Thursday 16 July 2009

I got up when I woke up – at the crack of dawn – to avoid the breakfast queue. Breakfast was a buffet, so there was no queue at all. Afterwards I wandered around and took some photos and thought how lovely it was to be in Japan, with all the beautifully-thought-out appurtenances, all the good design and politesse, and all the differences.

There were a couple of hours till the plane but I didn’t feel brave enough to risk the bus to the nearby village. I tried the “business corner” at the hotel, hoping to be able to let people know where I was, but Internet access was down. Watched a bit of the Japanese equivalent of Sesame Street while packing up, and ended up going early to the airport and getting online in the Business Lounge.

(As my ability to read signs improved, I realised that the bus drove through swathes of businesses called “USA Parking”, “America Parking” and so on, between the hotel and the airport.)

The plane trip was better on the second leg, because I worked out how to extend the chair and use the remote properly. The instructions to everything seem to be illustrated in Japan, and you’re just expected to cope – although I dare say if you asked for help, it’d be willingly and kindly given.

Many cups of tea later, I arrived in Holland. The wheelers of wheelchairs were brusque young women, who got us through Customs and Immigration in no time, but then left me at the arrival lounge with my impossible luggage and no sign of Helen. It turned out she’d been held up by the person selling her the car we were about to use to get around Europe in. You can start whenever you like, and you can do any amount of planning: things will nevertheless quite often end up happening at the last possible moment.

A kind woman in the airport information booth rang Helen for me, since I still didn’t have a usable mobile phone. Eventually she arrived  and there was much weeping and hugging. On the way home, we had to stop for an opening bridge, which somehow seemed very Dutch to me, so that was my first Dutch photo.

First Dutch photo - bridge going up

I don’t remember much about the rest of the day, having been up for quite a long time. I know I came home and met Chloe (whom I felt as if I knew already because of Skype) and listened to the plans for the next few days. Helen had one last concert to sing before the summer break, and there were various rehearsals to be attended and arrangements to be made. I met Teesy the Great Dane and Katten the 19-year-old cat, had a brief look at the house, which is a work in progress, and fell into bed.

In Japan 1

In Japan 1,
originally uploaded by valt98.

Other photos from my night at the Nikko can be found via this link

15 July 2009

At the crack of dawn, Fiona drove me to the airport. Because we were nice and early, my luggage and I were accepted smoothly into the system, and Fiona was home before the children were due up. (Mind you, they’d been in at 4.30am to say goodbye, at which point I was trying to close the carry-on bag and was quite a grumpy Aunty Val.) JAL staff knew all about the wheelchair and I was trundled rapidly through security – without having to remove my shoes – and into the Qantas lounge.

I’d felt that requesting a wheelchair was overkill, since I possibly could just about have staggered the length and breadth of the odd airport, given lots of time. What I definitely couldn’t do was stagger with my luggage, even the small piece. The wheelchair was the only solution on offer, and I’m glad I accepted it. Such a relief not having to beg for help.

Unsurprisingly, I felt quite at home in the lounge, with Free Tea on tap. My comfort carried over into business class on the plane. A nervous infrequent flier, I really was almost able to forget where I was, in the deluge of slippers and masks and tea and fillums and meals and general solicitude.

We arrived early in Tokyo and I was rapidly wheeled through the staff counters for Customs and Immigration and deposited at the bus stop for my hotel. It was 5 o’clock in the afternoon, 30 degrees, and 50% humidity – steamy! Some kind person helped me with my bag and we drove off through thickets of signs which, by the morning, I was starting to be able to decipher, a mere 40 years after forgetting all my Japanese.

Eventually I found myself in a comfortable room with everything I needed, except an appropriate way of plugging in the CPAP machine.

One of the reasons my carry-on bag weighed a ton was having to carry a power board, a double adaptor, two- and three-pin conversion plugs, and an extension cord. On this occasion I needed to use the extension cord, which involved a three-pin plug. The room didn’t have any three-pin outlets. A kind porter helped me, and even rang my room to make sure the extension cord they lent me was going to work. Several hours later, I had the change to give him a tip!

Another problem I had was letting anyone know I’d arrived safely. My phone wouldn’t pick up any signal despite the fact that global roaming was supposedly switched on. Eventually I managed to buy a phone card for 1000 yen. I rang Dac and could hear him but not be heard. Next, I rang what I thought was Fiona’s mobile and got Amy’s voicemail. The balance was going down fast without my having managed to talk to anyone! Now I have a bit of credit left on a Japanese phone card, which might come in handy on my way home.

I had a nice “Japanese healthy meal” at the hotel although, like all the other voucher holders, I had to queue up for nearly an hour to get it, and then wait quite a while in the restaurant. The manager ran and got me a chair when he saw me propped on my walking stick.

I slept well in a good hard bed, and I was happy to be in Japan, even for such a short time.