Around the world in 39 days (F/J/PE/Y)

[VPS]

A week in Switzerland

When I first booked EK83 to Geneva I was tossing up between heading straight back to LHR to spend a week or so pottering around Wales or to have a quick look at Switzerland, a country I’d not been to before. Switzerland won out and I’m extremely glad it did. I had a wonderful time there in 6 very short days.

My Swiss sojourn was split into 3 chapters. First, a night in Montreux at the beautiful home of a friend and former colleague of my father’s, who offered to pick me up from Geneva. I’d then pick up a car from Avis and drive to a little village 35km from Bern and spend two nights with friends there. Chapter three was three nights in an alpine village called Stoos (pronounced Schtoss) for mountain hikes, based at a new hotel there called Stoos Lodge.

Switzerland Chapter 1

EK83 arrived a little early into Geneva and arrival formalities weren’t too onerous or time consuming. I met my friend in the arrivals hall and we made the 1 hour drive around the shores of Lake Geneva to her home above the lake just outside Montreux. The scenery along the way and views from my room for the night were staggeringly beautiful…and just a tease of the stunning alpine landscapes of Switzerland.

Late evening light upon arrival home in Montreux. The opposite shore of the lake is France.

Dinner, which I was careful to save room for during my flight, was traditional Swiss Raclette and a deliciously zesty local white wine, made from the native and predominant Swiss Chasselas grape variety.

I turned in early and woke to this view the following morning.

Our plan for the morning was to take the top off my friend’s Boxster and go for a spin around the local area. First stop was the adjacent town of Vevey which is where the Avis office was located. We wandered around the lively morning farmers market (where people were getting quite pickled on free flowing Aperol). The was followed by a stroll along the lake front and old town. We then went ot the pick up my hire car before the office closed at midday. The service rep kindly let me leave my upgraded Kia Sportage parked where it was on their small lot to come back and collect it after we’d been for a bit more of a drive around the area in the far more interesting and exciting Porsche. I’d originally booked a VW Polo sized vehicle, generally preferring something small when driving on the other side of the road.

We drove up into the narrow winding roads through the steep vineyards that climb up the side of the foothills from the shores of the lake. I don’t envy the people who work on these steep slopes day in day out to attend to the vines! It’s pretty unforgiving terrain.

After stopping for a leisurely coffee at a lovely bar/restaurant/cafe perched on the edge of the hills in the vines, we returned to Vevey and I transferred my luggage over to the hire car and thanked and farewelled my friend. I grabbed a sandwich from a local Coop supermarket for a light late lunch which I ate near the lakefront before hopping in the car, syncing my phone to CarPlay for music and directions and then took a few moments to breathe and remind myself how to drive a manual with the gearstick in my right hand. With that I put the address into my phone and wobbled down the narrow street and made course for my next destination, a little hamlet in the Emmental valley.

Beautiful - does your friend do AirBnB for AFF members only

 

[1022]

Switzerland Chapter 2 Emmental and Bern

Part 2 of my Swiss stay was spent with a friend from Northern NSW who married a Swiss woman. They live in an open plan loft on the top floor of a converted farm house amongst rolling green hills, cowbells and corn rows.

I pulled up in front of the house just as they were returning home from cycling 7km to the nearest shop to pick up some dinner supplies that couldn’t be foraged from their own veggie garden. It was a salve to the soul to be in the country, breathing fresh air and listening to the sounds of cow bells and two little fast flowing creeks after being in big cities for the entire trip to this point.

My friend showed me around the small veggie patch outside and pointed out various features of the surrounding fields, hills and farm houses. Like many places I saw in Switzerland, in front of the house was a spout over a bath-sized trough, gushing with pure springwater. This spring supplied the house, gardens and surrounding cornfields. The view from my window in a nook in the living room was out over corn rows. Apparently the crop isn’t for human consumption, but rather winter fodder for cattle when all the lush green grass is under frost or snow.

Bucolic

We had some beers on the back deck as the sun went down and a lovley convivial dinner of homemade veggie lasagne, home made bread and a salad of homegrown leaves.

The next day my friend’s wife was leading a dance/embodiment workshop. It’s at similar regular weekly sessions that I originally met my friend back in Australia so it was wonderful to reconnect in this way. It was also very gracious of his wife to run the workshop in bilingual mode for my benefit as the other paticipants were all German speakers.

After a long hot day of dancing, moving and meditating, my friend’s wife suggested we jump in the river to cool off. Living in the gorgeous Northern Rivers of NSW, I’m no stranger to hopping into secret spots on creeks and rivers that only locals know about! So I was expecting that we’d head out to the countryside somewhere and find a quiet a waterhole on a calm bend of a creek.

I was completely wrong. Instead we navigated to the centre of Bern where there were thousands of people in large parklands by the river sunning themselves in the evening warmth. The river here is quite fast flowing. So you don’t hop in and paddle around. Instead people follow the path up stream to one of dozens of places you can scramble down the riverbank at which point there is no choice but to launch yourself in without hesitation and let the swift current take you downstream. The water was cool but bearable at about 19 degrees and crystal clear so that you could see round boulders and pebbles below.

Just as there are many launching points, there’s also a number of exit points where the Swiss have thoughtfully built railings, ramps and even slip-ways to swim out of the main current into calmer water to exit the river…and walk back up stream to excitedly do it again and again with a big beaming grin on your face.

Floating swiftly downstream

If you don’t want to just jump in the water and float downstream, there are plenty of vendors here and at various points up to 10km upstream who will rent you anything from a pool noodle to an inflatable raft for 6 people. The whole atmosphere was festive, sunny and very friendly…with no shortage of eye candy as this is seemingly Bern’s version of Bondi Beach for the gymbod set The whole float down the river thing in the centre of the nation’s capital was also blessedly free of nanny state OHS regulations and warnings that would probably make it a finable offence in Australia to enter the river.

After a couple of runs down the river we drove home for another simple dinner of mostly home grown veggies, foraged mushrooms and pasta, home made bread and Emmental cheese that had been passed from a local farmer to someone as payment for a favour and then hacked into big wedges and shared among a group of friends and neighbours.

After a very sound sleep my friend took me to a nearby hilltop to take in the local farmland and rolling green hill views and vistas all the way out towards the Alps. Unfortunately it was a slightly hazy day, so the more distant views weren’t all that clear. Not to worry. I was about to be utterly spolied by alpine views in the third chapter of my Swiss sojourn.

First, another delicious, filling, simple vegetarian lunch prepared at home and then back into the car with the map set for Stoos.

