Friday was an exciting day as we all gathered in Dublin airport to start our journey. There were many old friends uniting and new friends made as we set about divvying out shared expedition gear and checking in for our flights.
We left Dublin and flew to Heathrow for the longest leg of our flight, which was London to Buenos Aires, with stopover Saturday morning in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Just as we were ready to board, the first education lesson was learned – though not one we had planned. One of our transition year students, Dylan King, discovered he had lost his passport in the terminal. We searched and searched but couldn’t find it, and it looked as though he was not going to be able to board the plane. He was absolutely crushed.
The captain explained that they would have to begin the process of unloading his bags, and that only if he could find the passport before they found his bags would he be able to go. The whole airplane was boarded and waiting while Dylan and his teacher, Ann Murray waited to see if they could find alternate flights or if the passport would be turned in.
Finally the passport was found, but in another section of the terminal, and although one BA ground crew member felt that because it was over thirty minutes away they would never be able to beat the crew finding their bags, another ground crew member, decided to take action. Throwing her jacket behind the desk, she sprinted off to see if she could retrieve the passport and enable Dylan and Ann to continue their adventure. In only ten minutes, she came running back with the passport and Dylan was reunited with a cheering airplane full of fellow travellers.
Our most heartfelt thanks go out to all the British Airways staff involved in helping us, especially a very patient Captain Andrew Hadlow and the heroic efforts of Judith Militaru Oates, who made the mad dash for the passport and saved the day.
