And they're off...

The months of planning have finally come to fruition, bags packed, hats donned and a very excited group of Year 5 children met up at Dammam airport for our early morning flight to Doha and then Athens.

Ms. Kinghorn gave very explicit packing instructions for the children, and most have manageable case sizes.  Jamal did give Ms. Kinghorn a close run when it came to suitcase sizes, with both competing for the largest.  Nothing seen this morning however is a patch on the 'Big Red' that Ms. Naidoo brought on her trips to Greece, so there has been some progress there.

So, to the packing list.  Very first thing.  Passport... Check.  Oh, hang on a minute, Leena seemed to think she could fly to Greece without her passport which gave her mum so nervous moments as the group waited for the passport to join her.  Eventually, said passport arrived and we all passed through immigration with little trouble.  All except Karishma, who had a slight 'moment' when her passport was put aside and she was told she had no visa to leave!  Again, Ms. Kinghorn's planning paid off as, together with the joint-biggest suitcase, she has by a country mile the biggest day sack and from the depths of that she pulled out a copy of Karishma's documents.

Once we encamped in the departure hall, the children were told to turn phones off, so if you were trying to ring them, parents, that was why you couldn't get through.  They'll be allowed to switch them on again this evening after our evening meal.

We were delayed leaving Dammam, but with plenty of time to our connecting flight we are currently waiting at Doha for our flight on to Athens.  As you can imagine, the duty free shops have already taken a big hit and all sorts of edibles are being stuffed into faces.  Aymaan was slightly perturbed: having made a variety of selections from the shelves, she came disconsolately to Mr. Suter having put them all back, with the complaint, "If I want them, I have to pay for them!"

So we're off again shortly.  Our next post will be much later this evening, after our evening meal and once the children have been settled into their rooms for the night.  Until then...