The quick summary of London is that it was great!
A few more details, though:
We had smooth sailing overall with transportation. God blessed us with our wacky route to and from London, although I did not know it at the time. Our flight to London went through Atlanta, with a long layover. Atlanta had very good weather and no delays, while the places I wanted to fly out from, New York, New Jersey, and Boston, were all still digging out from a huge snowstorm. If we had not gone through Atlanta, I’m not sure how things would have gone. Also, the long layover in Atlanta gave us all practice in being a touring group, since we all left the airport during the layover. It gave me confidence that we could manage a group of thirteen students, and it all happened in the familiar confines of the U.S. Even the flight back was a blessing in disguise – we avoided the Pittsburgh airport, which was dealing with a lot of snow, and we proved that we could go in and out of Detroit. Detroit has direct-to-Heathrow flights that would be great to use next time, and now I know we can get to Detroit from CVCA fairly easily.
We had great kids along on this trip. They never seriously complained; they occasionally rolled their eyes at my asking for group photos, but they always lined up anyway. They were enthusiastic about the trip, and no one ever complained about any of the sights we went to. The group got along well, and I never saw any bickering or fighting. The students obeyed all the rules we laid out, and they stayed in groups when they had free time. I am proud of the students, and cannot imagine having a better group along for a trip.
God blessed us all with good health. We had some sore muscles from all the walking and standing we did, and Mer had a slight cold going into the trip that cleared up, and one girl asked for some cough drops toward the end of the trip. That is amazing for fifteen people in the winter, with pushing our bodies the way we did.
We had no logistical problems, other than the first restaurant – all the other sights and shows had our reservations, and even the restaurant on the first night was able to accommodate us. I was pleased with all of our live guides, and I think the kids found them entertaining and helpful (especially Deborah and Peter).
From a personal point of view, I think God was asking me to be less fearful and, to be blunt, less ashamed of my faith. I am always afraid that a public show of my faith (like praying or telling people we were a Christian school) was going to open me to ridicule and disdain. To show me my shortcomings, God kept throwing unashamed Christians in my way, in the middle of a very secular city. At Les Mis, I sat next to a young man who plainly told me he was a Christian and his father was a pastor in England. At St. Paul’s, I heard an excellent sermon on going for Jesus, and sermons at evensong services are very rare. Finally, at Heathrow, I came back from the bathroom to find Meredith in conversation with an Englishman who now lived in San Francisco, and he was a lay-pastor of a church there, and was very open about his beliefs. God was gentle, but pretty plain – I need to worry a lot less about what people think about my faith.
On the worry front, God took great care of our group. I think I needed to relax in that. I was snippy with Mer a few times on the trip, for which I am ashamed. I think it came from the stress of the trip, which at some level shows a lack of trust in God’s provision. I still need to do the things I should do – calling for buses, headcounts on the Underground, and so on, but I need to trust God to take care of the rest. I am a focused problem-solver; it makes me good at my job as a computer nerd, and it made me a huge asset to Meredith on this trip. I do need to use those skills, but then relax in my trust of a good and loving God. I have some work to do.
So, it was a great trip. I loved our students, and I learned a lot about London and myself. J-term is a great idea, and I applaud CVCA for taking the risk to let us go on this crazy adventure. I do suppose for the next trip I need to warn the kids to get some miles in walking on the track….