Post what you think of this.

[Kristina]

Being the team lawyer (aka, person who gets to persuade the school, advisor, captains, etc) I would point out that not only is their plan inconveniant for your team and others, its also a waste of money. Buses are getting so expensive nowadays, and even if you don't stay in a top of the line hotel, it still costs money. That money could be better spent on buying more parts, funding a lego league team, or purchasing spirit iteams to pass out.

Also, if your advisors make it the whole bus and hotel field trip thing, then they are responsible for you. Do they really want to wake everyone up in the morning and send you to bed at night? If its the driving that they're worried about, carpools worked fine for our team who drove 40 minutes to Los Angeles in morning rush hour for 3 days.

And a few last things to point out: if you stay in the comfort of your own home, you can spend more time resting for the competition as oppose to waiting for the shower or trying to find your toothbrush in your bag. You can eat breakfast at home and pack a lunch as oppose to buying fast food. Also, I know FIRST competitions are on two school days (thurs & fri) so if someone has a critical thing at school, they can just come on their own afterwards or skip a practice round day if their role isn't critical.

If you need more reasons, I'm sure I could come up with pages more. Teams die for a home field advantage, your advisors need to realize that they need to seize this oppurtunity.