Results tagged “Airports” from UK and Japan 2010

These last entries are always pretty epic, because of the times and distances involved.  A little over 48 hours ago I was on the other side of the planet!

So woke up in the hotel in London at 6am and got ready.  Tried to get a takeaway breakfast at Maccas but there were like six people in front of me and only one dude serving, so gave up on that idea and just hopped on a train to the airport.  Still have like £10 left on our Oyster cards - doh!

It was pretty foggy, and when we arrived at the airport they had to try and fit us onto an earlier flight, as our scheduled flight was delayed, and we'd miss our connecting flight from Frankfurt to Narita.  So they sorted that, but we both had middle seats :(  Turns out the earlier flight they put us on was also delayed, so it left only just before our other one was meant to.  


Yay going home!
Yay going home!

Got to see a little of London from the middle seat, and stuck random camera out to get a few photos. Didn't see much else after landfall in France, as the continent was clouded over.


City of London from the plane
City of London from the plane

Passing through Frankfurt was pretty painless.  Had to do the long walk between the terminals in reverse to what we did on the way in the first time.


Air traffic control tower at Frankfurt airport
Air traffic control tower at Frankfurt airport

Same seat in the A380, so facing south this time instead of north.  If I travel again on an A380 will see if can get an upper deck seat and see if they're any closer to the windows than the lower deck.


Our A380 - the first one Lufthansa purchased
Our A380 - the first one Lufthansa purchased

I watched a few movies.  Firstly The Spy Next Door, which was a kids movie so a little silly, but had Jackie Chan in it so was kinda fun.  Then Young Victoria which I really enjoyed.  This was filmed around Blenheim Palace which we might have gone and seen on our Oxford day except that we didn't have the time.  Then Prince of Persia, which was utterly ridiculuous (but it was a Bruckheimer film, so you go in with an expectation that it will be thus) but still quite fun.  I also started to watch The Karate Kid, but it made me grunty because they'd cut heaps and heaps out of it - shortening scenes all over the place.  So skipped through to the bit they filmed in the mountains and just watched the second half of it.


Clouds over Europe
Clouds over Europe

A380 wingtip in the sunset
A380 wingtip in the sunset

So arrived in Narita about 11:30pm London time.  It was 7:30am in Narita (Friday 1st), and our next flight wasn't til 8:30.  PM.  So a stoopid thirteen hour layover.  So caught the yellow inter terminal bus around to T2 to see about checking in but nothing was open for Qantas, so we dumped our bags in some lockers (conveniently located right there in the check in terminal) and hopped on a train into Narita.  Took the Keisei line cause we found the machines for that line first.  It having been nineteen hours since our last shower we both felt a little disgusting.  Stopped in maccas first for some breakfast, then got the zombie that was the sweetie moving.  Headed slowly up to the temples/shrines in Narita.  Found a nice spot under a bit of wisteria to just sit for a while, but I couldn't sit still because of restless legs, so paced until my feet hurt from standing.  Stu was having a lie down (there was actually *seating* all around this park, which is unusual for Japan!) but eventually we kept walking slowly.  I was starting to fade at this point too.  Got down to the lake and looked at the fishies and tortoises.  Then kept wandering, even more slowly now.  We were hot again too which didn't help.  


Narita!
Narita!

Cleaner robots at Narita airport
Cleaner robots at Narita airport

Welcome to Narita sign
Welcome to Narita sign

Stone animals in Narita
Stone animals in Narita

Walking down to the temples in Narita
Walking down to the temples in Narita

Walking down to the temples in Narita
Walking down to the temples in Narita

Temple area in Narita
Temple area in Narita

Temple area in Narita
Temple area in Narita

Temple area in Narita
Temple area in Narita

Temple area in Narita
Temple area in Narita

Tortoises!
Tortoises!

Temple area in Narita
Temple area in Narita

Temple area in Narita
Temple area in Narita

Incense burning
Incense burning

Temple area in Narita
Temple area in Narita

Temple area in Narita
Temple area in Narita

Gardens in Narita
Gardens in Narita

Temple area in Narita
Temple area in Narita

The wisteria we rested under
The wisteria we rested under

Gardens in Narita
Gardens in Narita

Gardens in Narita
Gardens in Narita

Gardens in Narita
Gardens in Narita

Gardens in Narita
Gardens in Narita

Tortoise
Tortoise

Koi feeding frenzy
Koi feeding frenzy

Gardens in Narita
Gardens in Narita

Temple area in Narita
Temple area in Narita

Temple area in Narita
Temple area in Narita

Temple area in Narita
Temple area in Narita

Temple area in Narita
Temple area in Narita

So hopped on another train back to the airport and arrived around 2:15pm.

