We signed up for our son’s annual school field trip, its our first time to try and also our son’s first time to join. Last year we declined the participation because the site to visit is very common and we can go there on our own and also do the cooking class in our own kitchen, after the “No” go, we learned that there’s a big deduction of Ashton’s grade because we didn’t joined the school field trip. For this year, we decided to to join and also sign up both parents to come along with our kid.
We prepared for this for almost 2 months and we thought that we will have a grand day..but still encountered some stressful moments when you are with one bus filled with other kids and parents.
We learned a lot of big lessons, so next year, we will super decline and let them know that it is the most stressful field trip ever that we encountered. Because the school organizes the trip for the entire levels and that’s 7 buses that will travel to Clark, Pampanga.
Here’s what we learned
1. Some parents arrived at the meet up LATE
This happens yesterday, the rules are that the meet up is at 5am, we were instructed months ago for parents and kids should be inside the bus at 5am and the bus is expected to leave at 5:30am.
For our case, we woke up at 3am to prepare and we we went to the bus meet up station at 4:30am, we boarded the bus before 5am and we sat there to wait for the other parents and kids to arrive. It was 6:15am when the last parent and their kid arrived on the bus. Whoaaa what??? and I can see the sun already shining bright… arghhhh.
I think the bus waited for more than 60 minutes, because they are the last person who arrived in our bus.
Almost everyone where there..so what happened to the rules posted in our kid’s notebook?
Btw, more late parents to board the bus after each site visit.
2. Long lines everywhere
We first arrived in Nayon Pilipino, a cultural site in Clark, Pampanga. I felt the stress already because the lines are so long and it was full of kids and parents, it was hot too and I just can’t wait to cover ourselves under a shade. We waited for some minutes for the school teacher and tour guides to settle everyone down and let us enter the site.
Like any other tours, we always follow our blue flag.
3. Some parents don’t mind
We entered the Theater area of Nayon Pilipino, and it separates the kids and parents. Kids will sit at the front stage and then us parents will be at the back. The stage show is sooo long, and I decided to go out to stretch myself and my legs… because all of us parents and kids are sitting on the floor for hours and I got bored already of that stage show. Im sure kids love the stage play, because it gave them lots of wow factor, for me the story is a bit drag on some parts..
I was so upset here because parents who seated in front of us didn’t stood up for our National Anthem.
My wife told me not to mind them
4. No food and drinks allowed
My wife prepared a lot of food and drinks for our trip. She cooked roasted chicken and prepared it with white plain rice, some sandwiches, she baked also some banana bread, and we brought a lot of cookies and a Coleman of ice cold water to keep us not go hungry.
But the most problem we encounter is that…the tour guide told us that food and even bottled water are not allowed inside the Nayon Pilipino. I thought that our stay here will not long, but then the stage show at the theater ended at 12nn. Everyone were hungry and I asked my wife if its okay that I buy our lunch in a nearby canteen, she told me not to buy because we have our food left inside the bus.
Parents felt the hunger and thirst. Some parents went out of the theater to buy a packed lunch and also water, I went out too and bought a bottle of water, I gave it to Lace and Ashton to hydrate because its too hot already outside.
We visited one museum of old clothes of Filipino and then we confronted the tour guide because we’re already hungry. The tour guide said that we will visit a Mcdonalds store outside the venue and we can buy take out and eat our lunch while on our way to another site. Because there are some parents who didn’t prepared their own packed meals and was hungry along the way.
Im so sad that we will never return back to Nayon Pilipino, because we only have a few hours left for the next tour.
Next time…I will be a “pasaway” and will sneak in some food and drinks inside my back pack.. I don’t want my family to be hungry and skip lunch.
5. Missed a lot of photo op
Its our bonding time for this school field trip, but we missed some photo ops around the Nayon Pilipino because all parents decided to cut the tour because everyone is hungry. This is our only good photo op.
6. Always bring your umbrella
We’re lucky at this time, because I brought one small umbrella for everyone. It rained so hard when we arrived in Dinosaur Island in Clark Pampanga. The problem is that everyone doesn’t have their umbrella and the tour was delayed. I was upset because the tour guide and the Dinosaur Island staff kept us in a dark room with poor ventilation,. Me and another mom helped each other to convinced that they should open the door for us to breathe.
We skipped the long lines and we entered the site without the tour guide. I told my son that I can be their tour guide because I know some tidbits info about dinosaurs. We went around by ourselves…less stress and we finished the tour ahead of the rest.
7. Enjoy while you can
After all the stressful long line, hunger, noisy kids and strict rules of the site. We managed to enjoyed ourselves for the school trip. We also got a great time with our son in a different adventure. I told him that we can go here if we want and skip all the long lines next time.
Me and my wife told him that we wont be joining next year, but my son said that its okay, but its still fun to be with us at least we can talk without the gadgets.
I got so awwwww.but then we told him, we can organize our own trip for him.. But no more school field trip because its soooooo stressful.
8. Waste of money
So why waste of money…… for our school trip experience, we missed to explore the other parts of Nayon Pilipino, we no longer visit the Air Force Museum – sayang kasi this excites us more, then we visited Puregold Duty Free grocery…WTF..is that educational ?
and that’s for a price of PHP4k
Well…its indeed a waste of money and we will write this in an evaluation form for the school administration to know the bad experience of our trip.
