Arrival!

Graham and I are now in Japan! We arrived at the KGU International Residence yesterday and did a bit of unpacking, met some of our roommates, and tried out the KGU cafeteria (カレーライス!). It was a looooong journey, but there were no problems!  Here's how it went:



We left Halifax EARLY on Tuesday morning and flew to Toronto with Air Canada. Thankfully at Halifax, we were able to interline our bags all the way to Tokyo (I'd booked the second half of flights separately). From Toronto, we flew to LA; it was about a 5-hour flight, but with Air Canada the food was for purchase only so we had our own granola bars.

At LA, we had a relatively long layover, which turned out to be great because it was really busy and security took quite some time. From LA we switched to Singapore Airlines to fly to Tokyo (Narita). In 2012, Singapore Airlines won "best economy airline" from Skytrax, so I wanted to try them out. Service was great! Hot facecloths at the beginning and end of the flight, great accommodation of passengers with special needs, great food (non-stop water and juice), friendly staff... it was the best I've experienced so far. And, on an 11-hour flight, those things make the experience bearable. 

Clearing customs in Tokyo was painless! We went through a little extra check, as I had a Yakkan Shoumei, but everyone was very pleasant. 日本語でコミュニケーションができたのでうれしかった！If you're a student (or anyone, I suppose) who hasn't travelled internationally before, feel free to ask us any questions about the process.

The only frustrating thing about the whole trip was collecting our bags in Narita and lugging them to the hotel and back the next day. There were shuttle buses, but 4 50-lb bags plus heavy carry-on backpacks are not fun to drag around! We stayed at the Narita Airport Rest House, which was conveniently located right on the airport grounds (fantastic soundproofing!). We had our first experience with Japanese vending machines, and got some lemon-flavoured water and some sweet bread (there was also coffee, cigarettes, alcohol and ice cream in the machines). Breakfast was included, and they had a good variety of western and eastern breakfast foods.

The next day we flew from Tokyo to Fukuoka. Luckily, Japan Airlines didn't charge us for extra bags, though it was a domestic flight. There was a bit of a delay because a thunderstorm rolled over, but we still made the connection with our bus in Fukuoka to go to Kumamoto (just without time to eat).

We arrived on time in Kumamoto, and met Osawa-san, the program coordinator, who took a taxi with us to the dorm and helped us get settled. 

So that was our journey! Long flights are uncomfortable, and travel can be frustrating, but considering that we had a relatively pain-free experience. I'm unpacked now, but I need to figure out some better storage solutions before I do a grand tour of the dorm. Stay tuned though! We'll also upload a quick video of some of the features of the Rest House in Narita.