JAL Sydney to Tokyo (31st March)

We've only ever done Qantas, and British Airways, but neither of them compare to the cabin crew on JAL.
They are amazing and so attentive. Not fawning or anything like that, but genuinely polite and helpful. Our seats were good and we might try to get them again, and it allowed us a lot of room in front of us. Food was good in small portions, and plenty of fluids, which we had on the first leg, but didn't quite seem to get enough of on the flight from Japan to London, and so we ended up being a little more dehydrated than perhaps we should.

There were quite a lot of empty seats, in all classes, and I assume this is because of the recent events, and people might have cancelled. We had been determined to go ahead, and our resolve was rewarded, when the Captain made an announcement, on behalf of the people of Japan, thanking all those people from other nationalities for supporting his country at this time. He especially mentioned Australians, so it made me wonder just how many people had changed their plans, when in fact they needn't have bothered.

Still, nothing can prepare you for the tedium of just sitting there for nine hours!!! You can do just so many crosswords, or watch a movie, or try to have a sleep (which I cannot do successfully on a plane).

The range of movies was good, but many of them are dark, either in theme or in their photography, that it is hard to see all the scenes well.

Narita Airport is quite amazing in it's own way, and you get off your plane and then hop on a shuttle across to the main terminal. The passage through immigration and customs was so easy, mainly because Premium Economy allows you to go through the Priority Gate, and so we were through in minutes!

Before we left the terminal for the hotel, we needed to get some local currency, so I found an ATM, and decided to withdraw 30,000 Yen, (which turned out to be about $AUS350), but it came out in three 10,000 Yen notes, and when I went to another counter to ask if the man could change it down to smaller denominations, this charming Japanese gentleman grinned, and said, "go shopping!"

So, on to the hotel shuttle bus (every 20 minutes), and free, and finally got to the Nikko Narita Airport Hotel...

First impressions...