I keep forgetting to post about DD's high school choir trip to New York City. Sorry this is so long ...
DD is in 10th grade, and this was her first big school trip (more than an overnighter). Thursday after school to Tuesday morning.
Several months beforehand: We talked with choir teacher about Dd's food allergies, epipens, problems with eating in restaurants, and what we could do to make this trip work. Teacher had been trained at beginning of the school year, so for the most part it wasn't anything new. Teacher told us in general about the trip. Teacher asked if one of us (her parents) would be a chaperone --- we said Yes. (Dad went.)
A few weeks beforehand: Teacher gave us list of restaurants that had been secured by travel company. DD said she'd take care of calling all the restaurants, but of course, that didn't happen -- she was too busy. Dad called the restaurants and attempted to get a meal in place for DD. A few of the restaurants were very difficult to talk to by phone, language and/or accent being the main difficulty (not real fluent in English); attitude being another at one restaurant. In spite of many questions and trying to get it all ironed out, almost all of the restaurants said, "We'll get it figured out when you get here." Hard Rock Cafe was the best one to work with by phone. The others were family-owned restaurants.
Also a few weeks beforehand: I ordered a lot of trip food -- food that didn't need refrigeration. GoPicnic meals, snack bars, dried fruit, allergy-safe granola, bagels, sunbutter in individual containers, Enjoy Life chocolate bars and cookies, Lucy's cookies, etc. I can be more specific if someone wants to know more of the brands.
A few days beforehand: I packed all that trip food. DD argued about bringing it. She didn't want to be singled out as having an extra bag on the bus. Each student was allowed a suitcase and a carry-on, but as I explained to DD, the teacher said that it was okay to have her extra bag of food. DD still didn't like it but took it, LOL.
The Trip: DH was one of several parent chaperones. I was the Nagging Mom who made sure DD had the epipens, Benadryl, and trip food, among other things, LOL.
It was an all-night bus trip to NYC from here, 18 hours.
They stopped at a gas station/trucker plaza for supper, and she was able to get a salad and eat one of her GoPicnic meals.
Breakfasts: At the hotel. I sent bagels and sunbutter and the small cereal boxes with DD; I figured she'd get her beverage when she was in the hotel cafe with the others.
Lunches: They were on their own for lunches. Before the trip I had looked up possible restaurants in the areas they would be in, and I had printed a list of them with addresses and phone numbers. Some were full sit-down restaurants but had wording on their websites about accomodating special diets, and some were fast-food places that we knew were safe. The problem with this was -- they only had a half hour usually to get lunch and get back to the bus, so that eliminated the sit-down restaurants. In trying to find some of the fast-food places, they were not able to use their cell phones to call. Something about being in a city with tall buildings, according to DH -- reception was horrible. They ended up walking around a bit until they found something. First day, they found a deli and DD had a salad and fruit. Other days it was Chipotles.
Suppers: This was the planned part, planned by the travel company. The meals were already chosen by the students or else they all had the same thing. DH sat back at first and let DD handle getting her food ordered. . . . it turned out to be difficult to do:
At one Italian restaurant, language was a big problem and DD just sat and waited for someone to come and take her order after serving everyone else. No one came back. DH finally had to step in and go find someone. It took him some time to find a staff person who could understand what DD needed. Her meal came with 10 minutes to spare before everyone piled back on the bus and she had to eat fast. DH had a talk with DD about being "more aggressive" about making her needs known and actively finding a staff person to talk with about her needs, instead of sitting there and waiting.
Other restaurants, they just had difficulty, not with language, but with poor attitude about the food allergies. DH said Hard Rock Cafe staff had the worst attitude about the food allergies. It was horribly busy because it was spring break and there were other school groups there. DH had to get involved each time in getting safe food for DD. (and I'll have to ask DH specifically what they ended up getting -- I think he said a burger at one and a chicken breast at another.)
On the bus trip home, another all-nighter, DD's friend sat on DD's bagels. I have no clue why the bagels were where Friend could sit on them, but DD said she could not eat them then.
Thankfully she had other food with her yet.
Other than that --- the trip was fine except for the no-sleep part, LOL. It was a whirlwind trip and the students and parents got precious little sleep. But, DD says she would go again.
* * *
I'm surprised at how difficult it was to get a meal for DD as we have, in general, had very good luck at restaurants around here. But, we don't have to deal with spring break school groups being at the restaurant when we order. So that was surprising. I'm so glad DH was there. I don't think DD would have gotten anything to eat without DH there, other than what we had sent for her (the snacky stuff).
Hope this was helpful for someone; if any questions, let me know. I posted this in hopes of helping those of you who soon have kids who will be doing the same kind of school trips.
Topic: High school trip to NYC (Read 3378 times)
