Catherine arrived ten minutes early to give us the lift to Spalding station, always a wise move with us, so we didn't miss the Peterborough train or the London one for that matter. The underground journey from King's Cross to Heathrow Terminal 2 took longer than our East Coast mainline one to London.
Next was check in time and the whole population of China seemed to want to do this with us. It transpired that the afternoon plane to Beijing had been cancelled so everyone was trying to nudge on. We went for the automated machine. Here you can see Helen trying to operate it.
She entered my passport and the machine displayed the following message "You are the old man, go to the help desk". Well, I've never been so insulted in all my life. I turned 70 only three weeks ago, then I realized it was talking to Helen and I felt a lot better. We next approached the help lady who gufhawed at the problem. It is good to make people happy so I felt better still.
In fact I felt so good I offered to buy Helen a drink. Last time we were here back in January the Fuller's London Pride bar didn't sell any alcohol free at all and I emailed them to complain. They replied saying that they would think about it. As you can see they now sell Peroni libra so, well done and thank you Fullers.
Off to the departure gate B35. This is of course the furthest gate possible from where we started. A walk of some 20 minutes.
Heathrow to Beijing takes about 11 hours. The flight went smoothly and we were soon encountering the Chinese security.
Expand this picture to read the English details of the biometrics that they collect. This airport is very impressive and huge but surprisingly quiet. Have a look at a couple of shots of the place.
This photo doesn't really give you any idea of the scale of the building or the beauty of the roof. I think that I'm shooting through glass which is giving the distortions and reflections. The next one is better. Fancy building a modern airport around an ancient temple!
Our connecting flight was due to leave from gate A24, which is the one furthest away from where we are now........
And this is the first view of Tokyo as the plane begins its dramatic decent to the airport. The red light in the sky is from the wing tip.
The immigration procedure was straightforward but lengthy. The next step was always going to be the difficult one because I had 2 apartments booked for different times in Tokyo. They both had the same email titles and both booked through Airbnb. On the day we left I received instructions how to get to our flat and because our arrival time was after midnight there wouldn't be anyone to meet us. Moreover we would have to self check in but we hadn't any instructions how to do this.
We knew that we had to get to Matsudo station which involved travelling by the monorail then 3 different metro lines. This challenge was relatively simple and we booked a taxi to get to the address that I had. Having paid the taxi driver off, we attempted entry to flat 202. We found that three German lads were occupying the place. The boys from Berlin were very kind offering us water, chocolate, internet connection and sympathy. We were unable to contact anyone from Airbnb so were stuck in a foreign city with no shared language and nowhere to go at 1am. What would you do next?
What we did was to walk the street and eventually stop a taxi. Like most taxi drivers in Tokyo, he was very kind and helpful but spoke absolutely no English. I tried to explain that we needed a hotel by using the Lonely Planet guide phrase section. No help, so I tried to get him to find hotels on his sat nav. He sort of drove around until Helen and I spotted a Hotel. We checked in, which was an automated procedure inside the room door. Unlike that hotel in Kosovo where the rooms were available for one hour, here we got twelve hours. It was now 2am so I nipped out to find a shop for some food and drinks.
Have a look at the place. The jacuzzi bath was very welcome.
This next picture is going in my collection of "toilets of the world ". Built by Panasonic this loo had everything. Heated seat, squirty things from different directions and much more besides. I only wish that I could have read the operation handbook.
Here's Helen with the fruits of my shopping expedition. She is holding up some more of the free room facilities, a box of condoms. Besides those we had leather slippers, kimono style dressing gowns and a stunning array of cosmetics.
We went to bed and when we woke up it was 2pm and nearly time to check out. It took another hour to eventually contact the rep from Airbnb with the help from the receptionist and a chamber maid who had a smattering of English. The journey back to Matsudo involved 4 transfers so it was gone 6pm before we met up with Nari. He took us to the right place, showed us round and then we discussed the problems of the previous night. He took all my evidence in order to seek recompense from Airbnb. The hotel cost £75 and the taxi about £25.
Nari went out to buy us some food and drinks for us, as a gesture out of his own pocket. We watched England beat Argentina on the telly followed by Japan beating Samoa. Time for bed again, tomorrow I shall tell you how our compliant pans out and show you a little more of Tokyo.
