Let me start by sort of apologising about the length and detail of these posts. This diary is written principally for my own benefit, and Sue’s, so it is more detailed than just a normal postcard type blog. I realise some people will find this boring but it is something I have done on almost every foreign trip since we got married in 1984. It is something of a family tradition that I picked up from my Mum. It is great to look back and re-read the diaries years later and, for that reason, they have tended to get more detailed over the years. Anyway – here is the first entry – photos will hopefully be added soon.
I haven’t really proof read the entries, as they are done ‘on the hoof’, so please forgive any typos that may be present – I will re-read and edit as necessary when we get home. Also have just seen a preview of the post, the website appears to have removed all of the formatting of the headers and some of the body so that it is all in a bland 11 point text format – I have re-bolded some of it but will see if there is anything I can do about that before the next entry.
Wednesday 4th February 2015.
The day dawned bright and cold – the feared snow was not in evidence, which is good news. Our latest odyssey gets underway today. I had finished work a bit early yesterday and was already packed and sorted. Christopher has taken the morning off work to drive us to Newark Northgate. We did a few last minute bits and set off just after 10.30am. The threatened snow still failed to materialise and we had a good, uneventful journey to Newark arriving a little early, but this gave us chance to get tickets for a trip to London in April.
The 1154 train is one that starts in Newark, so we were pleased to see it pull in just after we arrived. We boarded about quarter to and as soon as we had sat down they took our lunch orders. Hot food was a choice of Braised British pork stew with cobbler or Gruyere cheese and red onion compote in a polenta tart served with a mixed leaf salad. There were also sandwiches, but Sue and I both elected for the pork.
The train pulled off exactly on time, we are in seats 35 and 37 in the front coach M. The food was served before we got to Grantham and it was very tasty – they were also quick with both a hot and cold drinks run, though finished up with her G&T, green tea and bottle of water all arriving together. I stuck to diet coke but will no doubt make up for it in the lounge later. There is still a bit of snow lying from last week, but nothing to cause us any bother. It is only three days since we drove over the tops to Manchester to see Peter Kay in Phoenix Nights at the MEN and we saw proper snow then.
As the train sped south the sun continued to shine. I got the diary started and started to wonder what we had forgotten.We are away for five weeks and have ten flights. There have been a few small spanners thrown into the works as the trip has taken shape over the past 11 months, we are also going to a fair few new places with the inevitable unknowns facing us. However, we will worry about them as they crop up, for now we are doing 118mph just approaching Peterborough and the first part of the diary is done for now.
Later – the train arrived on time just before 1330 and we walked down to the Piccadilly Line for the schlep to Heathrow – the train wasn’t busy all, which is nice and one of the reasons we came down so early – there are 24 stops before we reached Heathrow Terminals 1,2,3 and 5. The journey took about 50 minutes and we walked up to the Bus station to get a 140 bus to the Bath Road – it was well before 3pm when we checked into room 4095 – a nice upgrade room. The chap who checked us in was really good – he welcomed us back and said all the right things about our online check in. He asked where we were flying to and when I told him about our plane delay, he comped us a 3pm check out, which is excellent.
After dropping our bags, we went down to the lounge for a nice coffee and some cookies / jellybeans. There was a great selection of snacks and newspapers. We have a while to chill here, so we will make the most of it.
Suitably refreshed, Sue had a wander round the hotel while I uploaded the first instalment of the blog. Sue reported a nice very quiet pool, so we got changed and went down to pass a very pleasant hour or two in the pool, the sauna, the steam room and the jacuzzi. It was only moderately busy, so there wan’t an issue.
Our plan had been to go to the Pheasant, but the lounge offerings including some nice cobs, crudités, pasta with meat sauce and a few small quiches meant that we changed our minds and ate in the hotel, where the cost was – Nil!! We also had free wine and beer to help us make our minds up. The white wine was Spanish Ayrum and the beer was a choice of Beck’s or Stella. Add to this unlimited supplies of jellybeans and cookies and we are set for a while.
