Conquering The Air (Part 3)

As scheduled, our plane moved to the runway at 1:30pm and took off shortly afterwards. As always, the feeling when the plane starts to speed up and you are pressed into the seat, leaving your stomach some meters behind you, was a mixture of excitement, joy and also a bit of nausea.

 Bye, bye, London!

See you in two weeks!

A few minutes later, we were in the air once again and it was strange to know that even if you slept, when you'd wake up you would still be up there, in the air, above the clouds. We looked out of the window until clouds made the buildings, streets and bridges of London disappear. Which was, like, ten minutes after the take-off. Oh, well. Time to check out the entertainment system. 

Each passenger had their own small monitor installed in the back of the seat in front of them and there was a variety of things to do, watch or listen to. There were several games that you could play alone or with other passengers, for example Battleship or Pacman. Then, there were also hundreds of songs and music albums by different interpreters as well as lots of TV series, news or films, like The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Bambi, Tangled or Liar Game Reborn. There was something for everyone. Besides watching movies and listening to music, we were also able to follow the route of the plane, because a map showed our actual location as well as our destination, the time at our place of departure and destination, our altitude, speed and the temperature outside. There was a remote control, but the monitor could also be controlled by touching it. 

As always, it wasn't long until we were served drinks and snacks, which in our case were spicy Thai rice crackers. 

Then, we began watching a film in order to pass some time. And watching films up there was really relaxing, because at home, there were so many things I could do instead of watching a DVD, and that's the reason why I rarely watched one. But in a plane, with almost twelve hours to pass and nothing "useful" to do instead, I could concentrate on the film and enjoy the time. Of course, I also had a novel, my mp3-player and a bunch of other things in my hand-luggage as well as Japanese phrase book, but forget that. Watching movies was just so much more fun when you were sitting in a narrow seat, especially at the window with no chance to stand up without annoying at least two other persons, and thus almost couldn't move. When watching a movie, all you had to do was watch and listen, but you didn't need your hands or feet, which was great because we could just cover ourselves with the blanket that had been provided, lean back against the small pillow and relax. 


After we'd watched the first film, the two of us played Battleship against each other and waited for more food. :D Shortly afterwards, we had to choose between chicken curry and macaroni. I had chicken curry, which was really good - hadn't expected that. My friend had macaroni and they tasted good, too, except for the warm tomatoes. But overall the food exceeded our expectations, and all those bad reviews we'd read about it were proven wrong. At least according to our taste. By now, we were already past Helsinki and were able to see Finland's beautiful lake scenery.

When we'd finished our meal (that I believe was supposed to be our dinner), we'd been in the air for about four or five hours. Almost half-time. Thus, we decided to stand up for a while, walked a bit and explored the toilet. I think standing up and moving on such a long flight is important, no one wants to get a thrombosis after all. 

Back in our seats, we started watching the next film. I watched "Bambi", though I suddenly fell asleep shortly after Bambi's birth and woke up only at the end when he was already grown up. Soon after that, the lights were dimmed in the plane in order to make us sleepy and prepare us for Japan's time zone. By that time, six hours had passed already. Our plane had taken off at 1:30pm GMT, that meant 2:30pm CET and 9:30pm JST, I think. So now, it was already 3:30am in Japan and we'd arrive there at about 9am local time. It really was time for us to get some sleep. 

Which was easier said than done. Only now did I notice how noisy this plane actually was, as conversations ceased and everyone was trying to sleep. I was sitting at the window, and thought that leaning my head against the wall would be comfortable, but oh noes, it definitely was just the opposite. With my ear pressed against the window, it was even noisier than before. And pulling down the window shades didn't help either. Different methods had to be tried!
Usually, watching a film helped me to fall asleep, but the provided headphones weren't comfortable to wear while sleeping. So that wasn't a possibility. I dug out my mp3-player from my laptop bag under my seat and tried listening to music to drown the noise, and I drifted off to sleep only to be awoken again by my mp3-player almost falling out of my hand. I was really tired, so I thought I'd try to sleep without trying any other methods, but falling asleep once again was difficult. Not only because of the noise, but I also had so little room and my friend had decided to rest her head on my shoulder which was not comfortable for me at all. ;) Ah well. Even if I wouldn't be able to fall asleep again, I thought closing my eyes for a while and relaxing would be good, too, and in between thinking about random stuff, glancing at the screen in front of me to check our location and peeking out of the window from time to time, I did in fact sleep for a short while, which was better than nothing, really. 
I still was very tired, but I hoped that my excitement would blow all the fatigue away once we'd be approaching Japan. 

I was really happy when more and more people opened their window shades and sunlight flooded the cabin. We were finally able to talk again without bothering anyone, though my throat hurt even without talking for hours. When most people were awake, breakfast was served. English breakfast, which consisted of one sausage, a single warm tomatoe, some mushrooms, scrambled eggs and bacon, as well as apple slices and juice. 

