Erk's 2014 Pacamerican Circle

[erkpod]

Until I return to the end of the Japanese part of the trip to resume the TR shortly, I'll leave you to ponder how many Erks can fit in an SQ A380 toilet.

 

[drron]

View attachment 25131

Until I return to the end of the Japanese part of the trip to resume the TR shortly, I'll leave you to ponder how many Erks can fit in an SQ A380 toilet.

With or without smoke?

 

[petercr]

With or without smoke?

Economy or Business class toilet with smoke? (flames optional)

On topic, Erk it's been great reading about your journey. Mentioned the 70,000 tons of metal to a guy at work and got a WTF and eyes lighting up response...

 

[erkpod]

Back to day 50 on the way to NRT via Nippori.



Don't take photos over the fence for the New Shuttle.





The New Shuttle looks like a duck, talks like a duck, sounds like a duck but isn't a duck.



Sit on station seat
Ensure you sit back to back
Waiting for New Shuttle



The New Shuttle carriages have a similar layout to the trains in Aomori. It's easy to see the driver & out the front of the train.

 

[erkpod]

I think it was hvr who mentioned women only carriages on Japanese trains. I found the female only carriages on the train on the way back to Nippori.

The restriction did not apply at the time I was there as it was the PM peak & not the AM peak.

 

[erkpod]

Cool mailbox inside the paid area at Ominya station.





Back to the lockers at Nippori, I notice a sticker. My knowledge of Japanese is small but even I spot the message in this sticker on the inside of the locker door.

Do not put fun sized people into a locker.

For someone to make that into
a sticker, it must have happened.



Witches hats, traffic cones, safety cones, call them what you will, don't only come in red & orange in Japan.

JR East Green?

 

[markis10]

I think it was hvr who mentioned women only carriages on Japanese trains. I found the female only carriages on the train on the way back to Nippori.

KL has them as well.

 

[erkpod]

Back at Nippori, I found myself 30¥ short of the fare on my Pasmo card. Using the fare adjustment machine inside the paid area, I paid the balance & left with 2¥ on the card.

I went around to the Skyliner platforms after getting my luggage from the lockers. The machines outside the paid area didn't accept my credit card (quelle surprise) so I had to see the information lady & then a ticket seller inside the paid area to pay by credit card. 2400ish Yen later & I had a reservation for a Skyliner which was due to arrive in under 5 minutes.

If you go to Tokyo, take the Skyliner between NRT & Nippori (and vice versa) in around 36 minutes. It does not go to downtown Tokyo. I much preferred Nippori, Shinjuku or Shibuya to downtown Tokyo anyway. If you stay near those places outside downtown Tokyo, you'll still have a good time. Except to get the Shinkansen, I did not go to the main Tokyo station once.





Very very occasionally, the monitors on the Skyliner will show the view out of the front of the train or as the screen calls it, the view from the coughpit.

 

[erkpod]

KL has them as well.

As does Mexico City. There are also women only buses there.

I posted ages ago to a Wikipedia article about places with segregated public transport based on gender. Some egghead in Sydney floated that pie in the sky idea around 12 months ago in conjunction with quiet carriages on intercity trains there.

 

[erkpod]

With or without smoke?

I don't want any fire in the sky...

*insert guitar riff here*

 

[erkpod]

Economy or Business class toilet with smoke? (flames optional)

On topic, Erk it's been great reading about your journey. Mentioned the 70,000 tons of metal to a guy at work and got a WTF and eyes lighting up response...

There's several cruises such as 70000 Tons of Metal in the US but to me, 70k is the best one.

I'm glad people are enjoying the TR which I'm writing in close to real time.

 

[erkpod]

At NRT, I dreamt of being able to jump on a Canadian aircraft to see a certain female Canadian but alas, K, not this time. Besides, I live in the VA universe so I'd have to fly DL to make it count.

So I wander down further to SQ. Flight report coming soon.





Time to officially leave Japan & in typical
Japanese fashion, it was efficient.

 

[erkpod]

I hope the real thing is edible!

Once again, someone must have tried the inedible sample to prompt someone else to make a warning sign about it.



I had 2¥ on my Pasmo card to finish with. After my final food & drink purchase (after this photo was taken), I had 1¥ in coin remaining. I transferred the remaining yen on the Global Wallet to Singapore dollars.







Despite not being mentioned by name, I did take advantage of VFF SG status & used the PB lane successfully. I was hoping I'd get the whole row to myself but a lady sat in D. She was fun sized enough to sleep across D & E while I stretched my legs into F's floorspace. A rare shadow on a (roughly) half full night flight.

 

[rogerkambah]

Have loved reading your very informative TR. Just interested in what Forex rate you are getting from your global wallet in Japan.

Last time we went to Japan (2009) we got severely ripped by changing AUD to JPY in Osaka, so are now looking at a better way. Current mid-rate in Aus is 92 JPY:1AUD. American express rate (bad) was 79.8 today while credit union rate was 89 JPY.

 

[erkpod]

Have loved reading your very informative TR. Just interested in what Forex rate you are getting from your global wallet in Japan.

Last time we went to Japan (2009) we got severely ripped by changing AUD to JPY in Osaka, so are now looking at a better way. Current mid-rate in Aus is 92 JPY:1AUD. American express rate (bad) was 79.8 today while credit union rate was 89 JPY.

