#explorejapan2014

I woke up just in time to have some breakfast on the plane before we landed. I was still slightly hazy but I do remember the taxi from the runway being soooo long! We had a swift journey through to baggage collection and collected our massive mail sacks before heading through customs to the other side where we were met by Rhys and Kevin who had arrived a few days early to make sure things were organised for us. They also had a large truck into which we piled all of our luggage before it was whisked off to the hotel. We on the other hand were given public transport maps, a train pass and instructions on how to get to the hotel (Ace Inn) before being paired up with another team and sent on our way. 

Once we got the hang of the Tokyo metro it was a pretty easy journey and we were the second team back, with a few others getting rather lost along the way. We helped to unload the bags from the van whilst waiting for leaders to show up (some issues with cars and sat navs?). Then when Leddy showed up he started dishing out room keys, Vicky, Helena and I were in a room with some others, however Rhiannon was in a different room. We headed up in the lift to our rooms, very slowly as there was no alternative to fitting max 3 people in a lift at a time. The three of us were on the top floor and Rhiannon was a few below in a pod room. However all floors had WiFi which was super handy, so I let my parents know I had arrived safe.

We headed back downstairs to collect our budget for dinner and then used our train pass to head out to Shenjuku. When we were there team 8 joined up with team 14 and Leo (one of the leader team) to find ourselves some dinner. We eventually found a restaurant with a menu in English (sort of) and were led upstairs and crammed around a tiny table. Ordering was a bit difficult as it was our first attempt contending with a non English speaking waitress but we got it sorted in the end. Helena wasn't too fond of her very strange green tea, we all eventually received some food which was mainly microwave rice and meat on a stick (we avoided the intestine and womb), whereas Vicky had tofu . The food was tasty and we settled up the bill and headed back downstairs. 

Team 14 and Leo decided to head back to Ace Inn and Team 8 continued on drinking in the sights. Now that it had gone dark the lights were truly spectacular, Tokyo is a thriving and bustling city. We explored the maze of streets and visited a few arcades, just trying to adjust to the completely different culture. In one arcade we stopped to have a game of Mario Kart (once we finished figuring out how to start the game) which drew a few spectators and I won (to anyone who has seen me play before, that will be a shock). We wandered back to the station where we visited the huge underground mall and some of the girls bought souvenirs before we headed back to the Ace Inn in time for curfew. We hung out in the common room for a bit before heading to bed, completely knackered!

It was finally here, the day we had all been waiting for, the day we flew out to Japan. I woke up at 5am and gathered my kit together to head off to meet the coach for the Birmingham lot at a pub car park in Sutton Coldfield, it had already made one stop in Harborne so was partially full, with my team mate Helena already on board. Once I arrived at the car park I was presented with snazzy Explore Japan 2014 luggage tags and a red drawstring goody bag. I boarded the coach and explored my goody bag, it contained our neckerchiefs (which I quickly rolled and put on), some mysterious envelopes with various do not open until dates, all the extra merchandise such as T-shirts that we had ordered as well as useful things such as slippers, ear plugs, a water bottle, an eye mask and copious amounts of Lemon Fresh wipes. Once everyone was on board we headed off to Manchester airport to meet up with the rest of the participants.

We arrived at the airport at 07:30 and disembarked the coach, loading all the core team kit (there was a lot of it!) onto trolleys to make our way to the meeting point. After a little confusion over where the meeting point actually was we settled in to wait for the rest of the participants to arrive. As we were waiting for Rhiannon and Vicky to arrive the group kit was distributed and after a little confusion we ended up with 2 Vango Banshee's, one 200 and one 300, and a trangia. Vicky arrived after her train journey and Rhiannon arrived shortly afterwards and we jiggled our bags around a little to accommodate the group kit. Helena and I took a tent each and Vicky took the trangia. Then after checking that finally everyone had arrived we all made our way up to check in, we must have been a right sight all parading through the airport in our uniforms, matching neckers and an array of rucksacks and cases. Everywhere we went we seemed to cause some sort of obstruction thanks to our numbers and bulky bags.

We took a pause to tape up our rucksacks in cover bags or mail sacks, in order to protect them from rough handling in transit, and I must say we looked rather comical hauling these large duct tape creations around. We took up the entire queue area at check in and were slowly one by one checked in for both flights. Most of our luggage however had to go to the special check in as our bags were 'odd shaped', this meant a second queue but it was fast and at least meant that our bags would get some extra TLC. We then headed through security and after a thorough patting down we were free to explore departures, at least team 8 was everyone else met up after the security checks we think, but we were intent on breakfast. After scoping out the options we settled on Burger King, and then bought some sweets before going to the loo and filling up our water bottles with some lovely luke warm water. We bumped into some of the other teams and took ourselves a group photo which received a lot of attention on Twitter, even getting a re-tweet from Manchester Airport (claim to fame!). 

