After having been in the air for almost two hours, we landed at London Heathrow on schedule at 8:15am local time, excited what Europe's busiest airport was like. When the two of us were finally out of the plane, we followed the masses (and those purple signs that read "Flight Connections") to Terminal 5's passport and ticket control, passing toilets as well as the border control. After this control, we were reminded to put all liquids we had into a transparent plastic bag and throw away drinks and bottles, which we thought was stupid, because we'd already been controlled in Munich and the drinks we had were those we'd bought after security control in Munich after all, but oh well. No reason to start complaining, this was how it was after all and nothing could be done about that. And it was for safety after all, so yeah. We'd just have to buy new drinks after the security control once again.
So we were lead to an escalator that brought us to the security control, where we - again - had to line up and wait a while. Everything went smoothly, though, no alarm, no questions.
And then we were there, between crowds of people and shops, carrying our heavy handluggage. We had five hours to pass, so we started with giving ourselves a tour of the Terminal.
There were so many shops, especially expensive ones. It ranged from WHSmith, Boots, Harrods and The London 2012 Shop to Bulgari, Gucci and Prada. On our quest for food, we discovered quite a few restaurants, such as Eat., Wagamama, Giraffe, Starbucks or the Seafood Bar, but in the end, we bought one of those sandwiches at WHSmith. I paid with pound, since I had still some left from the last year when I was in London, but it was also possible to pay for example with an EC-card.
Thanks to our heavy carry-on baggage, soon we were exhausted, so we sat down in one of those waiting areas and tried to figure out where to go in order to ask to which gate we'd have to go for our flight, since no gate was written on our ticket. Thus, we went to the information desk and were told that we'd simply have to wait until 12 o'clock, that means one and a half hours before our flight was scheduled, and look at the screens where the flights, gates, boarding and departure time were written on.
We did as we were told and waited and waited. There was not much we wanted to do, so we just stayed in the waiting area, talking and watching people.
Then it was finally 12 and the gate was added next to our flight on the screen. C52, that was where we had to go to. So we followed the signs that read "Gates C" or something like that and eventually, we had to take the elevator downstairs and go by an underground train to gates C. We were one of the first to enter the train, so we even got a seat for the short ride and the train was extremely crowded. To us, it seemed like some kind of practice for what could await us in Japan at rush hour.
When we reached our gate, of course, we still had about half an hour until boarding began.
We were really excited and nervous. Soon, we'd be in the air for almost twelve hours, longer than every flight we'd been on before, and when we'd land , we would almost be on the other side of the earth! How often did we dream about this moment before? And now it would soon be reality.
While we were waiting, we studied the other people sitting around us. It was strange to know that we'd be on the plane together with them for half a day, and whatever would happen up there, we'd all be in the same boat, well, or rather plane. Should our plane crash-land on a remote island, these were the people we would have to team up with.
Though neither of us thought about what could possibly happen and all those catastrophes back then, since this journey was something we'd wanted to do for so long and nothing could stop us from trying to fulfill this dream of ours.
Catastrophes and their possible outcomes, hah, we'd only think about them the moment the oxygen masks would fall down. And for everything that'd come after the crash-landing, I've written my seminar papers in school about "Lord of the Flies", so I know what's going to happen and how I'd survive. ;D Just kidding, really.
Anyways, soon after, boarding began and we were among the first ten rows that were called. Quickly, we took out our passports and boarding passes, grabbed our handluggage and joined the line that had already formed by now. After our passes had been checked once again, we were lead down an escalator and had to go through a long passage until we finally reached the airplane.
There, we were welcomed by the stewardesses and stewards and they showed us which way we had to go in order to reach our seats. So we passed through the first class, the business class, the premium economy class and almost the entire economy class until we arrived at the seats we'd reserved months beforehand, after pondering on which side of the plane we'd have to sit in order to possibly see Mt. Fuji.
While more and more passengers entered the aircraft and searched for their seats, we tried to make ourselves comfortable which was not as easy as it may sound, since we didn't have much space and on our seats, there were a small pillow, a blanket, headphones and a tootbrush, which were provided by the airline. Plus, I also had to stow my notebook bag away under the seat of the person in front of me as well as my legs, which - also - was not as easy as it may sound. We managed, though, and I swore to myself that - on the return flight - I would put everything I really really needed, like my MP3 Player or tissues or a drink, in a small bag and put the notebook bag together with my backpack into the hand-luggage compartment.
As always, it took a while until everyone was seated and wore a seat belt, while the video about what to do in case of an emergency was already running, this time with Japanese subtitles. And there was - as you'd expect in an airplane heading to Tokyo - a Japanese speaking stewardess on board as well and we were fascinated by listening to her, even though we'd heard people speak Japanese lots of times not only on TV but also in real life before. Nevertheless, this was different. We realized that this was the point where our journey really began.
Then it was finally 12 and the gate was added next to our flight on the screen. C52, that was where we had to go to. So we followed the signs that read "Gates C" or something like that and eventually, we had to take the elevator downstairs and go by an underground train to gates C. We were one of the first to enter the train, so we even got a seat for the short ride and the train was extremely crowded. To us, it seemed like some kind of practice for what could await us in Japan at rush hour.
When we reached our gate, of course, we still had about half an hour until boarding began.
We were really excited and nervous. Soon, we'd be in the air for almost twelve hours, longer than every flight we'd been on before, and when we'd land , we would almost be on the other side of the earth! How often did we dream about this moment before? And now it would soon be reality.
While we were waiting, we studied the other people sitting around us. It was strange to know that we'd be on the plane together with them for half a day, and whatever would happen up there, we'd all be in the same boat, well, or rather plane. Should our plane crash-land on a remote island, these were the people we would have to team up with.
Though neither of us thought about what could possibly happen and all those catastrophes back then, since this journey was something we'd wanted to do for so long and nothing could stop us from trying to fulfill this dream of ours.
Catastrophes and their possible outcomes, hah, we'd only think about them the moment the oxygen masks would fall down. And for everything that'd come after the crash-landing, I've written my seminar papers in school about "Lord of the Flies", so I know what's going to happen and how I'd survive. ;D Just kidding, really.
There, we were welcomed by the stewardesses and stewards and they showed us which way we had to go in order to reach our seats. So we passed through the first class, the business class, the premium economy class and almost the entire economy class until we arrived at the seats we'd reserved months beforehand, after pondering on which side of the plane we'd have to sit in order to possibly see Mt. Fuji.
While more and more passengers entered the aircraft and searched for their seats, we tried to make ourselves comfortable which was not as easy as it may sound, since we didn't have much space and on our seats, there were a small pillow, a blanket, headphones and a tootbrush, which were provided by the airline. Plus, I also had to stow my notebook bag away under the seat of the person in front of me as well as my legs, which - also - was not as easy as it may sound. We managed, though, and I swore to myself that - on the return flight - I would put everything I really really needed, like my MP3 Player or tissues or a drink, in a small bag and put the notebook bag together with my backpack into the hand-luggage compartment.
As always, it took a while until everyone was seated and wore a seat belt, while the video about what to do in case of an emergency was already running, this time with Japanese subtitles. And there was - as you'd expect in an airplane heading to Tokyo - a Japanese speaking stewardess on board as well and we were fascinated by listening to her, even though we'd heard people speak Japanese lots of times not only on TV but also in real life before. Nevertheless, this was different. We realized that this was the point where our journey really began.
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