On Christmas morning, 70 members of the Roosevelt High School "Rough Rider" Marching Band will head off for London to participate in that city's 22nd annual New Year's Day Parade.

The band will play "Hawai'i March" for Londoners along the two-and-a-half mile route and an estimated global television audience of 200 million.

Band members have been fundraising and working part-time jobs to help defray the $3,000 per student cost for the trip.

And they've spent hours rehearsing. Band director Gregg Abe says it's one of the hardest working bands he's seen in his 21 years as director.

And that's probably saying something — Roosevelt has a well-traveled band, taking a trip about every other year.

To add to the excitement, this is the band's first trip to Europe, although the Roosevelt Orchestra traveled to Europe a number of years ago.

Let's hope they're bracing for the cold — temperatures may be in the 20s.

The band will also perform at St. John's, Smith Square in the popular "Music for London" concert series.

And when the working part of the trip is pau, they head off to Paris for some sightseeing.

It's an experience of a lifetime for the young band members and we congratulate them and their families for working so hard to be ambassadors of goodwill for the entire state.

We know they'll do us proud.

Aloha, bon voyage — and stay warm!