Russia spans 11 time zones, so it’s really hard to get it to. For some teams, the journey to the ICPC World Finals was long and tough.
The National Taiwan University team arrived at their hotel after midnight Sunday. Team member Kelvin Yang said they flew 20 hours to St. Petersburg.
The contestants and coach from the Technologicial University of Pereira (Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira) began their trek in Bógota, Colombia, on Monday, and flew 10 hours to Madrid, Spain.
Only one member of the four-person team was able to move to and from an isolated part of the airport because he was the only one with a Spanish visa. Sebastian Gomez got all of the team’s bags by himself and guarded them alone until their flight boarded.
“I couldn’t even go to the bathroom,” Gomez said.
Then the UPT-01 team flew five hours to Moscow, and another two hours to St. Petersburg on Tuesday.
Another South American team arrived at registration without any luggage. A member joked that they would go to festivities on Monday nude.
The team smiled widely when they saw that ICPC News was giving away T-shirts for daily photo contests. They could really use them.
Teams may face long flights, jet lag and lost baggage, but the show must go on. The World Finals officially opens tomorrow.
Members of Team UTP-01 from Colombia wait for other Colombian contestants at the Renaissance Hotel. From left to right: Santiago Gutierrez Alzate, Sebastian Gomez, coach Hugo Humberto Morales Peña, and Diego Alejandro Agudelo España.
Dioni L. Wise for ICPCNews