 

[1022]

Switzerland Chapter 3 - Stoos

Ending up in the alpine village of Stoos was basically an accident. Not really knowing where to find good day hikes and easy accessibility I initially just plugged Interlarken into a hotels.com search, thinking that might be a good base seeing as I had wheels. The prices were eye-watering. Basically nothing under AUD400 a night and what I saw at the lower end was pretty pedestrian. So I extended the radius on my map search and saw a place come up at around $250 a night where everything else around cost way more. I expcted to see a dorm room or perhaps an austere single room with a shared bathroom. Instead the pictures were of a very new and stylish looking 4 star hotel called Stoos Lodge. I did a bit of poking around other hotel sites and the offical Stoos Lodge website (only in German at that point in time) and it almost all looked too good to be true. It seems that the prices I was seeing were part of an opening special, so I went ahead and booked three nights in a standard queen room.

First I had to get there which involved about an hour and 20 minutes of driving to a parking station at the bottom of the world’s steepest funicular railway which takes visitors vertiginously up to the car-free village of Stoos, situated at 1300m. Stoos is a hiking village in summer and a smallish ski destination in winter.

View from the train heading up to Stoos with following carrige almost directly below on the 110% gradient.

Train on the much flatter gradient approaching Stoos top terminal

Stoos village with Stoos Lodge the main 5 story building in the photo.

The trip from the base station to the village only takes about 5 minutes and the hotel is directly adjacent to the top station complex which also houses a shop selling a small assortment of groceries, beer, wine, souvenirs and hiking gear. In winter it looks as though it’s also the main ski rental place.

Check in at the hotel is all DIY on tablets which was a bit annoying. I had to dig out my booking confirmation number from an email from hotels.com and then I ran into issues because I inadvertanly hadn’t changed the number of guests to 1 from the website default of two. This was an issue because ID dociments of all guests had to be scanned and the machine didn’t give me an option of changing the number of guests from two to one. There was a sole member of staff behind another desk who I approached, hoping he’d just check me in. Instead he sent me back to the tablet and told me just to scan my passport twice to cover the second guest. My only other alternative apparently was to contact hotels.com and ask them to edit the number of guests on the booking from their end. So after a slightly annoying process of registering myself twice, then having to try about 5 times to successfully program a key card I was finally on my way to my room on level 3. Maybe the self checkin challenges were karma for all the things I've called "onions" or "potatoes" on Woolies self checkouts over the years

I’m not sure if I got a room upgrade to one with a mountain view - which should have attracted a premium price. I’m pretty sure I just booked an entry level room. Though as is often the case, room categories on OTA sites often doesn’t match with categories on hotel websites, so it was slighlty tricky to tell. Anyway, I was delighted with this view through a big opening window/door.

The room its self was an ok size (around 25sqm) and thoughtfully designed.

I had a bit of a stroll around the village and nearby paths and before long it was time for dinner. That first night I decided to just make myself a picnic in my room. I got some fresh bread rolls, local soft cheese and cured venison from the shop along with a bottle of inexpensive but passable German riesling - sadly all the Swiss wines they were selling had corks rather than screw caps. I turned in early and slept like a rock on the most comfortable bed of the trip so far. I had a bit couple of days of hiking coming up.

 

[1022]

Switzerland Ch3 continued...

I did two hikes from Stoos. On the first day I did a fairly modest walk of approximately 9km among the lower hills and forests as a warm up to the following day’s much more challenging Gratwanderweg (ridge top or 'tightrope") walk.

Most sane people do the ridge walk by taking one chairlift up from Stoos up one of two peaks above the vilage. Sensible people then walk the narrow, undulating ridge for 2.5 hours, beofre having a meal or drink at the restaurant at the top of the second peak and taking another chairlift down to the village. Whether it was not wanting to pay close to AUD100 for chairlift tickets or simply being up for a challenge, I decided to hike the whole 14km loop up and down from Stoos. This included a total vertical gain of 918m (a net 600m difference from top and bottom and another 300m of up and down along the route).

It was a truly exhilerating hike. The endorphins were pumping after the initial morning ascent when I was greeted with the first “proper” Alps views of the trip. From there the views just got better and better as I walked the ridge between the two peaks. The ridge walk would certainly be challenging 2-3 hour walk as a standalone as it has a lot of up and down including one fairly lengthy, constant 20-30 minute switchback ascent towards the end. At 1900m, there’s already slighly more effort required than at sea level which adds to the challenge.

The old cliche of “the photos don’t do it justice” holds true here. I took dozens of pictures on both walks, so here is a small illustrative sample.

One thing that struck me on this incredible walk was that - of course - the alpine scenery was absolutely incredible and we have nothing remotely like it on our flat continent. However what we do have going for us in the Antipodes is proper wilderness. Everywhere I looked on this walk there were signs of civilisation - whether views back down to Stoos or other nearby villages, more distant larger towns, mountain huts which serve as ski-stop restaurants in the winter and of course the ever present sound of cow bells. There was no silence up there. Iniitally the bells are quaint and quite pleasant. Then when you realise they are a 24/7 soundtrack, they can start to become the only sound that you hear. I’m sure that if Gabriel Garcia Marquez had ever set a novel in Switzerland, he’d have written in a mad 250 year old character who refused to die until the cow bells were silenced....meaning that she would live for ever. Bushwalking in Australia, even close to our major cities, we take for granted the fact that we can easily access places with no sight or sound of human development.

The advantage of hiking in Switzerland however is close proximity to beer, ice cream and schnitzels mid-hike

The full hike took me about 7 hours, including rest stops and a full lunch at the second top chairlift station. While most tired hikers get whisked back down to Stoos after their rewarding lunch, I still had another 1.5 hours of fairly challenging steep downhill work to do before I got back to the village where I showered, rested, grabbed some gelato and sat on a bench with a view to watch afternoon thunderstorms roll in over the mountains I'd just walked in. I find that I am captivated by mournains. I just can't tear my eyes away, and there's a sense of sadness when I descend back towards sea level.

Dinner that night was in the hotel restaurant which has an extensive pay-by-weight salad bar and a fairly unadventurous but decent a la carte menu of pizza, pasta, steak, etc.

On my final morning, after the breakfast buffet I packed my bags and made my way first back to Stoos bottom station then by car to Zurich airport which took a little over an hour, thankfully with no wrong turns despite Google Map’s best efforts to override my instinct and what various road signs said. I filled the car with petrol (almost double Australian prices) and returned it in one piece to a very friendly Avis agent.