This also gave us the chance to do some more Japan planning – making sure we know how to get from the airport to the hotel and minor things like that. At 7pm ANA emailed us our electronic boarding passes as promised – another thing to cross off the list. Some very nice cakes appeared as we were planning, so it would have been rude not to partake.
Thus the evening was spent chilling, planning and sorting out emails etc. We retired fairly early to get bathed and ready for a long day tomorrow.
Thursday 5th / Friday 6th February 2015
There was a choice this morning, we could take breakfast in the lounge, or have the full monty in the restaurant – we had a look in the lounge, and there was everything that we wanted, so we stayed there. Very nice fruit, followed by the usual cooked stuff with salmon and some very nice spiced fried potatoes with peppers. The Starbuck’s coffee machine was another bonus.
Once we had eaten breakfast we went back up to the room to chill and get ready for the long flight tonight. The comped late check out is nice, but it is not the fast paced holiday that we are used to – that will change I am sure. Neither of us fancied a trek into London, so we will just hang loose, drink coffee and read. Isn’t that what you are supposed to do on holiday anyway?
Later – we chilled in the lounge after checking out of our room. The ANA website said that the check in at Terminal 2 didn’t open until three hours before the flight (4pm) but just after 2pm we decided to head over to the airport because there is a 24 hour bus strike today and lots of TFL routes are affected. But, as always happens when you aren’t in a rush, the second we arrived at the bus stop – so did the bus!
A smooth journey to T2 and sure enough, the ANA desk was deserted. The new Terminal is very impressive, but there ain’t much do to or see landside. I went for a wander and saw two ANA girls by the desks. I asked them what time they would open and one said that they should open at 4pm but as we were here they would open in ten minutes – and sure enough they did! A lovely lady checked us in and gave us tips about immigration. By 3-15pm we were airside in the vast shopping area of T2. I left Sue browsing and went under the taxiway to our gate and lounge on the other side.
Our plane was at the gate as I arrived, but the area was deserted. The United lounge is immediately opposite, so I went in. It is a huge facility and was almost deserted when I arrived – lots of food offering, a huge bar, loads of seats – most of which have plug points, and a very nice food selection. There is also free wi-fi.
Sue joined me after having a good mooch round the shops and we treated ourselves to a pre-flight drink. Sue had a very generously made Cosmopolitan and I had a bottle of Bud. The food was too good to resist – a lovely selection of salads and sandwiches plus quite a few hot dishes including beef chilli and a chicken curry called Chicken Kholapuri. There were also lots of nice vegetables, which pleased Sue. We only had a small amount, as I am sure we will be well fed on the flight. Chatting to the lad behind the bar, who fancied himself as a bit of a cocktail whizz, he said that it wasn’t very often this quiet, we had missed the rush as the United flight to Washington had just gone.
To be fair, the lounge did fill up quite a lot, with a good number of Japanese folk obviously on our flight. As always in a good lounge, the time passed very quickly. I had a bit of curry and rice with salad and Sue had a few bits as well, but wasn’t that hungry still, after the big breakfast. We also managed a couple more drinks, I stuck to the Bud but Sue moved onto the champagne.
Around 6.30pm we went down to the gate, just before boarding started at about 6.35pm – again very efficiently, the Boeing 777-300 filled up. I am in 7a, the front seat in Business Class – it is a three class plane, Sue is just behind me in 8a. The ‘pods’ are fascinating, with large TV’s and seats that fold down to a lie flat bed. The IFE features a very cosmopolitan selection including quite a few new US films like Nightcrawler, The Equaliser, The November Man, Whiplash and Brad Pitt in Fury. There are also a selection of old movies like Erin Brocovic, Notting Hill, School of Rock, The Matrix and Mr Bean’s Holiday! There are also a lot of Japanese films where I couldn’t pretend to guess what they are all about.
