Journey to the East..

And so my journey eastwards began. All of the saving, preparations and research I had done were about to be put to the test. The first country on my list was Tokyo. My strategy was to start in the most expensive places first and then work my way down towards the more budget friendly countries.

My original plan was to fly straight to Bangkok and begin my backpacking adventure there. I didn’t really have big plans to travel outside of the South East Asia area initially. It wasn’t until one of my closest friends and favourite travel buddies let me know she would be in the area around the start of my trip that I began to think about it. Her plan was to go to Tokyo, Seoul and various parts of the Philippines. My family thought it would be a good way to ease myself into the trip, plus, though they weren’t on my original plans, they were actually countries that I really wanted to visit. I decide that, yes, I wanted to go and so I tagged along with her for the two and a half week adventure.

I almost didn’t make it onto the plane. I kid you not, I was the last person to get on that aircraft. I don’t mean that I was the last person in line that boarded it either. I mean that my name was called over the intercom many times and I had multiple missed calls on my phone from the ground staff, last person on the plane. I was flat out sprinting through the terminal when I realised that it was me they were calling to make sure I caught that flight. The parting with my mum had been long and emotional and after saying our goodbyes and getting through security I had to purchase a new purse (sounds superficial, however my purse had been stolen just the weekend before I was set to travel – and yes I’m aware that my life is sounding quite dramatic right now). I also needed to buy a large capacity power bank to charge my electronics along the road too. I made it, out of breath, disoriented and sweaty and profusely apologising for being late. The staff were lovely though and thought it was hilarious. After boarding, I made it to my seat (11K) which was a window seat and near the very front of the plane (closest I could get without being paying for first class...). There was a gentleman sitting on the outside seat, so the vacant middle seat made everything seem that bit more spacious.

The journey I did is not really for the fainted hearted. I’ve elaborated on a previous post before, but I absolutely love flying. Sure take offs irk me a little, but I feel like that happens with everyone. The first leg of my journey I flew with Qatar Airways. It was from Dublin to Bangkok. Hands down the best flying experience I’ve had so far, and I’ve flown with a lot of airlines all over the globe. The seats were comfortable, there was a lot of leg room (for me – I’m an impressive 5 ft 3 for reference purposes) and the window was absolutely amazing. The windows on the Boeing 787 for Qatar Airways are larger than the average. Their windows have built in dimmers, so rather than lifting a standard shade up and down, they have two buttons that alternatively dims and brightens up the window to whatever degree you want. The in-flight entertainment catalogue was vast and up to date with some new current movies such as Black Panther and the new Jumanji remake, but was also filled with some older movies such as the Lord of the Rings. There was also a good selection of TV shows and global movies and shows. The Air Hosts and Hostesses aboard were friendly and very helpful too.

I had one stop over in Doha on this leg of the journey and it went by seamlessly. From Doha I boarded one of the famed Airbus A380’s. These are the largest passenger carrier jets in the world. They carry three classes of passengers; First class, business class and economy, and they do it over TWO decks. Yes that’s right. A double decker plane. For those of you who didn’t know, yes they actually exist. Currently there are 223 of them in operation, each spread across around 13 different airlines. Qatar Airways currently only have 9 of these supermassive planes. It was both an amazing and luxurious experience. Like the previous flight it was very spacious and had large windows. And just like the previous flight, I sat near the front of the plane. I was sat beside a nice guy and his young son, who sat between us. The in-flight entertainment was more or less the same as the previous flight with a few additions. Food on both planes was very delicious. Plane food is usually hit or miss, so I usually carry granola bars and other snacks with me, but the meals on these flights were very good. For both flights I didn’t really sleep. I was keyed up with excitement of what was to come, and also I was very much enjoying the Qatar Airways flight experience. In addition to that I was still running on Irish time. I left Ireland at around 8:45 am, and the journey with Qatar Airways from Dublin to Tokyo took about 16/17 hours in total.

I landed in Bangkok at around 7.00 am local time. Remember earlier when I said my initial plan was to just land in Bangkok and go off on my adventure? But then I decided to go further east to meet my friend? My original ticket was obviously just took me to Bangkok so I bought a separate ticket for my journey to Tokyo with AirAsia. They are essentially this regions version of Ryanair… If Ryanair cared about customer service and sold their tickets for cheaper prices. I’ve flown with them before in this region. Though they are a budget airline, good customer service is very much at the company’s core values. In addition to that, you get free meals and drinks, whether it’s a long haul or short haul flight on this carrier. Getting that add on ticket wasn’t particularly an issue. However, the issue was that the flight was leaving from Don Mueang Airport. My first flight from Dublin landed me in Suvarnabhumi Airport, which was about an hour away by car. I had about 4 hrs in total from the time I landed to make sure I got through immigration, got my bags, then got myself to the other airport before that flight took off. I literally made it JUST in time. Any later and I would have been booking another flight to Tokyo.

I made a mistake in not trying to catch at least a few hours of sleep on my Qatar Airways flights. When I got on that AirAsia flight, I was dead to the world. I didn’t wake up until we landed in Narita Airport in Tokyo. The flight time was just under 7 hours, meaning I landed in Tokyo at around 7pm, after essentially sleeping the whole day away. I was still disgustingly exhausted though. And of course. That wasn’t the end of my journey. That would be way too easy.

There are two airports in Tokyo; Narita International Airport and Haneda International Airport. Both are massive and neither are particularly close to the centre of Tokyo. However having said that, Haneda is much closer than Narita is. It took me a good two hours to get into the centre of Tokyo from Narita, and that doesn’t count the hour beforehand that I spent trying to figure out Tokyo’s complex subway system in my lethargic state. For the love of all that is Holy, if you come to Tokyo, please fly to Haneda. Pay that extra money and fly there. After a what could be a 16 to 24 hour journey from Europe or America, or wherever you currently are in the world, you will be grateful to spend less time getting to your hotel.

So. 28 hours later I finally made it. The journey, that for me began last July was finally in motion. I was finally back in the eastern hemisphere and ready to continue exploring what I had started last summer. I arrived at the capsule hotel, with my energy levels probably lower than I can ever recall them being in a long time, but alongside that exhaustion was absolute exhilaration. Not only because I had made it back, but because I had made a commitment to myself that I would do it and I had actually followed through with it. I find that it’s very typical, especially in this day and age to say “Oh yeah, I’m definitely going to do that” but if you take the time to think about it, how many times have you actually committed and followed it though? Be truthful to yourself and think about it.

For me, this trip very nearly fell through from the start. The plan was never to come here by myself. I’m quite brash and bold by nature but I’ll be upfront and tell you; sometimes it takes that extra little kick for me to do something. This trip was meant to be done not only with myself, but with two other people who are close to me, but as is typical, life happens. I don’t begrudge them skipping out on this trip, purely because they both went on and, hilariously enough are pursuing their own solo journeys in other parts of the world. However at the early stages, I will confess to feeling betrayed and hurt at the time. While they were planning their next big moves, I was tenuously holding onto what I imagined a trip like this by myself would be looking like. Even as I said to people that I was going on this trip, even when I was going through the motions of applying for a sabbatical in work, I still had my own self-doubts as to whether I could actually find the strength within myself to do it. Even as I’m sitting here on the other side recovering from my first (of many no doubt) bouts of food poisoning, I still get butterflies in my stomach thinking about it. But I digress. I made it here. I’m of course, ecstatic and nervous in equal measures, but onwards we must go…

Until next time..

Babs