Day One - We are off!

And we are off! Forty six choristers and seven chaperones all bound for Helsinki. We staggered to the airport, all arriving by around 6:00, for check-ins, final songs and final hugs. The excitement was obvious as we all, fairly quickly, made it through security and headed to gate 99 to board flight 459 to Munich. Skeptical of food that was going to be served on board the 10.5 hour flight, the little snack/restaurants were filled with a rainbow array of choir shirts, purchasing last minute sandwiches and snacks to hold most of us over. Relaxing and waiting to board our flight, the conversations were of excitement as they awaited the unknown.

Once on the plane, everyone prepared themselves for the tightly packed, 10 hour flight. Carmen and Elsa agreed that the food wasn't well, 'up to our standards.' However they survived, with lots of movies, and maybe a little sleep.

On our way to Gate 12 at the Munich airport, we passed all the food stands as the kid's eyes glowed at the sight of decent food. Many kids bought themselves German pretzels and hotdogs. Rushing back to the gate to catch our last flight to Helsinki of the day. Currently, we are sitting on the plane at 10 PM, and the sun has not set and she sky is still blue. Is it night, or day?

Sleeping tonight should be rather... interesting? Hope everyone brought their sleeping masks.

Click through the slideshow below to view some highlights from today: