|
|
|
We woke up at about 5:30am. Showered up and finished the last minute packing. We checked out of the Hotel by 6:15am. Toting the suitcases we did the 12 minute walk to the Hommachi Station entrance for the Midosuji Line. Being that it was still early on a Monday morning the trains were relatively empty for our journey.
We got off at Shin-Osaka Station. By 6:40 we were on the Shinkansen Platform waiting for our train to Tokyo. Our train was the 7:06am Hikari which only stops at Kyoto, Nagoya and Yokohama before Tokyo. Mark got some last Shinkansen Photos on the platform as there were 3 other departures before us. Another Hikari (slower then ours), a Kodama and a Nozomi. But time flew by and we boarded our train and got comfortable in our nice Green Car seats. We were in a 700 class train.
We pulled into Tokyo at 10:03am. We walked slowly across the entire Tokyo Station to the Yokosoka/Sobu Line underground platforms to catch our 11:00am Narita Express. Mark & Richard left Cyn on the platform and did some last minute railfanning on the Yamanote Platform, and the outside of Tokyo Station. But time is short, and returned to the platform.
Our N-Ex was a two section train that joins us at Tokyo Station. The first half arrived followed 3 minutes later by the second half. Coupling up did not take any time at all. Soon we were aboard our Green Car seats for the 60 minute journey to Narita Airport Terminal One station. We arrived at Narita Airport on-time, of course. We got our suitcases and went through the airport security check. Narita Airport has had bomb scares in the past from local residents who oppose the airport. That is the purpose of this check. We went up the 5 levels to the 4th floor to check in to our Northwest Airlines flight to San Francisco. Check-in was fast and painless. And now we didn't have as much luggage to drag around. It was about 12:40, and we were hungry.
Narita Airport has a nice shopping and restaurant area. We choose a Sushi Restaurant for lunch. The sushi was great, but of course not better than at the Tokyo Fish Market. We then went around the shopping area and picked up a few last minute items. Narita Airport also has a wonderful observation deck where you can see planes takeoff and land as well as ramp operations for Terminal 1. The fencing even has special holes in it for photographers. There were several photographers there utilizing them, including Mark. By 1:45 we went through Customs/Immigration and were now in "international territory". We walked to the NW WorldClub lounge. It is one of the best lounges that we have been to. It is large with comfortable seating. Free Internet use on provided laptops, and nice snacks. This WorldClub had just opened in April 2003 when NW moved their operations from Satellite 4 to It's current location on Satellite 2. At 3:00pm we left the lounge as our flight was to leave at 3:40 and the plane was sitting at Satellite 1. We waited in the gate area to board our flight. Then they announced a delay due to maintenance. Just before 4:00pm they announced that our plane, a DC-10 had #3 engine problems and that they were attempting to get another plane. It was too late to try to re-route as all the other NW flights to the US left between 3:00 & 3:30pm. The SFO flight is the last to leave.
Well we decided it was back to the lounge. They gave an approximate departure time of 5:50pm. We relaxed again. In the lounge they handed out courtesy vouchers to the delayed SFO passengers which included meal or bonus miles certificates, discount certificates on future flights and an AT&T international calling card. By 5:15 they announced that our flight was boarding. We walked over and boarded via Mark's WP Silver status and was able to get comfortable in our Coach Class seats before it got to crazy. Mark had the window, Cyn the Aisle, and Richard had the Aisle across from Cyn in the Center Section. Coach is definitely not as nice as our Business Class seats to Japan. But as this was a DC-10 there not as many Business Class seats so it is harder to book Frequent Flyer seats in other then Coach. We did get off the ground at around 6:00pm. And we were on our way home. Total Walking today: nearly 3 miles |
||||||||||
|
Japan Trip Navigation
| Day 1 |
Day 2 | Day 3 |
Day 4 | Day 5 |
Day 6 | Day 7 |
Day 8 | Day 9A |
Day 9B | > Kavanagh Family > Trips/Vacations > Japan > Trip 2003 > Day 9A Page last edited on: 03/25/17 |
|
Home Page |
Transit Photos |
Railroad Photos |
Rail Museums |
Tokens/Farecards | |
||||