Yes, that is correct – 18 hours gone in the blink of an eye. First, of course you have to get boarded on your Air Canada Flight 3, find your seat, stash the backpack overhead and figure out all the controls & cubby spaces, and get settled into your little pod while you happily escape the noise, pushing and shoving of all those passengers who are entering through a jet way BEHIND you.
My pod was in the middle of the plane, so no window pictures – the best you are going to get is a couple of screen shots –
first – the flight –
which left Vancouver and headed to Narita (apparently the main international airport for Tokyo). First the hours roll back, then we crossed the International Dateline and suddenly it is the 28th, From here on in – I start out with my date and time since it is not going to match TigerTech’s server located on US Pacific time.
Anyway – we were served a lovely supper about 90 minutes into the flight then I attempted to sleep. Right. Next – read books and play solitaire since my one attempt at knitting didn’t go well.
Upon landing our next bit of fun began. Yes – far end of the terminal of course, but at least there were some moving walkways. Then we spent an hour clearing Immigration followed by finding luggage, followed by finding yet another form to be filled out so that we could clear customs. Any initial concern about having 3 hours between landing and our bus to the hotel rapidly vanished. As we came out of the customs area there were the usual signs – Regents Seven Seas, Oceania, HAL, OAT. Most of the lines offer an airport pickup on arrival packaged with an overnight in a hotel for those arriving from the US/Canada west coast. Given distances, traffic & time – do NOT plan on arriving the same day your ship leaves, just saying. This is one of those times when the few extra dollars are going to be well worth it.
The Airport Limousine Buses pick up at Terminal 1 – stations 10, 11, & 12. There is a clear list of the hotels which each services and the departure times on the electronic board at each stop. Our bus loaded & departed promptly at 1700. Yes, we could have taken the high speed train. Why would I want to do that with luggage?
It took almost two hours due to traffic by the time we were dropped off at the hotel (third stop) and we walked into bright, clean, shiny, and extremely helpful. Check in went smoothly and we headed to our room. At this point I am not exactly sure how many hours have passed or if any of them involved sleep…
(28 Oct 2023, 2020 – Japanese Standard Time)*
and if you are reading this on the blog (thank you!) and would rather be on my email distro – just leave me a comment and I can pick up your email from there and add you
