Trip Diary Day 26 - 24 April 2019
Tokyo - Narita - Home
Check out Episode 19 of our Epic Family Road Trip Across Japan.
Out of bed around 9 because we have an 11 am checkout. Shit, shower, breakfast and finish packing.
We have to go home. We want to stay. Of course we want to stay. It’s Japan. We never want to leave. But we’re broke and we have flights booked so home it is. How much can we cram into one day before we bug out?
Turret Coffee
I went to move the car but there was a van in the hotel driveway so I got an espresso from the machine in the lift lobby. I added my Lawson milk, and it wasn’t too bad for coffee out of a machine in a lift lobby. WE loaded up the car and decided on Turret Coffee for a real coffee. This time the main Turret Coffee shop in Tsukiji. We’d gone to the pop-up shop under the Sony building the day before. Tsukiji is the area of Tokyo where the huge Tsukiji fish market is. Or was. It has moved. We didn’t visit this time, but we’ve been a couple of times on other trips to Japan. You could get Michelin star quality sushi there for fairly reasonable prices.
Luckily we found a space to park in the same alley as the shop. Meter parking but only 300 yen per hour. As a rule it is difficult to find street parkin in Tokyo so the parking gods were with us. The shop is next door to a small Starbucks. I don’t know, Tokyo's finest or Seattle’s? You have to ask? Turret is a small but cozy shop. Guess what? The same young woman who served us in the Turret pop up in Ginza was here today. She recognised us and thought it was funny that we were back again. She told her colleague - look, these crazy foreigners drink our coffee everywhere. Very cool. We had two small coffees this time. Single shots because it is so wonderfully strong. I don't recall having a crema so dark brown and chocolaty. Great coffee. We like to ask for double shots when travelling because otherwise the coffee can be a little anaemic. But not in Japan. They tend to serve coffee as double shots anyway. Or at least as strong as double shots. Reason to love Japan number 973. The kids had banana bread and water. Great banana bread too. So morish. Michelle was looking up Michelin ramen and soba nearby but I was feeling seedy and couldn't face it so we decided to go straight to Narita and Houei Coffee. The great Japanese coffee crawl continues.
Boulangerie Lyon
Narita town is about an hour’s drive from Tokyo. Our first stop was the boulangerie we saw on our first day here in Japan about 100 metres up the road from Houei. Boulangerie Lyon. A typical Japanese bakery. Sandwiches, bread rolls, cakes, biscuits, and donuts. They were still cooking. There were people coming and going all the time. We asked for the toilet, as you do, and it was no problem for then to take us through the tight hot kitchen, careful not to burn ourselves on hot trays or vats of frying oil, into the tiny office where a woman was sitting next to fresh bread writing signs for the cakes in the shop. The toilet was there and we all used it. Not at the same time. And the woman writing signs politely ignore us. Went back out to the shop got a couple of trays and loaded up on pork katsu sandwiches, curry rolls, little madeleines, egg sandwiches, and choc chip cookies. All the essentials from a Japanese bakery on your last day in Japan. We ate outside on the veranda and watched the little black faced birds until we saw fresh donuts put in the window. Donuts filled with red bean paste and twisty sugar ones. I went back in a got a twisty sugar donut and a couple of more star shaped madeleines in silver foil cups. I'm eating them as I write this on the plane home right now. Better than anything Jetstar has on offer. Although their toasties aren’t to bad.
Houei Coffee
Then we went up the road to Houei for coffee. Michelle a bucket sized latte and me an iced coffee. It was very very strong too. It was very quiet there and the guy spent most of his time, when not making us coffee, on his computer until a group of 3 young women came in. Michelle showed me a magazine that rated coffee shops. Kurosawa in Kyoto got 15 out of 20 but there were others with 1 or 2 out of 20. Hilarious.
It was about 3.30 so we got in the car and drove to the Cosmo station Budget advise us to go to fill up with petrol before returning the car. It was a completely automated self service. At least there was an English instruction option this time. I put in 28 litres for around 4000 yen. 137 yen litre. Pretty cheap compared to the 158 yen we'd paid in some places. After that it was only a 1.7 km drive to Budget. A little place practically in the middle of nowhere. Freshly planted rice paddies all around. It seemed strange so close to the airport yet in a rural farming area. We were swarmed by 3 or 4 Budget staff who quickly scanned the car, gave it the okay, asked me to sign the drop-off papers, threw our bags in a van, gave us all rice crackers and they drove us to Narita Airport terminal 3. Except no dropoffs at terminal 3 allowed so we were dropped at terminal 2 and caught the yellow bus to 3. About 5 minutes away.
Narta Airport
We walked into the crappiest of the terminals. By far the least facilities and shops of the 3. Thanks Jetstar. I found the Telecomsquare kiosk to drop off the Pocket Wifi. Into the blue box it went then I asked the woman there where the JP, japan post office, was. She said over in the food hall next to the toilets. It was a just a post box. I slipped the ETC card into the large reply paid envelope and put into the box to mail back to Tocoo. Tocoo are the agents we rented the car through. Hopefully the I won't be stung for two much in tolls. Nagasaki to Kobe was 15000 yen for example. The final bill could be hundreds even after the discount. Spoiler alert: it was almost $900 in highway tolls. Ippei had said yesterday that there was a tourist flexi pass we could use. Flat fee of $100 for 7 days I think. May do that next time.
