THURSDAY TRAVEL DAY UPDATE

Hi everyone,

The day is finally here - ASTA travel day!  And hello from the Dallas airport!

The time is 2:35pm Central time and we’re set to board Southwest flight 1442 leaving from Dallas Love Field at 3:35pm.  Everyone is waiting at Gate 9, happy, well-fed (there are lots of restaurants at this small, manageable airport), and excited for the remainder of the journey.

Leaving LAX was remarkably smooth. 

Since it was early in the morning, our group of 68 was practically the only large group checking in at the Southwest counter.  The folks at Southwest and TSA have been incredibly accommodating and have taken great care of our instruments so far.  Since there are 68 of us walking through a huge, busy airport at 6 in the morning with our bright blue shirts, we passed crowds of staff and travelling families wishing us good luck at our performance in Florida!  If you’re a cello parent, don’t fret.  Chris Kroesen and I watched cellos be boarded onto and off of the plane from the gate.  The airport personnel were gentle and cello-friendly.  I’m confident our checked cellos will reach Tampa safe and sound.

The flight from LAX to Dallas was about 2.5 hours and uneventful (which is good!).  Games were played, passengers were quiet, and we were all able to grab a few minutes of sleep.  We’re now sitting at Gate 9 in Dallas (Love Field airport) waiting to board in about 40 minutes.

That’s it for Blog update 1.  So who is writing your blog?  It’s Bella Staav, PSYE Director and flutist (I’m posing as a string player this weekend)!  I hope to do the best I can over the next few days to grab a few quiet moments and a sliver of free Wifi to update you of our journey.

Once we land in Tampa, we’re boarding buses, heading to the hotel to freshen up, and then walking to the nearby Hablo Taco (a Tampa gem) for a build-your-own-taco dinner before heading to bed.  All of us look forward to that well-deserved meal at the end of this long travel day.  I look forward to updating you once more in detail this evening after dinner and also posting a couple quick updates/photos to facebook (since I don’t need Wifi to do that).  I'm posting a few photos below, but check out the PSYE page if you haven’t already.  Many more photos could be found here: www.facebook.com/PSYEnsembles

Lastly, do know that your children are safe and in the responsible good hands of our 5 incredible parent chaperones (Kelly Chu, Hans Chi, Kwei Peng, Marianne Vrahnos, and Bertha De La Torre) and staff members (Irene Kroesen, Chris Kroesen, Amanda Sansonetti, Bridget Bow <--it's her birthday today, and myself!).

Next stop, Tampa!

- Bella