The Journey to Tokyo

On Saturday September the 9th, I left home at 18.00 and took the Northern Line to Tottenham Court Road and then the Elizabeth Line to Heathrow. however, once on the latter, there was an announcement about the disruption to trains in West London and the suspension of trains to Heathrow, plus disruption on the the Piccadilly Line, an alternative route to Heathrow. passengers were advised to take the Heathrow Express from Paddington. At the latter, there were crowds standing around because all routes were suspended indefinitely. So I joined the queue for taxis, and shared a taxi to Terminal Five with two German ladies returning to Munich that evening,
I checked into the Sofitel Hotel at Terminal Five which was franchised to Arora Hotels. There was no TV in the Sports Bar so I ordered room service and watched England v Argentina in the Rugby World Cup in my room.
On Sunday the 10th, I checked out of the hotel at 10.00, walked to Terminal Five, and checked in for the BA flight to Tokyo which departed 30 minutes late at 13.50. The flight on a Boeing 787 took 13 hours plus an 8 hour time difference which meant that the plane landed at 10.50 on Monday the 11th at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Not being able to fly over Russia and the Ukraine, the flight crossed Germany, Austria, Hungary, Rumania, the Black Sea, Kazakhstan, China and South Korea.
There was a 1km walk to the efficiently-organised immigration desks. A pre-arranged transfer by Inside Japan took me to the Agora Place Hotel in Asakusa. I had lunch in the cafe until the room was ready at 15.00.
Tokyo was humid with a similar temperature to the heatwave in London of the low 30s.Read more