This trip has been at least 5 years in the making. We have been dreaming of going to Japan with our boys forever, but started really thinking about making it happen at least 5 years ago. In their own ways, the boys have been dreaming of going to Japan for many years: they have heard many stories from my previous adventures in Japan, and they have been eating sushi since they could eat food.
For months I have been researching and planning every detail. I really enjoyed my time here in May, and I was researching a bit for this trip when I was here in the spring. I have planned many things, but also have left quite a bit of room for flexibility as we are travelling with 8 people with different interests and needs.
The best laid plans…
I had purposely not booked a direct, non-stop flight from Toronto to Tokyo, so we could all meet in Vancouver and arrive together- 5 from Ontario and 3 from BC. Our trips home would be separate, but I wanted us all to travel there together and arrive in one group to make it easier.
Fast forward to last night… around 9:30, the Toronto-Vancouver leg of our flight was cancelled due to some kind of “mechanical issue”. Air Canada decided to cancel our whole flight and reroute us through Mexico City with a 12 hour layover, resulting in us arriving in Tokyo a whole day late. I couldn’t reach a person quickly enough, so 20 minutes later we jumped into the car to go to the airport to talk to a real person while still on hold on the phone. We were hoping to get a flight to Vancouver straight away, so we could make our connecting flight to Japan.
I will spare you all of the boring and frustrating details, but the “Coles notes” version is this:
Air Canada was not helpful. Pleasant…but not helpful. I spent many hours on the phone, as well as with a lady at the check-in desk for Air Canada, running countless scenarios that would not involve us losing a whole day, as well as the money for several hotel rooms in Tokyo.
Needless to say we turned around and went home, and I continued to talk to Expedia.
The solution involved us requesting a refund for our whole Air Canada flight, and booking a new, not non-stop flight, routing through Calgary both ways with West Jet. We were very lucky. The flight was leaving around the same time as our other flight and is arrived only a half hour after the Vancouver flight, so we could all head to the hotel together from the airport. The five of us secured 5 middle seats sprinkled around the plane, but beggars can’t be choosers when you are booking a flight less than 7 hours before it takes off.
By the time I got off the phone with Expedia and then West Jet, I got just under 2 hours of sleep before we had to leave for the airport. So much for the six hours sleep I was supposed to get as part of a plan designed by this app I was trying out to prevent jet lag. Unfortunately, the airport was predictably crazy and we ended up having to sprint to catch our flight. We splurged for valet parking but in the rush of the sprint, we did not leave keys in the car (the curse of keyless ignition keys), so the car is getting towed! At the suggestion of one of the security officers, we also got a lift in one of those buggies to help get us about halfway there. Our gate was really on the complete other end of the terminal, and they had started boarding before we even reached security.
We made it, but then there were some problems on our plane and we ended up leaving over an hour late. Luckily we had a 3.5 hour layover, so it gave us some breathing room. We ate, recharged our devices, and stretched our legs. I spent a lot of time trying to work out logistics for the trip, including unfreezing our credit cards due to the “suspicious” remote Japanese transactions.
All in all, the journey has been much more eventful than I had hoped. I am looking forward to getting there and starting our real adventure, one filled with food and fun and family, rather than phone calls, frustration and forms to fill out.
Ja-a-neh!
Koren
The Ontario Contingent finally boarding the plane in Calgary:

The BC contingent boarding in Vancouver:
