Australia Part 1

The plan was pretty simple. I was to wake up early on December 24th, Christmas Eve, and begin the trip to the Tokyo Airport. Not really a problem. I would be getting up at the same time I always get up to go to work. Now, I did stay up a little late getting ready, and by a little I mean about 3:30AM. Still, I could sleep on the train and the plane.

Five months ago when I had to buy a new alarm clock here (because mine was losing time rapidly due to the fact that the voltage is slightly off from America) I knew it was a bad idea to get a battery operated one, but that was all they had. I knew that one day that battery would die on me and mess things up. What I didn't know was that before the battery died it would just get low enough that the alarm wouldn't wake up an insomniac, and that this would happen to me on the day I needed to get up early and catch a plane. So, instead of getting up at 7:30, I awoke at 11:30. Still, my flight was at 4:30 and I figured I could get to Tokyo in just over three hours so it might be possible.

Well, the train from my town to Sendai didn't come for over 20 minutes. Next, I took the Shinkansen (better known as the Bullet Train in English) from Sendai to Tokyo. Depending on which one you take it can be anywhere from just under two hours to just over two and a half hours from Sendai to Tokyo. I took the next one, which was the slowest one. Then, I hopped on the Subway to go to Narita Airport from Tokyo Station. Heck, I took the Rapid Service subway to the airport. From Tokyo Station to Narita Airport was a measly 1 hour 45 minutes. I should have remembered this from when I came to Japan I guess. Of course, that was 5 months ago, I was horribly jetlagged, and I was so excited time actually ceased to have meaning. Plus, I didn't have anywhere to be back then. So, yeah, I forgot that the Tokyo Airport is actually not in Tokyo at all, it's in Narita nearly two hours away. So, with all the waiting in between and walking and whatnot I didn't get to the desk until 5:30, an hour after my plane had left. I had to wander around the airport talking to various people for a while, even making phone calls to my travel agent back in Sendai a couple times. I have never been more glad that I own a cell phone nor so glad that I can speak Japanese. Otherwise, it would have been an even bigger mess.

Well, because I wanted to fly cheaper I went by China Airlines and they don't fly to Australia everyday. So, they moved me to the next flight at no charge, but the next flight was on the 26th. So, lucky me, I got to start my vacation by spending two nights in a hotel in Narita, a city best known for having an airport and some hotels. The hotel had CNN which was one thing. But, did you know that if you watch CNN long enough it repeats? Yeah, it does.

Finally, I had passed my time in Narita and headed back to the airport, early this time. At this point, it was time to exchange my yen for Australian money. According to the board it was about 89 yen to the Australian dollar if you got cash, or 80 yen to the dollar if you got Traveler's Cheques. So, of course I got Traveler's Cheques. Trust me, this little detail will come up again.
I had no troubles getting to my gate and getting on board my plane this time. In fact, China Airlines is really nice. We had a little TV in the chair in front of us with movies and TV on demand. The food was good, the service was good, the beer was good. I was very pleased to finally be flying. A few hours later we landed in Taipei for about a 3 hour layover. I exchanged a little money for Chinese money (sadly I'm not sure what it's called by I think it mon) and had a bite to eat. All in all, the Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport seemed pretty rundown and unimpressive to me. I snapped a couple shots while I was here which I thought were interesting. One because I was just barely surprised to see a Christmas Tree, and the other because... well, that one is self-explanatory.

Next it was back on the plane for about 7 hours until, at last, I was in Sydney, Australia. Two days late and 1200 yen poorer (because of the hotel) than I had planned but I was here...