I think I've put off finishing this up for so long because I really don't want the trip to be over. Sitting at home in Jacksonville, it's too quiet, it's been way too long since I've seen the whole crew, no one is making fun of the way I say "awesome", I haven't clapped for a U-turn...far too few knuckles and teenage boy half-smiles in my life right now. But I digress...back to our last day in London. Bender got up for a run really early and was nice enough to take pics of things he knew we wouldn't have time to see.
He shouldn't have showed me this!! Trapeze school right near our hotel (or at least in running distance!)! I totally tried to fit that in...but unless they had midnight classes, it wasn't going to work in to our schedule.
Quite the run! The picture of the Shed Wall below is actually right next to our hotel - like view from the window. It's part of the original Chelsea stadium.
The boys had to be at breakfast by 6:50 - hoping to leave the hotel by 7:15. We had a 1.5 hour bus ride to the Tottenham training center. In other words, the boys got up to eat, said good morning, and then were out again. I don't think that there was another time when ALL of them were asleep on the bus.
Everyone was wide awake when we arrived at Hotspur way!
Another amazing training facility. We were not allowed to take pictures at the facility - but they brought in their professional photographer to do the job for us. The boys said the training was one of their favorites.
We did have a game that evening, so the trainers didn't have them do anything too crazy, but that didn't stop our boys from beating the ever loving crap out of eachother. Because that's just what they do - practice, scrimmage, friendly - there is no halfway for them. They smiled so nice for the professional photographer. I think I'm offended.
Group pic! One of our goals today was to get a couple group pics! This one is minus one family who was staying at a AirBnB in London.
After the training, we jumped on the bus and Super Dave drove us into London proper. We literally had 15 minutes to get food, and get on our boat. We found this cute little restaurant with ready-made sandwiches and salads.
Some tried to fit in eating too...
Then it was on the boat for our river cruise.
The boys actually sat inside downstairs (out of the sun...training and game today!), but the adults all went up to the top level. Group pic with the Tower Bridge!
The tour was perfect and our guide was pretty darn funny. I love when someone puts a personality behind a tour...makes it so much more entertaining!
You can see the London Eye and Big Ben (under construction) in the last few of these pictures. That was about all we saw of Big Ben...and no time for a London Eye trip. We were on to Buckingham Palace - about a 15 minute walk though the streets of London.
Bender pic in front of the palace! Zack even smiled.
We tried to leave the queen some volt, but we couldn't seem to find the person to make that happen.
Group pic! Funny story. We wanted everyone in the pic, so we asked a man with a couple of really nice professional cameras if he'd take our picture with one of our cell phones. Then he took it with his nice digital camera and emailed it to us! This picture is some of my favorite people on Earth.
Best. Damn. Soccer. Fam.
Then it was on to wait for the bus. Super Dave got caught (for the first time all trip) in traffic. So we had to wait a bit. London was experiencing a heat wave - like 90-95...which was normal for us Florida peeps, but not normal for London. Not everywhere has air conditioning, and if it does, it's pretty obvious it's not something they use all the time. Luckily our coach had great air conditioning :)
Then we went straight back to Tottenham for our game. And I have zero pictures. Zero. It was raining and storming from the beginning of the game...again, fairly normal for us Florida peeps, but totally bizarre for London. We obviously brought that with us from Florida. The parents actually stayed on the bus to watch (Super Dave just pulled along the side of pitch - best seats in the house!). Our boys destroyed the team they sent to play us. It was 5-1 about 30 minutes in when they called the game because of lightning - but it could have been even more. We ate them for afternoon tea. So three games, three international wins. Still undefeated.
After the game, the boys got a tour of the inside of the training facility while their stuff got dried (which was incredibly nice of the Tottenham people to do! Made the rest of the evening so much better not to be worrying about soggy uniforms in bags!) and heard from some of the academy staff. Parents waited on the bus. We drove back to the hotel and had a super quick turn around (some of the boys still had drenched underwear), and headed to dinner.
The pub we were eating at had a few upstairs rooms and they put us all by ourselves in one. It was perfect. The food was fabulous. Speeches were given. Cider was consumed. It was a great ending to a fabulous trip. Bender had fish and chips for the first time this trip!
Lynn and a bunch of the boys had mussels.
We may have had some cider too.
Last meal together!
After they were done eating. we sent the boys with Bender to go grab gelato while the rest of us paid for our drinks and apps.
