10-11th October 2015

Sat 10th Oct 2015 - Bunnik Tours Japan Discovery tour

I should have checked with Bunnik to find out what airline they used, before booking this tour all the way with them. They fly with Singapore Airlines and if I had realised that, I would have just booked the land component of the tour and done my own air.
Don't get me wrong, I love Singapore Airlines and always enjoy my time at Changi Airport. It is a lovely airport but instead of flying for 17hrs, including layover time, if I had flown direct with  JAL, it would have only taken about 10hrs to get to Narita airport.  Oh well, next time I do a Bunnik tour that includes flights, I'll check out which airline they use.

The flight from Sydney to Singapore was painless.  About an hour and a half out of Singapore, supper was served and that was a fish brochette.

Touch down at 5 past 9. Didn't have to change terminals, so I had a wander around while waiting for the gate to open. Next flight due to depart at 23:55.

Pushback at 11:50pm and lift off at 00:10 am. I moved my watch to Japan time and tried to sleep, having decided that I really didn't need a meal at 1:30 in the morning.

11 Oct 15 – Singapore to Tokyo

I didn't sleep very well at all and gave up at around 6am. We must have had a tail wind, as we arrived at the gate at Narita at 7:30am. It only took about 10-15 minutes to get through immigration but I think that was only because our plane happened to be the 1st of 5 flights that landed all around the same time.  

My suitcase was on the carousel when I arrived there, so didn't have to wait. Passed through Customs without any problems and met the local guide, who told us that her Japanese friends call her "Saki".  

I like the Japanese toilets.  

Especially the heated seats.  I noticed that the public toilets also have a seat to accommodate a toddler or baby, while the parent does their thing.

There were already 3 couples waiting and later another 2 ladies travelling together arrived and just before 8:30 the last person for this pickup arrived. There are 3 Pauline's on this tour.  Apparently 6 people are already here and the final 4 are arriving this afternoon into Tokyo International airport.  

We departed the airport around 8:40 and it took just over an hour to get to our hotel, the Shinagawa Prince Hotel. We can't check in until 2pm, so we left the luggage with the service staff and Saki took us throughout the 3 buildings of the hotel and showed us how to get to the restaurants and then out through the shopping area attached to the hotel and then across the road to the Shinagawa Railway Station. After that we were free to explore.

I had decided to have an early night, so I went to the local 7/11 and bought a bottle of spring water ¥98 and some sushi ¥398, which I took back to my room to eat.