Except the Qantas terminal (we asked) didn't open til 5pm.  Doh!

So went downstairs and used a shower room each.  Best inventions ever those things, and only 500 yen for half an hour.  Felt a lot more human after that.  Then proceeded to find somewhere to have a beer.  Was quite taken by a place called "Beer and Takoyaki" so headed for that.  Nom! :)  But pretty expensive of course.  Wandered round some more and found somewhere to sit looking at the planes and dozed on the chairs (very uncomfortable tho!)


Beer and Takoyaki!
Beer and Takoyaki!

5pm came round and we went down to check in (and there was a massive queue! What the??)  Presumably lots of other people like us in similar layover situations.  So checked in and went through security and into the Qantas Club.  Found some computers with interwebs and had some snacks and some Moet and Chandon while looking at the planes and using the internet.  Was the best I'd felt all day heh.  We were right next to our departure gate, so could see our plane being brought in and made ready for our flight.


Our plane, seen from the Qantas lounge
Our plane, seen from the Qantas lounge

Dozed on the plane before take off and could barely keep my eyes open to watch the take off.  Forced myself to eat dinner even though I didn't really feel like it.  Then brushed my teeth and attempted to sleep.  Was only moderately successful.  Probably got a couple of hours sleep.  Got to see the moon around the equator, which looked like a big smiling mouth, and horizontal to the horizon too.  And Orion was there too on his side.  As the night progressed the moon returned to its correct orientation (the moon in the northern hemisphere is upside down - a little freaky!).  Got a little bit more sleep but not much.  Breakfast was around 4:30am Narita time, and landed around 6:30 (7:30 Sydney time, Saturday 2nd).  Got the best view of my house I'd ever seen from a plane coming into Sydney airport (in from the north, then out over the National Park and round to the left to land from the south on 34L).  


Sunrise over Australia
Sunrise over Australia

Middle Harbour, Sydney
Middle Harbour, Sydney

Sydney Harbour Bridge
Sydney Harbour Bridge

Sydney CBD
Sydney CBD

Pyrmont
Pyrmont

Rockdale shops on West Botany Street
Rockdale shops on West Botany Street

Look mum I can see my house from here!
Look mum I can see my house from here!

Caringbah
Caringbah

Immigration and customs were really painful.  The ePassport system wasn't working at all and the other queues were going really slowly.  I of course got the slowest lane in the room and ended up switching when the room was just about empty.  Lame.  Customs was also pretty painful - really long queues and seemingly not very organised (people wandering about all over the place trying to figure out where to be :/ ).  

Finally escaped for a short break in the Qantas Club for a drink and an apple, then onto our Dash 8 (a teeny 300 series one - only 12 rows!).  Surprisingly we took off on 34L as well, rather than the third runway.


Canal, Mascot
Canal, Mascot

Sydney
Sydney

Arrival in Canberra ten minutes late, and then a lift home.


Kevin Rudd at the airport
Kevin Rudd at the airport

Souvenirs and gifts picked up along the way
Souvenirs and gifts picked up along the way

Geotagging - Day 34
Geotagging - Day 34


Geotagging - Day 34
Geotagging - Day 34

Photos on the Canon: 237
Photos on the Sony: 343
Videos on the Sony: 2
Photos on the iPhone: 1
Steps walked: 4268 + 14373
Pounds Spent: ?
So my day began twenty three hours ago when I woke up at 4am Tokyo time to go to the toilet and couldn't get back to sleep :( Got up a bit after five to get ready and we were out the door by 6am. Took a Yamonote Line train to Tokyo and caught the 6:30 NEX (after not being sure where it actually left from and getting a bit stressed that we'd miss it before we could find it).

Tintin says have a nice day!
Tintin says have a nice day!

NEX arriving at Tokyo station
NEX arriving at Tokyo station

Had to go to T1 this time at Narita Airport which we'd never been to. Were very impressed with the electronic info boards on the trains that told you which terminal to go to depending which airline you're taking *and* they even have flight details - very cool!

