At 5:15 am, Grey Wolf/Akela was up to get the group up and surprisingly most of them were fairly okay getting up. It seems as if they were ready to go home. We all got dressed in our uniforms and made it to the chapel for our 6:15 am Mass. At this Mass we celebrate the success of our pilgrimage and thank Jesus for keeping us safe. We also prayed for a safe journey home. After Mass, we had our breakfast and boarded the bus at 7:45 am for a 30-minute ride to the airport.
Our ride to the airport was uneventful. Our bus driver was one of the seminarians and he was by far the most careful driver we have had on this trip. Brother Nicholas was kind enough to escort us to the check in line and stayed with us until we were completed. Unfortunately, Father Thomas could not join us as he had another group to meet for their pilgrimage. After checking in, we bid an emotional farewell to Harry Kim. Harry would be departing for Korea via Hong Kong, one hour after we flew out. Many of our boys hugged him and wished him well.
We navigated thorough the security screening fairly easily. We only had to remove our belts in order to walk through the security devices. After a long walk to the gate, we arrived with more than one hour before our scheduled departure. This allowed our boys time to relax before our flight. Some boys took the opportunity to purchase drinks from the vending machines and some delicious warm sandwiches; a few others decide to do some last minute shopping in the duty free stores.
Due to the late arrival of the inbound flight, our flight departed 24 minutes late. We had a fairly smooth 9 hours and 40 minutes flight back to Canada. Many of the boys and leaders watched movies, slept and played cards as with the previous. However, this flight was different in a subtle way. Our boys were excited to be going home. Even the air stewardess who had been on the other flight could sense it. We hope that this meant that they were going back better people.
Thank you to Baloo, Mang, Manatee, Father Thomas, Brother Nicholas, Brother Dennis, Brother Wang, Brother Nathan, Giovanni, and the many Italian leaders for guiding and looking out for out troop.
Map of trip to the airport:
Facebook stored photos:
No comments:
Post a Comment