Round The World and other travels

A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries

This is: Japan 2014

Meeting up again on the other side of the world

ABOVE: Air China lounge at Shanghai

(Link to flight log in side panel)

I walked up the ramp and into the terminal at Shanghai Pudong, and almost immediately spotted the transfer desk. My hopes that things would play out according to the Lufthansa flight attendant's predictions were immediately dashed: "So sorry, Sir, transfer service not available for Kansai." I blurted out the fact that I was not holding a Chinese visa, but the agent put me at ease immediately: "Not a problem, Sir. Just go to immigration and explain; agent will give you temporary permit. Then you pick up bag, take it to check-in and come back airside."

Well, it wasn't the most elegant procedure in the world, but it all went without a hitch and in no time at all I was relaxing in a corner of the huge Air China Business Class lounge. During my unplanned fifteen-minute visit to the People's Republic of China, I had seen a baggage carousel, an arrivals hall, an elevator and a check-in hall, and I had filled a half-page of my relatively new passport with stamps.

(Link to flight log in side panel)

LEFT: Arrival at Terminal 1, Osaka / Kansai Int'l Airport

The arrivals process at Kansai International proved to be delightfully easy. I had arrived into this airport on one previous occasion, as part of my Round the World 2006-07 trip, but I didn't recognise anything until I got to the station ticket hall. I bought a one-way ticket to Osaka from a person on this occasion, wondering how on earth I had managed to decipher the workings of the automatic machines last time around.

It was a surprisingly long and slow journey to Osaka, serving many intermediate stops. On several occasions I was tempted to conclude that I must have gone wrong, yet I knew what the route diagrams indicated and I knew what I'd heard in the announcements. Sure enough, all was well and in due course I managed quite easily to find my way to the Hilton. The lobby seemed to be buzzing with activity, but check-in staff were exceptionally friendly and helpful and, the long journey from Cologne finally over, I was soon able to settle into the second hotel of the trip.

RIGHT: Waiting to meet Bruce, who had just arrived by train

I did have one important errand to complete, and popped back to the station to buy our tickets for the following day's journey to Kagaonsen, bearing in mind Bruce's strict instructions to ensure that we would be travelling in the Green Car (i.e. First Class).

A text just after 8:30pm local time announced Bruce's arrival in town and I went down to meet him somewhere between the hotel and the station, continuing our long-established tradition of meeting up in odd places around the globe. We went for cocktails and a pizza in the Hilton's lobby bar, swapping stories of how our respective journeys had gone. By the time we had finished our food, tiredness and jet-lag were taking their toll and a deep and hopefully recuperative sleep beckoned.