Airport info boards on the NEX
Airport info boards on the NEX

So getting through security/immigration was no problem, then a long walk out to the end of the terminal to see our A380!!! (and about an hour to kill in the terminal but no Yahoo cafe :( There was a Google free wifi desk, but I couldn't get it to work :( ). Was filled with lots of squee going on an A380 - right up until we got to our seats and found it's really really hard to look out the windows :( The walls are really thick (probably 25-30cm) and the windows are positioned a lot higher. So it's practically impossible to get a good view out the windows :( I ended up using random camera exclusively cause the canon is just to unwieldy for that sort of thing :/

My first A380!
My first A380!

Rows 50-59 go left, rows 60-94 go right
Rows 50-59 go left, rows 60-94 go right

Engines of the A380 from the skybridge
Engines of the A380 from the skybridge

Boarding the A380 - economy class section
Boarding the A380 - economy class section

Leg room on the A380.  Pretty standard (ie, non-existent for Stu)
Leg room on the A380. Pretty standard (ie, non-existent for Stu)

The fuselage is very thick at this point, so the windows are a *long* way away :(
The fuselage is very thick at this point, so the windows are a *long* way away :(

So settled in for the flight. I started to watch Robin Hood but the screens just weren't bright enough to see what was going on in the nighttime scenes in the movie. So abandoned that and put on "You've Got Mail" which I'd actually been thinking about only recently.

We flew out to sea then turned 180 degrees when leaving Narita
We flew out to sea then turned 180 degrees when leaving Narita

GPS track of the flight leaving Narita
GPS track of the flight leaving Narita

Engine of the A380
Engine of the A380

Tail cam!
Tail cam!

Ground cam
Ground cam

Snackages on the plane
Snackages on the plane

About 11:25 we hit the coast of Russia and they brought out lunch. Shortly after that we went through some pretty impressive turbulence - the worst I've ever been in. The engines and wings were flexing considerably, but I couldn't document as I needed both hands to hold onto my lunch to stop it sliding or bouncing off the table! Gah!

Landfall in Russia
Landfall in Russia

Real knives!
Real knives!

Google Earth cam?
Google Earth cam?

At 1pm they told us to lower the blinds, which is somewhat annoying for a daytime flight as I want to take photos. But it did make watching movies easier.

I watched Fantastic Mr Fox next which was pretty lame and only very loosely based on the book. Recognised Dumbledore as one of the baddies heh.

Next was The Princess and the Frog which wasn't too bad.

5pm Tokyo time now and I'm getting *hungry*

Next watched Alice in Wonderland which was pretty good.

*Finally* at 19:40 got dinner.

Dinner on the plane
Dinner on the plane

Rhine River near Frankfurt
Rhine River near Frankfurt

Runway 18, Frankfurt Airport (we took off on this later)
Runway 18, Frankfurt Airport (we took off on this later)

Pulling up at the terminal in Frankfurt
Pulling up at the terminal in Frankfurt

Arrival at 21:25 Tokyo time, seven hours before that Frankfurt time.

Me and the plane
Me and the plane

Had a nice long meandering stroll to our next plane. Then had a slight panic because they'd moved the gate of our plane and there was a different one there!  Fortunately they'd only moved our plane three gates away.  And the climate was so much better!  So nice to be out of the oppressive heat of Japan.

Smoking zone - sealed room for smokers
Smoking zone - sealed room for smokers

German toilets and their viewing platforms never fail to amuse me
German toilets and their viewing platforms never fail to amuse me

Our A320 from Frankfurt to Heathrow
Our A320 from Frankfurt to Heathrow

Flight was otherwise uneventful. Missed out on seeing London because we came in from the west, however I did go squeee a lot when I saw Legoland :):):)

Our plane, reflected
Our plane, reflected

Rhine River near Oppenheim
Rhine River near Oppenheim

Cool clouds, over Belgium or possibly the Netherlands
Cool clouds, over Belgium or possibly the Netherlands

Legoland!!
Legoland!!

The Long Walk of trees leading south of Windsor Castle.  We drove down that road in the foreground to get to Runnymede.
The "Long Walk" of trees leading south of Windsor Castle.
We drove down that road in the foreground to get to Runnymede.


Looking out over Old Windsor (Runnymede is in the distance)
Looking out over Old Windsor (Runnymede is in the distance)

Traffic on the M25 west of the airport
Traffic on the M25 west of the airport

Had another very long walk through Heathrow. Immigration took all of a minute, and no customs people even there in the nothing to declare section. I still can't get used to the fact that the rest of the world is not as paranoid as Australia.