Next was check in time and the whole population of China seemed to want to do this with us. It transpired that the afternoon plane to Beijing had been cancelled so everyone was trying to nudge on. We went for the automated machine. Here you can see Helen trying to operate it.
She entered my passport and the machine displayed the following message "You are the old man, go to the help desk". Well, I've never been so insulted in all my life. I turned 70 only three weeks ago, then I realized it was talking to Helen and I felt a lot better. We next approached the help lady who gufhawed at the problem. It is good to make people happy so I felt better still.
In fact I felt so good I offered to buy Helen a drink. Last time we were here back in January the Fuller's London Pride bar didn't sell any alcohol free at all and I emailed them to complain. They replied saying that they would think about it. As you can see they now sell Peroni libra so, well done and thank you Fullers.
Off to the departure gate B35. This is of course the furthest gate possible from where we started. A walk of some 20 minutes.
Heathrow to Beijing takes about 11 hours. The flight went smoothly and we were soon encountering the Chinese security.
Expand this picture to read the English details of the biometrics that they collect. This airport is very impressive and huge but surprisingly quiet. Have a look at a couple of shots of the place.
This photo doesn't really give you any idea of the scale of the building or the beauty of the roof. I think that I'm shooting through glass which is giving the distortions and reflections. The next one is better. Fancy building a modern airport around an ancient temple!
Our connecting flight was due to leave from gate A24, which is the one furthest away from where we are now........
And this is the first view of Tokyo as the plane begins its dramatic decent to the airport. The red light in the sky is from the wing tip.
The immigration procedure was straightforward but lengthy. The next step was always going to be the difficult one because I had 2 apartments booked for different times in Tokyo. They both had the same email titles and both booked through Airbnb. On the day we left I received instructions how to get to our flat and because our arrival time was after midnight there wouldn't be anyone to meet us. Moreover we would have to self check in but we hadn't any instructions how to do this.
We knew that we had to get to Matsudo station which involved travelling by the monorail then 3 different metro lines. This challenge was relatively simple and we booked a taxi to get to the address that I had. Having paid the taxi driver off, we attempted entry to flat 202. We found that three German lads were occupying the place. The boys from Berlin were very kind offering us water, chocolate, internet connection and sympathy. We were unable to contact anyone from Airbnb so were stuck in a foreign city with no shared language and nowhere to go at 1am. What would you do next?
What we did was to walk the street and eventually stop a taxi. Like most taxi drivers in Tokyo, he was very kind and helpful but spoke absolutely no English. I tried to explain that we needed a hotel by using the Lonely Planet guide phrase section. No help, so I tried to get him to find hotels on his sat nav. He sort of drove around until Helen and I spotted a Hotel. We checked in, which was an automated procedure inside the room door. Unlike that hotel in Kosovo where the rooms were available for one hour, here we got twelve hours. It was now 2am so I nipped out to find a shop for some food and drinks.
Have a look at the place. The jacuzzi bath was very welcome.
This next picture is going in my collection of "toilets of the world ". Built by Panasonic this loo had everything. Heated seat, squirty things from different directions and much more besides. I only wish that I could have read the operation handbook.
Here's Helen with the fruits of my shopping expedition. She is holding up some more of the free room facilities, a box of condoms. Besides those we had leather slippers, kimono style dressing gowns and a stunning array of cosmetics.
We went to bed and when we woke up it was 2pm and nearly time to check out. It took another hour to eventually contact the rep from Airbnb with the help from the receptionist and a chamber maid who had a smattering of English. The journey back to Matsudo involved 4 transfers so it was gone 6pm before we met up with Nari. He took us to the right place, showed us round and then we discussed the problems of the previous night. He took all my evidence in order to seek recompense from Airbnb. The hotel cost £75 and the taxi about £25.
Nari went out to buy us some food and drinks for us, as a gesture out of his own pocket. We watched England beat Argentina on the telly followed by Japan beating Samoa. Time for bed again, tomorrow I shall tell you how our compliant pans out and show you a little more of Tokyo.
Sounds like ripping fun, as you can imagine I was rooting for Samoa but Japan were frightenly good.
ReplyDeleteWow it sounds exciting but tiring trying to find you accommodation!
ReplyDelete