The Beginning

Arrived at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport after a trip by train by quarter to six in the evening.

Found the check-in at 6pm and a line of about 100 metres. I seemed to wait for ages but at the end discovered that I could have gone down lane 2 and just dumped my luggage as I had my onboard pass already. Thats the empty lane in the picture. Duh.

Next I went through immigration and “border force”. I put my passport in the machine and looked at the camera. This failed so I had to go to a side counter so that someone could check me manually. I think the white hair and a pale image on the passport will probably fail every time.

Customs or whatever came next. I had to even take jacket off.

Finally got through into the duty free.

Then went on a quest to find a toilet that wasn’t being renovated. There must only be one or two available.

Cooled my heels for a couple of hours and then got on plane, a Dreamliner 787-9, which didn’t have a single spare seat. I found out later that the typhoon had closed Kansai airport and 600 planes were turned away. Waited half an hour for one passenger, they must have been important.

Got underway at 9:30pm and dinner was started to be served at 10pm. Service went to 12 and the plates were collected at 12:30pm.

At this point everyone was given a bag of breakfast and basically told it was self service. Not surprising as we were due to land at 5:30am.

Announcements were a waste of time as their English was so poor and they wouldn’t stop apologising for being late, that they could have been asking everyone to polka. This supposedly from the English speaking announcement. Glad we didn’t have an emergency.

Food was disappointingly ordinary. The menu had 2 beef or 2 seafood dishes. I went for the beef and got seafood. I think the two women next to me had the same experience. Nothing like rubber octopus.

The Dreamliner has a dumb problem. The headphones are plugged into the seat in front of you, under the screen, this makes it very awkward to have a pee. Not only do you have to scramble over everyone to get out you have to get everyone to unplug their headphones. In addition the foot rests come out into where you walk. Having a pee is just a nightmare. I just gave up.

It was pretty awful and of course you end up with wind. I may have sneaked several out.

Had a window seat. I got zero sleep. Not a wink. I didn’t think the economy seats lay back. I couldn’t find out how to recline them. I noticed not one seat was reclined. Found out later on the trip back how it worked. The button is halfway up the the armrest on the next passengers side. So you have to stick your hand in the next persons bum to press the button. Seeing this was happening at two in the morning you could have some explaining to do. Anyway at least you could lie against the window.

The flight was not uneventful, however, as we were passing Guam we hit some extremely severe turbulence. Nothing like people screaming during the middle of the night. It really went up and dropped severely. I guess we were flying through the tail of the typhoon. Turned out it put a big ding in the side of my bag.

Landed at Haneda, Tokyo at 5:30am. Everyone tossed the breakfast out.

Finally at Tokyo Haneda where there appeared to be zero air conditioning and at least a thousand foreigners lined up for immigration. Meanwhile all the locals were gone. It took a long time to get through with everyone having their fingerprints and pictures taken.

Then on to customs where they decided to search my bag. Everything out, what a pain in the ass. Good job they didn’t look in the backpack as I had my shoe box size container of my medicines. That may have been an interesting explanation in Jenglish.

Finally out of customs to pick up my portable wi-fi router. It was very hot, with high humidity by now. Dragged my bag up and down several fights of stairs partly because the escalators were not working and the information counters on two floors had not heard of the company. Found it eventually by the queue of approximately 100 people waiting.

Then dragged the bag along with difficulty as the wheels were not rolling properly. Found out later that the bag had taken a big ding in the side, probably when the plane was bouncing around over Guam.

Bought myself a Pasmo card so that you don’t need to figure out the subway fares in Tokyo. Costs 500 yen, which you can reclaim when you leave and you just load it up with money and use like an Opal card. A large number of vending machines will also accept them.

Finally got on the train. The train I was trying to catch was meant to go to Shinagawa, where I had to change, but I must have got on a train 2 minutes earlier, maybe. Trains were running every 2 minutes, you need a good watch.

I realised the train stations weren’t matching up with my map so I hopped off the train to have a think and read my phone. Walked up 3 or 4 flights of stairs and then down 3 or 4 flights of stairs dragging the bloody great bag behind me. Figured out the correct train and eventually made it to Shinagawa. There I was met by what appeared to be half the population of Tokyo and I was heading against the flow. I had to transfer from the Keiko line to the JR Line.

More up and down stairs and then on to Shinjuku. Train flew along and I was hanging on for grim death.

Made it to Shinjuku Station, which is over a kilometre long and walked through endless tunnels. It looked really seedy. They were doing a lot of renovations, I am guessing for the Olympic Games. Found a cab, showed him a picture of hotel with Godzilla and we went straight there.

After all this I arrived by 9 am. Of course booking-in was not till 2 pm, asked could I pay for earlier. Nope, I had the rule sticklers.

I still hadn’t had a pee since the previous evening and I couldn’t make myself understood to the staff. They did have a public toilet on on the check in floor but it was really hidden behind a desk and a cloak room. So I decided to walk back to the station. Walked for what seemed like miles. Couldn’t find one as most were being repaired, I’m guessing for the olympics. Found one in a pastry store. Nearly black pee but what a relief.

One might note that my hotel is right in the middle of the red light district, neatly laid out by the Japanese, Kabukichō.

Got into my room at 2 pm and not a second earlier. Had a rest and went out to Don Quixote and bought some things, went upstairs to the tax free counter in the smallest elevator ever. I could touch both walls at once.

Went to Lawsons Family Mart bought some Sushi and things. Finally had a sleep.