Farewell to Australia!!

Finally the day had arrived. My life in limbo was about to take a dramatic turn. Up until the day I had been busy with all the final preparations but nothing had prepared me for the moment when our driver arrived to take us to the airport. Suddenly my heart did a total back flip and I went into instant panic mode. 'I can't do it!' was all I could think. This feeling of total despair was not to leave me for another two days.

As we drove off down the gum tree lined driveway I felt as though I was being taken away in a hearse. How ridiculous is that?? Our departure from Melbourne was trouble free and we instantly got to sample the life of a Business Class traveller. The Kris lounge (Singapore Airlines Business Class lounge) was very nice and we were able to relax and enjoy yummy nibbles. Once on the plane we were treated like celebrities (well I thought so). Hot face washers were instantly dispersed (a habit which was repeated many times all the way to Japan). The food was delicious and the foot room quite ridiculous for such a vertically challenged person. The seats were so large my feet didn't touch the floor and I could almost touch the seat in front!!

We had a 2 hour stopover in Singapore which meant we got to sample another Kris Lounge. I was impressed with the one in Melbourne but this one was huge and offered whatever you wanted. It was very impressive indeed. By the time we left Singapore it was 2-30am Melbourne time.

Excitedly we boarded the next flight on one of the latest design planes. What greeted us inside was very luxurious. More hot face washers and seats of ginormous proportion. Once off the ground it did not take long to pull out the bed, complete with duvet, sheet and pillows, to have a sleep. The next stage of the flight was another 7.5 hours so we ended up getting about 5 hours napping. Two hours before landing we were woken for breakfast. The bed was folded away and the run into Tokyo began. We arrived in Tokyo at about 7.50am Tokyo time (8.50 Melbourne time). The trip had taken 17 hours total.

Once at Narita Airport we cleared customs with no problems and then found a Limousine bus to take us into Tokyo. This trip took about 1hour 10minutes. Once off the bus we had to lug our very heavy 4 pieces of luggage (one of mine weighed 31kgs) plus 4 pieces of hand luggage. The weather was beautiful, in fact we were very hot when we reached our temporary apartment. After a quick unpack, cuppa and biscuit we headed off to find some food.....but that is another story.
Our home in Australia.....our surrounds in Japan....well.....it's like chalk and cheese!!