Today, I left Tokyo and began my journey home via Paris, Madrid and Alicante.
When I woke up today, I packed my case and went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. When I had finished breakfast, I went back to my room, collected my case and checked out.
Unfortunately, I had a couple of hours to kill before I was picked up to go to the airport. I found a chair in the hotel lobby and sat reading my Kindle for a few hours. It was pretty uncomfortable, and with lots of people milling about, it wasn't the most pleasant place to wait.
When the time for my ride to the airport approached, I walked outside the hotel and stood at the hotel entrance. I didn't have to wait very long, and a minibus picked up me and a couple of other people. The bus took us to the airport, first dropping off the two other people and then dropping me at the correct terminal. I joined a queue of people waiting to be checked in but was pulled out of the queue to go through the first-class check-in because I was disabled. I quickly checked in, and a disabled chair was called to take me to the gate.
On the way, the girl who was taking me to the gate made a detour so that I could exchange my Japanese yen for Euros at the exchange centre. She then pushed me to the gate and left me there. I read my Kindle until I was again ushered through the check-in to board the plane early.
Once on board, I settled down for the long flight to Paris. I watched lots of films, read my Kindle and ate when I was given food. The flight passed quickly, and once we had landed in Paris, I was asked to wait to be picked up in another disabled chair. The French chair was a much better fit than the tiny Japanese chairs, and I was taken aboard a bus, where I was transferred to a waiting room. The waiting room was freezing, and the French staff were nowhere near as friendly or helpful as the Japanese staff. I was beginning to worry that I wouldn't make my connection when I was put back on a bus and taken to another terminal. The girl who took me realised we were late and ran through the crowds of people, shouting for them to get out of the way. As we approached the gate, I could hear my name being called over the tannoy for the last boarding. The girl pushing the chair collided with several people who didn't get out of her way quickly enough, and we got to the plane just before they closed the doors.
Once onboard, I took my seat, and we were soon on the runway. Then, we took off for the flight to Madrid. It was only a short flight from Paris to Madrid, and once I got off, it didn't take me long to collect my case. I was soon sitting at another gate in Madrid to wait for my flight to Alicante. After another short flight, I was back in Alicante, and as I left the arrivals area, I was pleased to see my friend June waiting for me. We were soon in her car, and she took me back to my apartment in Los Alcazares.
Japan Holiday summary.
I loved Japan. It was beautiful, and the Japanese people were terrific. The company I booked the holiday with, however, were terrible. They were just a booking agency and resold the trip from other suppliers.
I booked an escorted coach tour with an English company so that I could be with English-speaking people. I ended up on three different coaches and with three different groups of people. I had seven different guides and was with mainly Spanish-speaking people from Spain, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela. There were a few English-speaking people, but they were from America and Australia and left at different times during the trip. I will never use Logitravel to book another trip.
Japan is a wonderful place full of fantastic, interesting places to visit. The food was excellent, and I was surprised at how cheap I found everything. I had been warned that Japan was very expensive, but I found that primarily the prices were very good or comparable to Spain and a lot better than in England. I would definitely tell people to take the plunge and make a trip to Japan. Still, I would also tell you to do it when you are fit as there is a lot of walking and the steps everywhere and a lack of disabled entrances or paths for less mobile people make it difficult to see everything.
I have now been able to cross Japan off my bucket list. Visiting Hiroshima was the main reason for going to Japan, but I loved everything I saw. Strangely, because of the direction the return flight from Japan took, I circumvented the whole world on this trip. I flew from Spain to France to Japan, travelling East on the outward trip, and flew from Japan to France to Spain, travelling East on the return trip. Going around the World wasn't on my bucket list, but maybe it should have been. Phileas Fogg did it in 80 days. I did it in 12 days.
On my return journey, I caught a cold, and it took me a few weeks to get over it. Once I had finished the trip, I began thinking about what I could do for my next adventure and what new places I could visit. I had only been home for 8 days when I booked my next trip. In 2025, I will be going on an escorted tour of India with the JustYou group.