Location: Japan

This introduction is for those curious into all the preparation work I did. Otherwise, it's more than a little boring.

I left for Japan on the 19th of August from Vancouver International Airport (YVR). I spent the night before with my folks and younger brother at a nearby hotel. The alternative was traveling all the way from Vancouver Island the day of my flight which required getting up at an unholy hour. Even still, we got up early for what was a really long day for me.

After checking with my travel agent, I met some of the other JETs from Canada I was flying with. By that time it was abundantly clear that Air Canada had serious problems with checking people in and you know it's really bad when the national news shows up to film your line. Air Canada's luggage check-in line was going nowhere thanks to their web based check in system being tanked due to a virus. A virus which was taking advantage of a Windows security hole patched several months ago. Good grief.

Needless to say, my 1:15 flight took off several hours late. They, finally, managed to check us all in manually. Fortunately, the delay didn't stretch out long enough for Narita airport to tell Air Canada to try again tomorrow.

I don't mind flying. It's the whole 10+ hours in a cramped and stuffy environment that got a bit tiresome. Even the broken headphone jack which only played out of one ear barely registered as annoying compared to the length of the flight. I made the mistake of not moving around enough at the beginning of the flight and boy did my legs complain later into the flight. The food was good and the "Group C" Canadian JETs were great company.

Finally, we touched down at Narita. Traveling with the sun meant we arrived only about two hours later than we left. Meaning, I made my trip to "the land to the rising sun" with the setting sun. Go figure.

If you ever take a flight to Japan the natives will show you the "synchronized cell phone flip" as soon as the plane lands. Your first taste of modern Japanese culture.

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