And I’m going with them! That’s right. Every other year, the California State PTA holds a district PTA officers training for a weekend at UCLA, called PTA U. I’ll be going with them–partially to get a bit more training, which you can never have too much of, and partially to get the experience of spending nights in a college dorm–on the cheap! Most colleges have programs to allow prospective new students to experience life in a dorm for a night, but it usually costs a lot of money. However, I’ll get to experience sleeping in a dorm at UCLA for two nights–for nothing! Oh, and travel costs and meals are taken care of as well. See, PTA student involvement DOES have perks!

I also won’t be going alone. As the Nominating Committee chairman last year, I kind of reeled in my mom to be District PTA Treasurer this year, so she’ll also be going down to UCLA, and we’ll be rooming together as well. Our new president, Deborah Kemper (whom I also reeled in) will also be going from our district.

So, as is usual on this blog, I’m supposed to share my travel itinerary. I know that Skoker, who is an airplane addict, will be interested to note that we’ll be flying down tomorrow on the brand new airline Virgin America. So yes, I guess I’ll get to officially determine if they’re any good, particularly given how cheap their flights are. So, here’s the details…

I will be at school tomorrow, but only up through 4th period, and will be leaving at that point.
We’ll be departing for Los Angeles on Virgin America flight 847, leaving San Francisco at 1:50 PM and arriving Los Angeles at 3:15 PM. We’ll then catch a SuperShuttle down to UCLA.
After we check in and get our room, there will be a barbecue dinner, and then some introductory activities.

Breakfast will begin on Saturday at around 7 AM. We will then break out into conference sessions, with the first one at 8:30-10 AM, the second at 10:30 AM-Noon, lunch, the third at 1:30-3 PM, and the fourth at 3:30-5 PM. We don’t actually reserve which sessions we want to take, rather we can decide on the spot, so long as someone from our district attends some of the required ones. Beyond that, it’s based on first come first served, err, taught. After the last conference will be dinner, followed by a “PTA Variety Show”, where the various groups will get to do something for fun, like a skit or a song or something. My mom is a bit creative in that department, and so I’ve heard rumors that she’ll be bringing her guitar…

On Sunday, breakfast will again be at 7 AM, and there will be a more “general” training session for all PTA U attendees at 8:30-11:30 AM. After that will be lunch, and then we’ll be going home.
SuperShuttle will be picking us up around the 1:20-1:35 time slot to go back to LAX. Our return flight will be Virgin America flight 852, departing at 4:00 PM and arriving San Francisco at 5:20 PM.

So that will be where I’m going this weekend! And yes, since it’s not a board meeting, I’ll be bringing my camera and hopefully taking pictures (although not too many, I hope…). Bon voyage!

Tags: itinerary, LAX, Los Angeles, PTA, training, travel, trip, UCLA, Virgin America