Japan bound

5am on Friday 22nd saw us out in the snow(!) packing the car to head off.  The alarm had gone off at 4am.  We'd essentially finished the packing the night before so it was just getting the last bits together to get ready to go.  It was not the best weather for the journey but no real delays so we arrived at Heathrow without any problems.  On-line check-in meant we had good seats for both the journey to CDG Paris, then on to Tokyo.  Caroline got stopped at Heathrow for the metal buckle on her belt - remember that for next time - and I got stopped on a random at Paris.  Both were fine, the good natured customs official in Paris joking about giving away all the sweets I had in my pocketses to his colleagues kept it light hearted and even entertaining, so it was all good.

Arriving in Japan this time had a familiarity about, which made it not at all stressful.  That ranged from remembering where to catch the bus and the ways to go to get from the airport to Dave and Heidi's, to seeing again little things like the painted signs on the railway platform floor which tell you exactly where the train doors will be when your train pulls in - and they always are exactly right!

Just got through customs and into Japan

So pretty much 24 elapsed hours after setting off, we arrived at Dave and Heidi's and had a main meal.  Having not slept at all on the journey I crashed for about an hour and am still feeling tired, but having had a bit of a rest and now I'm plugged into a computer I'm recharging a bit.  It's just after 8pm here, 11am UK time,  We'll have some food again this evening and stay up until a reasonable time before heading to bed, we'll see how jet lag affects us this time around.

Us with D&H, K&E.

 
We've given D&H all the things we had to take for them and all the cards and they were very appreciative.  :)  They're all well and we're all looking forward to the coming fortnight.

Our only real news is that we've seen numerous trees with blossom on them.  We have no idea what type of trees they were but we'll keep you up to date with special Cherry Blossom Update reports!