Arrived in Tokyo

Last night was too fuzzy to write up yesterday’s travel day....travel days are usually boring and not worth mentioning much, but it had some memorable moments...first I have to say that we had a perfect start...getting the train from Mascot to International was the RIGHT choice! The hotel people said there was a shuttle and it was much cheaper...but on investigation they said to allow an HOUR to get there (must make stops at many other hotels, not a dedicated Ibis one) and also with our senior Opal cards it only cost $7 on the train, same as shuttle....anyway, that is boring, but satisfying.

The JAL flight was perfect. It was a Dreamliner, 2 seats on the sides and 4 in the middle, so we had 2 on the side...one funny thing...we were all settled into flight mode, and when they came round with the drinks trolley before serving a meal I asked for white wine, and Amr asked for sake, then remembered that in fact it was 9.30 am (8.30 Japan time!), so we switched to juice...the polite attendants tried not to look surprised...anyway, we had a sort of breakfast, but more like a lunch, slightly Japanese style - and they did bring alcohol with the actual meal, and we had it anyway then!! Nothing more, except that when we had a meal before landing at 5.15pm we were surprisingly a little peckish by then and anticipated a little box of Japanese morsels, and to our amazement lifted the foil and there was a spag bol (no choice of meals), a little salad with Italian dressing and a TimTam!! Oh well, we will have 3 weeks of Japanese food. But JAL was perfect to fly with. I have never seen such immaculate toilets at the end of a 10 hour flight....they must polish and replenish them after each use...

Anyway, enough of the flight. Landed and went straight to the ticket counter to get tickets for the Narita Express train to take us into the city...I took us right to Shinjuku which was handy. We had been warned by many people of the difficulties we may find on arrival there as it is apparently the biggest and busiest station in the world, with many layers, exits (60+), shops, and thousands of people walking busily in every direction. I’ve heard that 5 million people pass through it every day. And this is golden week (a week in the year when public holidays join up and everyone is on vacation), so maybe extra busy. We emerged from our train and stood gazing and wondering, went down and up a few escalators without much progress...trying to go in the direction of West entrance....finally found an exit to a street, still not much indication...Amr went to the info in a store and she helpfully gave him a map which showed our hotel - only a few minutes walk, but we wouldn’t have had a clue which direction...happy ending, we arrived, sigh of relief, and are here now for 9 nights.

We love Ibis hotels and were greeted and given our free drink vouchers etc...but have to admit that the room is small!! But we have rearranged all their things (cups, tissues...all the stuff they have lying round) so we can use every surface for our stuff and unpack! We will manage fine. The beds are always super comfortable and I slept like a bomb - for the first time for months actually took a pill and slept unmoving for the whole night...Amr said he even had to turn out my light...so now up and ready to face our first exploring day...Amr is the tour organiser, and today surprisingly he wants to go to Ginza- the posh shopping area...he has found a walk there in our book of walks (borrowed from Peter and Louise and kindly left by them at our hotel before they left)!

Last night before hitting the sack we walked round here and found endless streets and alleys of little eateries with the noodles and food we love, interspersed with a pizzeria once or twice! So we had a good bite last night, and certainly won’t have trouble finding places to eat. Off now to see about breakfast....Amr had a preliminary excursion this morning, and has found a Blue Bottle shop which is our favourite coffee place in the whole world I Think!!! This entry is rather full of mundane detail I think, will try to e more exotic when we have started to see more!! No photos yet.Read more