GETTING FROM SWITZERLAND TO JAPAN

Today marks 27 years to the day since I boarded a plane in Europe on my way to start a new life in Japan.

There used to be a time when air travel could be described with one word: Excitement. Especially when it involved a 12-hour flight to a far-flung destination on the other side of the planet. But in the last two decades, air travel has become much more complicated, and the words that are more likely associated with it these days are stress, anxiety and exhaustion... I guess anything who is frequently flying long-distance knows what I mean. Unless, of course, you're one of those lucky souls to fly Business or even First.

Take the security check, for instance. Everyone who has travelled by plane is, of course, familiar with the contraption you have to walk through. They may call it Body Scanner, Airport Scanner, Whole Body Imager (WBI) or Security Scanner, but essentially they are all just fancy words for the same thing: A machine that screens you for metal to check whether you present a security risk. And even though the security staff ask you to pretty much strip down to the basics before you walk through the scanner, chances are that it will beep nonetheless. This is then inevitably followed by someone in uniform patting you down, which I don't exactly find to be a pleasant experience.

No matter how relaxed I may have felt before this procedure, by the time I have made it through and have gathered all my belongings, I inevitably feel stressed. That is also not helped by the fact that everyone around me is frantically scrambling to collect their things from the trays just like I am, while at the same time trying to put back on their jackets, belts, shoes, etc., in a quest to get away from this area of carnage as quickly as possible and make their way either to one of the shops, one of the lounges (at least the luckier ones with lounge access) or straight to the gate trying not to miss their flight, as many were probably already running late when checking in, and hadn’t anticipated the long queues and the thorough searches at the security check.

And when human beings are stressed, they don’t necessarily act rationally. I’m no exception to that. So at one time, when I was collecting my things during one of my departures from Narita Airport, I must have thought it a good idea to temporarily place my passport on top of my things in my carry-on. Better than to leave it lying around for someone else to nick, I thought. So I put my jacket, hat and scarf back on (I like to dress smartly when travelling, even if it may not be the most practical choice), re-attached my trouser belt, put the laptop back into its case and the case into the carry-on, plastic bag with liquids back into the rucksack, wallet into my trouser pocket and smartphone into my breast pocket, zipped everything up and proceeded via escalator to Immigration downstairs. Only to suddenly realise while descending on the escalator that I didn’t have my passport in my hand, where it was supposed to be, ready to be presented to the Immigration Officer!

As I said, when people are stressed, they don’t necessarily act in a rational manner. So I turned round on the descending escalator, walking (or stumbling more like it) back up again, which is hard enough at the best of times and without a carry-on getting in the way. Fortunately nobody had been coming down behind me, but in hindsight, it was probably not one of the best choices I had ever made in life, and I was lucky not to fall or injure myself.

Back in the security area, out of breath and panicking, I frantically tried to spot my passport, until I seemed to catch the attention of a member of staff nearby. When I described my dilemma, she calmly asked me to open my carry-on, while I was thinking to myself that it was pointless, while the 'thief' was probably already getting away with my passport.... But when I saw the red booklet with the white cross lying underneath my laptop inside the carry-on, her request quickly made sense! With a twinkle in her eye, she said matter-of-factly that in most cases when passengers think they have lost their passport, they will find it inside their bag. I felt like a complete fool. The only consolation was that I’m apparently in good company...

When I boarded my very first flight to Japan back in 1993, it felt like a huge event. I had never spent more than four hours on a plane before, so I felt exhilarated about the 12-hour flight ahead of me. That was, of course, before I realised how long twelve hours actually can feel, perched in an Economy Class seat and with little choice of entertainment. Remember, while it was way before 9/11 and the strict security measures we have to endure nowadays, it was also in a time when personal screens hadn’t yet been invented, and the only choice was the film that was shown on the big screen, for everyone to watch at the same time. Heck, it was even at a time when you were given a choice to book a seat in the smoking section! I’m not sure whether this is testament to how far we have come in civil aviation and technology, or to my age. Or perhaps both!

Now, as most people probably know, Japan is in the Far East, a concept that can actually lead to quite a bit of confusion, because how far east can you go before you suddenly find yourself in the west? I’m sure Columbus asked himself the exact same question multiple times...

As also most of us know (I hope!), the earth is round and not flat, and while when looking at a map, you may be tempted to think that flying in a 'straight' line from west to east will be the quickest way to take you to Japan, let me assure you, it isn’t. Unfortunately, a flat map is very inept at showing flight routes, but since handing out a globe to all the passengers may not be very practical, airlines are stuck with maps on their screens, even though they have certainly become a lot sophisticated over the years, trying to project a 3D image of the earth and convey the realities of flying from Europe to Japan. And the reality of that is that the quickest route leads across Siberia. Which on a map looks like a huge detour, but in reality isn’t. The deceptions of maps, eh?

What I didn’t realise on my first flight to Japan in 1993 was that direct flights via Siberia were a novelty back then, because only a couple of years earlier, this route had not yet been open to airlines due to the Cold War, making it necessary for planes to fly a detour and refuel along the way, as their range was a lot shorter than that of modern jets.

These days, and again due to geopolitical reasons, what had become the norm for almost 30 years, suddenly isn't anymore. Airlines are having to use different routes to avoid Russian airspace. And while most choose a route alongside the border to the south of Russia, SWISS (my preferred carrier, simply because it's the only one offering direct flights to and from Japan) is one of only few airlines that opt to fly via Canada and Greenland, across the North Pole!

On my first such flight to Switzerland in 2022, it boggled my mind when seeing on the monitor that we were heading out into the Pacific Ocean in a north-east direction towards Canada, which by common convention, is anything but en route to Switzerland. And if I had had any doubts about the earth being round, this was certainly the ultimate confirmation. I also soon realised that this route, taking us close to Anchorage, is actually not dissimilar to the one they used to fly before the early 90s. The only difference is that advances in aviation technology mean that planes now have a much wider range and no longer need to refuel, despite the greater distance.

But the fact is that the detour adds two hours to the flight time, making it 14 hours instead of the 12 hours I had grown accustomed to over the years. Which is quite significant. It feels like Switzerland and Japan have physically drifted apart, which, of course, they haven't. Then again, it may be worth pointing out that Japan was once attached to the eastern coast of the Eurasian continent, before it started to pull away around 15 million years ago. So there was a time when it would have been possible to walk from Switzerland to Japan on dry land, although members of the animal kingdom would have been the only creatures being able to take advantage of that, as humankind hadn't yet put in an appearance on earth. And it would surely have taken a while to make the journey...

Putting things into perspective, two additional hours on a plane doesn't really sound so bad then, does it?