The Chattanooga Girls Choir

Day 11
Monday, June 16, 2003

Homecoming day! We had a wake-up call at 4:30 this morning(!). After grabbing a quick breakfast at the buffet that the hotel had set up just for us, we threw our luggage on the bus and headed for the airport. At that hour, check-in and security check was much faster than it was when we left from Atlanta. We even had time to relax a little before our first flight to Frankfort. The transfer in Frankfort was a different story. The security people there were VERY thorough -- everyone gets hand-scanned and frisked -- and by the time we got through all the security and passport checkpoints, we arrived at our gate after boarding was nearly complete.

The flight across the Atlantic was long but uneventful, aside from some turbulence as we descending towards Atlanta. The rough air bounced and dropped our plane quite a bit, but the girls just threw their hands in the air as if it were a roller coaster ride and cheered with each bounce! They had the whole plane grinning just when many were beginning to feel a bit nervous.

In Atlanta we had the normal slowdowns inherent in traveling in a large group: we had to pick up all our bags, go through customs, give back all our bags for transfer to baggage claim, travel on the underground train to baggage claim, and find all the bags again! But aside from two bags that were badly damaged somewhere between Munich and Atlanta, we had no problems. Then it was onto the bus and race home! Well, actually crawl -- we hit the infamous Atlanta traffic tie-ups.

As we pulled into the First Baptist parking lot and saw our families, cheers went up all over the bus. The girls were practically trying to climb over each other to be the first off the bus! There were hugs and tears everywhere as families were reunited.

I have one personal comment to make about this trip. Many of us had been apprehensive about traveling abroad when world tensions are so high, but I would like to say that the Austrians were totally gracious at all times to us. I asked our tour guide Helga how the Austrians and Germans people felt about Americans, and she told me that though they may not care for our current president, they like Americans and are also very grateful to the U.S. for its help in the post-World War II rebuilding era. The choir even sang 'America the Beautiful' in Salzburg without fear and received a warm round of applause. Thank you, parents, for allowing your girls to come on this tour. I believe it was an eye-opening experience for many of them and will help them to expand their horizons in the future. It was a joy to spend time with them and watch them grow. - Amy C.

We had extra time in Munich airport, so Amy Campbell, daughter Alyson,
and friend Morgan decided to use the time wisely.

Brooke J. and Cari were a little short for the hanging loops as the train lurched forward!

Family and friends greeted the tour group as they arrived at First Baptist.

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