Journey Home - Day 14

I was planning on writing the final entry in between flights on the last day, but unfortunately that didn’t quite happen as we ran through the Munich airport to make our connecting flight! Just picture the scene from Home Alone with their whole family running through the airport, same thing but with 35 singers and 5 chaperones, all dressed in our array of rainbow shirts! Quite a scene, and luckily we didn’t miss our flight, phew!!

We woke up at around 8:00 and went down to the hotel restaurant for our final breakfast in Bratislava, and of tour. It was fairly easy to wake the kids up, for I know there was some excitement to come home. After breakfast, we loaded our bags on the bus, and headed to Vienna where we would catch our hour long flight to Munich and then home.

The kids had asked Bob to give them the low down on the choir’s history as far as competitions and tours go. I think he mentioned that we have won competitions in 9 different countries, which is quite impressive! The kids listened intently, and felt very proud of the fact that they were one of those 9 countries, something to be proud of for sure.

About 5 miles from the airport, Heinz, our beloved bus driver, got on the speaker and told us that straight ahead was the airport tower for the Vienna airport. He congratulated us and thanked us for being such a wonderful group to tour with. He was so supportive from day one, helping at concerts, coming to concerts, and he even came to all of the competitions! His speech brought tears to a few eyes, and before you knew it, we were at the airport. He parked the bus, we got all our belongings, and Heinz even walked with us into the airport. The kids circled him and sang “Homeward Bound,” which he really enjoyed, and then we were off.

We got everyone through security, even with all our extra pounds of souvenirs, and were at the gate, waiting for quite a while, because we found out our plane was delayed a little over an hour. That was fine for all of us but Ellie, for her connecting flight in Munich to Chicago was supposed to leave earlier than ours! Aside from freaking out a little, the kids had fun in the airport shopping around and eating. There was a booth where you could take glamour shots and a few kids had fun with that while they waited.

The fun was over and we were on our flight to Munich. It was only an hour, so we were up and down really quick, but once we landed, it was chaos! We landed, caught the bus to the terminal, quickly went through security, and ran as fast as we could to gate H-18. To our surprise we made it! Hot and sweaty in our already stinky clothes, we boarded flight 458 to San Francisco.

The flight itself was pretty uneventful. The kids were definitely more quiet on the way home than the way over from pure exhaustion. Many slept and watched movies. And about 11 and a half hours later, we were home.

We cleared customs quickly and with ease, and walked out to greet our anxiously awaiting parents. Lots of welcome back signs, flowers, and cameras were seen and kids ran to hug their parents. For the last time this tour, the kids sang “Homeward Bound,” said their goodbyes, and were off.

That was it. Two weeks gone in a flash, and now back to reality! As one singer commented on facebook, “We were in 4 countries yesterday, and now we are home.” Kinda unreal. It was truly my pleasure chaperoning this wonderful group of singers these last two weeks. They are a bright, talented young group, so thank you parents, for sending such great kids.

As for me, it’s time for bed. Tour 2013, over and out.

Thanks for being a captive audience.

Your tour bloggers,

Shauna Revelli and Marisa Rahl (Photographer and editor)