After much back and forth, I made the final decision to go ahead with our journey back to England just a few days before we left.
I’ve been living in Japan for almost 20 years. This is a journey I have made a fair few times. It’s never a small undertaking, but mostly we’re looking at a roughly 24-hour trip, door to door. This time though, it took almost three days, a grand total of 60.5 hours!
Day 1 – Tokyo
We left our home in western Japan at 6:30 am Friday morning to head to the station to catch the bullet train at 7:14 am.
Why didn’t we fly, you may ask? Well, the reason is I have a fairly significant fear of flying. So, whenever a plane can possibly be avoided, I do so. Besides, I like bullet trains. I feel a greater appreciation for the distance travelled when it’s overland too.
Mt. Fuji
One of the highlights of a trip up to Tokyo is getting to speed past Mt. Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain at 3776m. Apparently, it is so high that altitude sickness is a very real danger for climbers aiming for the summit. I’ve heard it said more than once, that you’d be crazy not to climb Mt. Fuji at least once. However, more than once would make you crazier.
The big city
As soon as we arrived in Tokyo it felt like we were in an alien land. Gone were the rice fields and tree-studded mountains and instead were skyscrapers and vast crowds. Being completely unaccustomed to the city and dragging three large suitcases, I’m almost embarrassed to admit, it took us close to an hour to find the correct subway line.
It was only a ten-minute ride to the nearest station to the hospital where we had booked our PCR tests. One of the reasons we had chosen that particular place was because that station also happened to be an airport monorail station, so it would be convenient to get to the airport afterward.
Our appointment was at 14:45, so we had over two hours to kill. First, we placed our suitcases in station lockers. Next, we found an Italian restaurant via our dear friend Mx. Google where we had lunch. Then, we headed towards a Starbucks that was conveniently right next to the hospital, for we had been told to arrive no earlier than five minutes before our appointment time.
The PCR test
Much to the amusement of friends abroad, it was our first experience with a PCR in almost two years of the pandemic. There haven’t been many cases where we live and we were lucky enough to have never been exposed. We were all nervous, for these were nasopharyngeal tests, where they shove the swab up through your nose to the back of your throat. Some people refer to this as the brain tickle, so I was more than a little trepidatious. However, I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t hurt, although it did feel extremely strange. We left the room sneezing and sniffling and glad the whole thing was over.
I was then given one hour to register our information online in Japanese (once each so three times) in order to receive the certificate which we were to pick up at 7 pm. I don’t know if it was the early morning, the stress of worrying we would get asymptomatic positives, the fear of flying the next day, or what, but I very cleverly managed to mess up two of the online forms. So, I returned to the hospital and explained the mistakes. Luckily it wasn’t a problem.
The results
Finally, there was nothing to actually do but wait. So where did we go? Yep, the British pub. Nothing like a pint of Guinness and some chips to cheer you up on your way to England.
7 pm rolled around and we went back to the hospital to pick up our certificates. Getting the negative result felt like we’d just passed a life-changing exam or something. That was it! We were officially able to make the journey home! Excitedly we returned to the station to collect our suitcases and headed to the monorail.
The airport hotel
I had decided to book us in at a hotel at the airport. We just needed something easy since we would have to be up early to catch our flight. Triple rooms can sometimes be difficult to find, so I was very happy with this room.
The day wasn’t over though. Next, I had to check in online and fill in the UK passenger locator form. It was a relief when it was all finally over.
Day 2 – Hong Kong
I was nervous about checking in. There was still much that could go wrong. It was only four days ago that I had realised we were flying out of a completely different airport. I knew I wouldn’t relax until we were on the plane to London. Luckily all our documents and certificates were correct and there were no queues at check-in or security.
The airport was near deserted. It was eerie. Most of the shops were closed. We found a little cafe and a drugstore that sold souvenirs and a few snacks. Time went quickly and it wasn’t long before we were headed to the gate.
Empty planes
The flight was as empty as the airport.
The good thing though was that we had unobstructed views from the windows when we flew past Mt. Fuji, giving us a different perspective from the day before. It truly is a beautiful mountain. My phone pics really don’t do it enough justice.
It took about four hours to fly to Hong Kong. It was a pleasant flight. Everyone adhered to the rules regarding mask-wearing. The flight attendants were extremely polite and attentive and the ride was smooth, which I was thankful for.
Hong Kong Airport
We were met by officials when we disembarked and entered the airport. They guided us to the transfer desk, where they scrutinised our documents. After what seemed like ages, they finally issued our boarding passes for the flight to London.
Due to all the flight changes over the previous few weeks, we now had a 10-hour wait. Everything seemed closed. I decided to splash out on the one air lounge I could see was open. These places aren’t cheap but they offer food, drink, good wifi and this place had showers too. Bonus. The only trouble was there was either a 3-hour plan or a 5-hour plan. We had almost 9 hours before we had to be at our gate and unfortunately they didn’t take pity on me and offer me a free extension, lol. So… I opted for the five-hour plan, knowing we’d have to wait the rest of the time at the gate.
Our flight was later delayed by about 15 minutes. However, that seemed like barely a drop in the ocean as we were already 42.5 hours into our journey by this point. So, we just shrugged and waited a bit longer.
London
Once safely in the air on the final leg to London, I felt an immense sense of relief. I knew we’d be okay now. Up until this point, I had feared being turned back at any moment and then having to face the disappointment in my kids’ eyes.
It was a 13-hour flight but after all the stress leading up to our departure and worrying about getting everything right during transit, it seemed to go really fast. I actually slept more on that flight than I ever have before, I think. (Although that is admittedly in part down to an anti-anxiety med I use only when flying.) We landed early, at around 4:30 am on Sunday 11th December. (The UK is 9 hours behind Japan in winter.)
A familiar but foreign land
My first bout of mask culture shock occurred at passport control. We had come from a region where I would guess about 99% of the people I meet wear a mask, to suddenly seeing faces again. I feel weird without a mask outside of my home – it’s almost akin to walking out of the house without my trousers on. Unimaginable. I couldn’t believe someone who was coming into contact with people from countries all over the world was maskless. Although, the cynic in me did question if whether he might not have already caught all the variants going around and was probably super immune by now.
Home at last
From London, it takes about 2.5 hours to drive to my mum’s place. I remember glancing at my phone and calculating the number of hours it had taken us. 60.5. It was surreal. I think it would have only taken another four days on the Siberian Express! But we had made it. We were in England again and my children got to be in the arms of their grandparents after three long years.
The next challenge will be getting back.
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