KnightMUN: The Hotel Experience

The weekend was our annual hotel experience with the Model United Nation's club at my school. We took Bingo last year and it was the perfect hotel experience and the kids seemed to enjoy it as well. The conference is called KnightMUN and is held at UCF's campus on Saturday and Sunday, which means a VERY early rising on Saturday morning and a late return on Sunday night.

4:20 am

The alarm should have gone off at 4:20 am, but it didn't. It was on the 5 days a week schedule and this being a Saturday...I woke up at 4:50.

"Holy crap! Berkeley! Downstairs, eat, poop, out the door!"

We managed to be on the road in 20 minutes. I had packed and showered the night before. 8-)

Fortunately for us, we weren't the last ones to arrive. I won't tattle on anyone (faculty or student!), but I did rest a little easier knowing that we had a little time to chill. Here's a shot of Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley in the car waiting for that last student to arrive so we can get on the road.



Orlando

We followed the bus to Orlando and met them at the Panera where we all had breakfast. Imagine the Panera staff's excitement at having 30 teens surge through their doors all famished and needing caffeine and carbs! Followed closely by teachers needing caffeine. Not a comforting sight. Then add to that, a small black dog. The Panera staff made not a peep. Good Panera staff! Good.

Radisson

We dropped the kids off at the conference, got them registered and then went to the hotel to register our rooms. Since I had HRH, Michele was already at the counter getting the rooms assigned. As I walked up to the counter I could see the hotel clerk's face get stiff and her posture go rigid. She turned from Michele to address me.

"We don't allow dogs in the hotel."

"She's a service dog for the blind. She's in training." I said and had HRH sit, which she did beautifully. She has a perfect sense of audience.

Michele looked up from the folder she was perusing and in her very clear, not to be messed with teacher voice, said, "We come here ever year with a service dog and there has never been a problem. It's the ADA. Look it up." Then she went back to her forms, dismissing the clerk.

The clerk glanced at me and I raised an eyebrow, signifying that I wouldn't mess with Michele if I were the clerk and she should drop the matter if she were smart, which she did. I love Michele.

Here's a shot of one of the MUN kids bringing in HRH's crate. Mitchell carried in her crate and carried it out. He's a big HRH fan.


Barnes and Noble

The nice thing about MUN tournaments is that for us, as chaperones, we get lots of work done because we spend the day in the bookstore. Here is a shot of HRH and Tim in the cafe of Barnes and Noble. They also were lovely about HRH and treated us very well.


I'm So Pretty

When we got back to the hotel room Berkeley got to experience the BIG MIRROR. Here's a snippet of her reaction. I have to say that Bingo was mesmerized by himself for at least 15 minutes. 8-)



Closing Ceremonies

The next day it was more of the same and HRH continued to be a little lady. It was only at the end of the day at the closing ceremonies, sort of like a toddler who has been up too long and needs a nap, she started to bark a little and be a bit crotchety. But the screaming, cheering crowd drowned out her little barks and all was good.

Soon we were on the road and homeward bound. Hotel experience, checked off.