Travel is work

Travel is work -- as far as my present life is concerned, that is no exaggeration. I guess I'm lucky that there are no major problems in my life (apart from losing everything I owned to a 'luggage thief') . . . At least I thought I was lucky, but when you least expect it trouble breaks out! It was the day I was leaving for the European Go Congress being held in Dublin. On this, of all days, I had a trivial quarrel with my husband and found myself setting out for the airport alone, not by car but by train. It was around this point that my luck changed for the worse . . . I arrived just one hour before the departure time. Feeling flurried, I rushed to the check-in counter; ignoring the sweat pouring off my face, I forced a pleasant smile and inquired: 'Are there any window seats available?' 'Wait a moment, please. Economy is full.' I'd heard that every summer all the planes to Ireland from Italy were abnormally crowded because of all the young people going there for short-term English courses. Putting that aside, the real problem was overbooking. 'Could I go up to business class?' On a long trip, like from Italy to Japan, which takes 12 hours, I'd be grateful for the extra comfort, but it's just two and a half hours to Dublin. Well, the food'd be better . . . These pleasant dreams lasted just an instant. I broke out in a cold sweat when the girl at the counter said: 'That's not the problem. Actually . . .' What? Complete and utter overbooking. Business class was full, too, the only hope being that a customer from a connecting flight might fail to turn up. 'Anyway, I'll give you a ticket, so please take your luggage and go to the departure gate.' It was just one chance in a thousand, but I did as I was told. Dragging my heavy luggage, I went through passport control as usual and on to the departure gate. 'What are you doing here? Weren't you told to go to the Waiting counter?' So now it was my turn to have it put to me by the woman on the departure gate. It appeared I wasn't the only person without a seat; the area in front of the gate was full of people in a half-panicky state who were lashing out at the gate attendants. Even at normal times, one is overwhelmed by the exaggerated gestures and loud voices of Italians, so you can imagine what a hard time the attendants were having. The source of the problem is the airline company selling more tickets than there are seats, so you're the guilty ones! Though I was angry inside, being a Japanese, I tried to look calm, saying to myself: 'Someone will have to miss out. It can't be helped.' Sometimes it's miserable to be Japanese and so understanding. Well, of course, I didn't make the flight, but worse was to come. After making one round of the airport and officially leaving the country, I was shuttled off to join a long queue at the counter for handling accidents. Listening to their explanation was hard work. After waiting an hour, I was finally reissued with a ticket for a flight six hours later, by which time I was as exhausted as if I'd just come back from a trip. All we got from the airline company were free vouchers for lunch. We felt as if we'd been really trampled on. Something I learned only later was that in cases like this apparently you can get monetary compensation for your inconvenience. I found out too late this time, but I'd just prefer for this kind of trouble not to happen at all.
Tournament
This was my fifth congress and the first for two years. There were some problems arising from Ireland being an island country, but there was an excellent turn-out of 320 players in the main tournament. This year expenses were greater than usual. Prices are high in Ireland to begin with, then you had to add on the extra travel expenses. Western Europeans and Japanese made up about 80% of the attendees; unfortunately, there were few families with their children and also few students this time. On the other hand, that made it a somewhat more relaxed occasion than the usual congress. The good thing about the congress is the different individual flavour it has with each different venue each year. Next year it will be held in the Croatian capital of Zagreb and from 600 to a thousand people are expected to turn up! How will it go off? I'm already looking forward to it. (October 2001, Monthly Go World)
Big Go board like bowling
	Classroom of Mr.Saijyo
Mr.saijyo at the reception
Yuki Shigeno teaching Go