Then used our Oyster cards to hop on a Piccadilly Line to Earl's Court where our hotel is. On the train I was a little freaked out at how closely the verges looked like Sydney verges.  Everything from the way they string wires along beside the tracks, the types of trees and foliage, and even the brown paint used to cover the graffiti.  It made me feel like I was home!  Which was kind of good because I'd been feeling a little apprehensive about coming to England - just because I've never been here before.  I was quite relaxed about Japan and Frankfurt, but London is uncharted territory.. 

So the train was pretty easy, altho finding our way out of Earl's Court station was more challenging heh.  Came out of the station and saw my first red double decker bus and black taxi :)   

Checked into our hotel (decent enough place, although very small, but with free internet), dumped our bags, then went out to get some food so we wouldn't end up starving at 3am. Tragically the food that best met this requirement was Burger King. In our defense I'll say that we didn't have MacDonalds once in Japan! Heh

Dinner at Burger King
Dinner at Burger King

My Twitter apps are both broken hence the lack of tweets. I suspect I'll be waking up extremelly early so should have some to look at it then.

Meanwhile, my eyes are swimming so need to get ready for bed.


Geotagging - Day 7
Geotagging - Day 7


Geotagging - Day 7
Geotagging - Day 7


Geotagging - Day 7
Geotagging - Day 7


Geotagging - Day 7
Geotagging - Day 7

Photos on the Canon: 31
Photos on the Sony: 329
Videos on the Sony: 4
Photos on the iPhone: 3
Steps walked: 7893
Yen Spent: 1090
Pounds Spent: 7.39
Attempting typing up a blog entry on my phone. If it drives me too nuts I'll switch to the laptop.

So day 1 started at 4pm Friday when we needed to leave home. We actually managed to organise a lift this time which was so much nicer than a cab!  Uneventful trip to the airport. Checked in but all the planes were running half an hour late due to single track, er, runway working at Sydney airport. So our 17:35 flight was rescheduled for 18:10 and left the gate at 18:24.

In the meantime we went into the Qantas club and had some champagne so that made the time pass quickly :)

It was dark so got to see the lights of Canberra which were very pretty. And a Federal Highway that was bejewelled  with the lights of dozens of cars leaving Canberra :) Had an interesting approach to Sydney airport - flew up from the south-west, across the top of the north-south runways (parallel to the east-west one) then did a 270 degree turn to the right to come in from the south. Felt like a game of Flight Control or something ;)

Our baggage had been checked through so we just had to hop on the Qantas shuttle (aka free Tarmac tour) bus over to the international terminal. Very squee getting up close to lots of planes :):)

So had a couple of hours to kill in Sydney. Think I spent them mostly just reading news feeds.

Sydney from Sydney Airport Qantas Lounge
Sydney from Sydney Airport Qantas Lounge 

So then piled onto our 747. Pretty much the whole back section of the plane was filled with (older) school kids returning home to Japan.  


Back of our plane
Back of our plane

Took off to the north and sitting on the right side of the plane so nice view of Sydney.

Had our dinner then attempted to sleep. Was moderately successful. It was a mostly full moon which made the whole wing glow. It was actually quite beautiful but impossible to document. At one point we had some decent turbulence while passing through clouds. At another point I looked out and saw Orion on his side. There were some very pretty clouds around sunset.

Breakfast came a bit after 5am for Stu - he wasn't awake yet tho heh. Ours arrived a little later.  Food on the plane was ok - the more processed stuff (chicken at dinner and eggs/sausage for breakfast) were nice but the fresh vegetables sides were very overcooked :(

Sausage and eggs on the plane
Sausage and eggs on the plane 

Sunrise clouds
Sunrise clouds 

Flying into Narita
Flying into Narita 

Flying into Narita
Flying into Narita - golf courses rule! 

Flying into Narita
Flying into Narita - can you see my shadow? :) 

Our plane
Our plane 

Arrival at Narita at 7:10am (Sydney time - 6:10am local time).  Heat!!! Waited quite a while for bags to come through but then immigration and customs were a breeze.

Went and got our JR passes validated then caught the 7:33am NEX into Tokyo. Realised at this point that we were hungry but didn't actually have any cash! Oops. Did I mention the heat? So at Tokyo we got some money out before getting some drinks and snacks and jumping on the Shinkansen to Osaka.

