By Karen Jackson

For many, New Year’s is a celebration and chance for people to start anew, for resolutions and for making new memories.  I chose to travel for my New Years, and not just in the United States; I chose to travel to London, England.

After trying out in August for the Universal Cheer Association’s (UCA) All American All-Star Team for a chance to cheer in the London’s New Year’s Day Parade, the four seniors on the Galway Cheerleading Team were chosen.  I took the opportunity to go, and 4 months later I found myself on a Virgin Atlantic Jumbo Jet on its way to Heathrow Airport, England!  That is, after having my flight cancelled in Newark Airport because of the huge snowstorm we had, travelling out to Rochester and staying there overnight, getting on a plane to Orlando and then, finally, taking the almost 9 hour flight to London, now with a family that I met in Rochester who had the same problem. 

Landing at around 6 in the morning London time, I sleepy walked through the seemingly endless tunnels and hallways to Customs where I took my place in line for questioning and Passport checking/stamping.  Then, it was a bus to the hotel to drop off our luggage, orientation with the other cheerleaders who had arrived earlier and a “quick” tour around the city.  To someone who’s been travelling for over a full day, however, “quick” was nowhere close to fast enough. 

Our tour guide Prudie understood that, though, so she whisked us to an Arcade (British shopping center) for lunch and then around the city, explaining some sights and then to the British Museum for about an hour. She made the tour as interesting as possible.  My new friend Mara and I went to see the Museum’s Mummy Exhibit, the largest in the world, which holds over 50 mummies from across the world and time periods.  After, we had dinner at the hotel then practice with our group for the routine we learned on our own in the months before the trip, and finally it was time for some serious sleepage. 

The second day was another round of tours, walking across Millennium Bridge and visiting St. Paul’s Cathedral (yes, climbing the about 700 steps to the top!), photo ops at Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Prince Henry and William’s Palace, and even with our tour guide for the rest of the trip, Maggie.  It was dinner wherever we chose tonight, and then to theatre district to watch “Legally Blonde the Musical.”  Little did we, and our escorts know, the cast and play director would ask us to have a question and answer session after the play with our group down in the front rows of the theatre.  It was really neat to learn about the cast and their stories of how they got into theatre and see how interested they were about the real American Cheerleaders they were portraying onstage.  Getting aboard our buses back to the hotel, the long day brought another good night’s sleep getting ready for the next long day in London.

On the third day it was off to Windsor Castle to tour the Queen’s “weekend palace” courtesy of UCA.  We were able to take a picture with a palace guard, and although Mara tried, she couldn’t make him smile!  The trip took almost all day but we got to shop at the more “touristy” shops that had fun London memorabilia.  Tired and a little bit sore from the practice the day before Mara and I decided to order room service for dinner before we went on a party cruise with part of our UCA group on the Thames river. 

New Year’s Eve was a free day for us so Mara’s family, Mara and I took the chance to visit Abbey Road, the Crown Jewels Collection in the Tower of London and the London Eye with the passes given to us.  It was fun to be able to tour the city without having to travel in a big group and we were able to visit what we wanted to.  For our last dinner of 2010, we decided to eat at a small Italian restaurant at the end of Tower Bridge called The Don.  The dinner was good and walking out into the mild London air, there were already some rebelliousness going on with broken eggs littering the street. 

About 20 minutes until New Year’s we decided to start walking back to the hotel on the Tower Bridge to pass the time.  The bridge started to fill and we realized that people were waiting to see the fireworks that were set to go off at 12 from the London Eye.  So, Mara and I took a spot by the rail of the Tower Bridge, at first watching, then being dragged into a group of people dancing around celebrating.  Finally it was 12 and the fireworks starting, lighting up the London sky with purple, green, orange and red flares accompanies by the sounds of crackers popping, champagne bottles opening and our fellow celebrators on the Tower Bridge cheering for 2011.  To avoid the chaos that would be going on for a few hours after, we began our trek through the crowds of people, unfortunately getting sprayed by champagne and confetti on our way trough.  When we finally made it back to our rooms, we could see and hear the crowd on the Tower Bridge still partying but having an early morning the next day, we went to sleep right after Mara let me use her Skype to talk to my parents back in the States. 

New Year’s Day all the UCA Cheerleaders met down in the Lobby with our uniforms and pompoms ready for the London New Year’s Day Parade.  We boarded the buses and it was off to our checkpoint.  Our group, performing to the song “Doctor Doctor,” was number 44 in the parade and so we were able to have an early lunch. We ate the bagged lunch the hotel prepared for our groups.  After that it began to rain, but it was still practice, practice, practice, up until the very minutes it was time for us to leave. 

It was absolutely nerve wracking being introduced by the first of the parade stands and then performing in front of hundreds of people and numerous cameras clicking away.  We started walking again, this time chanting a few cheers from UCA.  After cheering in Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circuit and many more places during our parade route, we finally finished the 3 mile parade after performing 12 times in the rainy and foggy streets of London. 

We were given a free day for the rest of New Year’s Day, our last day in London,  and so we chose to explore London’s West End, shopping at s few great stores, eating at a wonderful two story restaurant, touring the original Hard Rock Café’s Vault and then visiting 3 Saville Row, the place of The Beatles’ last concert.

We packed up that night and got ready for our flight the next day.  After saying our goodbyes to our friends we made, we left the hotel in a bus.  Unfortunately we got stuck for a few minutes under the overhang, but eventually we passed through London for the last time on our way to Heathrow Airport.  Once we checked our bags, all we had to do was wait for our plane.  Then, it was time to “hop the pond” back to the States on a night flight home.  With far less people on the plane than when we flew over, it was surely a more restful ride home than before. 

Of all the places I have traveled before, London was one of the most amazing.  Its mix of historic and modern buildings gives it a great background and an even better skyline.  I will surely never forget the memories and friends I made on the trip.

As always friends, if you have any questions please let me know, but for now, this is Karen saying, “life’s a trip, so travel it!”