We pushed back at 1858 – just a few minutes early and had a long taxi to runway 9 Right, where we got into a bit of a queue and eventually got wheels up to the east at 1922. We immediately headed north east and flew over Wembley then headed out to the Norfolk coast. Our gate to gate flight time is set for 11 hours 45 minutes – we fly north east to Scandinavia going over Oslo then north of Stockholm and Helsinki, then north of all of the Russian land mass heading into Tokyo from the north – we currently have a 172kph headwind at 31,000 feet north of Amsterdam over the North Sea.
As the seat belt sign was turned off the IFE started and I am content to watch the sky map and type at the moment – the menus have been handed out and they are basically a book. They have just taken the choices for the main meal – it is a choice of Japanese or International cuisine.
Both have the same Amuse – ‘starters’
Pate de campagne with orange canapé style
Sautéed prawn with lemon and herb
Mushroom stuffed with chicken mousse –
Apparently everyone gets these.
The Japanese selection is;-
Zensai (a selection of morsels)
Soy based sauce cured herring roe
Marinated prawn saikyo miso taste
Simmered duck in soy based sauce
Simmered beans in syrup
Nimono (simmered plate)
Simmered assorted vegetables and chicken dumpling
Sunomono (delicacies dressed with vinegar)
Smoked salmon and quick-seared scallop with egg yolk vinegar.
Shusai (Main course)
Sake-steamed yellowtail with grated daikon thick broth
Steamed rice, miso soup and assorted pickles.
International Cuisine
Appetiser – Smoked duck with cardamom
Main plate –
Fillet of beef steak with creamy mushroom sauce.
Sautéed salmon and celeriac puree with white wine sauce
Bread – three types of bread
Both menus then feature the same dessert selection.
Desserts
Sticky toffee or Manchester tartlet
Cheese
Fruit
Sue and I were both adventurous and selected the Japanese selection – when I asked if I had to pick from the menu I was told – no you get it all !!
I also elected to have a Sapporo beer as it is the one Japanese beer I have heard of. Sue stuck to the traditional G&T 😉
So far, as I type this I have had the Amuse and have to say I am very impressed – three cold canapé selections – very tasty, and the pate de campagne had a real nice kick to it.
Later – the food was excellent – some really interesting tastes, but there was a lot of it! I ate it all apart from a bit of the rice and a few of the pickles, but I tried them all. Almost as soon as I has eaten I turned the seat into a bed. First impression was that is isn’t as comfortable as Virgin Upper, because your legs go into a bit of a tunnel in front of you and it isn’t natural to turn over, but once I got used to it, the bed was fine and I got some good sleep.
I was aware of the lights coming on as we were just over a couple of hours out of Tokyo flying over the frozen wasteland of Eastern Russia – it looks very cold and inhospitable down there with not too many signs of human encroachment into the wilderness. It is 5am UK time and 2pm in Tokyo, so goodness knows what we will sleep like tonight.
Almost as soon as I was awake the lovely crew were asking what I would like for breakfast.
The Japanese selection is :-
Kuchidori (treats to pair with saki)
Minced Chicken with Welsh onion in miso
Simmered Chinese cabbage and deep fried tofu in soy-based sauce
Japanese savory omelet
Shusai (main course)
Salt grilled salmon
Plus steamed rice, miso soup and assorted Japanese pickles.
Fruit.
International Cuisine
Main plate – Spanish omelet with cassoulet
bread served with Charente Lescure butter and strawberry jam.
Despite being anything but hungry I elected for the Japanese cuisine and, once again, you get the lot! When it came it was a lot of food again and I must admit I didn’t do it justice. I hate to waste food, but it was just too much! I ate, and really enjoyed the salmon and the fruit, but the rest was too much for me and I picked at it at best.
We are currently heading south over the sea between China and Japan, ten hours into the flight still just over 600 miles to go in an hour and 20 minutes.
Later – we got great views of the area north of Tokyo as we flew in – the thing that struck me most was the number of golf courses – they seemed to be everywhere, real big ones with huge Clubhouses as well. here were also a lot of large fields of solar panels and huge industrial towns on the coast like Hitachi.