 

[VPS]

Great photos and very much enjoying your TR

 

[1022]

Flight: BA8766 ZRH-LCY
ETD: 14:55
ATD: 15:30
ETA: 15:30
ATA: 16:00
Cabin: Economy
Seat: 4A
AC: E190

There were plenty of full service and LCC options to choose from for this leg from Zurich to London. I wanted to fly into London City rather than LHR or LGW for comparative ease of getting into town then down to Bromley which is where I’d spend a couple of nights with relatives on the border of London and Kent. Flying to LCY narrowed the choice down to Swiss or BA both of which were priced about the same and both operating E190s on the route. Seeing as this was a cash fare and I had no desire to pay for “Eurobusiness” just to sit in an economy class seat, I went with BA to take advantage of my OWS status (I don’t have any Star Alliance status).

This status gave me access to the Aspire Lounge in the satellite terminal. My expectations of this contract lounge in a busy European airport weren’t that high, especially after the congested Immigration hall and Tokyo-peak-hour-like experience on the inter-terminal shuttle train.

I received a very friendly greeting from the lounge agent who scanned my BP, said “ah I see you have One World Saphire status. Welcome to the lounge.

As suspected, the interior of the crowded lounge and its catering options were only fair to middling. But none of that mattered because the lounge has a huge outdoor deck overlooking the apron and active runways. It was a lovely sunny day in the mid-high 20s so I spent my whole time out there enjoying the views of the busy activity below and breathing in all the intoxicating (ok, toxic) jet fumes. I think I grabbed a sandwich and a forgettable glass of white wine and a few other buffet morsels during my stay.

I spotted this same frame at LHR several days later.

Seeing double! Only one glass of wine, I promise.(Actually not quite seeing double: an A330 and a 777)


When travelling in Europe - especially on an E190 with 2 - 2 seating where they don’t block adjacent seats there really isn’t that much advantage to booking business class if you have status that gets you lounge access, free seat selection and priority check in and boarding. In flight it looked like those in Club Europe got a meal similar to what QF would offer on a mid-afternoon flight of similar 1.5 hour duration. In Y we were offered hot and cold drinks and a packet of chips. Legroom was good in row 4. I’m not sure if they offer an extra inch or two in the forward rows that sometimes become Club Europe.

There’s really not much to report about this flight. The mostly British passengers all seemed hassled and grumpy and the crew weren’t much better. Zone boarding didn’t work very well and priority tagged bags came out in random order, totally interspersed with all the other baggage. Mine was among the last off the belt.

On the plus side, the approach pattern to London city was lots of fun as we came in low almost all the way from the coast, then ducked and weaved over Eastern London on a steep turning final descent. LCY is a tiny little airport with very basic facilities, but seeing as our little E190 was the only plane to have arrived at that time, UK entry formalities were very swift and within about 20 minutes of landing I was on the platform of the Docklands Light Rail.

I only had three nights in the UK. The first two nights I spent with aforementioned relatives and the final night I was in London at the Novotel Tower Bridge. Neither the UK portion of the trip nor the Novotel really warrant posts of their own. The former because I was mostly just spending time with friends and family and the latter because it could have been a Novotel in any city in any world - which is to say a consistent, comfortable but bland offering. By London standards, the room was comfortably large at 25sqm.

I can however vouch for the location of this Hotel, which surprisingly was one of the less expensive Accor properties (above Ibis level that is) in London for that Saturday night when I booked it. This is despite the location being right adjacent to the Tower of London, Tower Bridge and a short walk across the Thames to Borough Market which was absolutely heaving on the Saturday morning I visited.

One highlight of London that I hadn’t visited before was the area around Bermondsey St, just south of Borough Market. Apart from the excellent coffee I got from WatchHouse roasters - thanks to a recommendation from my relatives, Bermondsey St and side streets running off it are home to cafes, restaurants and small independent shops. I visited a glass studio and gallery where I was able to watch an artist at work blowing a large globe. The area is also home to London’s White cube gallery where I visited an almost overwhelmingly large exhibition from German artist Anslem Kiefer.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/faJibKKL7NhpagxaaJEcVNk_LCaVTj1hhB5CXxI5HGH1ysCA6IMe9BgOqq2ZbHOJY9iiEiP1mxx_bezIf__hEUmGfHnqhWDXjWS1H6g2_PDX3RZM1YD8SIcQn0QcQw9aV38rCpWD4kQ5XQTGA6NK2zY

 

[RooFlyer]

because it could have been a Novotel in any city in any world

Funny - I saw the pic before I read the para and thought 'That must be a Novotel' ...

 

[1022]

Flight: BA99 LHR-YYZ
ETD: 17:05
ATD: 17:25
ETA: 19:55
ATA: 19:43
Cabin: Club World (new suites)
Seat: 4K
AC: 777-200 [G-YMMJ]

I took the Elizabeth Line from Whitechapel to Heathrow T5. It’s a great in-between option. Much cheaper than the Heathrow express, but also faster than the pauper’s choice of the Piccadilly Line and handy that I could join it with just a 2 stop transfer on the District Line Tube from Tower Hill, right by the Novotel.

For the second time this trip I endured disinterest from staff at the BA business class check in desks and inefficient and unnecessarily chaotic security at the priority security check. I have no idea what it is that makes the whole process at Heathrow as painful as it is, but it was brutal, even when the lines were relatively short. Staff just seemed to be functioning at a very slow pace, and forever switching positions between the front or tail end of the belt or watching the x-ray monitor and most passengers seemed to be clumsy and confused, despite what you’d expect of premium entry, and therefore more likely frequent flyers.

Once through security - which took a good 15 minutes in spite of no more than 10 people in the queue when I joined it - T5 was even busier than it had been when I passed through about a week and a half prior. God(dess) help that place if the power ever goes off or a fire breaks out, there would be complete mayhem with so many people packed into such a confined space which has clearly been designed with a primary objective to keep people trapped close to shops and minimise seating and open space so that they spend money.

I took the train out to the B gate satellite terminal and up to the Galleries Lounge, where again, BA ground staff proved that smiling and customer service aren’t part of their SOPs. I was offered a polite scowl and admitted into a packed lounge. I did a full lap before finding the one spare seat in the lounge. Needless to say it wasn’t a particularly relaxing lounge visit. But still better than the terminal of course! I had a decent feed and used the wifi.

I headed down to the gate as boarding time approached and was again greeted with fairly chaotic scenes and only half-hearted at best attempts to properly manage boarding by zone. I battled my way through the crowd to the part of the queue marked for business class passengers and let myself through the automatic BP turnstyles and into the jetbridge, which was well backed up and where we waited for another 5 minutes until a fleet of empty wheelchairs were rolled back up the jetbridge. Once on board at doro 2L I received a cursory greeting and turned left at the second aisle for seat 4K.

