Friday 04/03/11:
Thankfully the flight up to Tokyo was fairly uneventful. The Captain had mentioned the possibility of a few bumps as we passed the Equator and I ended up being awake at that time, but there was really nothing more than the standard slight turbulence for most of the trip.
Being almost exclusively a domestic traveler I didn't think I would be getting too much in the way of sleep, however I managed to get about 3-4 hours in total after the lights had been turned off and before breakfast service was commenced.
The rest of the flight had the same hurried and uncoordinated feeling that we experienced at the beginning of the flight, but nevertheless we enjoyed the flight mainly due to not having to be back in Economy
(I must admit to having a fondness for Premium Economy which I believe may become a bare minimum for Intl flight from now on)
We started our descent into Tokyo with still an hour to go before being able to land after the 6:00am curfew. The Captain came on the PA to inform us as such and also let us know of the need to delay our landing by the use of a number of maneuvers to waste time. We ended up hitting the ground just after 6:00am and the CSM came on to welcome us to Tokyo at 6:50am.
Exiting through the front door with Business, we were in the Terminal fairly quickly and made our way to Customs. Upon reaching our first queue we were informed by a customs agent that we needed to fill in form which hadn't been provided to many of us on the flight (whereas the Quarantine form had been) so we hurriedly completed the form and made our way our towards our Baggage.
Baggage started to appear fairly quickly however we were waiting a while before ours arrived at the carousel. I wondered at the time whether we would have been better off waiting for the First Class checkin to open in Sydney and whether we would have had different baggage tags and a different result at the other end - I must admit to not having paid any attention to what sort of tags were placed on our bags in any event.
After collecting bags we made our way to the Airport Limousine desk to book our trip to the Westin on the 8:05am bus. Having some time to kill we took a walk around the airport and purchased our first Sushi from the convenience store.
As punctual as ever we boarded the bus and had left the kerbside by 8:06am on our way to the Westin Tokyo.
- Check in - Westin Hotel Ebisu
Being a fan generally of Starwood properties I was quit impressed by the quality and standards set down by the Westin.
Upon checkin at about 11:30am we were told by the person checking us in that they would normally charge extra for early checkin but in this case he would not be charging us
We stopped by the concierge on the way to our room to get directions to the station as well as to gain some information on the best place to change money and possibly experience our first 'real' Japanese meal and were recommended to start off in Shibuya.
After unloading bags and the obligatory shower and change of clothes we ventured out to find the station.
- Ebisu Garden Place / Shibuya
Those of you who have stayed at the Westin before will know of the Ebisu Garden Place being somewhere you need to walk through on your way to Ebisu Station. We took the opportunity for an early lunch - at Burger King of all places! - and browsed our way through the Mitsukoshi department store before heading to the undercover moving walkways that take you to Ebisu station.
Later in the trip, after a few colder days, we realised there was an exit from the Westin that takes you directly from the Westin through the Garden Place and the moving walkways to Ebisu station completely undercover - definitely a good choice when the wind is up and dropping the effective temperature to only just above freezing!
We made our way the one stop to Shibuya, with the usual amazement of a couple new to the ordered nature of Tokyo and its' public transport system. Luckily it wasn't peak hour for our first time so that my wife could start to get used to the idea of how the system works, and what to expect once things got a little more crowded - she is one of those people not so happy to be in crowded places for a prolonged period of time.
Once in Shibuya we got a little lost trying to follow the instructions of the Concierge to find the money changing place but in the end made our through without too many hassles, stopping at Starbucks and the Disney Store amongst numerous others in the area.
I had been given details of a Teppenyaki place in Shibuya by the Concierge which we attempted to find without success, toward the end of the day. Feeling a little tired and at the time expecting to be visiting the Fish markets early the next day we thought we'd cut our losses and head back to the hotel for an early dinner there - a little unadventurous I agree
- Dinner - The Terrace at The Westin Tokyo
After returning to the hotel and depositing the afternoons shopping in our room we made our way down to the Terrace which is the Westin's buffet restaurant, for dinner.
Whilst I was most impressed by the range of seafood on offer and availed myself of as wide a variety as was practical, my wife was most taken by the dessert offerings available and I believe would have skipped the main meal had she let her desires get the better of her.
A number of people had stated to me before the trip and there is almost 'no such thing as a bad meal in Japan' and the food at the Terrace definitely fit the description of a good meal.
Service was particularly attentive and I left with a smile on my face, which also may have been as a result of the multiple Asahi beers that were imbibed during the course of the meal
As mentioned above we had been planning on making a trip to the Tsukiji Fish markets early the next day, but looking a little more into the weather and having planned on visiting Disneyland on the Monday, which was slated for rain basically all day, we decided to swap the plans for Saturday and Monday around which meant heading to Disneyland on the Saturday.
With that decided we headed up to our room for a good night's sleep.
