5.10 is just too early. But I got up, had a shower, read a disappointing message that I haven’t been upgraded…bit of breakfast, and in the DiDi a bit after 6. It was NOT a white Corolla. It was NOT an Indian driver. The guy is a local in Altona and I was his first customer so he was very quick to arrive. A bit of traffic at the Kororoit Creek overpass, so we went Fitzgerald Road and had a smooth run to the airport. I checked in, went through security and immigration (which were both empty – no lining up), and was at the gate 90 minutes before the flight – and that was after some window shopping!

I watched some movies on the flight and ate some food. I tried a bit of sleep but the person next to me decided he deserved to sit spread-eagle with his legs and arms in my area, making it a big difficult. Finally we landed at Narita.

I power-walked through the terminal, taking stairs, and overtook a number of people before getting to immigration. There was still quite a line, but it was moving. Eventually I completed immigration, got my bag, and went through customs. I bought a bus ticket for Tokyo – the bus leaves in 3 min! So a quick message to Kaoru to let her know I was on it, and out I went. It was about 45 minutes after landing, so quite good.

The bus trip was about 1 hour. I had internet on the bus so I could keep in touch with Kaoru on the way. She met me at the bus stop and we went to our hotel (Toyoku Inn, Tokyo). I think this was now the smallest room I have stayed in. In fact, there was a shelf in the room that overhung the bed so the bed wasn’t even full width!

We went to an Izakaya for some food – I wasn’t really hungry, but I wanted some Japanese food! So some sashimi, meat, and sake, and then it was a trip to 7/11 for dessert, and ready to call it a night.