Once I’d started to settle in, a scruffy older gent came around with a tray of small glasses half-filled with pre-poured champagne. I asked instead for a sparkling water. He just pointed to the plastic bottle in one of the seat’s storage compartments and said “you have water there”. Ho hum…

Shortly after another FA came through with another tray of champagne and this one also had orange juice. He seemed slightly more articulate also. I grabbed an orange juice and began to explore the new Club World Suite. I was glad when I’d received an expert-flyer aircraft change notification for this flight. Originally it was scheduled as a 787 with the old yin-yang club world. I’ve never actually flown that iconic product, and I can’t say I was super enthusiastic about trying it either! The new seat is a very good business class seat. Like BA’s tasteful fist class cabins, there’s been some good thought put into the overall look and feel of the new club world cabin. The stitching and dark fabric of the seat speak of refinement and quality and all the touch points of the seat space are well laid out and nothing feels flimsy…

… apart from the flimsy door of the suite.

It was my first time on a J seat with a door and as it happened, the door on my suite was faulty and locked in the open position throughout the flight. Seeing as it was a day flight and seeing as the reverse herringbone configuration is already very private, I wouldn’t have been very inclined to use the door anyway. For sleeping I can see the appeal of creating a sense of being cocooned, even though when sitting upright the top of the door is probably not much higher than eye level.

Looking out from my suite at the closed door across the aisle

We pushed back at about 17:30 and were soon on our way west over Wales, Ireland and the Atlantic Ocean. Dinner service commenced shortly after the seatbelt sign was switched off, preceded by a hot towel service - something of a rarity these days it seems! I remember when hot towels were commonplace in economy class on some carriers!

The scruffy older gent from earlier in the flight would be serving my aisle throughout the flight it seemed. He became a little less gruff as the flight progressed, but was far from engaging. In contrast I noticed his colleague serving the other aisle had a smile on his face for most of the flight and was happily engaging in conversation with passengers.

Thankfully the quality of the food made up for the lukewarm service. The sweet potato salad starter was tasty and fresh and the beef cheek, while not the most attractively plated meal, was hearty and tender. I couldn’t resist the crumble for dessert.

The wine list wasn’t much to write home about. I enjoyed my glass of the Rhone white whereas the Rhone red was reminiscent of many a QF domestic golden triangle economy class mini-bottle of (almost) inoffensive Hardy’s Shiraz or similar.

I watched a couple of movies and typed up some TR notes and before too long the crew came around offering the second meal service.

I chose the chicken sandwich, which, like the red wine with dinner, was kind of reminiscent of the chicken sandwiches QF now pass off as dinner on domestic economy flights. Though points to BA for presenting the second meal on a relatively short 6 - 7 hour flight on proper china with a couple of sides.

I realise that I sound like a bit of a moaner with many aspects of this flight. But it really just feels like BA, LHR (and maybe the UK generally) are in the doldrums. There’s very little pride in service delivery and very few premium touches in the passenger experience - apart from very solid in flight catering and (new) hardware.

Granted, I’m now a very seasoned premium cabin flyer - to the point that stepping into business class for this flight took a little bit of recalibration in terms of cabin density and personal space after several F flights - so maybe some of the excitement and “specialness” of flying business class has worn off. However, I also think BA could do more to enhance the passenger experience, on the ground and in the air. I gather the former CEO was a slash and burn beancounter which no doubt demoralised staff and eroded the product they had to work with. Hopefully things can turn around for an airline once associated with quality and sophistication.

 

[1022]

Toronto, Pantages Hotel and Alt Hotel Toronto Airport

After a bit of playing around with my 8 night itinerary in Canada, I eventually just settled on 4 nights each in Toronto and Vancouver. Originally I’d planned a slightly shorter stay in Toronto and to then fly to Victoria and explore Vancouver Island a tiny bit. But once I did a bit of research into distances, car hire costs and accommodation, Vancouver Island quickly became unviable in anything less than a week, preferably a fortnight.

August is high season in Canada and accommodation in both Toronto and Vancouver was eye-wateringly expensive (upwards of $400 a night for typically beige 4 star chain hotels and often double that for anything with a fifth star). While planning this trip I found that Agoda sometimes had rooms a good 20% cheaper than other sites or booking directly. Pantages Hotel in Toronto was one such place. It’s located right in the centre of downtown, adjacent to Yonge-Dundas Square which is Toronto’s self-proclaimed version of Times Square. In reality it’s a piss-stained square of grimy concrete and a bus shelter surrounded by billboards. It reminded me much more of railway square in Sydney than Times Square in New York.

Yonge-Dundas Square

Piss-stained and grimy kind of sums up my overall impression of Toronto actually. It’s a city without a visual identity. It felt like there had never been any real attempt at urban landscape planning or any sort of aesthetic master plan to give the public spaces of the city any kind of unified look and feel. Maybe that’s why it’s often used as a backdrop to US films, you really could be in just about any city in North America when you’re at street level. Adding to the overall grit of the place - despite its wealth and economic importance to the Canadian economy - it seemed that shops and restaurants also all aimed low when it came to interior design and visual appeal from the sidewalk. Most had grotty windows, often with old Covid era public health signs still stuck up with tape. Sometimes it was hard to tell operating businesses from those that had shut their doors. A bit of windex and a squeegee would go a long way!

View from my 14th floor window

City Hall was one bit of interesting and distinctive architecture, fronted by a very unimaginative square

I did lots of walking, exploring different neighbourhoods and areas of the city - as I generally do when travelling. Given the fact that Toronto doesn’t really have any major tourist attractions, walking the streets is about all there was to do! Granted I could have - and perhaps should have - gone up CN Tower to get a bird’s eye view of the city, but I just usually find places like that a tourist trap. I could have also taken a day trip to Niagara Falls, but given how disney-fied the whole place is, it feels like somewhere one doesn’t really want to go to alone, but instead to go with someone/s to fully embrace the over-hyped commercial absurdity of it all…as well as looking at the falls.

I enjoyed the festive vibe of the Kensington Market area of Toronto. It’s a tiny little hippy enclave between Chinatown and the student district of The Annex. Seeing as I live spitting distance from Nimbin, there was a certain resonance with the colourful streets of Kensington Market and lots of happily, mildly (and of course entirely legally) stoned people wandering about looking at the eclectic shops which still include greengrocers and fishmongers of the market origins of the neighbourhood.

Kensington Market typical streetscape

Cannabis stores are absolutely everywhere and in Toronto they often seemed to be right next door to fast food places - perhaps ideal proximity to grab some takeaway in anticipation of the impending munchies.

