Home again

Our trip home was a very long day. We were up at 3:30 because our taxi to the airport was booked for 4:15. Surprisingly, even at that time of morning, there was quite a bit of traffic on the roads.

Narita Airport – It went by saying “Patrolling”!

We had to fly from Tokyo to Seoul and then had a very short time transfer to the Heathrow flight. Of course, the first flight was delayed, so our 40 minute window became 30 minutes. Asiana ground staff were waiting for us and hustled us through the transfer process, but the flight was boarding by the time we got to the gate. The flight to Heathrow was over 14 hours and then our bags were ages arriving. We finally got home about 9pm UK time, 6am Japan time.

In 26 hours we had three breakfasts, one lunch, one dinner and three random meals!

I don’t know about travel broadening the mind, but it certainly works on the waistline!

Here are some final thoughts on Japan.

Wherever we went we met happy, smiley people.
They are so organized that it is a very easy place to get around on your own. Once you get to know how things work, the railways and metro networks are brilliant, and there’s always an English translation on major signs.
The Japanese equivalent to the Oyster card is brilliant. You can use it on all forms of transport as well as in convenience stores and some other shops.
Renting a Wi-Fi router makes getting around even easier because you’re always connected.
Despite the technology, the Japanese have some very cumbersome systems, such as having to write out receipts and not being able to issue train tickets across companies.
Convenience stores are very convenient and seem to be open around the clock. The sandwiches they sell all have the crusts cut off.
The streets and other public areas are spotless, except where there are a lot of tourists, and you rarely see anyone living rough or begging.
You can always find a clean public toilet wherever you go, subject to the caveat about tourists. The vast majority have heated seats and will wash you too. Unlike those in Korea, they don’t dry you as well! However, most don’t have anything to dry your hands on and a lot don’t have any soap. We were told this is due to COVID.
Most public toilets have a map at the entrance showing you where everything is inside!
There’s always a hook for your umbrella between urinals and between sinks. In fact, the Japanese seem to be infatuated by umbrellas.
You always get hand wipes in eating places, but very few give you a napkin. Diane took to carrying a bib in her bag! And talking of bags, even the smallest places provide some kind of container to put your bag into while you’re eating.
The country is safe enough for young school children to travel alone on trains.
There’s a huge variety of good food, and even some of the raw fish isn’t bad.
Every Japanese car manufacturer sells little boxy vans and they zip around all over the place. I half expected to see Postman Pat coming down the road.