The last leg

Days 28 & 29

It seems we are returning to Europe. I must admit I am not very happy about that. Why would you want to leave such an amazing country? It feels like we are returning from a 1st world country (Japan) to a 3rd world country (UK). I know it's hard to believe, but such is the difference between both.

The journey home was absolutely horrible and I would prefer to forget about it.

When I bought the tickets the prices were a bit higher then we had planned and you can't start splashing out at the beginning because the money might not last until the end of the trip. So we agreed to come the long way. After the trip done you don't really need much energy and we had a bit more than a day to recover before going back to work. Doable I though. How wrong I was...

Between leaving the hotel in Sapporo and arriving at home in London we had a very long and painful 37.5h journey. Yes, that's it!, 37.5 hours!!!

Transportation used:

Walk, train, plane 1, plane 2, plane 3, tube (metro), walk.

Airports visited:

• Sapporo (aka market): it looks like a market, with more shops than the markets in London. All shops with japanese and Hokkaido products.

• Tokyo - Narita: I can't believe we found Hello Kittys at half price here! The best place for souvenir shopping in Japan. 
• Abu Dhabi: alleged to be the airport that never sleeps, it is quite boring and it doesn't really have much for you to do at 4am. Luckily we found a CNN cafe with electrical sockets, USB sockets, wifi and tv (logged to CNN channel, of course!). The tv volume button was at the table and the speakers as well so you could hear the tv without disturbing (too much) the other customers.

• London - Heathrow: let's get the hell out of here! I can't cope with more airports!!!

Airlines:

• ANA (All Nippon Airways): as all japanese, extremely polite and helpful. I forgot my grandfather's swiss knife in my handbag and instead of being disposed as it would be in Europe, I was sent back to check-in and the small knife was put into a cardboard box (although small, it is quite big for a small knife) and I was told it would be waiting for me in London. Are you joking?!? Are you really having this much trouble for a small knife? Let's be honest and say that I said goodbye to the knife there and then. I never believed it would actually jump between 3 planes and get to London. More than a d day later and in London, the box did not arrive with our bags. What did I say? Apparently, even small boxes travel as oversize luggage. You can't imagine how surprised I was when it was waiting on the oversize luggage belt! There is nothing like japanese efficiency!!

• Etihad: service ok, food bad, seats horrible. There was no soap in the toilets and they were quite messy! I couldn't sleep at all during the trip. I do not recommend Etihad for long distance flights! The only thing that kept me sane were the films I saw during the flights. In Tokyo airport, the flight was allegedly 10min early but we were told to go to the gate 10min later. That makes no sense at all! The boarding gate also had two boarding rows, the economy (normal) and the 1st class (with a type of red carpet that was actually grey with a yellow line). They do like class distinctions in the United Arab Emirates, hein?

Jet lag: 

Yes, it's bad! 

Although the three of us wore compression socks, we all had swollen feet, me more than the boys (bloody genes!). 

We were all exhausted and made a terrible effort not to go to bed as soon as we arrived home at 3.30pm. Luckily there was unpacking and washing to do. Our beloved cat also needed some attention after not seeing us for a month. There eventually was a Papa John's delivery and an early bed.

The following days:

Tiredness, sleepiness and headaches. Not good! It took us about 3 days to recover from the trip. The flight into Japan had been a more direct one and we did not experience any of this.

We have learned a valuable lesson for the future: do not be stingy, pay the extra money and get a more direct flight!