One of the more interesting experiences I had in Toronto was visiting a public swimming pool to do some laps. The city council operates quite a number of free outdoor pools in summer as well as a few indoor pools. But on closer inspection of their website, many of those outside “pools” are nothing more than 6 inch deep splash ponds for kids. And of the proper pools, only a couple of them have designated hours of the day for lap swimming, most of the time they are just for wading and lolling about. I took the subway out to High Park which is a beautiful big green space to the west of the city. There’s a pool in High Park which didn’t look at all inviting both in the pictures online and in real life, so my plan was to walk the length of the park from north to south and visit the much larger Sunnyside Gus Ryder pool which is situated right on the shores of Lake Ontario. Well, it was a cultural experience!! There were rules aplenty (no backpacks or shoes allowed poolside, they must be stored in a locker. You must shower thoroughly with soap and hot water before entering the water. And most absurdly, the lanes for lap swimming - within designated hours of the day only - were arranged across the pool which was only about 20m wide. I rolled with it, got into the pool under the watchful gaze of at least 10 patrolling life guards and swam back and forth for 20 minutes or so. It was just nice to be in water and to stretch the muscles a bit. But the whole experience was so very different to popping into your local council or university pool back home! All the other patrons were either kids or grandparents.

After my swim, I followed the lakeside walk/cycle trail all the way back to the city centre (about 5km) which was a lovely walk. I Then explored the West Queen West neighbourhood which had a pretty cool character of converted warehouses and textile factories, but still just somehow lacked an energy that similar creative districts often have in other cities.

Perhaps the highlight of Toronto was the excellent Art Gallery of Ontario. With a hefty $30 entry fee, it would want to be good! The permanent collection features lots of Canadian artists of various eras. I was most drawn in by an extensive retrospective exhibition of work by German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans.

My accommodation choice, as mentioned, was a hotel called Pantages. My room was fairly freshly renovated and quite spacious. On first impression I quite liked the look of it. But it soon became apparent that it had quite a few annoying niggles. It was advertised as having a washing machine and dryer combo, but apparently the listing on Agoda when I booked it was for a room category they don’t offer now. The room had a kitchenette, but not so much as a glass, a mug or a teaspoon. Just a solitary paper cup next to the American style filter/pod coffee/mudwater maker. No teabags, no kettle. The dimmable bedside lights flickered and strobed unless on the brightest setting, the USB outlet on one side of the bed made a constant high pitched ringing sound unless a cord was plugged in - but it wouldn’t charge my phone. It took me 10 minutes of sleuthing to find the source of the elusive noise and a lucky bit of experimentation to work out it could be easily silenced. I was too tired upon arrival to ask to change rooms, but probably would have the following morning if that annoying sound continued. Not even the jet-engine like aircon could drown it out! Housekeeping was on a request-only basis, the bed was soft and lumpy…you get the picture! All stuff that is fine if you’re staying somewhere for one night and only paying $150 for it. This was over $300 a night for 3 nights (plus tax).

Initially I booked to stay in Toronto for 3 nights but when I changed my plans, adding a 4th night at Pantages would have been at almost double the already too-expensive rate I paid. I also had an 8:30 flight to Vancouver; with Air Canada recommending arriving 2 hours (!!!) prior to departure for domestic flights. So I looked into airport hotels for that fourth night. All the usual suspects were available, Courtyard, Garden Inn, Sheraton, etc. Apart from the (expensive) Sheraton attached to the terminal, they all required shuttle bus access which is usually a real pain, especially when trying to get to the airport for a morning flight. The one exception was Alt Hotel which is at the end of the free inter-terminal skytrain that serves the surrounding airport parking lots. This turned out to be a good choice of hotel. It appeared to be quite new. My room was cleverly designed within its 24sqm footprint and was very comfortable.

Best of all it had airport views, although just of distant tails on the apron, rather than the active runways. The hotel restaurant also did a very decent woodfired pizza for dinner. The only oddity was the bath spout near the floor of the shower that served no apparent purpose other than as an object to bash unsuspecting ankles against. Perhaps when someone ordered a few hundred rooms’ worth of non-refundable bathroom plumbing they were under the misapprehension that bathrooms would be a shower over bath ensemble….

So clearly Toronto didn’t really speak to me on this, my first ever visit and I can’t see myself rushing back. I didn’t really go with particular expectations or that much knowledge of the city. On the other hand I was very much looking forward to my first visit to Vancouver. Read on to see if I vibed with it more than Toronto.

 

[OZDUCK]

It is always interesting how people react differently to cities. Like you I wasn't over impressed with the 'tall buildings' area I did find some other areas pretty interesting. The Distillery District was nice for a bit of a wander. We also had a fascinating walk through Cabbagetown, crossed over the Don River and ended up in GreekTown - and naturally had a Greek meal. The ferry across to the Toronto Islands was enjoyable as was the walk around them - especially with the view back to Toronto.

 

[RooFlyer]

I lived in Tarana for a couple of years in the 1990s and visited it many times since, mostly visiting friends. I think you captured the overall tone of the place quite well but I learned that the trick was to find a 'neighbourhood' or two that suits you, and settle in.# A casual tourist can't do that of course, but parts of the city are quite charming to be in.

# That said, my first apartment I later realised was on the edge of the red light district!!

 

[Worldboy]

Very much enjoying your detailed TR and getting inspiration for a planned OneWorld RTW trip myself.

 

[1022]

A casual tourist can't do that of course, but parts of the city are quite charming to be in.

Yeah I could see how some of the neighbourhoods I wandered around would be charming places to live for local residents. Diamonds in the rough maybe.

The ferry across to the Toronto Islands was enjoyable as was the walk around them - especially with the view back to Toronto.

A trip out to Toronto Islands was on the shortlist actually. It looks like a lovely repute from the grimness of the cbd. But the weather wasn’t great on the day I had in mind for it so I went to the art gallery instead.

 

[1022]

Flight: AC105 YYZ-YVR
ETD: 8:30
ATD: 8:35
ETA: 10:26
ATA: 10:15
Cabin: Premium Economy
Seat: 13K
AC: 777-300 [C-FIUR]

Air Canada domestic premium economy passengers are entitled to check in at the separate walled business class check in zone of Toronto Pearson Terminal 1 which was a very good first impression. From there passengers are spat into the general security zone. Business class passengers and certain AMEX card holders can scan their BPs to join a short cut to almost the front of the queue, but they rejoin the scrum close to the belts and scanners. As a PE passenger I just had to join the very long line. Thankfully it moved fairly quickly and I was probably through in about 20 minutes - so roughly the same time it took LHR to process a queue a fraction of the size!

PE doesn’t include lounge access but I had a couple of options. I have a CBA credit card that comes with two “Dragon Pass” lounge entires which as far as I can tell is similar to priority pass and like PP can be used at Plaza Premium Lounges. Incidentally the CBA card also waives foreign transaciton fees which has saved me a few hundred dollars throughout the trip (unless they jack up the exchange rates to offset the lack of fees!).

