{"id":924,"date":"2026-03-20T14:04:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T14:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bennett-travel.com\/blog\/?p=924"},"modified":"2026-04-16T16:54:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T16:54:42","slug":"royal-oak-high-school-band-and-orchestras-chicago-trip-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bennett-travel.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/royal-oak-high-school-band-and-orchestras-chicago-trip-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Royal Oak HS Band, Orchestra Trip to Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

Read along as Bennett Travel Trip Journalist Samantha Gittinger recounts their trip to Chicago, a performance by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Bean and much more.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Royal Oak HS Band and Orchestra program has been going on overnight trips for many years, with two alternating locations: Chicago and Disney World. While most students will only be able to go on two of these trips across high school, my class of 2026 has been able to experience 3 due to COVID resetting the bi-annual count. As a result, this was not my first band trip to Chicago- but it was certainly my favorite.<\/p>\n

Friday, February 13 – First Day<\/h3>\n

The trip started with all of the students and chaperones meeting at our high school at 5:30 A.M. While there, we were given some final rules and safety information, loaded the buses with our luggage and made sure our Trip Account App worked on our phones. The Trip Account App contained a digital copy of the itinerary, information on bus and chaperone groups, as well as group chats to directly communicate with both chaperone groups and the entire group of attendees as a whole. It was a little buggy at times, but as a whole it worked well and was very useful. Before leaving we were also introduced to our Bennett Travel Trip Director, Tracey, and our bus drivers. The only thing that delayed our launch was a late student. After a few minutes\u2019 wait, we were on the road to Chicago.<\/span><\/p>\n

A moment of gratitude is definitely deserved for our tour director, Tracey. Throughout the course of our stay, she made sure everything ran on schedule, students were accounted for and that our experience as a whole was one of the best Bennett Travel could offer. She was consistently funny and approachable, which are important characteristics for someone who regularly interacts with teenagers. She routinely integrated herself into the activities and never made herself seem distant from the rest of us. As someone who sat at the front of the bus near the adults, I can tell you that she also became fast friends with the band directors and chaperones. Tracey brought our trip to the highest level it could be. We have much to thank her for.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Tracey was fabulous,\u201d said Kyrstin Jensen, Royal Oak HS band director. \u201cShe did a very, very nice job of leading the group so that there was no question with what we were doing, at no point did we have to wonder what was going on. She was also a blast to hang out with and had a wealth of information.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms. Jensen also commented that she hopes Tracey will continue to be the tour director for the band\u2019s next trip to Disney World: <\/span>\u201cI\u2019m gonna request her for Disney. I\u2019m gonna request her- I don\u2019t know if they\u2019ll give her to me, but I hope we will have her again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Our bus drivers, Mr. L.A. and Ms. Sugarfoot, were also fantastic. Both were incredibly skilled at their jobs, weaving through the congested, big-city traffic as if they were driving Honda Civics instead of giant tour buses. We made it to each location with plenty of time to spare. On top of their motor skills, both Mr. L.A. and Ms. Sugarfoot were kind, friendly and brought a lot of laughs during the long rides. Ms. Jensen, who was on Mr. L.A\u2019s bus, had a glowing review for them as well: “<\/span>Mr. L.A. was one of the best drivers I\u2019ve ever worked with. Some of the driving in Chicago was really scary, and he approached it with a confidence that was really appreciated. I thought he did a great job, I felt safe the whole time and I knew we were gonna get where we needed to go on time.”<\/span><\/p>\n

After around four hours of driving, we arrived at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. Before we were let loose on the museum, we were told to always keep our complimentary Bennett Travel bags on at all times and were given the location for attendance in two hours. Students were allowed to go anywhere so long as they had one other person accompanying them (or a \u201cbuddy\u201d). Many of us spent the first 30 minutes wandering the main hall of the museum before grabbing lunch at the food court as soon as it opened. Throughout the trip, we used our Jazzby cards to purchase food. These Jazzby cards were pre-loaded with $20 each morning to ensure we had sufficient funds for the entire trip. Tracey told us that any extra money we had left was ours to spend! I personally used the rest of the funds on mine a few days after the trip to go shopping with my friend. <\/span><\/p>\n

Students finished lunch and spent the rest of our time perusing the exhibits in the museums. Some favorites were the U-505 Submarine, the Flight and Motion Simulators and Crafting Character: The Costumes of Paul Tazewell.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love getting lost in museums,\u201d said freshman Ezra Navin. \u201cIt\u2019s my favorite part- and that\u2019s a museum you can really get lost in. Especially when you discover exhibits you never knew were there. Like, we went into this exhibit of costumes… and we got to see all of the costumes from Hamilton on Broadway and the most recent Wicked movie. It was really cool.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n