By Koral Tucker, Staff Writer

Over winter break , I had the opportunity to experience all the amazing things London has to offer. The best part was being able to share it with my best friends, Shelby and Hayley Miller.

This past summer, six girls from First Flight’s varsity squad were selected to be All-American Cheerleaders. Being an All-American is one of the highest awards an individual can achieve in cheerleading. Each summer at cheerleading camps across the country, thousands of cheerleaders and dancers try out for the All-American title, but only 10 percent are chosen.

We tried out during a cheer camp at the College of William and Mary. The camp was hosted by the Universal Cheerleaders Association and by Varsity Spirit Cheerleading. The few selected girls — Zoe Blankenship, Abby Hite, Shelby Miller, Hayley Miller, Reece Pritchard and I — were chosen to represent Varsity in the London New Year’s Day Parade.

However, only Shelby, Hayley and I decided to go along with our cheer coach, Cindy McNeill, and our mothers.

Day 1: Departure Day

After leaving the Outer Banks at around 11 a.m., we arrived at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport by 3 p.m.. We checked our bags, grabbed a bite to eat and then met up with a few cheerleaders from other schools who were going on the trip as well. After making sure everything was all set, we boarded the plane around 6 and departed around 7. We were not looking forward to the seven-hour flight ahead of us, but it was definitely worth the wait once we arrived in London.

Day 2: Arrival in London

Once we arrived, London was everything I had imagined.

From the airport, we took a coach (bus) to our hotels. The drive was about an hour long, but it went by so fast because all I was thinking about was how different everything I was seeing was.

When we finally got to our hotel, I had jet lag and just wanted to lay down and relax. I convinced myself not to, though, because I realized it was the first day and I was not going to waste it. Shelby, Hayley and I ventured out with the rest of our group to explore the city. While walking, we stopped and took a picture in a red telephone booth, one of the many things I was most looking forward to seeing, then went to eat at a little place named Cafe Rouge.

After we ate, we went for a walk on the Tower Bridge, which was right next to our hotel — The Tower Hotel. After walking around a little, we went back to the hotel to eat dinner and finally go to bed. It was the best feeling to just lie down and relax after a long trip.

Day 3: Tour Day

For our first full day in London, we woke up and ate breakfast, loaded the coach and started our tour around the city. We passed several historic buildings and our first stop was Buckingham Palace — the queen’s second home. The palace and all the scenic surroundings were so big and beautiful it made me want to take pictures of every single aspect I saw. We stood by the gates and watched the guards as they stood and marched back and forth, putting on a small show for the crowds of people at the palace.

Then we walked around St. James’s Park Lake, then back to our coach. Afterwards, we took a tour around the city of Westminster.

Shortly after stopping at Buckingham, we made another stop at the corner of three museums. We only had enough time to visit one until we had to be back on the coach, so we all decided to go into the Victoria and Albert Museum, the world’s biggest museum of art and design. The museum was full of paintings and sculptures. There was so much history there it was overwhelming.

Day 4: Tower of London

On our first free day in London, we decided to visit the Tower of London again. The first place we went in the Tower was to see the Crown Jewels. The Crown Jewels exhibit contains 140 royal ceremonial objects used by British kings and queens at their coronations.

We walked around the Tower of London and visited most of the historic buildings made available to the public. Later that night we got to see the famous Broadway musical Wicked, the untold story of the Witches of Oz.

Day 5: Windsor Castle

The day before New Year’s Eve we got up bright and early to go to Windsor and tour the queen’s headquarters — the Windsor Castle. The castle was surrounded by a small village full of areas to eat and shop as well as more historic buildings.

We saw St. George’s Chapel, which is where Prince Harry and his fiance Meghan Markle will get married in May. We were able to see the inside of the chapel, which was filled with gothic architecture and several royal graves of past kings and queens. The tour of the castle will probably be what I remember most — the way everything in the castle was perfectly detailed and structured was amazing.

Day 6: New Year’s Eve

On New Years Eve we had another free day, so we walked all around the city and went shopping during the day. We also went to the Science Museum and the British museum, full of history, art and culture.

For dinner we decided to go to a little place called Nags Head Pub — since Nags Head is where we live we just had to go! After we ate we decided to head back to the hotel. Once we started leaving the areas where we ate, we waited for so long for a bus to come. Turns out the buses stopped coming because they started closing the roads around 8 p.m. for the parade the next morning.

We stopped and asked police officers how to get back to our hotel, but they said our only options were a cab or an Uber. There were no cabs in sight and no Ubers available since the roads were closed, so we had to walk all the way back.

We were walking for what felt like an hour. While walking across the London Bridge, Shelby, Hayley and I thought we were so close to the hotel, then we looked up and we saw the Tower Bridge right next to our hotel. Only it was all the way across the river on the other side of the city. We thought we’d never make it back. So we turned back the way we came and eventually made it back to the hotel using Google maps on our phones.

When we arrived, the News Year’s Eve party for all the Varsity cheerleaders had already been going on for two hours.

We went back to our rooms and started getting ready for bed when I decided that I didn’t want to miss the party. I had come all the way to London for New Year’s and I intended to celebrate with everybody. So I went across the hall and knocked on Shelby and Hayley’s door and asked if they wanted to come with me. Hayley was already asleep, but Shelby decided to come with me. We went down to the party, 10 minutes to midnight in our pajamas. I’m glad we went because it was still fun bringing in the new year with everybody.

Day 7: Parade Day

You’d think that this was the day I was looking forward to the most, but surprisingly it wasn’t because I knew that this was the last day in London and all the fun would be over soon. I also knew that it would be freezing outside and that it was scheduled to rain.

We got up early so we could start getting performance ready. Once everybody was ready we took a couple of pictures, then headed to the beginning of the parade route.

Once we started walking through the parade I could barely even notice how cold it was anymore. We performed our routine several times, and our parents got front-row seats to watch us perform. The parade was over before I knew it and it ended up being my favorite part of the whole trip.

Day 8 : Return Home

Of course this was the day I was dreading the most because I knew my trip was coming to an end. We had to get up early and leave around 6, while it was still dark out. On the way to the airport I looked out the window the whole time. I made sure I got to see everything one last time. While we were leaving everything was lit up and so vibrant. I can still remember it so clearly.

While in the beautiful city of London I learned to appreciate history and culture more. I hope I will be able to go back one day.

Junior Koral Tucker can be reached at tuckerko0423@daretolearn.org.