Up at 3:45am, everyone was excited and did their bit to get ready. Joe was totally dependable - we recommend the Semmler Taxi Service to all - and picked us up at 4:45. Canberra airport was fine - no problems with checkin, or going through security and we had about 30 minutes to wait before boarding. It turned out that Belinda and the kids were coming to say goodbye to us as a special surprise. We missed them in the departure lounge, but saw them waving to us as we taxied out. 
The kids loved the flight to Brisbane, looking out the window and seeing the lights of Canberra, going through the clouds, and the approach into Brisbane airport. However every time there was the slightest turbulence Grant would look at me with concern, and Zoe experienced real discomfort with her ears on the landing. Maria also was off-colour during the flight which I put down to a combination of travel sickness, lack of sleep, and the fact that there was no gluten-free breakfast for her - despite the fact that we specified so 2 days before.
At Brisbane we transferred by train from the domestic to the international airport. Getting to
the international terminal we found a massive line at the JAL counter. By the time we got to the front and did our checkin the specified boarding time was already past...but then everyone doing checkin was catching that same flight, so it was OK. Then it was a quick rush around to find some travel sickness pills for Maria and some last minute Omiyage (gifts).
The flight to Japan felt long, but the kids generally handled it well. For them it was a good foreshadowing of the Japanese way of doing things as it was a JAL flight crew - warm face towels for refreshment, announcements in Japanese first, and probably 80% of the passengers
Japanese. As a by-the-by, the two movies shown on the flight - Flicker (a FOX telie movie about girls, horses, and teenage angst), and some Robin Williams tripe about being a commedian elected to be US president - were absolute rubbish. Steer well clear. Ohh, the only other minor incident was that Zoe lost an earing, which, despite searching for, we did not find.
(Its 7:48 and the kids are up now and I'm hearing about how they slept - cheerful, but stories of being cold in the night due to the blankets/doona falling off.)
So, we arrived into Narita at about 5:15pm, aware that buses into Kichijoji were at 5:30, 6:30, then much later, and that we still had immigration and customs to go through. The line at immigration was very long...but fortunately moved quickly, so that we were out into the main
airport lobby by around 6pm. We found the counter that sold the bus tickets and got tickets for the 6:30 bus. A quick rush round to go to the toilet, withdraw some money, and buy some rice-crackers to eat on the bus. Outside, waiting for the bus to arrive, we had our first realisation of just how cold Tokyo at this time of year is...when you're coming out of an Australian summer.
The ride into Kichijoji (western Tokyo) was 2 hours in length. Hopping on, the kids were full of energy, but within 5 minutes Grant was asleep across his mother's lap, Zoe not much later across mine, and even Maria drowsed/slept for a good chunk of the trip. The trip in showed me a different side of Japan - exotic Love Hotels that look like castles (out near the airport), bridges with neon-lighting, and so much concrete in the construction of roads and buildings: these most major of 4-lane (each way) roads weaving in and out of the buildings at very close quarters (on a couple of ocassions passing no more than 2 body lengths from the edge of a building...in which I could espy open-plan offices still 30% filled with people working at 7:30pm. We made good time and were in Kichijoji in under 2 hours.
Within 10 minutes of hopping off the bus we were met by Keiko, Jun, Hajime, and Nobuko.
Seeing Maria's host sister after so many years apart was great - though we were much the worse for thelong trip...particularly Grant who I have never seen so tired in all my life. We waited about 20 minutes in a takeaway place within the station, when Mari called to say she had arrived. Another great old friend, Mari had befriended Maria 12 years ago when they both swam at the same pool. She became our strongest friend while living here and came through again on the night of arrival by bringing her car to help transport our luggage (long story but Japanese taxis don't have much luggage/boot space). Maria had to "park" in the 'Soap Land' district close to the station which she was embarassed about. Returning to the car we found Ryu guarding it - when we lived here he was a 5-year-old ball of energy that loved to wrestle in Ultraman style and loved his Ne-ne-buton (sleeping blanket). Now we found a 16-year old giant that I'd put at 120kg and with his spiked affro hair standing way over 6 feet. So it was 2 taxis plus Mari's car off to find our residence which was under 4km away. If you're not acquianted with Japanese suburbs and streets I'm sure this sounds easy. However, despite a map, a local woman all her life, and a taxi driver we went in circles in the narrow streets several times before finding the place.
Fortunately we were in good hands, and Keiko had us installed, and tea and biscuits served for all. That was just as well because we were running on empty. Meanwhile Mari was making repeated attempts to get her car into the driveway - front-in or back-in. The vehicle was a small, sporty VW, the trouble, that the road (like most) was so narrow she could not get it turned in. Somehow she eventually did it, and was very proud.
