Do you remember your first trip away from home as a teenager? I was recently in Boston for the weekend and that was the scene of my first teen escapade. It was our junior class trip. The names will be changed or totally omitted to protect the innocent, or maybe the guilty, as this case may be.
I went to an all-girls school so the thought of being sprung in an east coast metropolis without parents and without nuns was a girl’s dream come true. Who cared about the Old North Church or how many lanterns Paul Revere hung that fateful night? We paid no mind to our history teacher; afterall, he was a newlywed, still wet behind the ears from teacher’s college and we tried to lose him. It almost worked.
We refused to go to sleep because Mr. X had selected the worst roach motel Boston offered. It was disgusting. We left the lights on all night. Thank God, I have now blocked its name from my memory bank. We convinced Mr. X that he owed us at least a night-time stroll through Faneuil Hall and Boston Common after placing us in this pit. He agreed – score – we would make our escape then!
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We were about 15 girls and Mr. & Mrs. X. It was easy to hang at the back of this large tour group. We figured when the coast was clear we would duck into a bar (drinking age was 18 back in the Stone Age). Prom was coming up in a few months and we totally expected to meet some hot Boston college guys and grab a couple of dates. (Where’s Steve Santagati when you need him?) Anyway, you should never let Catholic school girls loose – it always breeds trouble!
Marie and I were the class troublemakers, for sure, and we did make our break for it. We saw an open door and the pub was just calling us, as if Aerosmith was inside playing live! However, our taste of freedom was very, very short-lived. It seems Mr. X had eyes in the back of his head and when he didn’t hear us causing trouble at the back of the line, he came looking for us. To his credit – it didn’t take him long, we were back in lock-down in 15 minutes. Actually, X decided he would be our personal tour guide from that moment on at the back of the line.
So, do you remember your first teen trip away from home?