もう少し... A bit longer...

Looking at the monitor, we noticed that we'd almost reached the Sea of Japan. Our destination was within our grasp. Outside, the blanket of clouds cleared and we were able to see waves. Closer and closer we got and soon, the first Japanese cities appeared on the monitor. Sapporo. Aomori. 

Now we were really, really, really excited. I felt as if I'd already been on the way for a whole week, tired, but very happy. 

Upon reaching the Sea of Japan, the clouds vanished

First, we were able to see an island - Sado Island. 

Sado Island - though not really visible in this photo's size

Then, when we could finally make out the coast and soon flew over Niigata, eager to take photos of everything we saw, disembarkation/embarkation cards were handed out by the stewardesses. We still had more than half an hour until landing, so we ignored those cards for the moment, instead looking out of the window, where we saw mountains, towns, and far away, in the distance, Mt. Fuji. At least we thought it was Mt. Fuji. Or hoped so. :) 

There, far in the distance, was that Mt. Fuji?!

Niigata - in the bottom right corner you can see a part of Niigata Airport

Seeing that we were already close to Narita Airport, we finally filled out the cards, though sometimes we had to ask the girl sitting next to us, who'd been to Japan already two or three times before, for help, even though we'd looked those cards up on the internet before our trip had started. But looking something up in order to see what it looks like and having to fill it out without mistakes are very, very different. But anyways. Filling out those cards wasn't that difficult, we just didn't want to make any mistakes in order to prevent trouble. 

Closer and closer we got to Tokyo, as could be seen on the monitor. Shortly before landing,  announcements were made to switch off all electronic devices, though I wanted to film the landing and thus, hid my camera every time a stewardess passed our row. 

The weather was beautiful. Some clouds, but a really bright blue sky. Lower and lower our plane  sank and we were able to see Japanese trees, rice fields, grass, streets and houses clearly now. 

And suddenly, we'd already landed, safely of course. It took some minutes until our plane reached its gate. 

Since we were in the back of the plane, we had to wait until everyone from the front was outside, which also took a while. But then it was our turn. We walked to the front, noticing that especially the passengers who sat in first class had left behind lots of rubbish, said goodbye to some stewardesses and stewards and finally, for the first time in our life, we were on Japanese terrain. Well, a Japanese gate-floor at least. 

Immediately after leaving the plane, we noticed how hot it was, even in the building. Our first stop before going through the immigration process, though, was the toilet. We expected some of those modern Japanese toilets we'd already seen on TV, but meh. All we got were normal looking toilets, without control panels, seat warming or washing features. ;) 

So off we went, to the immigration counter! Little did we know that the entry procedure when travelling into a non-EU land would take such a long time. 

That's it for now! Finally, some photos taken in the plane. Just click on the photos for a larger picture.

It was morning in Japan, and the middle of the night where we started our journey

If you want to know how our journey went on and how we got to our hotel, stay tuned! :)

~Mina

Conquering The Air (Part 2)

After having been in the air for almost two hours, we landed at London Heathrow on schedule at 8:15am local time, excited what Europe's busiest airport was like. When the two of us were finally out of the plane, we followed the masses (and those purple signs that read "Flight Connections") to Terminal 5's passport and ticket control, passing toilets as well as the border control. After this control, we were reminded to put all liquids we had into a transparent plastic bag and throw away drinks and bottles, which we thought was stupid, because we'd already been controlled in Munich and the drinks we had were those we'd bought after security control in Munich after all, but oh well. No reason to start complaining, this was how it was after all and nothing could be done about that. And it was for safety after all, so yeah. We'd just have to buy new drinks after the security control once again.

So we were lead to an escalator that brought us to the security control, where we - again - had to line up and wait a while. Everything went smoothly, though, no alarm, no questions. 

And then we were there, between crowds of people and shops, carrying our heavy handluggage. We had five hours to pass, so we started with giving ourselves a tour of the Terminal. 

There were so many shops, especially expensive ones. It ranged from WHSmith, Boots, Harrods and The London 2012 Shop to Bulgari, Gucci and Prada. On our quest for food, we discovered quite a few restaurants, such as Eat., Wagamama, Giraffe, Starbucks or the Seafood Bar, but in the end, we bought one of those sandwiches at WHSmith. I paid with pound, since I had still some left from the last year when I was in London, but it was also possible to pay for example with an EC-card. 

Thanks to our heavy carry-on baggage, soon we were exhausted, so we sat down in one of those waiting areas and tried to figure out where to go in order to ask to which gate we'd have to go for our flight, since no gate was written on our ticket. Thus, we went to the information desk and were told that we'd simply have to wait until 12 o'clock, that means one and a half hours before our flight was scheduled, and look at the screens where the flights, gates, boarding and departure time were written on. 

