Today is the day. Yes, the day! The day that I have been waiting for the past year and a bit. Today I leave my family and the UK behind and start an 18-day adventure that will change my life. What’s the name of this adventure I’m going on you ask? The 23rd World Scout Jamboree!!!
Friday 24th August 2015
The time has come… 2pm on the dot. I nagged my parents to hurry up and help me put my stuff in the car. Excited is an understatement of what I was feeling then. Exuberant… nope still not high enough. The drive to the scout hut near Heathrow seemed to go on for miles. Each minute feeling like an hour. To pass the time and to get even more into the mood (if that was even possible) I played the BeKeHaBu music playlist, and sang along, knowing that by the end of my journey these songs would haunt me forever. Finally, we pull up in the car park. I jumped out the car and ran to the hut being greeted by 5 maybe 6 people. Why is no-one here yet! I thought. I returned to the car to help my mum and dad take my bags in. None of my four close girlfriends were at the hut yet so I signed in with my leaders and received my Jamboree wristband which had the “If you get lost show this to someone and hope they help you” information printed on. Slowly more and more of unit began to arrive. The first of my tent to arrive was me, then Anna a while later. Anna had not been to many practised camps and most of us wondered if she would appear at all, but I knew that she would not want to pass up this opportunity of a lifetime and I was right. Hannah another girl in my tent, the one whom I was closest too is from Kent, and the Kent lot were meeting us straight at the airport so I was eager to leave asap! The plan to leave at a designated time was quickly demolished when Olivia, the final member of my tent turned out to be stuck in traffic. Just as this news appeared the mini-busses arrived to take us to the airport. I quickly relayed the Olivia situation to the leaders and full panic erupted!!! Just joking I told Olivia to meet us at the airport, however it was quicker for her to meet us at the hut so a bit later she arrived. Literally just as we were about to leave the scout hut. Phew *imagine wiping sweat from forehead*. Off to the airport!
When we arrived at the airport, we were greeted by members of the UK contingent and I guy I had previously met on my Scouts Speak Up Course earlier that year. I had a quick chat with him whilst my unit waited for the Kent lot to arrive and he then spoke to a couple of the other members of my unit. Once the Kent lot arrived we quickly made a formation with our luggage trolleys and had our first group photo of the trip taken. Then we were off into the airport. Woo!
We used the self-service check-in machines instead of overloading the queue for the desk. This quickly turned into a never ending sea of questions such as “What is the flight number?”, “How do I get my ticket?” and the dreaded… “Where is my passport?”. Luckily everyone managed to remember their passport and not lose them on the trip I’m glad to say. After agreeing a meeting place and having another of many to come group photos we ensured we had something to eat before the flight.
Our flight to Japan was split into two sections. First a gruelling 11-hour flight to Seoul, South Korea and then a mere 2-and-a-half-hour flight to Narita, Japan. The flight was supposed to depart at 9pm however by 9:30pm we still hadn’t even moved from the terminal. Raaaaaaaaa! Of course I’m probably not the only person annoyed by this as I am sure the other passengers on the plane were less than amused to spend an extra hour with an excited group of teenagers when the flight itself is a cruel 11 hours long. Of course being scouts our unit was well behaved and respected the other passengers by not being… too loud.
Due to the timing of the flight it worked out well that we slept for first half of the flight as we would arrive in Seoul at roughly 4pm the next day. An interesting moment on the plane was when choosing between the Korean or Western option of food on the menu, really there was no option as they had run out of Western meals. But I was willing to throw myself into trying new things as that is what I would be doing for the next 18 days. Admittedly the aeroplane food was very nice: I ended up preferring the Korean meals over the Western anyway. At around 10pm we finally took off and soon we were fast asleep dreaming of the adventure that lies ahead of us.
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