Tokyo and beyond, and our local rain...

As a last thing to settle my own mind, I rang the hotel at Narita Airport (Tokyo), and after listening to a very fast set of sentences in Japanese, I timidly asked if this was the hotel we were supposed to be staying at. 

Immediately, a very clear voice, (same person), in perfect English, said it was and we began our conversation.

The different 'inflections' in the Australian voice take over, and they quickly realise they are speaking to someone from another country. Then when I had to spell out my surname, doing the B for Bob thing, she very quickly fell into the rhythm of it and we got on famously!

Bottom line was, that all is OK at their hotel, and everything is functioning well, and they were looking forward to seeing us. So, having confirmed that all is well, I can now get on the plane and expect to get to the UK without any problems. As I have said, both the Sydney and Narita airports have had flights to and from, ever since the earthquake.

The bigger problem is here at home, where we haven't been able to complete all the jobs we wanted to do in the garden, because of the recent rains. It's either too wet to do anything, or too wet to plant or remove stuff, so as of tonight, we have decided we will do the most important things, and then just go.

If there is anyone out there reading this blog, please keep posted, because there will be plenty more...

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

I think we have mentioned we are booked on Japan Airlines to fly via Tokyo (Narita). 
With all that has happened, we have had many anxious hours thinking and talking about what is the best thing to do. After some discussion with our travel agent, and with some other information gleaned from various sources, we have decided to stick with the plan, and fly out on the 31st from Sydney.

There have been changes in the Travel Advisory from Smartraveller (DFAT), with whom we have registered our intended trip. It appears I had made a small mistake in the registration, and I wasn't getting email updates from them, about any changes or news about the situation. 
I did have a very helpful conversation with a young man from DFAT yesterday morning, and all he could say was that at that time, we should "reconsider our need to travel" . That 'warning' has since gone to "do not travel" as of a few hours ago. And, he also explained that he (DFAT) could not advise me what to do, i.e. make a decision one way or the other. Fair enough.

We have also had access to some other information (via Japan), which indicates that the situation has been beaten up by the media, and things are not as bad as one would presume.(?)
So, the problem is who and what to believe. 
In issuing a travel advisory that says "do not travel", nobody is saying "YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO TRAVEL"  !

In fact, if you check online to the departures from Sydney International Airport, you will see that there has been a flight to Tokyo every morning at 9.20am with Japan Airlines. This is the same flight number we are booked on for the 31st, (JAL772).
The site shows departures for today, and the next two days, and further flights are already scheduled. I find it hard to believe that these planes are taking off each morning with no passengers on board!
Mind you, we have not heard anything specific from Japan Airlines either, except an item on their website to say that there would be no penalties if people cancelled, given the current situation, and were holding valid tickets bought in a particular period.
It appears we would not lose the money we have already paid out for the flights, but if we can't get the same deal we got with JAL, then tickets with another airline, (e.g. Qantas, British Airways, Virgin), for the same type of seating class, could be up to $5000 more!!!


So there it is, wait another week and see what develops, and make another decision then...

The Trial packing...

It wasn't really much of a 'trial' really, but we'd put it off a few times. So, on one of those days when we'd already been to the gym, and couldn't garden because of the rain, we set the bags up and started. The bags we are taking are the same size, and both weigh 5kgs empty. 

Then we just got out those things we thought we'd need, based on having enough for a week, allowing for washing stuff in between times. (Trouble is, there are always some places you can't access a washing machine, so we'll do some daily hand washing when needed, and hang it up in the car whilst we drive).

Anyway, after the first trial, my bag came to only 10kgs, which was a real surprise as I've always been one of those who took things "just in case". Of course it will get heavier, as we didn't include ALL the bits and pieces like toiletries, chargers, etc. etc. 
Still, I am encouraged by the first effort.

[By the way, we think our background scene is The Cliffs of Moher, in Ireland. Haven't verified it yet, but it will do until we post one of our own photo's.]

We'll just have to wait and see...

With the dreadful news coming out of Japan, it may well affect our plans. At least we have 3 weeks before we go, and so we should have plenty of time to sort things out, if we have to make changes.

And, the way we have set up our itinerary, we have more than a few days leeway, to adjust flights and times, etc. Nothing in the earlier part of the trip is paid for, except of course the airfares, but with Travel Insurance, we should be covered, and there has already been a notice from JAL to say there will be no fees for people who have already booked, and are holding tickets, and have to make changes.

Those early arrangements, are just bookings at this point, so we should be able to change them.
We could either go earlier, or even return later if necessary, depending on what eventuates.

Yet another one of the benefits of being retired!

Cemetery, Pt.2 and the Cruise tickets...

We had another very helpful email from the young (?) man about the Bezears in the Stapleford Cemetery, with a precise description of a memorial headstone he has found, with the rellies names on it.,  e.g. "between the 5th and 6th tree along from the Chapel". It isn't a long trip for him to do these things as I have checked on Google Earth, and the Crematorium where he is based, and the Cemetery, are not far apart.
It would be nice if we were able to thank him personally when we get there.

Next was an email from our travel agent girl, who has advised us that the E-tickets for the Norway cruise won't be released until approx. 60 days before the cruise! By then, we will be in or near Gloucester or Bristol, so we will download the info to a thumb drive and find somewhere to print them off. Just a small glitch, but we should have enough time to do it, as it is well before the start of the cruise.

Nottingham and the Cemetery...

We had a very prompt reply to an email about Stapleford cemetery, which is near the suburb where some rellies have lived. I only sent the email on Wednesday, and a reply came back this morning (Friday),  with some very helpful and interesting information.

The gentleman who dealt with my enquiry answered all my questions as to opening times, etc., but then added the names of those past relations who are buried there and in which plot numbers. It will just make our visit potentially very rewarding, as we won't have to wander around checking all the grave sites, but have will have some idea in which area we are to look.

He has definitely excelled himself, and I have replied to thank him sincerely for all his work, indicating how good it is to get such a response when so many other people we have contacted, either can't be bothered or take forever to respond.

It never hurts to thank someone for a job well done! 

"Hello Sailor!", and Leaving on a jet plane...

Yesterday, we paid the balance of the bigger cruise to Norway. Lots of money, but we are so looking forward to it.
We also got our flight tickets, and you will know by now, that I have checked them from top to bottom, fine print and all. We even know where we will be sitting, and are quite happy with the allocation. (Just waiting for that very nice check-in person to say we've been up-graded to Business Class!!! Our travel agent tells us that it's more likely to happen from Premium Economy than from Economy, so fingers crossed)

There was a bit of fine tuning with scheduled departure times, but nothing too serious. We just have to make sure we have checked in around 6.00am the day we fly to Japan. Six a.m. is usually the time I am settling back down for that final bit of sleep before the body clock says I have to wake up for the 7.00am news on ABC/Classic FM - of course. 
(We haven't listened to any commercial radio station for about 30 years! Can't stand talk-back radio of any kind, and don't like some of the newer music. If that's what they call lyrics today, anyone could be a famous songwriter!)

So, there we are, all paid up and ready to go. Just need to do that dreaded trial packing!!!