So I slept at the Auckland Airport two nights ago to then catch my flight in the morning to Tokyo. I had spent said day sorting out my round-the-world ticket then blogged the evening away. When I broke free of my sleeping bag cocoon at 6 AM I went to check-in for the flight. They wouldn’t let me board. There was a mistake with the itinerary in which my flight leaving Japan was set for the 30th of March and that would put me in the country for more than 90 days (which is the maximum time allowed in the country for a US tourist visa). After I bit of a scramble I ended up booking a fully refundable one-way ticket from somewhere in Japan to somewhere in Australia in mid March with another airline. Of course since I was on a serious time crunch to check-in on time, my credit card was declined for security reasons so I had to call and verify my identity. But all ended well and I made the 11 hour plane journey Tokyo. The headrest TVs on the flight were setup as multimedia systems, with a selection of music, movies and games all for free which helped pass the time.
After arriving at the airport and deciding where I was going to stay, I set off via train. I got directions for which trains to take, but trying to buy a ticket was comical. I was standing there looking at the electronic ticketing machine as if trying to interpret some ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. After a while a lady named Shoco helped me purchase a ticket. She was traveling the same way so led me like a lost puppy to the station where I needed to transfer trains. When transferring I needed to buy another ticket so basically the same thing happened, but this time a gentleman rushing buy helped me purchase the correct ticket and I was on my way. After departing at my final stop, I walked around this area of Tokyo for a while. The temperature was that of cool fall which gave me the first real sense of Christmas time. I’m now at the Sakura hotel and luckily had a 4 person dorm room to myself last night. It is nearly 1 PM now and I think I’m going to head out and walk around for a bit.
Now you are finally in Japan so just give me a call.
I just got back to the hotel. I didn’t want to call too late so I’ll give you a call tomorrow.
ohayo
Please tell Noriyuki that from me. I hope you get to see him and his family.
WOW. i cannot wait to see pictures from this leg of your journey. have an Omelet Rice for me with an ice-cold ???????!
that lat part was a Super Dry. nice moves with the language packs, wordpress…
Johnson why do you always have to take cheap shots at WordPress, that’s just playing dirty…
i knowwww… i’ll be nicer though. gonna check out your photos