Anna Ekmekci, Lilian Ivlev, David Szabo-Dery
Day 1 (1/27-1/28):
Setting off from BCA at 9:00 on Monday, January 27, and expecting to arrive late 22:00 on Tuesday in Japan’s time, our trip there was an adventure of its own. Our schedule was tight, with only 3 hours in between starting off from school and our first flight to Tokyo, and a 2 hour layover as we transferred to a flight towards Hiroshima.
JFK to HND:
A 14 hour flight was going to be the longest flight that the majority of us had ever gone on. Stocked up with a few bites to eat before we went on, in a surprisingly empty terminal, we were ready to head off. Seats were traded and everyone was comfortable. That was, until we heard a small delay warning that the flight might push 15 hours due to a small side step away from Russian airspace as we flew towards Japan. Either way, we had plenty of delicious meals on the plane, had each other to socialize with, and entertained ourselves with games and movies. Little did we know that the small delay would cause a worrying bump in our plans.
HND to HIJ:
As we got off the plane at 7:10, the attendants informed Dr. Kim that we had missed our flight to Hiroshima, scheduled for departure at 7:50, since we could not make it to the gate across the airport that quickly. As we pondered about what to do next, Dr. Kim worked to help get the flight to wait for us while we claimed our bags. As we waited, an attendant told us that it worked, but we only had 30 minutes to make it there. We ran through the motions: screenings, running across the airport to the monorail, checking our bags once more, and dashing through security. Time was against us, but we made it as the last few passengers trickled into the last flight to Hiroshima of the night. A short flight, but we were exhausted by this point.
The kind teachers at Hiroshima stuck out for us and welcomed us energetically despite the delays. We filed into our bus, provided with our last meal of the day as we finally rode to our hotel. Here we will rest, planning to get a good night's sleep for an even more adventurous day tomorrow.