Techincially I think as VA Gold I could have accessed the AC Maple Leaf Lounge, but when I saw the queues to get in, and considering the fact I was on an AC award ticket without my VFF number attached in any way which might have needed a bit of diplomacy with the lounge dragons, I opted for the Plaza Premium Lounge. It was a pretty small space with rudimentary buffet, but there was a free breakfast, a coffee and somewhere to sit and use wifi.

The gate area for my flight was a schemozzle. One transcon 777-300 in AC’s dense configuration would casue gate conjestion on its own. Boarding a couple of full 777s side by side meant that there were lines snaking in all sorts of whacky directions. I joined one which looked like it was appropriate for the zone number printed on my boarding pass and waited a few minutes among the jostling people for multiple departing flights until boarding commenced on time - a full 50 minutes prior to departure. And it really did take them the full 50 minutes to get everyone on board the full 777. Like in the US, there were people with completely stupid amounts of carry on, lots of people who seemed to have minor mobility issues and just general chaos when in the vicinity of an aircraft.

I was “greeted” (barely acknolwedged) at the door by a flight attendant sporting blue rubber gloves and found my way to 13K in the small PE cabin. The seats and cabin are starting to look a bit dated, but my window seat was a comfortable enough place to sit for the transcon flight. I wouldn’t have wanted to be in the midle of the block of 4 centre seats though. We were fortunate to get going on time. Take a look at AC105's history on FR24 if you want to see a flight prone to delays and cancellations!

The huge engine on the 777. Apparently the diameter is similar to that of the fuselage of a 737!!

PE seemed to have one main cabin crew member assigned to serve both aisles and she did that cheerfully and efficiently. There was a small menu card listing breakfast options and service was a step up from economy. For breakfast I chose the French toast which was perfectly executed. I’d have been happy with this dish on the ground, or in the air in first or business class.

Once breakfast was cleared I whiled away this flight reading and looking out the window at the flat landscape of the US Midwest, North Dakota and Montana before the Rockies rose majestically below us as we crossed back over into Canadian Airspace. Sadly the closer we got to British Columbia, the thicker the smoke got below us from this summer’s huge fires. I was really reminded of flying up and down the east coast of Australia during the horror bushfire season a few yeas back when it seemed the whole eastern seaboard was shrouded in thick smoke.

We arrived a few minutes early into Vancouver and I stepped off this flight fairly happy with the PE offering for a 4 - 5 hour transcon day flight. The seat was comfortable and spacious enough for the sector length, I was well fed and service was delivered with a smile.

 

[TheRealTMA]

I lived in Tarana for a couple of years in the 1990s and visited it many times since, mostly visiting friends. I think you captured the overall tone of the place quite well but I learned that the trick was to find a 'neighbourhood' or two that suits you, and settle in.# A casual tourist can't do that of course, but parts of the city are quite charming to be in.

# That said, my first apartment I later realised was on the edge of the red light district!!

Never know your luck in a big city.

 

[1022]

Vancouver and Fairmont Waterfront

While I wasn’t taken by Toronto, Vancouver managed to rope me in and I gladly submitted to its charms, natural beauty and distinct neighbourhoods full of very good looking citizens with a verve for life...at least a verve for life in summer when it’s not cold and raining. As an aside, until Vancouver, Tokyo and Copenhagen have been the two cities I’ve most associated with good looking people. I can now add Vancouver to that list!

My room wasn’t ready when I got to the Fairmont Waterfront a bit before noon. The receptionist issued my room key and promised to call once the room was ready, saying she’d give me the room number at that time so that I could go straight up and wouldn’t need to line up again at reception. She also mentioned an upgrade to a partial harbour view room due to my Accor status.

I left my luggage and set out to stroll along the waterfront. And I kept strolling and strolling until I got to the start of Vancouver’s enormous Stanley Park which sits on a large ace-of-spades shaped peninsula at the north western end of the city.

I wanted to save my exploration of such a big park for another day, so I turned south and found myself in The West End, which reminded me a lot of West End in Brisbane, but on a much bigger scale. Lots of cafes, bakeries, international restaurants and an ecclectic mix of shops on the high street and gentrified residential areas off the main drag.

I had a delicious lunch in a vegetarian Israeli/Middle Eastern joint and finished off with a triangle of baklava that almost lived up to my favourite baklava shop el-Bahsa in Bankstown in Sydney.

From there I wandered and sat by the water in English Bay for a bit then walked the length of the Davey St gay strip which seemed much more lively than its smaller Toronto equivalent. Then finally up the main Granville St commercial drag of the CBD to complete the loop back to the hotel. The walk proved to be a great introduction to Vancouver. Water views, mountains, distinct urban pockets and fit, smiling eye candy aplenty.

The rest of my days in Vancouver had a similar rhythm. One morning I signed up for the local bike share scheme and cycled the sea wall perimeter of Stanley Park, stopping for an hour or so to sit and read and relax at one of the grey sand beaches along the way. I wasn’t tempted to get into the 16 degree water though! One evening I poked around the historic Gastown district and looked at the slightly bizarre local landmark of the steam clock. It looks like something out of Back to the Future. And yes, that’s a bride posing in her wedding dress in front of the clock!

Hearing lots of Cantonese being spoken in the streets of Vancouver put me in the mood for roast duck and char siu for dinner. There was a BBQ restaurant in Chinatown that rated highly on google so I set out to find it from Gastown. Sadly Chinatown has almost become an extension of Vancouver’s notorious Downtown Eastside neighbourhood which has long been associated with homelessness, poverty, severe mental health issues and addiction. The North American opioid crisis has apparently dramatically worsened the situation in the Downtown Eastside over the past few years and what was once a block or two of “Skid row” has spilled over into Chinatown. The signs of destitution were pretty evident on what would have once been the bustling main street with its pagoda gate. A lot of businesses have apparently shut up shop due to increasing antisocial behaviour and crime in the area driving business away.

I lived for many years in the centre of Darlinghurst in Sydney, so am not unfamiliar or particularly uncomfortable with the signs of urban poverty and associated health ands social compounding factors. I have street smarts and can distinguish the erratic meth user from the wobbly or mumbling opioid user or the agitated person looking to score their next fix and gauge whether to cross the street or safely pass by accordingly. I also know that each of these people has a story and that the slide from (relatively) harmless periodic recreational drug use to full blown addiction isn’t due to parsimonious moral failing - whether you’re a Big4 consulting firm partner in Martin Place carrying a gram of coke for the weekend or a traumatised homeless person on the streets of Vancouver with fentanyl in your veins. But the hollow-faced ghosts I saw in this pocket of Vancouver - still several blocks away from the thick of “skid-row” and in broad evening daylight was truly confronting. I didn’t feel unsafe, but it was full on and I was glad to get my takeaway roast meats and head back to the hotel to have dinner.

