Last Day - Day 15
Had the best part of the day before I had to head to the airport, left it to near on 10 before I checked out, then headed to the Imperial Palace. Bit of a walk around, took some snaps, then headed to Tokyo station to have something to eat.
Did think about some more walking around Ginza and down to the fish market but again just wouldn't have been up to it, so headed back to the Shinjuku area. Tried a different coffee place for a coffee, not a good move. Did have a bit of a chuckle at the bloke below having a snooze in his truck he had half pulled over to the side of the road.
Spent some time at Shinjuku Central Park, another trip up the Metropolitan Building, where was again treated to a clear view of Fuji. Before long time to grab my bag, head to Shinjuku Station and on to the NEX.
Was a pleasant journey for the first 20 minutes or so, quiet, people snoozing, listening to their music with headphones. That all changed when a coupe of Aussie families got on at Tokyo Station with 5 kids aged between about 8 and 15. Arguing about who was sitting next to who which continued for the next hour, video games playing with the volume up, food wrappers thrown on the floor. Thought to myself would be great if they went to a Japanese school for a year and learnt how to behave in public.
Got to Narita very early, always do as I enjoy airports. Able to check in early, left plenty of time to explore. Time came to board, first time on an A380, added bonus of a spare seat next to me. Able to watch Black Mass on this flight, as normal no sleep though. Early morning arrival in Singapore, managed to get about a half hour snooze in front of a large screen TV behind a restaurant .
Had a 6 hour stopover in Changi, so used my Singapore dollars to pick up the Tendulker Autobiography and put some towards a bottle of bourbon. On boarding the flight to Perth I was pulled aside on showing my Boarding Pass and told a family wanted to sit together and they would speak to me on the plane. I had an aisle seat, which gave me room to stretch my leg out, so I wasn't keen with what may happen. Anyway, got to my seat where an older Indian lady asked if I would mind swapping seats as she wanted to look after the 3 kids in the row behind. The kids where aged from about 5 - 9, so I said show me the seat and i'll decide from there. I did explain to her about my leg, I had a compression bandage on, she was very pleasant and said only move if I wanted to. Turned out the seat was a bulkhead, with a bit of extra room as the partition didn't go right across to the wall. I said no worries, i'll swap, which at that point a younger Indian lady with a baby in hand who had been lurking said there would be a bassinet where my legs would be going. At this point I bailed out, said 'sorry, changed my mind' and hobbled as quickly as I could back to my seat. I don't do babies. Must say the 3 kids behind my seat were perfect the whole journey, the older lady came back a couple of times, but they were great.
Anyway back to Perth and back to reality.
All in all I really enjoyed Japan, even though I was quite restricted and unable to do everything I wanted to. I will definitely be back, however next time will make sure I have some knowledge of how to read as I believe I missed out on lots of eating opportunities.
