Family Trip
2003 to Japan
DAY 9A: To Narita Airport we go!
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We woke up at about
5:30am. Showered up and finished the last minute packing. We checked
out of the Hotel by 6:15am. Toting the suitcases we did the 12 minute
walk to the Hommachi Station entrance for the Midosuji Line. Being
that it was still early on a Monday morning the trains were relatively
empty for our journey.
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| We are at
Shin-Osaka Station waiting for our train |
We got off at Shin-Osaka Station. By 6:40 we
were on the Shinkansen Platform waiting for our train to Tokyo. Our
train was the 7:06am Hikari which only stops at Kyoto, Nagoya and
Yokohama before Tokyo.
Mark got some last
Shinkansen Photos on the platform as there were 3 other departures
before us. Another Hikari (slower then ours), a Kodama and a Nozomi.
But time flew by and we boarded our train and got comfortable in our
nice Green Car seats. We were in a 700 class train.
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| Yamanote
Train |
We pulled into Tokyo at
10:03am. We walked slowly across the entire Tokyo Station to the
Yokosoka/Sobu Line underground platforms to catch our 11:00am Narita
Express. Mark & Richard left Cyn on the platform and did some last
minute railfanning on the Yamanote Platform, and the outside of Tokyo
Station. But time is short, and returned to the platform.
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| Narita Express |
Our N-Ex was a two
section train that joins us at Tokyo Station. The first half arrived
followed 3 minutes later by the second half. Coupling up did not take
any time at all. Soon we were aboard our Green Car seats for the 60
minute journey to Narita Airport Terminal One station.
We arrived at Narita
Airport on-time, of course. We got our suitcases and went through the
airport security check. Narita Airport has had bomb scares in the past
from local residents who oppose the airport. That is the purpose of
this check.
We went up the 5 levels
to the 4th floor to check in to our Northwest Airlines flight to San
Francisco. Check-in was fast and painless. And now we didn't have as
much luggage to drag around. It was about 12:40, and we were hungry.
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| Korean
Airlines B777 as viewed at Narita Airport |
Narita Airport has a
nice shopping and restaurant area. We choose a Sushi Restaurant for
lunch. The sushi was great, but of course not better than at the Tokyo
Fish Market. We then went around the shopping area and picked up a few
last minute items.
Narita Airport also has
a wonderful observation deck where you can see planes takeoff and land
as well as ramp operations for Terminal 1. The fencing even has
special holes in it for photographers. There were several
photographers there utilizing them, including Mark.
By 1:45 we went through
Customs/Immigration and were now in "international
territory". We walked to the NW WorldClub lounge. It is one of
the best lounges that we have been to. It is large with comfortable
seating. Free Internet use on provided laptops, and nice snacks. This
WorldClub had just opened in April 2003 when NW moved their operations
from Satellite 4 to It's current location on Satellite 2. At 3:00pm we left the lounge as our flight was to leave at 3:40 and the
plane was sitting at Satellite 1. We waited in the gate area to
board our flight. Then they announced a delay due to maintenance. Just
before 4:00pm they announced that our plane, a DC-10 had #3 engine
problems and that they were attempting to get another plane. It was
too late to try to re-route as all the other NW flights to the US left
between 3:00 & 3:30pm. The SFO flight is the last to leave.
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| Northwest
Airlines DC-10 |
Well we decided it was
back to the lounge. They gave an approximate departure time of 5:50pm.
We relaxed again. In the lounge they handed out courtesy vouchers to
the delayed SFO passengers which included meal or bonus miles
certificates, discount certificates on future flights and an AT&T
international calling card. By 5:15 they announced that our flight was
boarding. We walked over and boarded via Mark's WP Silver status and
was able to get comfortable in our Coach Class seats before it got to
crazy. Mark had the window, Cyn the Aisle, and Richard had the Aisle
across from Cyn in the Center Section.
Coach is definitely not
as nice as our Business Class seats to Japan. But as this was a DC-10
there not as many Business Class seats so it is harder to book
Frequent Flyer seats in other then Coach.
We did get off the
ground at around 6:00pm. And we were on our way home.
Total Walking today:
nearly 3 miles
Continue to
Day
9B
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Kavanagh
