The Gelling Trip was a very highly anticipated event for all the girls of Transition Year, and what a great start to the year it was! Our adventure began when all 120 students of Transition Year gathered together at 6am on 4th September 2013 outside our school to set off for a 3-day trip that would be well remembered by all involved, including the 7 brave teachers who brought us. Sleepy-headed teenagers filled up three buses which departed the school at 6.10am, all bound for Dublin port.
Soon, our buses were driving onto a huge ferry. Earphone wires were unravelled and beds were made out of chairs as the ferry departed Dublin and started the 3-hour journey to Holyhead. We reached Holyhead at 11am and re-boarded the buses to make our way to the Museum Of Science and Industry in Manchester. The museum was very impressive and had 5 separate buildings. It had a lot to offer – it showed us the background to industry in England and had lots of experiments to test for ourselves too. Afterwards, we were on the road again to visit the Trafford Centre, the second largest shopping centre in the United Kingdom. It’s safe to say that we were excited! The architecture of the centre was magnificent, and it was a shopper’s paradise. Hundreds of shopping bags later, we drove to our hotel for the night which was the Jury’s Inn, Birmingham. We reached the hotel at about 7.30pm, ate a tasty, well-deserved, post-shopping meal and were ready for bed by 10.15pm to prepare for the next day.
Day 2:
Well used to early starts at this stage, we were up and ready to go by 7 that morning after enjoying an appetising breakfast in the hotel. Sluggishly dragging suitcases, all 120 of us boarded the buses, ready for another day in England. The first stop was the traditional Elizabethan town of Stratford upon Avon, birthplace and home to the most famous playwright in history, William Shakespeare. The town was a time portal back to the 12th Century as it was complete with traditional wooden framed housing and cobble stoned streets and it gave us a great insight into what life was like during the time Shakespeare was alive. Firstly we had a tour from a local historian and Shakespearean actor who showed us around the beautiful town which is situated on the dazzling Avon river. He pointed out historical landmarks including the church where Shakespeare attended mass, the school where he studied and the impressive Stratford's Royal Shakespeare Theatre, one of Britain's most important cultural venues.
Blessed with good weather, we walked by the river and enjoyed the scenery, the sun on our backs and not a drop of rain to be seen. Some unlucky people even got sunburnt! After the tour of the town, it was time to visit the Shakespeare museum, and then on to Shakespeare’s house. The museum walls were decorated by hanging portraits of the playwright and we watched a video about some of the plays he wrote. It was an interesting experience for all. Following a tour guide dressed in traditional 12th Century clothing, we moved on to the birthplace and first home of William Shakespeare. It was impossible not to imagine what it was like growing up in the house and with the original floor boards lining the ground, it was surreal to think that Shakespeare had once walked where we were walking.
The back exit of the house lead us to a beautiful garden where we watched two Shakespearean actresses recite sections of the plays we had studied for our Junior Cert. It couldn’t have been a better end to our time at Stratford. We boarded the buses again and every student and teacher alike were beside themselves with excitement as we approached the highly anticipated Cadburys World. It was a magical experience from start to finish. We explored the Aztec rainforest where Cocoa beans were discovered, the corner shop where the chocolate we all love was created and we observed first-hand the making of the chocolate in the factory itself. And the free samples weren’t bad either! We saw the history of the company and how our favourite Cadburys products are created. We all left the factory happy and smiling, clutching massive 1KG bars of the chocolate (which were probably intended as a family gift that mysteriously didn’t see its way to them). We then commenced the journey to Derby and the next hotel, possibly a stone heavier after all the chocolate we had eaten but happy none the less. We still found room to eat some dinner when we reached the hotel and went to bed tired but excited about the day to come.
DAY 3
We were awoken early Friday morning by the sound of rain pelting the rooftops outside. We couldn't hide our disappointment as we ate breakfast that morning. Today was the day of Alton Towers, and it looked like we were in for a miserably wet day! It only took fifteen minutes on the bus to reach Alton Towers. We arrived at 10.30am and the rain, if anything, had gotten heavier since we'd boarded the bus. No one could afford to get any wetter so we all bought rain ponchos for six pound and they certainly did the job!
It is an understatement to say that the TYs were impressed by Alton Towers. The park itself was so big you had to take cable cars to get from one end to the other! We began our day cold, miserable and soaking wet. However, once people started getting on the rides, the rain was no longer a problem. The bad weather didn't stop us from having an amazing time!
There was a vast range of rides throughout the theme park. Rollercoasters looked breathtakingly terrifying while water rides looked merely enjoyable. Fortunately, the queues were minimal thanks to the good old rain!
There were so many different attractions to choose from! Some truly horrifying rides included Oblivion, Air, Nemesis, Ripsaw and Rita. If you weren't one for the scares and the screams, you could enjoy the water rides or the river rapids which weren't half as blood-curdlingly terrifying. Words can't describe the adrenaline rush after riding a rollercoaster that travels faster than the speed of light! You feel such a buzz and you want to have a go on everything! I cannot put onto paper the atmosphere created among the Transition Years that day at Alton Towers.
We left Alton Towers at about 5.30pm and because there were no changing rooms, we had to get changed on the bus. It was completely frantic with forty sixteen-year old girls hopping around the interior of the bus getting out of their wet clothes.
We were now en-route to Holyhead. A long, tiring night was in store! After about two hours on the bus, everyone was exhausted and starving. We stopped at Keel services for a bite to eat. We had never appreciated food so much until we were sitting wolfing down KFC hamburgers and chips! After another few minutes on the bus, we arrived at the Tenpin bowling alley. There was such a buzz there, especially because it was so late at night. We bowled and played arcade games until 11.30pm . At this stage, our lack of sleep was starting to affect us. Everyone dozed off for the last few hours on the bus and when we woke up it was after 2 am and we had arrived at our destination.
Holyhead was dead at that time of night- very few people want to be sailing across the Irish sea at 3 o'clock in the morning! We waited around on the ship until it set sail at 2.45 am. Most of us were conked out on the sofas around the ship, some people had even turned in on the floor!
At 6.30am we started seeing land. We hit Northwall at 6.45 and weren't we relieved to be home! Travelling all night had really taken it out of us. We were all like zombies for the final half hour on the bus from Dublin to Naas. By the time we pulled up outside the school, we were barely able to get off the bus we were so exhausted! Looking back, fatigued as we were, our trip to Alton Towers was one that the 2013 Transition Years will never forget.