First stop - Vancouver for the night. When I was first looking for flights to Tokyo, I couldn’t find a direct flight from Toronto. So opted for an indirect route, which gave me a night in BC.
The beauty of flying with just carryon...and domestically...you get from plane seat to limo seat as fast as your legs can carry you.
Distance logged by the plane: 2090 miles/3364km
Distance logged by my feet: 6754 steps
I stayed in the Pan Pacific hotel...right on the waterfront. I was given a double upgrade. Wow! It was a corner room with wall to wall, floor to ceiling windows (even in the bathroom!).
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| I am hopeful, the people in the pool/hot tub couldn’t see into the bathroom |
The hotel is next to the cruise ship terminal, where I’ll have a slightly different view in a little over 5 weeks time.
But, I’m getting ahead of myself. My travels in Japan will involve a fair amount of train travel, so I thought, I’d start the way I mean to go on...I sussed out the SkyTrain, which was only about a five minute walk (seems longer in the rain) from the hotel. They use the “tap in/tap out” method that many transit commissions are moving towards. But with an intelligent twist. Yes, you can have a dedicated card, but you can also use a credit card. Brilliant! Especially, for a novice.
It seemed to take about the same amount of time as the flat rate limo I took from the airport, but I suspect a lot less expensive. Had it been raining, I might not have felt the same way.
Through security (yippee for Nexus and no checked baggage) and to thin the lounge, in nothing flat. I wonder if Guinness keeps a record of that.
I have also found the most efficient way to carry my camera (sling) bag and back pack. It is quite possible I look like a pregnant raccoon. Without the burglar mask. Or tail. One thing’s for sure: My legs will be getting quite a workout!
The flight was more or less uneventful. Oddly, though, the lie flat beds weren’t quite (kept sliding down to the foot) and with a window seat, I was trapped if my neighbour flattened his seat out. Thankfully, our timing worked out well.
For meals, there was a Japanese and western option. I pointed to the beef in the western dinner menu, as I didn’t recognize anything in the Japanese version. The flight attendant said there was beef in the Japanese menu. Okay.
It wasn’t until the second “box” of food that I encountered the beef. So what did I eat that I thought was beef??? I tasted everything, except the thing with suction cups. Don’t want to eat anything that can hang on for dear life on its way down. Thankfully, there was a big bowl of sticky rice to finish the meal, so I wouldn’t go hungry.
Soon after dinner, I was asked which breakfast I would like. I firmly pointed to the western menu.
Coward.
I should mention, the windows on the 787 JAL flight, didn’t have shades as such. There were dimmer buttons, which shaded the window with blue tint. Great idea. You can still look out, but also have a dark cabin.
I planned on having two naps as our arrival time was 4:25pm. Plus factoring in the 60-90 minute drive to the hotel, I wanted to have enough umph to make it through dinner and stay up until 9pm, lights out by 10pm. It almost worked that way. I had one big nap...very light, but maybe two hours. And one of maybe another hour. Mostly, I looked out the (deeply blue) window at the coast, until we were above the clouds. The route took us up the west coast, followed the bend in the Aleutians, then down towards Japan. We were never far from land. I think I watched at least three movies. Beauty & the Beast, Toy Story...and can’t remember what else.
The approach to Narita took us in from the north, over the sea and farm land. Wonderful way to see Japan from the air.
And on the ground? The runway was lined with cherry blossoms!
All for now...
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