Travel day – Two

Yesterday – what a day! The group of 14 heading to Japan finally came together for the first time with students flying into Vancouver from all over Canada. After months of chatting on-line, sharing photos, posting on facebook and using a secure wiki site to share documents and discussions – we finally got to meet in person. It was also a day of first flights. A number of students had never been on a plane before. Well, once this trip is complete, they will be old pros. Some of the students were on two planes yesterday and today is the long 11 hour flight from Vancouver to Tokyo. For some, there will be one more flight tomorrow before reaching their final destination for the five week stay.

Considering we had never met, the group came together really well. It was wonderful to sit and watch the students last night at supper laughing and sharing as we ate. They made a wild and crazy cocktail (I think they named it the “Chaperone Cocktail”) that was a combination of all the things they did not eat – some cheese, pizza sauce, ice cream, salt, pepper, other unknown sauces and who knows what else. They did give it to me to smell but I figured if I did not want to spend the night on the bathroom floor, I would pass the offer to taste.

Yesterday went smoothly with only a few small bumps on the road. It appears the meeting spot I arranged for the students and their parents flying from Toronto to meet was actually through security instead of prior to security like the airport map showed (oops!). Thank goodness everyone meeting in Toronto were able to work it out and find each other (the matching tees certainly helped!). The only other hiccup was flight delays from Edmonton. Due to mechanical issues with the plane, the two students flying from Edmonton were delayed over 5 hours, making it just in time to join us for late supper. The flight was not delayed until just prior to boarding so their parents were long gone from the airport. The two girls amused themselves as best they could and probably know the Edmonton airport inside and out now.

Last night we went through a brief orientation session and then the students had some much needed down time. Some went swimming while others headed straight for bed. All passports were checked and traveling papers were in order. I then sat downstairs at the hotel computer and printed everyone's boarding passes so the check in process would be much faster in the morning. Today is the BIG day! Shortly we will be heading to the airport to get everyone checked and bucketed in for a long day ahead that will not end until sometime tomorrow. I can hardly wait to be on the ground in Japan and experience not only my own first impressions but those of the students as their five week adventure truly begins.