I'm off to Asia for my first work trip of the year. It's almost three weeks and five counties. I'm traveling with a coworker, Cyprien, and we're off to meet a number of our partners and customers.
We'll be heading to Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Our first leg is from Vancouver to Tokyo. This is a new country for me, and we're flying on a brand new plane - a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. As you can see from the picture, the flight was pretty empty.
We were seated in the new "Premium Economy" which meant slightly better seats and a bit more room. The flight itself was pretty good. At just under 11 hours, it's not too bad. As usual I was unable to sleep on the plane, but I watched a couple of movies, did some work and read a bit to pass the time.
It seemed like we were in Tokyo in no time. The flight is a bit odd in that you leave at 2:30 pm Vancouver time and arrive the next day at 5:30 pm Tokyo time. I was a bit tired when we landed, but all things considered I wasn't feeling too bad.
After landing, we breezed through the airport and customs, picked up our bags and tried to sort out the trains. It ended up being a bit of a panic as the train we needed was scheduled to leave at 18:02 and it was 17:52 when we bought our tickets. After a bit of a mad scramble we made our train for the 90 minute trip into Tokyo and our hotel.
Turns out that the airport is quite a distance from the city. We picked (with the help of the ticket agent) a direct train that meant we didn't need to change at all. It was slower, but less hassle in the end.
Almost immediately after leaving the station we had an encounter that really showed favourably on the Japanese people. We were looking at the map trying to get our bearings, when a woman came up to us and ask if we needed help. We are only looking to get off in the right direction, but she ended up walking us all the way to the hotel. It was very kind.
The hotel is at the base of the Tokyo Tower, a replica of the Eiffel Tower. See the picture attached. We got checked in and settled, then headed out for dinner.
The hotel is a bit older and needs some updating, but I think the location is good. We wandered into the local commercial area and found a sushi place. The food was awesome.
After diner it was back to the hotel, and bed. I stayed up long enough that I hoped I'd be able to sleep through the night.
