Despite the long 13 hour flight from Taipei to Vienna, I was lucky enough to have an entire row of four seats to myself. Thanks to that, the fear and stress from the monsoon turbulence were greatly reduced, and the journey turned out to be far more comfortable than I had expected.

Although our arrival was delayed by an hour, I had booked the train to Prague with plenty of time to spare, so there was no need to rush. After completing immigration, I headed toward Vienna Central Station.

I had downloaded the Austrian railway OBB app beforehand, but since it was only a few stops, I thought buying a ticket from the machine would be easier.

However, the ticket machine refused to read my credit card, and even the 20 euro bill I inserted kept coming back out. I asked someone nearby if they could exchange money, but that didn’t work either. When I moved to the next machine, it finally accepted my credit card.

October 21st finally arrived—the day of our departure.

Our flight was scheduled for 17:55, so leaving home in the afternoon would have been more than enough.

Since I had time, I joined the morning training session before heading out. After lunch, we made our way to Narita Airport, only to find out that our flight would be delayed by about 30 minutes.

I had once missed a connecting flight because of a delay, so the news made me a little uneasy. Still, with more than three hours between flights this time, all I could do was trust that everything would work out.

As announced, the plane took off 30 minutes late. The cabin was completely full—there wasn’t a single empty seat.

The flight to Taipei would only take a few hours, but imagining spending the following 13-hour Taipei–Vienna flight in the same packed conditions sent a chill down my spine.

— A season of growth, deepening skills, and heartfelt connections —

This is the fourth and final installment of our 2026 seminar information series featuring Nebi Vural Sensei from Turkey.

A total of 31 seminars are scheduled for 2026, promising an exceptionally rich and active year. To make the information easier to follow, we have introduced the seminars in four parts, each covering a three month period. This final chapter highlights the events from October to December.

We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to Büşra Akdoğan, who has been continuously sharing the latest updates on Nebi Vural Sensei with us since the early days of Aikido Travel. We truly appreciate her warm and ongoing support.

On October 25–26, 2025, I took part in a seminar in Prague led by Fujimaki Shihan from the Aikikai Hombu Dojo.

The journey began with my encounter with Tomáš, who had once been a trainee at Hombu Dojo. Even before becoming a trainee, he visited Japan every year without fail to train, and through those repeated visits we naturally became close.

He and his friends would often say, “You should come to the Czech Republic someday.”

If this had been just an ordinary sightseeing trip, I might not have felt such a strong pull. What truly motivated me was the fact that the annual Prague seminar would be taught by Fujimaki Shihan, to whom I am always deeply grateful.

The thought of training under a beloved teacher together with friends in the Czech Republic became the driving force behind this trip.

I had originally planned to visit in 2026, but due to family circumstances, the trip was moved up by a year.