Then it was back to the hotel for everyone. The boys had their pictures taken with our brilliant guides Alex and Jamie (and Super Dave! I missed that pic for Zack) outside our hotel and then headed up to... who knows. They were in their rooms.
Some of the parents headed out to check out a couple of local pubs and ended up back in front of the hotel, hanging out, not really wanting things to be over. Bender took this picture from our hotel window of the late night crew.
This is Caitlyn in her very first need-to-be-a-certain-age pub/bar. There was dancing and cider and laughing until bellies hurt.
And then it was time for bed. The next morning I got up and took an Uber to the airport by myself. I was flying Norwegian by myself. The boys got one last ride with Super Dave to the airport.
Bye Alex and Jamie and Super Dave!
So, now for the airport story. I arrived and waited an hour to drop my bag (seriously, insanity) and then not five minutes later, got a text that my flight had been cancelled. Not only cancelled, but there were no other flights that day, they had no hotels or arrangements for us, and really couldn't help us. I was right in front of security and I just stood there with my mouth open. I went to the Norwegian desk and Zoe was very helpful. Well, not really - but she was kind and did what she could for me...which was look and see what other airlines had available. People kept saying, "you'll have to pay for the ticket though..." and I kept saying "I have to get out of London though..." I tried to get on the team flight, but it was full. The Thomas Cook rep said she could put me on standby, but not till 10:30 and it wasn't a guarantee that I'd get on the flight. I was about to book a Virgin flight (that would have cost close to $2000) when Zoe stopped me and asked if I had gotten my luggage back. I hadn't, and she encouraged me not to buy until I had my luggage. I thought it was crazy...I mean I had a few hours before that flight took off...how long could it possibly take to get my luggage? That would be the first of two times I would repeat those words over and over in my head that day. I actually convinced the Norwegian people to take me back to the luggage area, but the bags were no where to be seen. It actually took over an hour for the bags to show up. By the time I got back to Zoe, there was a crazy line and I was glad she had stopped me from buying the seat - because I wouldn't have made that flight. Around that time, the team made it to the airport and Chris happened to mention that my flight had been cancelled and he needed to get to the Norwegian desk to see if he could hand off his plug adaptor (my cell phone was dying a quick death). Somehow, between when I asked and cried and was told I'd be first on standby, and when Bender asked, a seat appeared. Bender texted me and I ran. And had to walk by the whole team that was lined up ready to check in - and they all clapped me in. So that's the story of how I ended up on the team flight.
When they were scanning our tickets at the gate, my buzzed. They had double sold my seat - which meant I was upgraded to first class. By that point, I just wanted to be with the group. So I sent JD to first class...where he enjoyed a glass of champagne for all of us. If it had been cider, I would have been pissed.
The flight was fantastic, until we got to Orlando. When we arrived in the area, there were bad storms, so we had to circle for an extra hour until we could find an opening to land. Then we had to wait on the plane for things to improve enough to let us off. Then we had to wait for the luggage to be unloaded. Totally a weather thing - nobody's fault, but we waited for our luggage for two hours...in a secure area where we couldn't use our phones. Oye. I was just so happy to be in Orlando! I could have still been wandering the London airport!
My daily Zoe picture with her sweet friend Maddy from gym. Love you girls!
This trip has been in the works for a long time. Bender went on a trip with his travel soccer team to Brazil back in the day and had the best time. For years now, he has been talking about what an amazing experience it would be for our boys. About three years ago, we actually began talks with XL Sports, the tour company who did such a fantastic job planning and guiding. The dream became a reality because of these incredible young men, their fabulous parents, the support of our fantastic coach and club, and a ginormous group of peeps we like to call Friends of Florida Elite SA 2003 ECNL Boys on Facebook. That's a super long name for all the family, friends, neighbors, businesses, coworkers, etc who have supported this team - with donations, prayers, and applause. These boys are incredibly lucky to have the support of so many. As parents, we are incredibly lucky to have such an amazing village.
Personally, I loved traveling with these young men. They were brilliant ambassadors of our club, our country and US soccer. We told the story of our trip countless times over the 9 days we were gone and made many new friends. This trip marks the end of the 2017-2018 season. Technically this week started pre-season camp...but our boys are off till next week. Bags still need to be unpacked, laundry still needs to be done and tomorrow is high school orientation for a number of the boys (Zack included!). Life marches on...fast. But I will be forever thankful for the 9 days we spent turning the UK volt.
Thanks for traveling with me! We loved reading every comment and I loved telling every story. Until I blog again (Australia 2020!! Woot Woot!), cheers!