I experienced a much cheerier side of Vancouver on my final evening in the city with a visit to Kitsilano Beach. If the sand had been white and had there been warm blue waves rolling in, the scene could have been mistaken for Rio. Groups of friends, extended families, canoodling couples, dog walkers, solitary bearded hippies, teenagers on skateboards and bikes, impossibly fit looking volleyball players all crowded onto a festive and loud stretch of sand. Loud becuse everyon seemed to have brought a portible speaker to play theire music of choice, often revealing ethnic heritage or country of family origin. This was a celbration of Vancouver life on a sunny Sunday evening with salt water and copious amounts of canabis on the breeze.

I would have loved to have more time in Vancouver and to have had the chance to get out of the city and explore further afield seeing as it’s surrounded by mountains and sea. I think a BC expedition might feature in future travel plans.

Fairmont Waterfront

I bit the bullet and booked the Fairmont Waterfront at almost $500 a night - offset slightly by redeeming the last of my Accor points. I had booked a very small, un airconditioned room for around $400 a night at a 3 star place in English Bay, but I was a bit ambivalent with the prospect of staying there. So a few days prior, perhaps influenced by the Toronto hotel I bit the bullet and switched my reservation. I thought i may as well pay a bit more and know that I’m paying for quality than pay for an expensive room that’s actually not worth the cost.

The Fairmont Waterfront is one of 3 Fairmonts in the Downtown area and the cheapest of the three. It’s rated as 4 stars, but would give plenty of supposed 5 star properties in Australia a good run for their money. The decor was conservative but classically timeless. Though the bathroom with it’s shower over bath and shower curtain was definitely due for an update.

Fairmont seems to be a bit of an odd (reluctant, even) member of the Accor family. At all the other Accor properties I’ve stayed at, even the Ibis at Heathrow, my Accor Diamond status was gushed over by staff and they made a song and dance of going out of their way to accommodate things like early check in and room upgrades - e.g. that ridiculous suite I scored at the Sofitel in Dubai. Any hotel that had a lounge also granted access with the associated perks of breakfast, evening drinks and in the case of Pullman KL, 3 free pieces of laundry per day. Fairmont has retained its own Fairmont Gold premium offering. They go so far as to explicitly say that upgrades to gold floor rooms and club access are explicitly excluded to Accor high status members. Still, my one category upgraded partial harbour view room gave me a front row view of the daily coming and going of multiple monstrous cruise ships which disgorged passengers and luggage in the mornings and embarked on their next journey in the evening. Being cruise ship central meant that the surrounding area was geared purely towards extracting maximum cash from the most gullible of tourists but the waterfront area is also undeniably pretty with views to the mountains on the opposite North Shore and the constant stream of sea planes taking off and landing.

 

[RooFlyer]

When I saw 'Fairmont ...' I feared for the worst, so really glad it turned out well in 'Hongcouver'. Client used to put me up at the Fairmont downtown (pre Accor) - one of the old 'Chateau' types; old, (including the plumbing!) and stuffy (literally).

 

[1022]

When I saw 'Fairmont ...' I feared for the worst, so really glad it turned out well in 'Hongcouver'. Client used to put me up at the Fairmont downtown (pre Accor) - one of the old 'Chateau' types; old, (including the plumbing!) and stuffy (literally).

The Fairmont Downtown definitely looks old and stuffy. I quickly dismissed it when looking for a place to stay in Vancouver. The Waterfront property is also a bit old school in terms of design and service, but all the hardware is solid, high quality and well maintained. The rooms are inoffensively beige and not too dated yet, but they'll need to start redecorating soon!

 

[1022]

Flight: JL17 YVR-NRT
ETD: 14:05
ATD: 14:00
ETA: 16:30
ATA: 16:10
Cabin: Business (Sky Suite II)
Seat: 2K
AC: 767-300 JA606J

I had a fairly relaxing morning at the hotel and breakfast was a fair to middling pastry from a nearby chain bakery, a tub of yoghurt and a pod coffee in the room. After checking out of the Fairmont I took the Canada Line train to YVR which takes about half an hour from the centre of town. The international terminal was fairly quiet at this hour of the morning and none of the usual formalities took too long.

JAL directs passengers to the Plaza Premium Lounge in Vancouver. The much better Cathay Lounge has reopened but only operates at times that coincide with CX flights which varies from day to day. Unfortunately the day i was flying out of Vancouver, the Cathay flight was around 11pm so the lounge was shut.

The Plaza Premium lounge was a typical third party offering - overwhelmingly brown in decor and seats packed in as tight as possible. There was a separeate area cordoned off for JAL passengers which was a nice touch though not enforced at all. The lounge didn't get too crowded during my stay. The buffet had a typical spread of bain-marie slops and a couple of salads.

I headed to the gate about 5 minutes prior to boarding time and the JAL ground staff were in full flight organising queues and providing information. There was a clock over the podium with a second timer. I noticed that business calss/group 1 boarding was called precisely 8 seconds after the advertised time. Welcome to Japan!

I was looking forward to the slightly retro charm of stepping on board a Boeing 767 for the first time in many years. Even when they were the QF workhourse on the golden triangle routes, and I was doing my umpteenth SYD-MEL-SYD day trip for the year, I usually enjoyed my rides on the 767. I was also looking forward to the food and service on this flight, and the destination seeing as I lived in Japan for several years a couple of decades ago and still consider it a second home.

I received a typically formal Japanese greeting at the door and crossed the galley to my “true” window seat 2A in JAL’s staggered [sky-suite II configuration]. A 1-2-1 staggered config on the relatively narrow 767 doesn’t lend itself to an especially spacious J seat. It was fine for sitting and lounging throughout a day flight where I was determined to stay awake for the duration but I think it would have felt too narrow to sleep comfortably on an overnight trip.

Note how narrow the footwell/side talbe is on the seat adjacent. It’s also a seat without a lot of privacy.

Boarding was conducted solely through door 1L seeings as JAL’s 767s don’t have a second set of doors behind the J cabin. This meant the whole Y cabin traipsed through business class and that’s presumably why no pre-departure drinks were served. They boarded the full 767 in about 15 minutes. A far cry from the 50 minutes that AC took to load my YYZ-YVR flight a few days prior, even taking into consideration the relative sizes of the aircraft. Prior to departure there was the customary offer of the JAL cardigan for use during the flight. I declined seeing as I anticipated (correctly) that the cabin would be fairly warm throughout the journey.

Soon after takeoff the cabin manager did her rounds of introductions by name, seemingly without referring to a list and handed out arrival cards to those who hadn’t completed the online QR version of same. Lunch orders were also taken. I’ll let the menu and food photos below speak fro themselves.