I just had a look at the Global Wallet a moment ago. $1 AUD = 87.09¥

For the sake of the maths, I've been working on $1 AUD = 100¥. I know that isn't totally correct but when I purchase 8800ish yen of product from the shop at the railway museum, I want to know that I've spent roughly $88 & not $880.

 

[erkpod]

Flight Report
NRT - SIN, SQ11 A380
Wednesday 19 February

Plane: A big one. What would Johnny from Flying High/Airplane think of an A380?

Captain/CSM: There were both of them.

Check-in: I haven't read SQ's baggage policies for a while but I was shocked to
hear that the ANA check-in agent acting for SQ tells me I'm 11kg over my 30kg Y limit. After a "I'm VA Gold so I'm allowed more than Y" conversation, there was no charge.

Security: As always, the Japanese are efficient. Got through quite easily. No free body massage.

Boarding: While VA/VFF wasn't mentioned, I boarded when other priority groups were mentioned & was not challenged. The plane seemed to be half full in Y.

I knew from last week's flight that the plane had just come from LAX but you wouldn't know it.

IFE: Watched 3 episodes of Modern Family. I haven't watched since season 2 so watching 3 episodes from season 5 left me a little confused - a baby for whatshername oops Gloria... what? Then as I slept, I listened to bands such as Metallica. As I do...

Deplaning: Deplaning was pretty quick for me but it was OMG o'clock (around 0330) when I landed. Whose idea was that?

My original plan was to go to the hotel I booked & beg for an extremely early (or late) check-in. Or I could sleep at Changi.

I slept at Changi in the T3 Transit Hotel. By the time I walked from the plane, it was 0400 & thankfully, a room was available. Despite me not actually technically transiting, the lady understood it was zero dark thirty & I wanted to sleep. So she wrote on the form that I was transiting to city.

I booked the room for 8 hours (starts at 6 hours then 2 additional hours).

The room had one universal power point but that wasn't near the bed. I had my CPAP machine & cable etc with me but not my extension cord. I didn't have an adaptor nor do the front desk (they do not supply them). There were very few stores open & those who were, I'd walked past them already.

I had a great sleep & woke up at lunchtime before my check out time.

I had breakfast at the Hard Rock Cafe, was able to get a decent photo of an SQ A380 (didn't get one at NRT or LAX).

Immigration/Customs: No queue. Straight through Immigration. Officer noted that I arrived earlier & I said I slept in the transit hotel. He seemed to think that was a good idea. Customs did not stop me when going down the green channel.

Baggage: As expected, I had to go to baggage claim because I went to the transit hotel. No problem with getting the bags back.

The next time I fly Australia - Japan (oh please hurry up VA & fly direct or codeshare with someone who does), I am going to allow around 8 - 12 hours to layover & use the transit hotel. It worked well. I won't be coming back to downtown Singapore as a part of a Japanese visit - only as a standalone trip if at all.

 

[erkpod]

It doesn't affect me but still a sobering thought.



Comfortable bed at the T3 Transit Hotel. I so needed this at SFO the last time through. Who wants to co-own a chain of transit hotels with me?



Ssshhhh. Despite being airside, I didn't hear a single plane. I only really recall hearing one family that had children with defective volume controls around 0430 when they were leaving a nearby room.





When I was staying in NYC, I had a view out of my hotel room of an alleyway & a wall about 3 metres away. I'd joked that the best view I had was when X looked into the window & saw her reflection. Wait until I tell her that I had a curtain in the room but no window!

 

[erkpod]

If there's a sign, there's a reason for it. In this case, changes in floor elevation in the bathroom due to wet areas.





Breakfast at the Hard Rock Cafe. Steak selection poor & expensive so I had drinks & fries only.





Finally a decent chance to get a nice SQ A380 photo albeit many hours (and a different plane, presumably).

 

[erkpod]

Everything about Changi was efficient except for how to connect to the internet if you don't have an active phone/data service.

There is no wifi in the transit hotel except for the lobby. In other areas, you connect by it sending an SMS to your phone which includes the access password. Otherwise, you do have the choice of dedicated computer terminals around the terminals (mostly airside). Or you can get a password from the information desks (password valid for 6 hours).


Welcome to Singapore, Erk!

 

[erkpod]

Day 51, Thursday 20 February
Singapore

After clearing immigration & customs, I decided to get a shuttle bus to the hotel. The hotel is around the corner from an MRT station but I thought that for $9 SGD, I'd let someone else navigate & drive.

Leaving from T3, we went to T1 to pick a couple up & then first stop was downtown to drop the couple off. Heading back towards Changi, the driver dropped me off about an hour after I boarded the bus.

After a bit of interweb time, I decided to head downtown on the train. It was a short walk but not one I'd look forward to in the heat or rain.

I took a photo of the station sign & a selfie (who knew, right?) and then station security came running over. I thought I was back at my place of employment for a moment because someone in a JQ looking uniform was having a sookylala about someone taking photos on a train station. Oh, she was talking to me....

Still haven't seen a sign banning photos.





Initial impression was that the system was very much like Hong Kong but cleaner. The city in general seems very clean but one thing that struck me all
afternoon was ... where is everybody!

Making my way downtown, I found Extreme Sailing on the water at Marina Bay. It is going on all weekend - today seeked to be qualifying & practice. I was a little happy & a little shocked to see a Kiwi boat & an Aussie boat. I did get to see the end of a race, the Kiwis placed 2nd while the Aussies were mid field.