We did as we were told and waited and waited. There was not much we wanted to do, so we just stayed in the waiting area, talking and watching people. 

Then it was finally 12 and the gate was added next to our flight on the screen. C52, that was where we had to go to. So we followed the signs that read "Gates C" or something like that and eventually, we had to take the elevator downstairs and go by an underground train to gates C. We were one of the first to enter the train, so we even got a seat for the short ride and the train was extremely crowded. To us, it seemed like some kind of practice for what could await us in Japan at rush hour. 

When we reached our gate, of course, we still had about half an hour until boarding began. 

We were really excited and nervous. Soon, we'd be in the air for almost twelve hours, longer than every flight we'd been on before, and when we'd land , we would almost be on the other side of the earth! How often did we dream about this moment before? And now it would soon be reality. 

While we were waiting, we studied the other people sitting around us. It was strange to know that we'd be on the plane together with them for half a day, and whatever would happen up there, we'd all be in the same boat, well, or rather plane. Should our plane crash-land on a remote island, these were the people we would have to team up with.
Though neither of us thought about what could possibly happen and all those catastrophes back then, since this journey was something we'd wanted to do for so long and nothing could stop us from trying to fulfill this dream of ours. 
Catastrophes and their possible outcomes, hah, we'd only think about them the moment the oxygen masks would fall down. And for everything that'd come after the crash-landing, I've written my seminar papers in school about "Lord of the Flies", so I know what's going to happen and how I'd survive. ;D Just kidding, really. 

Anyways, soon after, boarding began and we were among the first ten rows that were called. Quickly, we took out our passports and boarding passes, grabbed our handluggage and joined the line that had already formed by now. After our passes had been checked once again, we were lead down an escalator and had to go through a long passage until we finally reached the airplane.

There, we were welcomed by the stewardesses and stewards and they showed us which way we had to go in order to reach our seats. So we passed through the first class, the business class, the premium economy class and almost the entire economy class until we arrived at the seats we'd reserved months beforehand, after pondering on which side of the plane we'd have to sit in order to possibly see Mt. Fuji. 

While more and more passengers entered the aircraft and searched for their seats, we tried to make ourselves comfortable which was not as easy as it may sound, since we didn't have much space and on our seats, there were a small pillow, a blanket, headphones and a tootbrush, which were provided by the airline. Plus, I also had to stow my notebook bag away under the seat of the person in front of me as well as my legs, which - also - was not as easy as it may sound. We managed, though, and I swore to myself that - on the return flight - I would put everything I really really needed, like my MP3 Player or tissues or a drink, in a small bag and put the notebook bag together with my backpack into the hand-luggage compartment. 

As always, it took a while until everyone was seated and wore a seat belt, while the video about what to do in case of an emergency was already running, this time with Japanese subtitles. And  there was - as you'd expect in an airplane heading to Tokyo - a Japanese speaking stewardess on board as well and we were fascinated by listening to her, even though we'd heard people speak Japanese lots of times not only on TV but also in real life before. Nevertheless, this was different. We realized that this was the point where our journey really began.

Conquering The Air (Part 1)

Since we arrived in Munich in the afternoon and our flight was scheduled for the next morning, we had booked a room at Kempinski Hotel about two months or so beforehand (because of the  early booking deal) in order to get at least some sleep. 

The hotel is located conveniently between terminals 1 and 2 and no matter whether you arrive by car/bus, train or plane, there are always signs that'll lead you there. It's a five star hotel and it was my first time staying in one. The best hotel I've been in before was the Estrel hotel in Berlin, which had four stars. 

So when we arrived, exhausted and sweaty from the heat and from pulling our suitcases and carrying our bags all the way there, and went to the front desk, we felt quite...cheap. Everything was so luxurious and clean and shiny and there even was a hotel porter and there I stood in my baggy tee and really short jeans, cut-off style. I was not used to stuff like that, because hey, I'm just a student after all and I'm used to youth hostels and budget hotels, so this was... wow. I really felt cheap and ashamed for being dressed so sloppily, but I had been some hours on the train after all and had wanted to wear something comfortable.  

The hotel porter took our luggage and accompanied us to our room, here and there remarking some facts about the hotel and what offers we could use. In our room, he explained how to regulate the temperature of the room and other stuff we didn't even listen to because my friend and I were discussing whether we should tip him or not, because - obviously - he was taking his time with explaining so that we could take out our purses. However, before we were able to come to an agreement, he was already leaving and yeah... Ah well. Our image was already ruined by my sloppy look, so it couldn't get any worse than it already was anyway. 

Instead of worrying about what other people thought about us, we busied ourselves with exploring our room, calling our families and telling them that we'd arrived safely and taking some photos. We had a standard room, which was - in our opinion - really big (30 square meters), with a king-size bed, a flat screen TV and a great bathroom. 