To say I enjoyed the meal would be an understatement. It was truly superb! I know that sometimes JAL and ANA outstation catering can fail to live up to expectations or of the standard of meals loaded in Japan, but this was absolutely exceptional.

Also excepetional was the view out the window of some impressive towering cloud formations at cruising altitude.

This 9 hour flight passed remarkably quickly. I watched a Japanese film, watched the map, did a bit of TR typing and read a bit. Before I knew it the second meal service was being distributed and soon after that, preparations for landing commenced. Service on this flight was typically polite and by the book. In my experience, ANA cabin crews tend to be a bit warmer than JAL and this flight didn’t really do much to alter that perception.

Landfall over Chiba

We crossed the Chiba coastline, flew a fairly long, flat downwind leg, banked and landed towards the south 20 minutes early at Narita. Immigration lines were fairly long and they haven’t made the best use of space (nor explanatory signage!) in the arrival hall with their mobile finger print machines prior to hitting the immigration desks but things moved at a pretty steady pace. I was watching the clock fairly closely to try to make the 17:00 bus to Yokohama.

Something that struck me on this, my first trip to Japan in several years, was the number of non-Japanese staff working in the Narita terminal, predominantly Filipino and people from the sub-continent. It would seem that Japan is ever-so-slightly loosening the lid on issuing employment visas.

 

[1022]

Nostalgia in Yokohama and Enoshima

As mentioned in the JAL flight post above, Japan was home for a number of years. During that time I lived in Kanagawa Prefecture, just to the west of Tokyo. At first I was living in the Shonan district which is the closest coastal/beach area to Tokyo and fairly easily accessible by train within 60-90 minutes depending on where in Tokyo one is setting off from. While the sand is grey and the water usually a suspect shade of brown, surf culture is alive and well in Shonan and the pace is definitely more laid back than the nearby metropolis. In summer the beaches are lined with ‘beach houses’ - bars essentially though many also offer toilet and shower facilities included in the cover charge to use their facilities.

After living in Shonan I moved to Yokohama which is essentially connected to the Tokyo urban sprawl but still retains its own identity as a city. It’s quite a cosmopolitan city with a long history (along with Nagasaki) of being open a crack to the outside world while the rest of Japan was shut off for more than 200 years during the Edo period. Accordingly Yokohama is home to Japan’s biggest Chinatown and supports a sizable Chinese and Taiwanese population today.

Given my personal connection to Kanagawa, and the fact that Yokohama hotels are waaaaaay cheaper than Tokyo, I decided that my short 2 night (1 day) sojourn, prior to heading to Fukuoka, would be spent wandering around my old stomping grounds.

From Narita I was able to make the 17:00 Limousine bus to Yokohama which takes about 2 hours and is an easier option than multiple changes of train in rush hour with luggage. The bus stops first at Yokohama City Air Terminal (attached to Yokohama station) and then does a round of a few hotels in the Minato Mirai district.

My accommodation, Oakwood Suites Yokohama, was an easy walk from the Royal Park Hotel bus stop, so I stayed on board after everyone else alighted at YCAT and got off at the second stop. It was a typically hot, humid August evening and Yokohama’s Minato Mirai area was sparkling in all its splendour.

Oakwood Suites turned out to be an excellent accommodation choice. They mostly cater to the corporate medium-stay serviced apartment market meaning that my 34sqm studio had a kitchenette and a washing machine/dryer combo in the bathroom which I made plenty of use of! The room looks a bit sterile in the picture below but was actually inviting and not too austere. And of course 34sqm in Japan is absolutely palatial. All this in a really handy location above Bashamichi station cost less than AUD200 a night whereas that amount might get you a 15sqm room with a nun’s single bed in a Toyoku or APA Hotel in central Tokyo. The public spaces of the Oakwood were also really beautiful and refined, particularly the lobby on the 46th floor with views West to Fuji-san. I can’t recommend this hotel highly enough if you’re visiting the Kanto region. It’s only 35 minutes or so on a rapid Tokyu Toyoko Line train into Shibuya from the station directly below the hotel. The same line passes through Naka Meguro and Daikanyama which are a couple of my favourite Tokyo Neighbourhoods.

Whilst I stayed awake throughout my flight from Vancouver, I was ready to crash soon after 8pm Japan time. This meant waking up early around 4am. Tokyo doesn’t go to daylight saving time in summer, so the sun appears ridiculously early. This photo over Yamashita Park and the Yokohama Bay Bridge was taken soon after I woke at 4:00.

I emerged into an already 30 degree morning around 7:30 am and set out to find some breakfast - local coffee chain Doutor came to the rescue at that early hour - and to rediscover the streets around two apartments I used to live in close to Kannai station. It was interesting to see the things that had changed and many that had stayed the same, including some bars I used to drink in over 20 years ago that are still there!

I used to live opposite this brothel just off Isezakicho. It’s clearly still going strong. One can start with “god-hand” on the first floor and move on up from there…

After much reminiscence in Yokohama I boarded a Tokkaido Line Train for Fujisawa, another old stomping (and drinking) ground. I stumbled on a little old retro sushi counter joint where 990 yen AUD10.50 got me that day’s nigiri lunch set. Why is it so hard to find good nigiri in Australia, let alone at a reasonable price?!?!

From Fujisawa it was onwards to the seaside at Enoshima, a short 10 minute train ride away. Once I arrived I realised I’d left my swimmers behind in Yokohama, so I found a shop selling reasonably priced boardshorts. The very friendly woman working there very kindly offered me the use of her changeroom to slip into them prior to swimming seeing as there’s basically no public change facilities at the beach. She also smartly insisted I take a plastic bag, despite my initial habitual refusal of plastic bags, to put the wet swimmers in to take home. It was during this interaction that my functional but still fairly rudimentary Japanese clicked back into gear and where I appreciated the kindness and thoughtfulness of Japanese people.

The view out to the Island and the beach bars were just as I remembered them. I wandered along the beach a bit to a quieter area to have a swim. There was a little bit of wind-blown chop and 2 foot waves, however the life guards were very insistent in warning everyone who got into the water not to go out too far because conditions were considered perilously dangerous. (There were definitely no rips or currents to speak of). This also reminded me of Japanese risk-aversion and a fondness for petty rules! Under the stern gaze of the life gaurds I swam out to the piddly break zone which was no more than chest deep and managed a bit of body surfing.

Once that was done and I’d paid 300 yen to use a shower underneath the surf club I just got the train back to Yokohama by late afternoon and more or less crashed for the rest of the day, grabbed a delicious bento from the supermarket downstairs and had another relatively early night.