Japan Day 1: The Adventure Begins

Today is the day that I have been waiting for, for over 3 years, I am finally returning to Japan. It has been a very big day of travel starting with leaving the house for Melbourne Airport at around about 03:45 (of course I did not get much sleep before leaving because of the excitement of it all). Mum on the way had forgot her handbag so she needed some help with some cash to organise the parking. 

Once at Melbourne Airport I had to find the right Jetstar Check-In counters (because there were multiple there was one for flights to NZ and another for flights to Japan). After checking in I said goodbye to mum and Anna of course in the traditional fashion of me going to Japan I took a photo with them and then waved goodbye.

I cleared immigration and security in Melbourne in about 5 mins and after walking through duty free I got myself a coffee and some fruit toast. At this time I spent a bit of time chatting to people like Di. 

I then proceeded to walk to gate 12 at MEL where the first of my flights (a JQ11 relay flight from MEL – Gold Coast) would be departing from Gate 12 (in the T2 – Satellite terminal). In no time the plane started to board. The first leg of the trip, I was sitting next to a newlywed couple who were on their way to the Gold Coast for their honeymoon. This flight took 2 hours and was relatively effortless. 

I arrived in Gold Coast at 09:15 QLD time (straight up to departure lounge),  I had time to get a coffee and walk into NSW as the Gold Coast international terminal is situated on the border between NSW & QLD. I was pretty overwhelmed at this point but managed to get on my next flight to Narita. 

The next flight was 8 and a bit hours long. There was some really pretty scenery going up the great barrier reef. I slept while we were flying over PNG waking up when we were at latitude of 1 S because crossing the equator is a milestone of any flight (though it always takes a long time). I had a toastie on the plane as food with 2 coffees and a can of solo. 

On reflection I think that the Dreamliner (B787) is a much better plane for the trip to Japan as it is a lot more comfortable when compared to the A330 that Qantas use. In all honesty I would likely fly to Japan on Jetstar again. 

We arrived into Japan at roughly 6pm local time I shed a tear or two as I saw that lights of Naruto Chiba. As per the Narita Airport website immigration procedures were done through terminal 2 even though we arrived into a terminal 3 gate. There is a corridor between the 2 terminals that they guide you through. Everything was rather seamless though there was lines. The visitjapanweb app being really helpful especially for someone who struggles to handwrite. 

Getting the JR pass was relatively easy there was not much of a queue the station attendant booked me on a 8:47 train into Tokyo so there was a bit of a wait. I bought myself a zero beer for the ‘NEX into Tokyo and I tried to call the hotel to let them know that I would be there at 10pm. 

I arrived at Tokyo station at 2143, prior to arrival at Tokyo I was chatting to some of the other people that were on my flight that were also taking the ‘NEX. I went straight to the Yamanote line platforms and took the Kehin-Tohoku line, I got the womens car which was fine since it was after 21:30 at which time it is free for everyone to use. Some salarymen who were also in the car commented that I was using it. It was the first time I really had an organic conversation in Japanese in over 3 years though it was in broken sentences. 

I got to the hotel just on 10pm and checked in the staff were waiting for me and left once I had finished checking in. I called mum to let her know that I was safely at the hotel. 

I then went out for a bowl of Noodles. I had Noodles that contained pork they were ok, however pork is not my favourite thing in the world but none the less it was nice to be eating in Japan. The store I went to had Radio Tokyo on in the background which was cool. 

On the way home I bought some Nescafé from the Convenience Store for the next morning and then went to sleep. 

To be continued…