Iceland Trip

“”The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page” Saint Augustine A truly amazing Journey of Discovery A very early start and scheduled meet time to leave the college of 00:15 some students arrived earlier than all the staff. We set off for the long journey ahead to Heathrow with students being encouraged to get as much sleep as possible. Obviously, as this was a school trip, both staff and students did not take this advice onboard until around 2 hours 10 minutes into our drive. Surprisingly, 2 hours 15 minutes into the journey the first coach driver decided it was time for a pit stop (to the annoyance of Mr Supria and Miss Woods who had just settled into their beauty sleep). We eventually arrived at London Heathrow and quickly moved through the check in with the extremely helpful staff. Smooth sailing so far, as the group made their way through to the empty security queue. Until we were abruptly pulled out from the queue. The students were handed a small clear plastic bag and demanded to remove every liquid under the sun apart from their own saliva and into this bag. Once we had been through the demands of the security lady we were once again allowed back into the same queue which had now backed up! After a couple of free massages from the security workers the students were allowed some free reign to collect some food / drink items for their long day ahead. Some students were not too impressed by their £7 toastie. Little did they know the price of Icelandic toasties would make this seem cheap. Onto the plane we moved, excited and chatty until take off, a couple of our nervous flyers sitting back into their seat. A set of AirPods fall to the ground and slide towards the back of the plane until the quick reflexes of Liam prevented the loss of yet another set of AirPods. Neve became our aeroplane nurse, passing sick bag after sick bag to the staff to dispose of. Big shout out to Neve for the support! As we arrived at Keflavik the students disembarked the flight together, until Harry ran back to the plane to retrieve his passport! The embarrassment came when he found this in his bag when the air hostess could not locate it near his seat. From the airport we moved forward to the Blue Lagoon, an experience of a lifetime. Some students even making statements such as “OMG the water is blue” and others still working out if our arrival to Iceland was a country or a city. After spending around 2 hours in the Blue Lagoon; receiving face masks and healthy soft drinks, we made our way back to the changing rooms and onwards to the hotel. Arrival into the hotel was smooth and easy, all rooms in proximity gave the staff a big sigh of relief. Students quickly threw their belongings into their room before a short walk into Reykjavík centre to see the sights. A scheduled early breakfast on the first morning led to the staff banging on student’s doors to make sure their early alarms had worked, which they had (apart from one). The guilty group of boys were startled by Miss Phillips banging on their door at 7:30. We arrived at a very busy breakfast for a varied choice of foods, many students selecting the pancakes on offer to fill them up for the long day ahead. Another long bus journey was needed to take us to Seljalandsfoss waterfall. Here the students had the opportunity to even walk behind the waterfall! After a short journey, the arrival to the Skogafoss waterfall again led to some rather strange and amusing comments made by students such as “Is the black stuff (black stone / sand) going to taste like BBQ?” After a 466 step walk to the top of the waterfall the students were quickly ushered back down the 466 steps to quickly make our way to the glacier, or so we thought. After a 10-minute delay our guide (Marta) was struggling to locate our glacier walk booking. A few quick phone calls and the double check of the itinerary we made our way to a different car park. Here we met our three glacier walk guides Daniel, Sarah and Dragon! As the students took note of the safety briefing and were fitted with their helmets, harnesses and crampons another array of questions were asked to the staff. “Is it going to be icy on the glacier?”, “Why are they giving us tampons?”. As we made our long walk up to the glacier visibility was low. It was not until we were close students could see the size of the glacier. Up the glacier we went, into our three groups. Daniel took Mr Hamill and Miss Phillips group down to a glacial cave for an excellent photo opportunity, but Miss Phillips nearly never made it home. The man-made steps down to the cave made it difficult to access and Miss Phillips just saved herself from a long slide down the glacier! Sarah took Miss Woods’ group of sixth formers who seemed more focused on making Sarah an honorary scouser by teaching her scouse slang, whilst Dragon caused a search party by muting his radio taking Mr Supria’s group further up the glacier than any had been before! After another long journey home, the students arrived back at the hotel for their tea and another short walk out of the hotel in the hope of seeing the northern lights. A long period of waiting and standing in the cold led to some disappointment at the strength of the northern lights. Students found out they look a lot better through their phone camera lenses (and better at Crosby beach, shown by Miss Woods) than what they could see with their own eyes. Eventually the students were back in bed ready for a restful night to prepare for another long day ahead. Whilst the staff monitored the corridors probably waking the students up with their exciting board games. Again, the group were up early for another breakfast. Most students still selecting pancakes as their choice of food. Today we had some rain, the students were advised to wear warm and waterproof clothing (another rather silly question was asked “what’s that?”). Amelia and Poppy had decided today was the day for their red gym set dressing the same even though they claim it was not planned! We made our way to Hellishidi Geothermal Power Plant where the students were provided with the ins and outs of the power plant. The workers gave an excellent presentation, but some miscommunication was made. Our students correcting the guide on the difference between constructive and destructive plate boundaries (well done to those students). We then continued onto the Geysir centre, a rather underwhelming first hurl of water from the Strokkur geysir. Due to the constant rain some students chose to move on and continue their walk around the hot springs when eventually a large eruption of water came from Stokkur to the excitement of the students who stayed behind. The group then made their way to Gullfoss, a picturesque postcard waterfall in person. However today was not the day for that postcard, the rain battered down on our already drowned group who were more excited to sit in the warmth of the coach than see the sight of Gullfoss in front of them. As we made our way back to the hotel a quick pitstop and Thingverllir National Park and a drive between the Eurasian and North American plate was made. The students arrived back at the hotel for tea and a shower before making their way down to take part in our trip review quiz. As they split into their teams, the students were serious, no phones could be seen so no cheating was allowed. Mr Supria took centre stage with his 42-question quiz he had been preparing all trip. This was until the impressions! An array of what can only be described as unbelievable impressions from Vikings to horses allowing groups to pick up some extra points making it a close call for the quiz winners of Eve, Caitlin and Charlotte. Now all that was left was to get home, this had to be smooth sailing, right? Of course not, our arrival into Keflavik airport was met with the complete opposite to Heathrow, some very unhelpful staff. Allowing every man and his dog (literally) into the queue ahead of the group. This made Mr Hamill panic, the students could sense it, a rushed journey through their security and duty free gave us a 10-minute stop before boarding to get some food and drinks for the long journey home. Neve the aeroplane nurse was not needed here as the group were cured – no sickness! We now just needed to make our long journey back, an almost double decker coach arrived at Bay 16 to take us home, and the students had one thing on their mind. McDonalds. A pit-stop at Norton Canes allowed the students what they wanted and the driver to have his 45-minute break. A short burst up the M6, M62 and M57 got us home safe and sound. The students collected their belongings and gave all the hugs and kisses to their dearest loved ones whom they had missed so much during their hopefully unforgettable few days away with their friends! An experience the staff will never forget was made by the group due to their excellent maturity and behaviour which cannot be thanked enough.