Today started in Paris, up at 6 am (Paris time) to walk down to the train station to see of my Dad and my Brother onto a train to Zurich, where they will spend about a week before heading home themselves. After that I headed to my own train, a Eurostar trip back to London. From there, I made my way on the Tube to Heathrow, arriving about 12.30 pm for my 4.30 pm flight.

Night passed during the flight, however I didn’t get much sleep due to the couple sitting next to me. I was lucky enough to get a seat behind the emergency exit, which gifts you the privilege of as much leg room as you would need, in return for being personally responsible for the safe evacuation of our section of the plane. A responsibility worth bearing. But with a British couple with no sense of respect for the cabin crew or the personal space of others, it was hard to rest during the flight. Throughout I constantly poked, prodded and bumped during the flight by the bloke sitting next to me, who had decided that his own seat didn’t provide enough room in itself, that he needed to spread himself into the seats next to him. Worst of all was their willingness to just throw their used food trays and rubbish onto the floor for the flight staff to pick up, but the same staff were whinged about privately when their English wasn’t sufficient (we were on Japan Airlines so I think they really should have given the flight crew a break …).

I’ve been upgraded to Premium Economy for the flight to Sydney, just through asking. Despite complaints about passengers, which can’t be held against them, I have really enjoyed flying with Japan Airlines. Service on par with Qantas at no where near the price.

It’s now about 5.30pm in Tokyo (Tokyo time, about 9 hours ahead), with my flight leaving around 8.30pm. I’m so desperate for sleep, but am hesitant to do it in the terminal out of fear of missing my flight. I’ve been in the airport since 12.30 and am bitterly disappointed that I wasn’t able to find a PS3 slim in the duty free shops (Wii’s and DS’s are in supply funnily enough…).

You may be able to tell that I’m just a little bit grumpy, but at least I’ll be home soon, to kick off another day by landing in Canberra at 9.30 am. Hopefully I’ll get decent sleep between Tokyo and Sydney. I feel like I’m doing a rewind of a month long trip, crammed into a period of 36 hours, with all the fun parts taken out.

I’ll eventually update on my time in Paris when I get the pics sorted out.

Related posts:

1. PARIS! Part 2
2. Pictures
3. Harajuku

I have finally started my adventure this afternoon, and am writing this from my hotel room near Sydney airport. In preparation for my flight to Tokyo tomorrow, I have been put up in the Stamford at Sydney airport. I must admit, its one of the nicest hotels that I have stayed in, its just a bit, freaking, pricey! After finally arriving at the hotel and checking in, I sought out some dinner. The mini-bar was well stocked, chips, nuts and lots of drink (lots of soft drink and beer, Hooray). Which was great, until I read the prices which were ridiculous! $7 for a Red Bull and $5.50 for a packet of peanuts. The exact same packet my brother paid $1.90 for at Canberra Airport!

So I moved on to the hotel’s bistro. Too k a table and read the menu, after being told that access to the seafood + salad bar would be $60! I though the waitress had said $16, I couldn’t believe it was so high! I’ve saved up my money for the purpose of spending it overseas, not some Sydney hotel. I managed to sneak out of the bistro and went for a walk. Lo and behold! Maccas was just down the road and I managed to get dinner for less than the price of one of Stamford’s Red Bulls!

Whilst not the best of starts in terms of exotic cuisine, I think I’ve learnt a lesson in being able to get value out of my money (i.e. accessing the internet via my iPhone to post this, rather than paying 55 cents a minute for hotel internet, which really should be free). As I said, I planned to spend it overseas, not in Sydney.

I better head off, a 4.30 am start tomorrow (well, after breakfast of course).

Good Night!

Related posts:

1. The end of a journey
2. Asakusa and Sensō-ji Temple
3. A picture update