The view from our window wasn't that bad either. 

It was awesome, but only for a night after all, and not even a whole one since we had to check out at about 4 or 5am the next morning due to our flight. And we knew that our hotel room in Tokyo would only have 10 square meters, so it was best not to get used to this luxury and space. 

After changing clothes, we decided to stroll around the hotel and airport and look for the terminal and check-in counter we'd have to go to the following morning, so that we wouldn't have to wander around and search for it in the morning. 

A corridor in the hotel

 The elevator

 View from the elevator over the huge hotel hall

 The front desk

Some kind of food stall in the airport

After returning to the hotel, we wanted to check out the spa and wellness area, so we took our swimsuits and the bath robes that were neatly folded together and lying on our bed and headed to the lowest story of the hotel, where we were welcomed and offered towels.

The pool area

There was a pool, many comfortable loungers, a whirlpool, a sauna, a steam bath and hardly any other people. Apples and water, which tasted slightly of lemon, were provided for free. We relaxed there for some hours and enjoyed taking a swim before going back to our room. 

By now, it was getting dark outside. 

After having eaten something in the airport, calling the front desk in order to ask for a wake up call at 3:30am and putting out everything that we'd need the next morning, we went to bed really early and went to sleep only to be woken by a thunderstorm at 3am. Well, actually, the thunderstorm seemed to be almost over by then, only some lightnings and thunders every five or ten minutes or so.

 The airport at night when we woke up

When the hotel staff called us at 3:30am, we were already awake and at 4am, we decided to check out. After getting a luggage cart and putting all our bags and suitcases on it, we took the elevator down to the lobby. The front desk lady asked whether we'd liked to take the shuttle service to our terminal, but we refused and decided to walk the short way. We had lots of time left anyway until the check-in would begin at 5:20am. 

It was not my first time to be in an airport in the middle of the night, but still, it was always surprising to see how deserted everything was, compared to how crowded it was the day before. When we arrived at the British Airways check-in counter, though, there were already about a dozen of other people waiting. We searched for a nice place to sit down and waited, taking care not to fall asleep since we were still really tired. Our excitement, however, was greater than our tiredness and after talking for a while and watching other people come and go, our check-in counter was opened and we joined the queue. 

While standing in the line, we noticed that most people already had those suitcase tags that are provided by the airline when you check-in, but we hadn't any. So I left the queue for a moment and quickly walked to the British Airways info desk in order to ask where we got those, but I was told that it was given to me when checking in. I went back to my friend in the line and we waited until it was our turn. The check-in process went off smoothly, our suitcases weren't too heavy (they were allowed to weigh 23kg), each of us had one piece of hand luggage as well as a handbag or notebook bag, we hadn't forgotten our passports, so everything was alright and we were given two flight tickets each. One from Munich to London Heathrow, and one from London Heathrow to Tokyo Narita. 

Quickly, we joined the line for security control and again, everything went off smoothly and fast. 
Sweet! As it was only about 6 am, we still had more than an hour until our plane would take off at 7:20h. We looked around for a while, but in this terminal, there were only like, two or three shops and a small bakery, so yeah... We'd been in the other terminal the year before when we waited for our flight to Barcelona, and after security control, there'd been so many shops and drink machines were you could get coffee, cocoa and tea for free, so we were a bit disappointed upon seeing that there was nothing to see there. But well, we just had to wait for an hour, so we simply sat down and relaxed a bit more, talking and calling our families.

And then suddenly, the boarding call for our flight came and we eagerly went to our gate, got our passports and tickets checked once again, and were finally able to enter the plane that'd bring us to London.

As always, there was a short film about what to do in an emergency, a film we'd be watching four times in total on our journey. The stewardesses gesticulated in order to show where the emergency exits were located and afterwards, checked whether everyone had fastened their seat belts. In the meantime, I was - again - taking some photos, even though there were raindrops on the window, maybe from the thunderstorm some hours prior. Nothing could stop me! 

Ah well, except for the stewardesses who, as always, ordered to turn off all electronic devices. 

Finally, we took off and could catch a glimpse of the Alps, before everything disappeared under clouds.

The Alps in the background

Since this was just a short-distance flight, the plane didn't have an entertainment system, like films or games, so we just spent the time relaxing and occasionally taking some photos. It was morning, thus we were served coffee, tea or juice for drinks, and snacks.

   

One and a half hours later, the clouds were clearing and we were able to get a great view over London. Quickly, we took some photos before the stewardesses announced that the plane would soon begin its final descent and that we had to fasten our seat belts once again and turn off all electronic devices. 

That's it for now. ^__^ Comments are appreciated and if you have questions, please feel free to ask. The next parts will be published soon and will cover the flight from London to Tokyo Narita and our arrival in the land of the rising sun, so stay tuned! 

~Mina