Home in blue skies ... again!

Yesterday was probably the worst rain of the trip, even if I managed to dodge it all and my brand new umbrella is still nicely wrapped up. And today ... absolutely nothing. Because I'm leaving ... obviously.

Since my flight was in the evening, I tried to have novel ideas of spending a few hours relaxing somewhere before heading to the airport. Boy, what a mistake that was. Basically all train stations have coin lockers. So I took my suitcase to the train station where I would have to change for the train to the airport, and then discovered that they were all full. After an hour of circling around the various lockers at opposite ends of the station, dragging my luggage the entire time, I went on to Tokyo station, and repeated the process. By the time I gave up, I was completely drenched in sweat, frustrated, annoyed, and it was basically time to head to the airport. I guess this also counts as part of the big city life. 😕

Haneda airport at least wasn't too bad to me. They had space for my bag, I had basically zero queues with most of the process being automated, and they still had a few shops to enjoy a last Japanese meal. I mean, it wasn't a good Ramen by Japanese standards. But it is hard to have normal standards when the rest of Japan usually sets the bar so high.

And they have a nice open air observation platform where I could soak in the last bit of warmth while waiting for my flight to think about joining me.

The flight was ... miserable. Even with the seat next to me free. No position existed where I could sleep. Especially when the lights turned on at 3am to start serving breakfast. But none of this is a surprise anymore.

Arriving in Sydney was ... not particularly welcoming. It seems like I landed a little after the night curfew ended, along with 7 other big planes. Which meant customs was swamped. Transferring to the next flight required getting my luggage, so that I could drag it to the extreme other end of the international terminal and give it back to them. And by the time I got to my domestic flight gate ... I had two hours to spare. I can't wait to get out of this airport rat race of alternating between long queues and waiting for hours.

But this marks the end of another trip. Hopefully I stored enough warmth to at least survive a couple of days in the Australian winter. And enough relaxation to sruvive a couple of days of work. Though if I don't, it'll be a good excuse to ensure that the gap till my next trip won't be quite as long.