After downing some homemade cider (thanks bro!) we got to bed early on Thursday night. We had agreed to set our alarms for about 4.30 which would give us an hour or so before the maxi-taxi arrived. Mum didn't need an alarm, and was up at 3.50am... That's just sick. Fortunately we had all packed already, and the hour just gave us a chance to double check everything and make ourselve presentable.
The taxi was actually early, which is always preferable. So after a quick (but expensive) trip to the airport, we were all ready for the first leg of our journey. We checked in our luggage as soon as possible, then headed upstairs for a feed.. Being just on 6am, half the shops in the food court weren't open yet, but after finding ourselves a table we grabbed some subway. I must have gotten the stingiest women alive... She only put one run of Southwest sauce on, very minimal lettuce and A piece of cucumber and tomato. It wasn't like I was rude to her either. Well anyway, we grabbed our bags afterwards and headed for the departure gate. Didn't really have long to wait, so without much ado, we walked across the tarmac to the A320 that was taking us to Cairns.
Cairns was a bit different. We flew over the reef then took a sharp left before heading down to the domestic terminal. Another walk across the tarmac and out to the baggage claim. We had about a 300m walk between terminals, dragging our suitcases behind us. To say the next step was painful would be an understatement. We arrived at the international terminal about 10:20, but were standing inline for about 1.5 hours! They were blaming a constantly breaking down conveyor belt, even without that, the check-in staff were in holiday mode. After FINALLY getting through the massive line and checking our baggage in (About 20mins before boarding on an international flight is ridiculous) we walked upstairs to customs and quarantine. Now I didn't personally get interogated, but the silly bint starts getting stuck in to Whitney because she's carrying insulin. She's got a letter from her doctor, but the stupid mole asks if she's got the original, then starts talking about searching, and strip-searching her.. Talk about rude! Anyhow, we got through after some dramas with Dean's name not being on the board bag (The silly jetstar guy put it on Mum's ticket). Next was food, as we hadn't eaten since 6.15ish, and it was now nearly 12...(The plane was meant to leave at 12.05) I grabbed a hot dog and a beer each for me and Dean, and a sammich for Bubz. $33!! Highway robbery... That was the cheapest place I could find. There was a burger/fish and chips shop, and they were hella expensive, but didn't have any eftpos/card facility????? You're in a flipping "international" terminal where you have peoplpe using credit cards everywhere else, but don't have card facility? That's very poor.
We finally get on our Next leg, an A330 to Narita. This A330 had been decked out a lot nicer than the one we had 2 years ago.. Still could have been more leg room (there was actually more in the small A320), but now they had screens in all the head rests and ability to watch the flight path. For some reason it seemed to drag. I slept for an hour, watched some videos on my phone, and just waited to land.
After the schmozzle that was Cairns, we went through baggage, customs and immigration with the usual Japanese efficiency. This time we had decided to "Takkyubin" our bags from the Airport to our snow accommodation. Oh man, it was worth the 1800Y per bag, not to have to worry about lugging those bags up and downstairs and on and off platforms and trains. We got the cheapo train from Narita to Keisei-Yawata, as planned, however, I didn't know that the station we needed to take to Jimbocho was connected underground. So we didn't end up getting to walk around Yawata looking for food. Anyhow..
After taking the subway to Jimbocho, we hopped off, walked up the rabbit warren, and then down our known route to the hotel. We checked in, with Conrad taking the hit on this one. Then we walked to the 7-11 before we walked up the street to the ramen place last year. We walked about 200m, passing various ramen places, but we couldn't find the one we had last year. We walked back deciding that we might as well go somewhere else. Boy are we glad we did.
The ramen was awesome!!! The soup was so meaty, they had a decent amount of chashu, but overall, it's one of the best I've ever had. We got all fed and watered for the princely sum of 4800Y. For 5 people to eat well and have a couple of beers 4800Y is a steal.
We had planned on heading to Donki, but it was getting close to 11.30 Tokyo time, so we had been up for nearly 20 hours. After heading back to the hotel and downing a High-ball that we picked up from 7-11 on the way back (as well as an ice cream) it took all of about 2 mins before I was comatosed.
I only took 4 photos here. https://picasaweb.google.com/sciclone/1312012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIiP5amExbTxLQ&feat=directlink
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