The kids loved the flight to Brisbane, looking out the window and seeing the lights of Canberra, going through the clouds, and the approach into Brisbane airport. However every time there was the slightest turbulence Grant would look at me with concern, and Zoe experienced real discomfort with her ears on the landing. Maria also was off-colour during the flight which I put down to a combination of travel sickness, lack of sleep, and the fact that there was no gluten-free breakfast for her - despite the fact that we specified so 2 days before.
At Brisbane we transferred by train from the domestic to the international airport. Getting to
the international terminal we found a massive line at the JAL counter. By the time we got to the front and did our checkin the specified boarding time was already past...but then everyone doing checkin was catching that same flight, so it was OK. Then it was a quick rush around to find some travel sickness pills for Maria and some last minute Omiyage (gifts).The flight to Japan felt long, but the kids generally handled it well. For them it was a good foreshadowing of the Japanese way of doing things as it was a JAL flight crew - warm face towels for refreshment, announcements in Japanese first, and probably 80% of the passengers
Japanese. As a by-the-by, the two movies shown on the flight - Flicker (a FOX telie movie about girls, horses, and teenage angst), and some Robin Williams tripe about being a commedian elected to be US president - were absolute rubbish. Steer well clear. Ohh, the only other minor incident was that Zoe lost an earing, which, despite searching for, we did not find.(Its 7:48 and the kids are up now and I'm hearing about how they slept - cheerful, but stories of being cold in the night due to the blankets/doona falling off.)
So, we arrived into Narita at about 5:15pm, aware that buses into Kichijoji were at 5:30, 6:30, then much later, and that we still had immigration and customs to go through. The line at immigration was very long...but fortunately moved quickly, so that we were out into the main
airport lobby by around 6pm. We found the counter that sold the bus tickets and got tickets for the 6:30 bus. A quick rush round to go to the toilet, withdraw some money, and buy some rice-crackers to eat on the bus. Outside, waiting for the bus to arrive, we had our first realisation of just how cold Tokyo at this time of year is...when you're coming out of an Australian summer.The ride into Kichijoji (western Tokyo) was 2 hours in length. Hopping on, the kids were full of energy, but within 5 minutes Grant was asleep across his mother's lap, Zoe not much later across mine, and even Maria drowsed/slept for a good chunk of the trip. The trip in showed me a different side of Japan - exotic Love Hotels that look like castles (out near the airport), bridges with neon-lighting, and so much concrete in the construction of roads and buildings: these most major of 4-lane (each way) roads weaving in and out of the buildings at very close quarters (on a couple of ocassions passing no more than 2 body lengths from the edge of a building...in which I could espy open-plan offices still 30% filled with people working at 7:30pm. We made good time and were in Kichijoji in under 2 hours.
Within 10 minutes of hopping off the bus we were met by Keiko, Jun, Hajime, and Nobuko.
Seeing Maria's host sister after so many years apart was great - though we were much the worse for thelong trip...particularly Grant who I have never seen so tired in all my life. We waited about 20 minutes in a takeaway place within the station, when Mari called to say she had arrived. Another great old friend, Mari had befriended Maria 12 years ago when they both swam at the same pool. She became our strongest friend while living here and came through again on the night of arrival by bringing her car to help transport our luggage (long story but Japanese taxis don't have much luggage/boot space). Maria had to "park" in the 'Soap Land' district close to the station which she was embarassed about. Returning to the car we found Ryu guarding it - when we lived here he was a 5-year-old ball of energy that loved to wrestle in Ultraman style and loved his Ne-ne-buton (sleeping blanket). Now we found a 16-year old giant that I'd put at 120kg and with his spiked affro hair standing way over 6 feet. So it was 2 taxis plus Mari's car off to find our residence which was under 4km away. If you're not acquianted with Japanese suburbs and streets I'm sure this sounds easy. However, despite a map, a local woman all her life, and a taxi driver we went in circles in the narrow streets several times before finding the place.Fortunately we were in good hands, and Keiko had us installed, and tea and biscuits served for all. That was just as well because we were running on empty. Meanwhile Mari was making repeated attempts to get her car into the driveway - front-in or back-in. The vehicle was a small, sporty VW, the trouble, that the road (like most) was so narrow she could not get it turned in. Somehow she eventually did it, and was very proud.
The house that Yoriko has 'lent' us is simply fantastic. So spacious, and a very traditional design. More on that later hopefully. After about an hour or so our guests/friends/saviours took their leave, we had the kids in bed, and we were bedded down by 1130...a very long and tiring day...but a great start.
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