Treetops Trip Wrap-up

 

This trip was an adventure and a big success despite the travel problems in the beginning. The format overall was fun. It was so less stressful traveling with a tour guide who arranges absolutely everything including navigating the subway. Gonzalo was fantastic. Funny and informative with a commanding voice and a take charge attitude. I was happy to have only the stress of looking after Sophie and the other kids.

The amount of time spent in the bus and the pace became a problem, especially towards the end. We were up early every day a were usually up till about midnight with little downtime in between. The general format was a tour in the morning, lunch on our own, and then some free time in the city to explore. We probably averaged 4 hours a day traveling between cities. Only one jump was on the high speed train. The rest were by bus.

I enjoyed the food on the trip. It was typically a buffet breakfast and dinner at the hotel with lunch on our own in a city. Sophie and I typically chose a cafe, frequently a simple specialty ham (jamón) on baguette sandwich, although some groups did go to nice sit down restaurants for lunch when time allowed. Our tour did include a couple of restaurants where we were served a fixed meal like tappas or paella. Because we were traveling with kids, that standard meal was probably the least adventurous of the dishes they offered. A bit tame for me and still too much of a stretch for most of the kids.

Our Treetops group had 15 kids and 7 adults. We shared the tour with two other high school groups. One from Fort Worth (girl’s leadership academy) with 10 people and one from Minneapolis with 8 people. I enjoyed getting to know the other groups and Sophie connected some with two of the girls from Fort Worth.

The Treetops kids were really great overall. They had some petty tiffs and negativity at times, but they were all responsible and capable. Most of them didn’t seem that interested in the content of the tour, but they learned from it, had a good time with their friends and learned how to travel.

I found it difficult at times to balance the general role of a chaperone with the specific role of being there for Sophie. The three other parents more or less left their kids alone and hung out as a parent group. They didn’t room with their kids.I tried to join in but that really wasn’t possible when we had city free time. It’s just too difficult to keep Sophie doing what the group is doing when it’s unstructured. I did generally eat group meals with the adults and left Sophie to sit with the kids. She wasn’t the only one to eat in silence.

I enjoyed getting to know everyone on the trip and am glad to get to know other Treetops parents. Adults on the trip: Jazmine, Courtney, Raul, Coach Andres Rizzo, Coach’s wife Grisel, and Ms. Helena. Kids on the trip: Sophie, Isabel (Izzy), Domenic, Micha, Wyatt, Cylus, Preston, Darren, Habibe, Ameen, Ethan, Hannah, Lea, Allie, and Brook. While none of the kids really gelled with Sophie, they weren’t unkind to her either. Two of the boys also kept mainly to themselves.

I could have used a bit more guidance on what was expected of a chaperone, but I think it went well. No one got lost or in any trouble. No one lost their temper (at least in front of the group). Coach was stern but that was to keep everyone in line. Everyone was tired as the week went on, but the group remained agreeable. We had lovely weather, got to do everything on the itinerary except for one thing, and had a grand adventure in a beautiful country.