlights of the day: (1) Making an unplanned stop at a church on the tram tour. While the whole group went inside for a tour of the church, LO and I were left to stand outside in the blazing heat. (2) Dinner - spaghetti and meatballs with cheese baked on top. We were told to just take the meatballs and cheese out and then LO could eat the spaghetti. Yeah right. UGH!
Day 3
On the bus at 8:15 am. One parent and child are still not on the bus by 8:45 am. Turns out they were still asleep. Behind schedule we headed to the Oldest Fort, the Fountain of Youth, the Oldest House, and the St. Augustine Village. At the Fountain of Youth, we had altacocker guide who really didn't like children. One of the parents was making fun of him and said to me, "He sounds like all the other Jews." You should have seen the look on his face when I told him that we are Jewish. (Heh heh.) Lunch was provided but when I saw the Honeybaked Ham bags we didn't even bother. On the way home, the bus stopped in Melbourne for dinner. It was a buffet and I kid you not EVERY ITEM had some kind of pork or bacon in it. We got home at 11:35 pm - hungry after 3 days of eating nothing but fruit, chips, and ice cream. Days later I am still trying to recuperate.
Lessons learned?
(1) Never trust that a tour operator will make concessions for kosher food when requested
(2) After eating the same thing for three days at every meal, even ice cream gets old
(3) Adults kvetch WAY MORE than children do about being hot, having to walk places, and being hungry
(4) I still hate field trips
(Sorry for the boring post...but Jack insisted! And afterall, we're all here to please Jack aren't we? LOL)
11 comments:
Oh my...the food condition sounds rather dreadful....
Absolutely - Jack is our hero! :)
Sounds like a nasty trip kosher food or not!! Will you eat salad or dairy out?
Woohoo! I love being a hero.
I feel your pain...
Oh. My. God.
That has to be the worst lack of consideration in a school field trip I've ever heard of. If you were lactose intolerant, they wouldn't have made you eat cheese sandwiches at every stop; I guarantee if you had a peanut allergy they'd have made sure there was food for you.
Gila - dreadful doesn't begin to describe it.
Z - The places we saw on the trip were interesting, the whole food thing ruined it for us though. I was starving by the 2nd night and I would have been ok with a salad...alas - the salad had bacon bits in it. Hence the ice cream diet continued!
Jack - why does that not surprise me?
BN - Thanks :)
KRG - I got mean from hunger eventually and I told a friend on the trip that when they told me to scrape the meatballs and cheese off of the spaghetti that I wanted to tell them to let me go to the bathroom in their food and they could then just scrape that out and eat.
You know, that's why I am psycho about my food when I have to attend a conference or something and if I think they're going to lay ham on me...I'll ask for a kosher meal.
That was no "field trip" LO took; that was...a family vacation! Okay, a family vacation minus the food.
if I think they're going to lay ham on me
This is why you must never fall asleep on the school bus because when you wake up you never know what you'll be wearing.
Oops, had a flashback.
The tour guide was supposed to make concessions for you? Niiiiice! I hope you fired off a blistering letter once you got home.
Thank goodness there is no food invloved in Beernut's upcoming field trip to the farm. In a weak moment I agreed to be one of the chaperones (thanks to a lot of begging on the part of my son!). I was thrilled to learn that so many parents were expected to volunteer that names were to be pulled from a hat. Since I never win anything, I figured that I was safe.
Bad strategy...
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