Day 0 - Takeoff!

I had to throw out my first draft of this, because as Marlena kindly pointed out, "If you write in that much detail, you'll be writing for pages and pages!". Nobody has time for that. Instead, I'm just going to highlight the interesting "stories" along the way.

Departure

Flight Delays

Luckily, our trip leading up to Montreal was mostly fine. One notable hiccup is that Marlena no longer had her backpack and was carrying around her laptop + the Switch by hand, but apart from that we were well on our way. We had grabbed lunch and were successfully on the plane, everything running on time.

However, our plane wouldn't actually take off on time. Despite everybody being boarded and all the people being ready to go, the plane was not. After a small taxi from the gate onto the Tarmac, we were at a standstill. The pilot came on and announced there was something wrong, and maintenance had to come on board and do some checks. No problem, just a small delay.

Once maintenance finished their go-through, we were off again. At this point, a few peoples phones had gone off with emergency alerts... A storm was incoming. From the reports in Ottawa, it was a bad one (A tornado touched down in Barrhaven!). Good thing we were about to take off, the storm hadn't hit us yet.

As we are taxi-ing to the runway, there is one final turn and we see the runway start paint strips. However, after the turn we keep on going at taxi speed. No rapid acceleration, no announcement to prepare for takeoff. Instead, we are greeted by the pilot telling us that the same issue from before has happened, and that maintenance needs to come and do a full reboot of the plane.

Then the storm rolls in.

Then maintenance is finished, but the plane needs to be refueled because we have idled so long.

Then the flight crew times out, and we need to find a new crew.

Then we hit the 4 hour mark, and we were forced to disembark, with a new departure time of 8pm (we were supposed to leave at 1:30pm).

Meal Vouchers

As we disembark, Air Canada tells us that we need to stay around the gate so we can get our Meal Vouchers. So now all ~290 passengers are gathered around this gate, where there are also 2 other international flights leaving from. It is PACKED with hundreds of people, and starting to get hot in the area. Keep in mind that due to the storm, other flights were also delayed, so the airport is busy throughout.

Marlena and I are standing off to the side watching the line go nowhere. Occasionally people come away with some vouchers. By now, it's around 6pm, and the line looks like it'll take at least an hour to get through. Rather than waiting, I decide to try and find another Air Canada gate and see if they are willing to print our vouchers. Marlena was a bit skeptical.

I wander down a few gates and find another Air Canada one, with 5 people standing behind the desk chatting. I walk up to them and ask "Hey, this might be a long shot, but can you print my meal vouchers? My flight was delayed, and the other gate is packed". One agent asks me what flight I'm on, and I say the one to Japan. They all share a laugh, and then the agent continues to ask a few questions to get my vouchers printed.

As the printing is happening, the agent explains that they were just talking about the Narita flight. I guess we caused quite the disturbance! Around 30 seconds later, I have $60 in meal vouchers in my hand ($30 per person), and thank the agent for helping me out. Marlena sends me a text to say the line at our original gate is moving a bit, but I tell her not to worry because I have vouchers now!

With that, we were able to beat some of the rush, and grab some "Tokyo Salad" poke bowls before the line got too long. Yum!

Takeoff and Arrival

After another delay of boarding to 9pm, our flight does eventually take off at 9:59pm.

Nothing interesting happens during the flight apart from us being around some annoying highschoolers from the U.S.. When we land in Narita, it's almost midnight. Luckily, Air Canada tells us they've booked hotels for everybody, so that isn't a concern. They said we'll find out more once we get past customs.

As we disembark from the plane into the airport, it's obvious that the airport has been closed for a while already. There are no other planes, the airport is empty, all the washrooms are closed for the night. We pass through some nice welcome sections though!

Getting Pulled Aside

Eventually we make it to the front of Immigration. Marlena is in the lead, and she walks to the Immigration agent first. I follow closely behind because I figure they'll process us both together. Instead, I get told to stay behind the line. Fine by me.

However, after a brief moment of the agent looking at Marlena's passport, the agent flags me over and asks if I'm with her. I say yes, and then he leaves his booth and locks it up, taking us both with him to another section of the airport.

We walk maybe 50 meters away, and he tells us to stop here. We are outside of their main office, and the flight crew are all checking in here. At some point, one of the immigration agents takes both of our passports and heads back inside, causing a bit of a commotion. Looks like they weren't expecting people with our type of visa (Working Holiday Visa).

Eventually we are told to go in a room, and this room has posters about refugee status and the like, not really giving off a good vibe. An agent comes and asks for our passports, and once we explain that someone in the back has them already, he is able to locate them quickly. Next we go up individually to register our fingerprints and get photos taken. 

Time to Sleep

Luckily the hotel process is straight forward, and there are busses to bring us directly there. Upon arrival, it looks like a fancy hotel. It's the Hotel Nikko Narita, a 4-star hotel. Check-in is straight forward, and they just take copies of our boarding passes and give us keys along with a meal voucher for breakfast. We get to our room and pass out shortly afterwards, because the next day will be a long one!

The next post is here: Day 1