After the frigid cold of winter, most people like to head down to the warm beaches of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. Instead, a group of Antioch Community High School students went on a trip to a different kind of place. Traveling to the home of the British and to the city of love. It may not have been in the upper eighties like in Mexico, but for some of these students it was their first time traveling abroad. They crossed the pond and went on an adventure of their own.

Forty one students went on the London and Paris trip this year’s spring break, organized by ACHS social studies teacher Stephen Rose.

“It cost the students around $3,000 dollars to go on the trip. That was not including expenses for lunches or spending money,” said Rose. ” Students did a variety of fundraising in order to help fund their trips. They included doing car washes, bake and lemonade sales and partnering with businesses like Suzy’s Swirl and the Antioch Pizza Shop.”

Students left for the trip right after school on Thursday, March 20 and took a seven hour and 55 min plane ride into London, arriving early in the morning London time. Students were split up into groups of six with a chaperone with them. The chaperones were teachers from ACHS and one from LCHS.

On the first day in London, the group traveled around near their hotel in Welmbley, London. They were allowed free time to explore and get lunch, and then met back at the train station to travel into the city of London for a lot of site seeing and souvenir shopping, along with riding on the London Eye. Throughout the next few days in London, students and chaperones went on multiple bus and walking tours, visited St. Paul’s Cathedral, Big Ben, the Tower Bridge, Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guards, a tour inside and around Windsor Castle, the Tower of London to see the Crowned Jewels, shopping in Piccadilly Square and Harrods (similar to Macy’s, but much bigger), King’s Cross Station to take photos at Platform 9 3/4 from “Harry Potter” and to a soccer game at Wembley Stadium. They then took the Euro Star, a train that travels under the water and the French countryside at 500 plus miles per hour, all the way to Paris.

Upon arriving in Paris, the group went right to dinner and had a walking tour to their hotel in La Defense. While in Paris, students and chaperones spent a rainy day on a bus tour in and around the city, and visited the Eiffel Tower where some went up to the top, ate crepes, went on a river boat tour through the Seine River,  the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa and many more beautiful works of art, Notre Dame Cathedral, a tour through the Palace of Versailles and its gardens, the Lock Bridge and many more landmarks.

Each night for group dinners, they went to different ethnic restaurants for the students to explore new types of foods. There was a large variety of foods from Mediterranean, to Fish n’ Chips, to Indian food, all of which most the students thoroughly enjoyed.

At the end of the trip students took a nine hour flight back home.

Senior Andrew DiNatale said, “I had a great time on the trip. We did not get a lot of sleep, but we got to see tons of things. Two of my favorite things were seeing the Eiffel Tower and putting a lock on the Lock Bridge. I enjoyed London better than Paris because I knew the language and people were nicer there.”

Rose agreed that he liked London a bit better.

He said, “London people are more friendly and the culture there is great. The city is nice to visit and is easy to navigate. My personal favorite thing to see on the trip was the HMS Bellfast.”

Rose still managed to enjoy himself on the trip despite being in charge of 41 students. Rose also wants students to know that there is still room for the Japan trip that students will be taking next summer. The classes of 2016, 2017 and 2018 will be allowed to participate. Contact Rose for additional information.