It was 3.50pm when we landed and had a long taxi to gate 208. We de-planed quickly and made our way to immigration – this was a breeze, no one in front of us, very brief questions about how long we were staying, two fingerprints, photo and stamp – sorted! We had a bit of a wait for our bags, but given how quickly we got to baggage reclaim, that isn’t a surprise. We were surprised by the number of very small bags that had been checked – compared to the UK and US where folk try to take huge bags on rather than wait a few minutes at their destination.
From research, we knew to look for the Keikyu Tourist Information Center, where we wanted to buy tourist tickets http://www.haneda-tokyo-access.com/en/info/discountticket_welcometokyo.html the desk was very easy to find and two lovely ladies sorted the tickets for us after examining our passports to make sure we are tourists. The tickets are 1900 yen each but give us a ride on the Keikyu Train Line, which gives us access to the Tokyo subway system, and the ticket is then valid for three days unlimited subway travel. We bought the tickets and the girls insisted on giving us a free pen each and two coins to put in the ubiquitous toy vending machines that seem to be even more common here than in the UK – at least we didn’t ‘win’ any Pokemon.
We went down to the platform and there was a train in, so we jumped on it. We were expecting the first station to be Shihagawa, but it wasn’t so we wondered if we were on the wrong train or going in the wrong direction. We jumped of and realised we were going the right way – we now know we got onto a stopping train instead of an Express, but a lovely lady passenger saw us looking at the map and managed to communicate that we needed the next train and we could make one change to get to Shimbashi, where we could change to the Ginza Line.
She then took us under her wing, told us where to get off and which way to go – she then got on the second train after us and showed us how many stop to stay on this train for, as she got off before us. At Shimbashi we swapped our train ticket for a subway one and made our way in full rush hour to the Ginza line. We thought we were only on one stop, so we got off at what we thought was Kyobashi and made our way up to the platform level – a map on the wall showed us the Marriott and off we set.
The hotel was easy enough to find – trouble is, this wasn’t our Marriott – we should have stayed on the train another stop! A very helpful chap told us it wasn’t far – he offered to call us a cab but we said we would walk as to wasn’t far so he gave us a map and off we set. We called at the Apple Store on Ginza to make sure we were going in the right direction. We walked past huge posh shops like Bulgari, Armani, Tiffany’s and Dior to name but a few.
Eventually the Courtyard Tokyo Station appeared like a beacon. We had to check in on the fourth floor and a lovely lady checked us into room 343 and gave us loads of vouchers for free breakfast, free food and drinks in the evening (courtesy of the gold card) and other hotel info. We went down to the room then chilled for a bit and got emails. We were really ready for a drink, so went to the cafe that we had the free food and drinks voucher for a cafe bar called GGCo, it is just opposite the lifts up to the hotel lobby. We went in and were given a sheet of food and drink that we could select from. I had a Suntory Malt beer and Sue had another generous G&T. We also shared a nice plate of lettuce, salmon and bread – it just hit the spot, but it was the drink we were more in need of.
Suitably refreshed we headed out into the bright lights of Tokyo – the Ginza area is a high end shopping street with loads and loads of fascinating places, it was great just following our noses for an hour or two – even after 8pm very very few of them had closed. We had a wander round, and inevitably checked in at the Apple Store and walked back down past the Ginza station before turning right and going back along a parallel street. Among the things we saw on the second street, which was more restaurants and clubs was a huge white Rolls Royce Phantom with blacked out windows and the registration number 1 !
It was after nine by the time we got back and neither of us were sure if we were hungry or now, but both fancied something, so we went into the Lavarock bar – the other one that gives free food and drinks to golds/plats – it was very busy and we got the last table – it was near the smoking section (we have already seen how much the Japanese love their cigarettes -at about £2.20 a pack) but the smoke didn’t bother us – another round of Suntory and G&T plus a Calzone and salad each hit the spot, with a lot of people watching as well – brilliant!
Back up in the hotel for some soft drinks and some fruit in the library while we got caught up on the net and planned our day for tomorrow. It was after 11pm when I went down for a bath and Sue joined me later. A long but enjoyable couple of days, and a good start to the trip.
nickharris87 