We queued at the check in. My bag was 20.7 kg and Michelle's 17. Not bad. Our bags were checked through to Melbourne even though we have to get off the plane for cleaning in Cairns. We went to the Lawson. Brandy and Georgia got their toys. Brandy a little tank and Georgia a little Monsters Inc monster. I got my last creme caramel for the trip. Michelle got some snacks. There were long queues at the Lawson. I think Lawson is my fave Japanese convenience store now. Sorry Family Mart. 7-Eleven is still pretty good too.
Back to the other side of the food hall near the toilets. I bought a burger classic - a cheeseburger - from burger fresh Freshness Burger for 600 yen. I ate my burger. The kids played with their toys. Michelle watched Youtube. Then I ate my last Japanese 137 yen creme caramel. So fucking yummy. It could've been colder but.
TMI, but then I needed to shit. Michelle had already been. I didn't realise some Japanese toilets have a deodorizing fan that sucks smells away. The standard of Japanese public toilets is outstanding. 7 pm by now. Boarding was at 19.45. So back to the Lawson to get Brandy chicken karaage nuggets - with cheese. And Michelle a salad. 19.15, so we rushed through immigration and the bag checks. They scanned our passports and our photos popped up on the immigration guy's screen that were taken on the first day. WE wander over to gate 151, which was downstairs. After a last wee I bought a Pocari Sweat and we were nearly first in the queue to board. Down more stairs then up the stairs to the plane. A Dreamliner to Cairns then to Melbourne. After getting airborne the captain announced it will be a 6 hour 50 flight. ETA 4.30 am. About 20 minutes early. We'll see. I bought the entertainment package on the seat back screens for the kids. Swiped my cashcard twice at 10 bucks each. They're happily playing hangman. Michelle read a magazine. I filled in Oz customs forms and eat the madeleines. I ordered the Dad's meat pie pack for Brandy. Another swipe of the cashcard. $9.50. Waited for 20 minutes for it to be heated. It arrived. Brandy had the sausage roll and I had the pie. It wasn’t too bad. I got a water and listen to Spotify. Lots of Rads, Petshop Boys, Oils, Bonnie Tyler. Lol.
An old lady behind me annoyingly and constantly digs her knees into my back. 11.05 the rest of the family settled down to sleep. Georgia says she hasn't felt sick because of the phenergan. She threw up shortly before landing last time. Brandy asked if it will be night time when we get off the plane. I say it will be morning Brandy, but it might still be dark. Okay he says.
Australia
Land at Cairns at 04.30am only to sit and wait for 10 minutes because they can't get the aerobridge door open. Next was a tow to another aerobridge. So an early arrival at Cairns turned into slightly late arrival. The next flight was due leave at 7.25am. It was just after 5. So we had time to kill in one of the least interesting humid airports in the world. We had to pass through international transitions or whatever it was called, which meant bag scans and dumping bottles of water. We drank 2 so we could keep the bottles and ditched the third. Bye Kobe Tor Road Sankaru complimentary water bottle. There was a young border security guy there doing the wand swab thing I thought he would miss Michelle, but no worries. He saw her and nearly knocked me over getting to her “Ma’am ma’am” he said. Hilarious Michelle gets picked every single time. She must look… evil.
So we sat in the lounge with the Cassowary cafe and whinged about the prices. Egg and bacon roll s$15 for god’s sake. Toast was 6 bucks. So we drank our waters. We bought Brandy a little bottle of ginger ale - $4.95! The little convenience type store was touting 2 bottles of water for $7. The most exciting thing was the large, really large, daddy longlegs that ambled across the the eating area. It made one young woman run away. Ha. We boarded our plane again, it was the same one, but cleaned and with new staff, some new passengers, some the same - like the couple I sat next to and the older friendly Japanese guy behind the kids - and we flew the final 2 hours 50 minutes to Melbourne. Balmy and 24 when we left Cairns. 18 in Melbourne.
Out through immigration, customs and baggage claim in 45 minutes. That would have to be a new record. We seemed to be constantly moving. No holdups. Even our bags came out together as we arrived at the carousel. Out to the taxis - no waiting. $25 to home in about 15 minutes tops.
It was Anzac Day so the shops were closed till 1pm. We get there and Coles Glenroy was packed. Get the groceries we needed but decide we need to go to Aldi in Broady too. Car Park packed. Some aggro as people try to steal spaces from people waiting. Get the Aldi stuff, including easter eggs so we can fake Easter for the kids, then home. Contact Nina who had been looking after Cassie and arrange to pick up Cassie at 4.30 pm. Cassie was excited to see us. Chat to Nina and Bob for a while then home. Decided we’re not going to cook because Michelle found out about a Kebab shop in Campbellfield - Katik Turkish Takeaway. It was packed. Everybody had seen the story in the Age food section. The guy behind the counter even asked me “first time here”. Yes. “did you see the age”. Yes, we moved from Sydney 3 years ago and have been looking for Melbourne’s best kebabs. “You’ve found it he says”. LOL. Cheap. 6 bucks for a 32 cm kebab. Really good. Pizza’s pide cheap too and not too bad. Great dips.
I had work tomorrow. Stitches were to come out of Cassie on Saturday. Brandon’s first Auskick at 5 tomorrow - Friday. Shit that was a long day. Up Wed morning and bed Thurs night. Our holiday is done. Back to the real world.
Next up. Nothing. Covid happened. It would be almost 5 years before we got to go overseas again. To Vietnam. See you in Vietnam.
Epic Family Road Trip Japan on Youtube
Check out Episode 19 of our Epic Family Road Trip Across Japan.
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