Although I am typing this in Day 2, I will still type this as though it was Day 1:
So I am now in my Tokyo Hotel in Akasaka, and it was a really long flight into Tokyo. But I am finally here. =)
Woke up at around 3:30 a.m. in the morning, since we had to catch a bus one hour later. I finished packing my bags the other night and now I was ready to leave. With my parents, we all said our goodbyes to my grandparents, and then left. We walked to Burwood where we caught the bus to the Domestic Airport.
We arrived at the Jetstar Terminal, 30 minutes before closing time (for check-in). I totally underestimated the amount of people there... all the check-in lines were full! There were long lines! For a moment I thought I was going to miss my flight, but luckily, we found a dedicated line for last minute Jetstar passangers to Cairns, and so we checked-in just in time.
However, we had a mishap with the Jetstar boarding system when my dad was refused entry to the plane. That was because my dad and mine had the same name, and the system only allowed one! Fail. Luckily a Jetstar rep came in and fixed the problem, and then we finally boarded the plane. However, we had a slight delay due to one of the cockpit computers failing. In the end, we left 40 minutes late, but it was no problem since we still had plenty of time for our flight connection in Cairns.
We arrived in cairns at around 9:30 a.m. (Queensland time) and we left the plane, got our bags, and then moved to the International Terminal. We checked in for the Star class line, since we would be in Star Class on the Jetstar A330, a Business Class/Premium Economy equivalent. We roamed around the Terminal for the next two hours until we boarded the plane.
Star class... I have to say... was awesome. We had a pre-flight drink (had Orange Juice), and then we took off into the air. Along the flight, we had the option of unlimted food! How awesome is that! Also, my feet room was much bigger than economy and I relaxed the whole way... Long flight, but it was comfortable.
We arrived in Tokyo (cloudy, windy and cold night) at around 6:30 p.m. and it took us almost an hour to clear Immigration. After that, we went down to the Narita Express station where we picked up our Japan Rail Passes, so that we could travel on all JR lines in Japan (including the Shinkansen=Bullet Train) unlimited. Then we travelled on the Narita Express to Tokyo. Although around 1 hour for the trip, the train (in my opinion) was already travelling faster than the CountryLink back in NSW...
Once we arrived in Tokyo station, we had to take two trains to our stop, which was Aoyama-Itchome station. We took the JR Yamanote line (the busiest railway line in the world) to Shimbashi Station. Then from there, we had to take a Tokyo Metro Subway to Aoyama-Itchome on the Ginza Line. The JR Pass does not cover this since the Tokyo Metro is not owned by Japan Railways. So we bought our one way ticket (130 yen) and it just took us around 5 minutes to arrive there. The disadvantage of these subways is that they lacked elevators! We had to carry our suitcases on so many flights of steps! After arriving at Aoyama-Itchome, we walked to our hotel (in the rain) which took 5 minutes. We checked in, and got oursleves a free amenity kit, as well as free water bottles! We finally arrived in our room and I just laid on my bed for a while before I typed this blog.
So that's it from me. Will enjoy tomorrow!
P.S. Internet is damn fast. =)
------
Pictures~!
At Cairns airport:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/as_swordsman/Japan%20Trip%202010/Day%201%20-%2011-02-2010/P2113042.jpg
My lovely parents!:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/as_swordsman/Japan%20Trip%202010/Day%201%20-%2011-02-2010/P2113041.jpg
My plane, the Airbus A330-200:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/as_swordsman/Japan%20Trip%202010/Day%201%20-%2011-02-2010/P2113045.jpg
Me in Star Class!:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/as_swordsman/Japan%20Trip%202010/Day%201%20-%2011-02-2010/P2113046.jpg
Look at me, I can stretch my legs!:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/as_swordsman/Japan%20Trip%202010/Day%201%20-%2011-02-2010/P2113049.jpg
Pre-flight drink:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/as_swordsman/Japan%20Trip%202010/Day%201%20-%2011-02-2010/P2113051.jpg
Over Queensland, after leaving Cairns:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/as_swordsman/Japan%20Trip%202010/Day%201%20-%2011-02-2010/P2113054.jpg
The Sunset from the air:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/as_swordsman/Japan%20Trip%202010/Day%201%20-%2011-02-2010/P2113057.jpg
Sorry no pics after that... got so tired...
