MOLINE-- Sending your child across the world for the first time would be hard for any parent.
"I'll probably cry. As I'm talking about it, I'm starting to get teary eyed," says Orion mom Lynsay Bainter.
But this goodbye is different, paired with an intense deeper emotion.
"Terrified, just a little bit nervous, anxious," says Bainter.
Just days after terror erupts in London, killing seven and injuring dozens more, a group of Orion High School students check in at the Quad Cities International Airport to travel thousands of miles away to the heart of where it all happened.
The trip has been in the works for these students for two years, and these travelers are making their message loud and clear.
"To be honest, I'm feeling kind of nervous, but at the same time, I'm feeling very confident because I'm not going to let them win. They don't get that right to make me afraid to travel," says Orion senior Maggie Vestal.
"We can't just be afraid. We can't be scared our whole lives. We just need to go out and live life because if we're living scared, we'll never get anything done we want to get done," says Orion senior Cassidy Schultz.
The students will tour London, Paris, and Barcelona for ten days. The itinerary hasn't changed, but organizers say there will be an extra emphasis on safety.
And while it's hard to let go, it's a goodbye that's necessary to keep the world moving forward.