Take part in study on PFAS 'forever chemicals' in eggs

[chickencam]

He is the first member of our family to fly on a large plane abroad, ED has been to France a couple of times through the tunnel, but this is a whole new ball game. I am very jealous

 

We had to drop him at school for 6.30am so we were up at 5.15, we had been there for 5 minutes when it was discovered that one of the boys had forgotten his passport. He was of course the boy that lived the furthest away from the school. I don't see how his mum had not checked and re-checked that he had it, anything else he could either do without or buy They had built in about an hour for delays in getting off and getting through traffic to Heathrow, so they decided to wait for her to come back with the passport which took an hour. I just hope that they made it in time to check in, his flight isn't until 1pm so hopefully they will be ok.

 

This lad is the same idiot who did his bronze Dof E in trainers carrying a carrier bag with very little food, it makes you wonder somtimes, this is a grammar school kid so he should be intelligent

 

DS was nervous and excited I hope he has a great time, but he gets homesick on the first night even when he comes on holiday with us. They have a hectric schedule so hopefully he will be fine, he is back at 11pm on Sunday night.

[emily95]

He'll have a fantastic time!

I went to iceland with school 2 years ago, and it was amazing! I took some fab photos and have done things (walking on one of the glaciers,going caving in a lava tube) that i'll probably never do again, even if i returned to iceland because it was all organised by the geogrpahy teacher's icelandic friends!

It's a good flight out to iceland (im a very nervous plane passenger) and was with friends who had never flown before - there's not much turbulence during the flight

 

Let us all know how he got on when he gets back!

[chickencam]

Thanks for the reassurance

 

He is going walking on a glacier, also pony treking, he will see quite a few spectacular waterfalls and is visiting the geothermal power station. They get to go on a four wheel drive bus tour up a river valley depending on the water levels and he starts with a swim in the blue lagoon this afternoon.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

How exciting . My YS's school has a trip there next summer (but as he's just back from a school trip to Borneo, I'm not promising anything ).

 

OH and I also want to go there as it's our *ahem* big birthday and also our 25th anniversary next year so I'll be interested to hear about his experience .

 

I'm sure he'll have a ball .

[bluekarin]

...this is a grammar school kid so he should be intelligent

 

Ahh yes, but I find they are intelligent in subjects, but not necessarily in all things common sense My DS is a grammar school boy, so I know.

 

I hope your son has a fantatstic time. I would be very as well. Iceland looks a wonderful place. What wonderful memories he will have for the rest of his life.

[chickencam]

I have spent the afternoon tracking his plane on

 

http://www.Flightradar24.com

 

I also rang my dad who loves stuff like this, we tracked him across the Isle of Mull then the plane disappeared because the site doen't have coverage in that area, it was a bit unerving to see his plane vanish like that

[patsylabrador]

Wow, I'd love to go there. I'm sure he'll have a brilliant time. I didn't know you could track planes like that.

[chickencam]

My husband heard an air traffic controller being interviewed on the radio at the weekend and he said that if anyone was thinking of becoming an air traffic controller they should look at this site and see how many planes are in the air at any one time in a very small area. Quite scarey but fascinating.

[bluekarin]

I have spent the afternoon tracking his plane on

 

http://www.Flightradar24.com

 

I also rang my dad who loves stuff like this, we tracked him across the Isle of Mull then the plane disappeared because the site doen't have coverage in that area, it was a bit unerving to see his plane vanish like that

 

What a cool site! I think I have found the plane my friends are on as they are flying to New York for a week with their 6 month old baby to see family.

[Alis girls]

I thought you meant the shop I think ES goes next yr with geography GCSE.

[chickencam]

 

This is supposed to be a geography field trip for yrs 10-12, they will learn a lot but have fun at the same time.

