Summing Up
If you drive a Land Cruiser in Japan, you’re a douchebag. Taxi doors open themselves. Vegetarianism isn’t a thing. Avoid Disneyland. Tokyo is too busy! Bullet Trains are fun, but the ICE3 is still cooler. Wee before you start a road trip, particularly if you’re on a tour bus. Add a PASMO or Suica ca...
… and Home!
We’re in Canberra!
Eighth Plane
VA281 MEL-CBR Virgin Australia 737-8FE Rego: VH-YFH Arrived from Canberra at 16:15 (Actually taken after we got off. Melbourne Airport sucks)
Seventh Plane
VA226 ADL-MEL Virgin Australia 737-8FE Rego: VH-VUG Arrived from Melbourne at 14:09
Delay
Gus and I are in Adelaide tonight courtesy of Virgin. There was no way to get to Canberra tonight, but we could get there tomorrow if we caught the first flight to Melbourne at 7 am and Gus and I sat separately. There was no way I was going to get up at stupid o’clock again after already being up fo...
Sixth Plane
SQ6558/VA580 Virgin Australia 737-800 Well not really… Looks like Gus and I will be hanging out in Adelaide tonight!
Fifth Plane
SQ279 SIN-ADL Singapore Airlines 787-1000 Rego: 9V-SCR Arrived from Perth at 12:05 I took a photo of what I thought was our plane but at Changi you can’t get close to the external windows to be able to actually see out properly. There is a corridor between the outside and the waiting area and then t...
Singapore Airlines
My treat for the trip. Singapore Airlines let you upgrade flights for cheap from 72 hrs before they leave if they have seats. I was able to get Gus and I into business class for our first flight to Singapore. No such luck with Singapore to Adelaide 😕. They have been so kind with Gus trying to find...
Forth Plane
SQ655 FUK-SIN Singapore Airlines 787-1000 Rego: 9V-SCC Arrived from Singapore at 08:10
Day 15
I packed up this morning after having some breakfast. I just couldn’t be bothered last night. We caught the Shinkansen from Hiroshima Station to Fukuoka. It was a 700 series this time. I got a bit muddled and tangled up in bags trying to get through doors into our carriage. These two older American...
Day 14
Today was Bunny Island. It was the first thing Gus told me he wanted to do. The Island (Okunoshima) is an old WWII military base where the Japanese used to manufacture and store poison gasses which were used mostly in China. Today it’s known as Rabbit Island (we call it Bunny Island). There are abou...
Day 13
Today we visited the Peace Memorial Park. We walked down as our hotel was only a block or so away. I’ve noticed people are still rugging up like they’re at the snow. We’re still doing t-shirts and shorts. I don't know. Maybe we’re used to the “cold” or we’re crazy. It’s about 10:00 and the first thi...
Day 12
Today we moved onto Hiroshima. We skipped breakfast and had rice balls, milk doughnuts and Japanese Powerade stuff called Sweat. I also tried a smoothie looking thing. It tasted like a smoothie but watered down with a bit of salt. We were about to walk the 15 mins to the station after seeing the lin...
Day 11
Today is our last day in Osaka and we’re off to Universal Studios. We skipped breakfast again and decided to Uber again as we went in the right spot to travel into the Universal Studios area quickly (my mistake). We got dropped off and it was all pretty dead. We only saw a few other people around an...
Day 10
It was raining heavily today. Shorts were still called for, but they were accompanied by a hoodie. We skipped the hotel breakfast today. Their wet eggs and sausages weren’t cutting it. We had pudding and juice from the corner shop. We caught an Uber to ninja and samurai school. Gus was a bit shy, bu...
Day 9
Today is train day. I wanted to see how far I could get in one day and back again. I thought Gus could just rest while we zoomed along. I also wanted to get in the 320 km/h section south of Sendai on the right train. Sendai seemed like I good place to go. Nozomi 318 Shin-Osaka Platform 24 (09:21) to...
Day 8
Today we move onto Osaka. We ride on Kodama 715 (an N700A again). I booked a hotel near the station (Shin-Osaka) but the station is a bit out of the way. Umeda station is there everything is happening. I’m not sure that was what we needed though. Our hotel was quiet and had a convenience store acros...
Day 7
It’s been a few days since I’ve updated the blog. We’ve been so worn out at night. I hope I remember what we’ve been up to. The toilet in Nagoya wasn’t as fancy as Tokyo. It still did the job but there was no fancy flush button on the wall. I sent all the wet and smelly laundry off to be done. I jus...
Day 6
We’re off to Nagoya today. It’ll be our first ride on the Shinkansen. We booked for a train leaving at midday so we didn't have to get up super early and the rush should have died down. We caught the train from our hotels station to Tokyo Station. No dramas today. Busy in parts but we had seats. We’...
Day 5
We woke up a bit late today. After yesterday we were a bit tired. We made sure to get to breakfast so Gus could make his sandwich before we tackled Disneyland. With the criss-cross of train stations there are a few ways to get there. I had set my Google Maps to have the least connections when we got...
Day 4
We got up early this morning for our trip to Mount Fuji. We were up at 6:30 so we could have some breakfast and walk to the Tokyo Mode Gakuen to catch the bus. We got the meeting point 10 mins early at 7:50. It seems this is a place for multiple tour companies start their journeys. We look around at...
Day 3
We started the day hunting down fugu. I’ve been banging on about it for weeks. No one thought it was a good idea to try it, so we just went for a walk around Shinjuku trying to find a restaurant with a tank. Thanks to my friend Prickles for the photo. We then went to a station we hadn’t used before...
Found ‘em
Day 2
We were off to the Nintendo store and another Pokémon Centre on our first full day in Japan. The train system in Japan is a bit different than back in Australia. It’s a mix of government and private railways. They all have their own tracks, but they sometimes share stations. The closest station to u...
Tattoo out today
Let’s see how I go.
Day 1
We’re here! The A380 was awesome. Gus had a good sleep and some delicious French toast for breakfast. I stole his croissant while he was still sleeping. Immigration was a bit of a nightmare. It was about 90mins. I had to use an app to answer to fill out an electronic landing card. It in turn gives y...
Third Plane
SQ638 Singapore Airlines A380-841 😁 Rego: 9V-SKQ Arrived from Sydney at 21:08 25 minute taxi time from gate to take off was a bit crazy.
Hanging at Changi
It’s a big, weird airport. Unlike others you do your thing (food, shopping) then go through security into these big halls where the gates halls. You’re not allowed to go through security until your plane is boarding.
No Videos For Me 😒
Broke my new special cable right out of the case. Amazon return?
Second Plane
SQ236 Singapore Airlines A350-941 Rego: 9V-SHG Arrived from Singapore at 10:11 this morning.
Got to Brisbane
After 90mins of hearing two mums loudly dote over their annoying kids who watched Bluey as loud as they could on their iPads, we made it to Brisbane. We’re just waiting for the bus to take us to the international terminal. Will see what it’s like.
First Plane
VA1217/SQ6435 Virgin Australia 737-8FE Rego: VH-YQG Has just arrived from Brisbane with a heap of school kids on a trip.
Off to the airport
We’re all packed and just dropping Harrie off at school. We need to stop and get some new socks for Gus as he only has black socks and they clash with his fancy new shoes. We hope we’ve sorted out the last of our credit card issues (one keeps getting blocked due to suspicious transactions at Coles…)...
Almost Time!
It was Gus’ last day at school before we head off on our adventure to Japan! We’re at the dentist getting our teeth cleaned and I thought I’d do my first post during the break. This whole trip started after I went on a bit of a plane nerd rant to my Occupational Therapist about wanting to fly on an...