The group arrived at O’Hare airport around 4am to catch our flight to Detroit which was to leave at 7:05am. After clearing up a few issues with our boarding passes, the crew of twelve students and two adults headed through security and boarded the plane. Our first flight was an hour and a half long. We had a quick layover at the Detroit Metro Airport, which is one of the central hubs for Delta airlines, and was the reason we were unable to find a direct flight to Vietnam. The next segment of our trip was fourteen and a half hours long, and we were going straight to Tokyo. Our flight was significantly more empty than we had expected, with many students having entire rows to themselves. This was especially comfortable for the long flight and the jet lag adjustments we faced. We were served a few meals on the plane, and many of us (without dietary restrictions) were able to try new foods. Upon arrival in Tokyo we headed through customs for connecting flights and settled down at our gate for our final layover of the initial trip. Many students were excited by the Pokemon vending machine in the airport and chose to purchase stuffed Pokemon, stickers and other souvenirs (see below).
After the excitement from the Pokemon machine wound down, several of us ventured to the nearby Japanese grocery store where we picked up some food and drink items. There were many different snacks that only a few of us were familiar with including Pocky, rice balls wrapped in seaweed, and pastries. Many of these items are easily purchased in the United States at asian grocery stores. The most unique food was spaghetti with red sauce and crab meat, which we were informed was “not Japanese at all” but it excited its purchaser nonetheless.
Our final flight was directly to Hanoi, Vietnam from Tokyo and was about six hours long. After a short layover, we boarded the flight. Many of us were sitting near each other in one section of the plane. The flight attendants wore beautiful and colorful clothing which was a notable difference from the typical American uniforms. The picture below shows a group of us seated on the flight. We were served one meal on the plane, which had a mixture of different common Vietnamese and Japanese foods. My personal favorite was the dessert, although I have no idea what it was called.
After a long day of traveling, we finally arrived in Vietnam. Customs went quickly, and after retrieving our bags we were ready to exit the airport. The picture below shows all of us with our luggage. Upon exiting the airport we met our tour guide, Long, for the first time. He helped us to exchange US dollars for Vietnamese Dong, and some of us bought SIM cards for the duration of the trip. We took one group photo with our CEE flag, the APA flag, and the sign used to greet us in the airport. We were all very excited, but exhausted at the same time, and ready to arrive at the hotel for the night.
Blog was written by Michaela Patton