 

I had a text from him earlier saying 'great flight, weather's amazing very excited' I am even more jealous now if he is having a great time and the sun is shining

 

There is one lone girl with 28 boys, he is at a boys grammar with a mixed 6th form, there is a female teacher with them too, but I do feel for her, especially for the journey back with lots of grubby males.

[Alis girls]

you would think the mum would've checked that. ES had a lad in his class who was always late for any trip to the point of running after the coach. the mum was a business woman - dont know if she were late for meetings.

What happened to trips to North wales/ these were daring when I was young - my parents struggled to pay for these - I think the thought of having to fund me to go to Iceland would have killed them

Times change - our trips were Penmamaaer (sorry re spelling), and Norfolk and at secondary school - France. those were the days

[chickencam]

My DS was so keen to go to iceland that he gave us £230 towards it. He has more readies than us, because he has a generous godfather and never spends anything. We were unsure about taking his money, but felt that it was important for him to realise that trips like this are way beyond our normal budget.

[Goosey Lucy]

I remember when I went on a ski trip, my parents paid the first time I went but I had to contribute a good proportion of the cost the second time I went. It was all part of the 'Money Doesn't Grow On Trees' lesson. I didn't go on a third trip...

 

I hope he's having a great time.

[snowberry]

Excitement is building as we'll get all the news tomorrow

[Alis girls]

As i said I think ES is due to go next year so expect a PM picking your brains.

[chickencam]

Sorry haven't been on here stil,listening to tales from Iceland.

 

He loved it, he said that the landscape was stunning and everywhere is so tranquil, he is unusual for a teenage boy and loves tranquility. He bought a T-shirt that said Iceland 317,593 people in 39,796 sq miles. He loves the idea of living somewhere with so few people and most of them are in Reykjavik

 

he said that it far exceeded his expectations and those expectations were high, the only things that slightly disapointed him were, the geothermal power station because it had lost a big chunk of it's government funding as a visitor attration there was not much to see, and the glaciers because they were really grey and dirty with the volcanic ash, he expected them to be pristine white.

 

They also missed out on the whale watching tour on the last morning because of high winds, however the weather was fantastic for the rest of his trip and he said that the air is so clean so that you can see for miles. They saw the infamous volcano that erupted last year and there was another one which was on red alert the whole time that they were there, it is over a year overdue for an eruption, I am glad I didn't know that before he went

 

He took loads of photos and is hoping to go back in year 12 when he will get another opportunity but priority will be given to people who haven't been before.

 

His flight back was fantastic because the sky was so clear he saw so much of the UK from the air and got a fantastic close up view of a lot of London's sights including the olympic park as the plane came in to land.

 

It is lovely to have him home and I got a big hug as soon as he got off the coach

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Sounds like he had a great time .

 

I must say seeing Docsquid's (I think!) photos of Iceland last year has made me really want to go .

[chickencam]

I would love to go too, but OH isn't so keen, he said most of it looked like a barren version of Snowdonia He is not known for his sense of adventure

 

We are looking to have a big family holiday next summer after ED has done her A levels and DS has done his GCSE's, they will finish school in mid June so we may take YD out of school for a couple of weeks to get a cheaper deal. I would like to go to Iceland or Scandanavia.

[snowberry]

I'm not jealous in the least

[chuckmum6]

Glad he had such a great time, my OS school does fab trips, to Greenland, Napal etc, it's Burneo this year, but they cost such a lot, more than a family holiday! He is ever so keen to go, but I can't see us justifying to expense on one family member, he certainly would have to stump up some cash. in fairness to him he is saving all his money for travelling (he is an avide Micheal Palin fan) and he may raise enough as he is only in Y7, so has a few more years to the sixth form!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

it's Borneo this year, but they cost such a lot, more than a family holiday!

 

My (very lucky) YS has just come back from there . I raised the money by selling on Ebay (and foregoing a family holiday ). Chance of a lifetime so we really wanted to make it happen.

[chickencam]

We saw it as a chance of a lifetime, he is young free and single, no one else to consider, may as well do it while he can.