Tokyo Sky Tree
Tokyo Sky Tree under construction
Photo by Stu 

Info boards at Tokyo station
Info boards at Tokyo station 

Hikari 507 to Osaka
Hikari 507 to Osaka 

Shiny in hiding
Shiny would have been behind those clouds on the left 

Japan countryside
Japan countryside 

Statue of Liberty Hotel near Kyoto
Statue of Liberty on top of a hotel north of Kyoto - couldn't actually
geo-locate this! 

Tō-ji temple at Kyoto
Tō-ji temple at Kyoto - next time I go to Kyoto I'm going to visit this
one up close! 

Shall I remind you about the heat? It was pretty much unbearable in Osaka. Regretting my decision not to bring shorts (but then would have needed other shoes too).

Wandered down to the hotel but it was still too early to check in, so dumped our bags and went out to find some lunch. Decided to go into a ramen bar near the hotel. The menu was only in Japanese and while I would have been able to pick something off the pictures, Stu could actually understand enough of the menu and the waitress to figure out some more detail. I was very impressed :) And as an added bonus the place was air-conditioned and they had a big jug of ice water. Afterwards we got some ice creams and went for a bit of a wander. Did I mention the heat?

Super tasty ramen in Osaka
Super tasty ramen in Osaka 

Ramen bar in Osaka
The ramen bar in Osaka that we got some super tasty ramen in 

Ice cream!
Ice cream! 

No bicycle parking
The sign says no bicycle parking - so there's a bicycle parked! 

Got back to the hotel and checked in where the first order of business was a cold shower. Unpacked a bit and got online then did this much of this blog post.

Stu collapsed for several hours while I did things like sort out my photos and read news feeds.  Twitpicced some of my photos but got a bit stuck with photos from my big camera.  They're around five mb each, which is painfully slow to upload over the hotel link as well Twitpic has a five mb limit.  The Eee PC doesn't have anything capable of resizing them (paint will open them but it complains it doesn't have the memory when I try to resize them :( ). Might have to do em on Stu's lappy or something.

Eventually Stu got up and we decided to wander into Osaka.  Last time we were here we took the JR lines around to the Namba area, but getting back late at night took an hour and a half because it was three trains.  So thought, screw that this time, we'll take the local subway.  One train and 270 yen each each way and there in about fifteen minutes. 

Subway to Nanba
Subway to Nanba 

Got out of the station and of course we had no idea where we were :)
Decided (like last time) to pick a direction and walk in it.  And by total fluke happened across the Glico man that we were hoping to find (Stu didn't come with us last time). 

Covered walkway in Nanba
Covered walkway in Nanba 

Asahi Super Dry
Asahi Super Dry 

The Glico Man!
The Glico Man! 

Stu in Osaka
Stu in Osaka 

Canal in Nanba, Osaka
Canal in Nanba, Osaka 

Okonomikayi!
Okonomikayi! Actually I didn't even know what this was until some
time later thanks to Lisa

Stu looking at lights in Nanba
Stu looking at lights in Nanba 

Old Ferris Wheel in Nanba
Old Ferris Wheel in Nanba 

Then we went for a wander down by the canal with the thought of going to find dinner.  As we were walking by some dude stopped us and asked us where we from.  This group of people had been on a drinks and food stand for some charity event, so talked us into getting some beers.  They deep fried some chicken for us as well and asked us to sit and join them.  The dude had been to Australia before - he kept going on and on about smoking in Nimbin ;) One of the girls had lived for a year in Australia working at Nando's at Bondi.  And there was another really cute girl who was 32 but looked about 22 :)  So Stu got to practise his Japanese, and they understood enough English for it to be a very fun evening.  Stu might have drank quite a bit :):)  But a good release for him :)

Girls in Nanba
Girls in Nanba. The one on the left is now a Facebook friend of Stu's.
The one on the right worked in Sydney for a year. 

Us looking very hot and a little drunk
Us looking very hot and a little drunk 

So eventually wandered back to the hotel for another cold shower and bed.


Geotagging - Day 1
Geotagging - Day 1

Photos on the Canon: 140
Videos on the Canon: 2
Photos on the Sony: 183
Videos on the Sony: 5
Photos on the iPhone: 21
Photos on the Blackberry: 2
Photos on the Video: 10
Videos on the Video: 18
Steps walked: ? Friday + 8582 Saturday
Yen Spent: 7049