Japan Adventures - day 1
All great adventures begin with a great departure and when all 6 of the Tembys go travelling there really isn't much of an option.
Its been a while since we last set off for an overseas trip and so we were a bit rusty. The only things that could really be guaranteed were:
- we wouldn't meet the departure time that I set
- that I'd get (unnecessarily) over-stressed about it even though it wasn't really critical
- that once we all made it to the Qantas Club, things would settle down and we'd be ready to begin.
3 from 3.
One of the benefits of having not spent much time at home over the last year has been an elevation to Platinum frequent flyer status which meant that because we were travelling internationally, we were entitled to stop in at the First Class Lounge whilst waiting for our flight to Tokyo.
Given the fact that I'm unlikely to travel as much this year (unless a new job calls for it when I secure one) its entirely possible that this trip will be the only one where we get to take advantage of the fact. And bugger me if that doesn't ruin the travel experience for life. It would be quite easy to get used to being waited upon, being able to order food and indulge in the occasional 18YO single malt. We made sure that we took full advantage in the limited time that we had!
All too soon it was time to board for Tokyo, so lamenting the fact that it would have been one of the rare times that you could be happy about a flight delay. Settled in, the flight was mostly uneventful, though somehow I was conned into sitting between the two lovely ladies of the family which didn't lead to much sleep. Sadly for Caroline, just as things were starting to settle down to sleep, we vacated our seats for a pit stop, only for Michael to violently recline from in front, launching my half-empty tonic onto Caroline's seat. Of course it was only discovered upon our return. Several napkins and blankets later, she was able to survive the rather damp seat through the rest of the night. We won't mention which member of the family was employing chemical warfare during the night. Not sure whether it was an attempt to ensure everyone slept, or an attempt to drive everyone around tehm away to get more space. I don't think either result eventuated.
We passed the afternoon juggling luggage and skis through a couple of train and bus transfers (having found out about the luggage services after we'd booked accommodation and not left enough time to use them reliably) and when I wasn't dozing and catching up on the lack of sleep from last night, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the scenery whisk by from the Shinkansen railway.
We hopped off the train in Nagano to be greeted by increasing snow, which should be great for the part where you're skiing in it, but of course isn't so good when you're standing around in a pair of shorts (Sam and Thomas). They survived, with a trip to the 7-11 and a heated waiting room for a few minutes and then it wasn't much longer until we were finally on the last leg.
A bus ride up the mountain. Now we're all here raring to go, hoping that it doesn't snow too much tomorrow (crazy right, but its always nicer when you can see where you're going) and looking forward to a bit of a swish down the slopes (assuming I avoid injury and muscular failure of course).
RIght, time to find an Asahi or the like!
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