JETache November 2003

The Lafaele Family on JET - By Simon Lafaele

The following story details the first part of a three-part leaving and arrival adventure for the Lafaele family of Christchurch as they embark upon the JET experience.

Leaving and Arriving

Leaving Christchurch proved to be very difficult... those who sacrificed their sleep to come and farewell us all know what I mean. We were at the airport trying to check in from 5 am and we ended up making the plane 10 minutes late in departing. For some unknown reason the Air New Zealand computer had trouble with us all and would not take the information that the clerk kept frantically inputting. In the end there were three of them trying to fix it all up and process us and by the time the announcement came that all passengers should be on board they were all shaking!! Finally after much confusion we were all done - it was departure time already - so it was a mad dash to the plane! The cabin crew and passengers were all waiting for us and though the crew knew how many they were waiting for they did not realise that we were one family - the expressions as we approached the plane door were priceless!!

The flight was fine - the children were fine - but Auckland awaited us all!! We were meant to have assistance when we arrived to help us transfer to International, but you guessed it - there was no one there! We started the trek through the terminal and the ground hostess finally caught up with us but by this stage the children were getting tired and fractious - after all they got up at 3.30am! I ended up carrying my super heavy handbag, two of their backpacks - which were really too heavy for them, but I just needed to get the stuff on the plane and they could be 7kg each - and also holding Rachel!! Unfortunately we just missed one bus to the International Terminal and so had a 20 minute wait! - we only had 1 hour from the time we touched down in Auckland until the flight to Japan left so by the time we got to the International Terminal it was already 8.10 and they were making the final calls for our flight!! They had told me the bus driver would take us to the special request desk when we got to the terminal and that someone would be waiting there to help me. So we all pile off the bus when we get to the International Terminal and he says he will take us to the desk and as I am gathering all my little chickies together he drives off!! He didn’t think to mention that he was going to drive us there and to stay on the bus!! So instead we had a major hike through the terminal, but we finally got there - then I abandoned the children there to run and fix up the departure tax and get some yen while they sent for the man who was going to help us through the rest of the airport! Well we all set off - very slowly - and get to passport control, where we queue jump to the front. Unfortunately (there was really quite a few of those so far!!) our helper had to go all the way back again because we did not have the exemption stickers for the children’s departure tax! Picture us all tired and hot sitting on the floor by the passport counter - except for the small ones who kept running in and out of the ropes, or when they got tired of that, then they would undo all the ropes!! I am sure that you begin to get the picture - suffice it to say that the whole airport knew we were there!! People were really very kind and understanding and everyone was trying to be helpful. Anyway back comes our helper - he had accidentally taken my passport down instead of Rachel’s - so off he went again!! By this stage it was 25 past 8 - the plane was due to go in 5 minutes and even I - who usually does not worry about cutting it fine was getting concerned. Finally he came back - the passport control girl barely checked a thing - she just got us through as fast as she could all the while saying - 'Oh I am really meant to do this and that'! So the next step was security - but you guessed it, they wanted to search one of our bags!! By this stage we had an extra helper and the man had decided to carry Rachel for me as I had inherited yet another piece of carry on luggage! So off we headed at last to the plane - again the cabin crew were shocked when they saw us all coming - we must have looked strange - bags galore, pillow, blanket, baby and a seeming never ending line of children!! We finally got onto the plane where yet again everyone is sitting waiting for us, only to find that as we had taken so long people had moved into our seats thinking they were free, so they all had to move out and take their gear out of the over head lockers as we needed that space too for all that super heavy hand luggage!! As you can imagine it was quite a commotion. The plane finally departed 15 minutes late!! Japan here we come!!

The flight was fine - a very different flight for me - no sore butt since I spent so much of the flight time working!! It did cross my mind that no matter where I am the jobs just keep on coming - food, toilets, cleanups, settling baby - it was really just like being at home (except of course for the audience). The children enjoyed the flight, enjoyed the food and their bags of goodies. When they had finished passing out the lollies Joseph and Emma were given two huge (about 1kg) bags of lollies each for us to take with us! Rachel travelled pretty well - we got a bassinet and she just fitted in with her feet touching one end and the head right at the other - but it was enough so I would walk her to sleep and then just pop her in (sounds easier than it was as the silly things are sideways on the wall so the angle was difficult). Having learnt from my last experience I got the cabin steward to confirm our assistance in Tokyo. We stayed on the plane till the end and left at the same time as the crew. They were very helpful. We had two ground staff this time and as before they walk with you empty handed, but the kind crew came to our rescue and carried all of the children’s hand luggage which was great as they had all wilted badly when the heat of Tokyo hit them upon leaving the aircraft. Going thru passport control etc was a breeze - I stood there watching over the children to make sure we had no escapees and the man went with our passports and returned with them all processed - no one even saw us to make sure we were who we should have been!! Same story at customs - they really just wanted to get us out of there as fast as possible!

While I still had my helper I checked on the rental only to discover that there had been a muddle up (well actually they just messed up!) and guess what, no van available - in fact no vans available for 3 days! It took about 2 hours before they managed to solve the problem for me and find a van - though not at the airport, we had to travel about 15 min by train and walk about 5 min to get to the rental office (Japanese don’t deliver rentals or move them from location to location). We finally got to our hotel by about 7.30pm - and what a hot tired bunch we all were. A cold bath helped a lot and some food - hamburger and chips (cost only $90 for 6!) finished everyone off for the night. Simon was very concerned about us driving and also the cost of the van (the cost had gone up by about one third on my original reservation - I know you are all thinking why did she put up with that - trust me things are done different in Japan - it was a major push just to get them to find us a van - I think I was supposed to just say oh never mind and be on my way, only I wouldn’t budge so eventually with a lot of help from my airport chap who was helping us they did find something!! So trying to get the original price probably would have taken about another 2 hours! I just said thankyou!!)

Back to Simon-worry-wart - he phoned the missionaries who gave him a Bishops phone number near we were, who phoned me and suggested we catch the bus and he would arrange it all. Well the buses were fully booked for two days so we went with the van (by far the best option and by the next morning after a little sleep I was raring to go again). Anyway they were worried about us driving too so he insisted that his wife meet us at the hotel to help us. She took the little children and all our small bags in her car and drove to the rental place and I and the older ones and Rachel caught the train there. The van was wonderful - I want to buy one - actually I could just live in one!! It came with a GPS (Global Positioning System) but nonetheless she insisted on leading the way out of Tokyo to the Expressway - about and hour and a half drive for her one way! She also bought two bags full of snack food for us and gave me all her phone cards to use!! Driving was a piece of cake - it would have been more difficult to drive to Picton. So when we arrived in Fukushima Simon wasn’t there - we were too speedy for him and had to wait!! But at last we got here (care of two minivans!). Hobara!

Stay tuned for the next segment - coming soon - 'Life in Japan'