Planning field trips and the Championship event schedule
 

During the process of compiling dates and travel plans to submit to our school administration regarding FRC this year I came up a question that I hope the CD community can help me with.

In looking at the agenda from the championship from last year I see no practice matches scheduled for Wednesday, mostly workshops and the like. The reason I ask is our building administration has asked that we minimize the amount of time our students would potentially miss from school. As St. Louis is approximately a 15 hour charter bus ride away, we would like to be prepared with an appropriate arrival time to ensure uncrating/inspection/whatever else you do on Wednesday is able to get done.

Right now we are looking at two scenarios for a charter bus:
1. Leave Tuesday night, drive overnight, and arrive Wednesday late morning/noonish.
2. Leave super early Wednesday morning and arrive late Wednesday afternoon/early evening.

How early do we really need to plan to arrive on Wednesday if we qualify?

Thanks for the input.

Re: Planning field trips and the Championship event schedule
 

We've arrived as late as midnight on Wednesday and that's usually how we handle it.
We fly because it allows us to leave after school on Wednesday.

What you miss is Wednesday night uncrating (4-8:30 pm 4 students/1 adult), and robot inspections start so you can get a jump on Thursday morning.

If things go as in the past, practice matches/Inspection are Thursday morning and qualifying matches begin at 1pm.

Re: Planning field trips and the Championship event schedule
 

If the issue is missing school, what is the difference between leaving late Tuesday or early Wednesday?

Re: Planning field trips and the Championship event schedule
 

One of the items our principal had asked us to consider was something other than a charter bus and how that would impact our travel schedule. He was wondering it would be possible for use to fly down and have the students attend at least part of the day on Wednesday.

Given what I've read about people's experiences flying with teams I believe the cost alone will cause that option to be ruled out.

Re: Planning field trips and the Championship event schedule
 

Last year our team took a plane to St. Louis, it wasn't actually that expensive. Since we went from Minnesota to St. Louis it only cost $125 a ticket, so if you buy the tickets a little bit in advance it makes sense to fly. We ended up leaving school two hours early on Wednesday and got to St. Louis around 5pm on Wednesday so it actually worked out for our team. I'd recommend looking up the price for the tickets before you rule it out!

Re: Planning field trips and the Championship event schedule
 

And remember that FIRST teams get a discount if you fly on either Delta or American! But Southwest might be your cheapest option. Definitely book the tickets NOW if you plan on flying. You can always lookup the price for a plane ticket and compare it to the charter bus to see which is cheaper.

Re: Planning field trips and the Championship event schedule
 

What, you've never heard of the Nocturnal Institute of Great and Heliophobic Teenagers (N.I.G.H.T)?

Re: Planning field trips and the Championship event schedule
 

Another option, which we have employed at regionals, is an early crew goes down to load in and uncrate. This requires a trailer and a tow vehicle large enough to haul at least 6 (4 students, 1 adult, 1 adult to move vehicle and trailer after load out).

The remainder of the team could leave after school and arrive late.

Re: Planning field trips and the Championship event schedule
 

This ^^^^^ or you could even send a smaller crew of two or three with just enough tools to uncrate the bot and get inspected.