Time to say goodbye...

 Although it is hard to believe, our time together has come to end.  After an amazing week at Disney, and an incredible cruise, we are headed back to Franklin!  We all gathered this morning to, sadly, leave the boat.  We then rode a shuttle to the Tampa airport.  On the ride over, it was so nice to eavesdrop on conversations of "what was your favorite moment" and "I can't wait to go back!" 

Once at the airport, we camped out while waiting for our flight.  For lunch, we dined at Hard Rock Cafe and continued to talk about highlights from our adventures.  It was nice to dine together one last time as a group.  I even teased them that we should meet for breakfast tomorrow so I do not miss them all!  They all assured me that they would be sleeping in!

Lunch at Hard Rock to celebrate a successful trip

After more lounging, reading, and people watching, a few students decided to complete their coursework with Dr. Fonstad by sharing what they had learned and how tourism has changed their perspective.  I can not go on enough about how wonderful Dr. Fonstad is at incorporating learning and fun into every element of this adventure.  Through readings, discussions, behind the scenes experiences, and his vast knowledge- base, he challenged the students to look at travel differently.   He is so dedicated he even created a board game for them!  Based on a "Ticket to Ride" he made a Caribbean Cruise version of the game the students enjoyed.  They played it on the ship, and had a chance to play again while we were waiting in the airport.  Ian was the big winner!

Brayden, Ian and Andrew battling it out in the Tampa Airport

Everyone is exhausted and ready to be home in Indiana, but I am a little sad to be leaving all the fun and adventures behind.  But as Walt Disney said, "We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”  Here's to a wonderful travel abroad experience and that all of our paths will cross again someday!

Thank you to everyone who prepared the trip (Brad...we missed you!), supported us along the way (Jenny we appreciate you!) and to all of those who followed along with us on our travels.  This is Kandra with the last blog.  However, no final blog post would be complete without videos of Andrew dancing!