Japan 09 - day 1 Getting there

So the day has finally arrived when we set off for Japan. Overcome by a sense of underpreparedness and, despite some great advice from friends, it feels like I’m entering completely unknown territory. This is only exascerbated by the fact that I’m taking an eleven year old with me, paternal protection a pipe dream in a place where the parent is all at sea.

For once the tubes all align and we are at check-in with plenty of time to spare. No queuing, only the ridiculous security checks hold us up. We arrive at the gate at the time requested only to be immediately ushered on board and into our seats. What’s going on? I’ve never had such a smooth bed-to-boarding journey in my life! Let’s hope this bodes well for the rest of the trip.

The flight is a little bumpy for my liking. I find myself getting more anxious about flying these days and short haul are a particular chore. Dominic is getting more and more excited and not just by the fact we have free food on the flight.

We have a stopover in Helsinki of a couple of hours. Dominic remarks on the number of trees as we fly over the Finnish countryside – can one have too many pine trees? The airport itself is beautifully simple and spacious. Lots of seats you actually want to sit in, even reclining seats for those on a longer stopover. Why is it that most other European cities have airports that acknowledge the need of some passangers to catch up on sleep whilst Heathrow and Gatwick think reclining seats will encourage vagrancy? We arrived at the gate for the Helsinki-Tokyo leg of our journey in plenty of time, so avoiding being told to ‘Hurry up’ by the woman on the PA system.

This leg of the journey is properly long haul: 9h20m or so. We’re flying on an Airbus which thrills us both: me, with a weird sense of European pride (stuff the yanks and their Boeings!), Dominic because he gets his own TV screen with built-in games console. Long haul has definitely improved since I last flew eight years ago! The flight is pretty uneventful, save trying to impress on Dominic that we are moving time zones and need some sleep. Tomorrow: Japan!