Day 14 - Goodbye Sweden! Travel Day Home to USA

Early this morning, we piled into the bus for our final time, loading all of our treasures, memories and bittersweet feelings of returning home. For some, it was the last time one would return home from an Ensemble tour. For others, it was just the first time on tour with Ensemble, and until the tears were flowing, they didn't realize how special the memories were that they were making. We sang goodbye to our bus driver, Turleif, who took us from Denmark to Sweden and who was a new convert to understanding our complex and modern style of music and singing-he attended all three concerts we performed at in Sweden. A heartfelt rendition of "O Shenandoah" seemed to be just the ticket.

Straight away to the airport we dashed only to wait in what was quite possibly the world's longest line to check in with Delta. After over an hour and a half to check in our singers, it was a mad jog to get through security and to the gate. But whew! To our relief, there was time to sit and relax, because of course, our flight was delayed. This was also a relief because Chaperone Julie almost didn't get on the plane because it was so overbooked. Thankfully when the stars aligned, and with ticket in hand, a joyful celebratory dance broke out when all of Piedmont was able to board the plane together!

The first leg of the flight from Stockholm to JFK went well with most of the kids spending their time watching one of the movies, eating one of the two meals they served, or making friendship bracelets with their friends names cleverly written in. Our singers handled the travel well. Upon our landing, we sang several songs, turning heads and wowing the other passengers. It was so fun to watch as smiles were found across the faces of strangers listening to our children sing.

Quickly we went through customs, only to wait for our bags at the baggage claim before we could transfer our bags and board our next flight. Thankfully we had three hours to accomplish this because we had another hour wait for all of our bags. Let's just say that it's a good thing our singers get along so well and entertain themselves endlessly with their chatter as otherwise, the patience would have drawn thin! Finally after our bags arrived, it was a mad dash through the labyrinth of the airport lovingly called JFK. Upstairs, through security, take off your shoes, go outside, down the stairs, across the street, up the stairs, down the hall.... All in the New York summer humidity that felt like a hot shower. Gotta love being on tour!

Of course, we made it just in the nick of time to use the bathrooms and get a quick snack, drink or fruit smoothie as many did. After boarding the plane, we unfortunately sat there for one whole hour! Due to rain and other bad weather in the skies, we needed to wait to let it pass. For most of us, it was the perfect time to nap, especially since this flight didn't have free movies to watch and was dimly lit so that most could sleep. Miraculously, our pilots made up for the lost time of waiting for the storms to pass and we made our landing at about the scheduled time.

Once down the stairs from our exit off the plane, it was apparent that the crowd of people was Piedmont Choirs parents anxiously waiting for their children to come home. Gleefully, families found each other and greeted each other with hugs and kisses and squeals of joy to be reunited. After most of us got our bags at the claim, random song came out of the wood works as a few singers began "Homeward Bound". It was magical to see how the singers joined each other one last time to sing and face each other in a circle-representing the circle of the family they had become over the last two weeks. A circle that would never be the same again; a special family of musicians made in the Ensemble Tour to Denmark and Sweden, Summer 2011.