It was soon time to get ourselves onto the plane, which wasn't massive so we took up a good number of the seats, pretty much the whole back section of the plane. Even at the departure gate we took over. This flight was just over an hour and a half, we got given a yummy snack and I didn't even have time to watch a whole film, it was very easy. Although not that easy for some, shout out to our nervous flyer Ruth who I sat next to!

At Frankfurt airport we were shuttled across to the terminal where we went through security again and everyone was given a thorough pat down and search. Afterwards we hung out in departures again near our gate, we opened the envelope that had been for the previous flight and found some quizzes in there which we had a good crack at. I also had a cheeky skype with my mum to pass the time. Soon it was time to board again, this plane was a lot bigger!

We waited around as the queue was massive and then somehow ended up using the first class check in as our own private desk once all the genuine first class passengers had boarded. We were more spread out on this flight but I still had Ruth and Kate for company. We checked out the in flight entertainment, I watched Noah which was a struggle. The in flight food was delightful, there was a proper menu and everything. I had some off egg thing and chicken, not quite sure what it was but it tasted nice and I managed to eat it with chopsticks! Very proud. We were also given some customs declarations and disembarkation cards which we filled in before I decided it was time for a nap.

After returning from Spain I was acutely aware of my need to get the ball rolling on fundraising, I would be spending the Summer abroad so wouldn't get any opportunity to fundraise during that time. So I teamed up with another participant, James Lynam, to do a car boot sale held next to our old Scout Hut. We both distributed flyers to our neighbours appealing for donations and the response was great. We had plenty of things to sell, there was just the challenge of how would we transport them? James drives a Mini and my Ford Fiesta couldn't accommodate everything. So we formulated a plan, begrudgingly my dad agreed to drive his much larger car full of our items down to the car boot and James would fill his car and bring that too. 

We also decided that we should promote the event whilst we were there so we both wore our neckers and I made a large banner to hang from the boot of the car of the Explore Japan logo. My craft skills aren't great, but it is passable at a distance.

We arrived at the car boot at 5:30 and there was already a queue of hardcore car booters itching to get onto the field and set up their stalls. Our original plan was to take both of the cars into the field, unload James's car and then park it in the car park to avoid paying the £7 for two cars. However by the time the car was unpacked there was no chance of getting it back out again, so it stayed with us. As soon as we had opened the boot of the cars the car boot enthusiasts were rummaging through the items, searching for the best bargains. It was a little intimidating whilst we were trying to put a stall together, but in the end everything was put out and we could start selling properly. 

The car boot was quite busy as it was a lovely sunny day and so trade was brisk. There were some tricky customers but mostly people were really nice and took an interest in what we were doing, we were even offered some help in our fundraising efforts which was really nice. Towards lunch time the crowds thinned and the people around us started packing up their stalls and so we decided it was time to start packing up too. We packed everything back into the cars and agreed to do another car boot later in the summer as it seemed to have gone well. We went home and totalled it up and had raised just over £80 each which I think was a very promising start.

At first there was the expression of interest forms, which I eagerly signed, having missed out on a previous opportunity to complete my Explorer Belt there was no way that I was missing this one! Then there was the logo competition to design the logo that would be used on promotional materials as well as the badge for the expedition. Then when I visited home in June (I spent the last year studying abroad in Spain) the sign up letters had arrived! First thing I did was fill them out and then started thinking about how I was going to raise the money for the first payment. Dad kindly agreed to pay it for me as at the time I didn't have the money, but once I started fundraising I would pay him back, which was great and kept me out of my overdraft. After chasing down a missing signature from the forms I dropped them off at Laura and Jim's house, and was a little too happy when my phone buzzed and I had the 'We have received your money, your place is now confirmed text'. Time to get fundraising.

I should have probably started this months ago, but never mind. This Blog is to keep all of my thoughts during the lead up to and throughout the Explore Japan 2014 expedition. To some it may seem a little premature, its still 12 months away right? But it takes a lot longer than that to get everything together, luckily for me I have the chance to be a participant, so I haven't got anywhere near as much paperwork to do as the leadership team who are organising this wonderful experience for us. I'll be back soon to fill in the blanks about what's been going on until now.