And after over 24 hours, we are home. Well, I am at any rate. We woke up on Wednesday morning and got stuck into packing our suitcases. With extremely full, and slightly overweight bags we decided that we would just head straight to the airport instead of trying to fit in more shopping. It turned out to be the best idea as it was freezing out and snow had started to fall.
So, at 10am we checked out of our hotel. We jumped on the free shuttle bus to Ueno station. From there we proceeded to hike to the Keisei Skyliner station. It's simply a separate station from the main JR and subway rail line stations and isn't linked underground. It's not really that far of a walk, but when you are struggling with three suitcases each and you toss in a bit of snow, wind and water, it makes for an uncomfortable trip.
The Keisei Skyliner then ferried us out to the Tokyo Narita station where we would be checking into our flight home from Terminal 2. I didn't take any photos of the day, but it's a pretty scenic journey out - we were both so exhausted from terrible sleep and illness (at least on my part) that we nodded off for most of the trip. Once at the airport, we proceeded to wait until 18.20 when we would be able to FINALLY check our luggage. Mine was a little bit too much overweight, (3kg) but they took it, I paid the excess and we were ready to wait again for the flight.
We grabbed some dinner and headed out to gate, on the way stopping to pick up some duty free booze. I grabbed a Yamazaki Whisky and another Muscat type of drink made from Japanese Plum (Ume) Blossom.
I popped some head cold pills before jumping on board our flight, hoping to knock myself out. Unfortunately, things went down hill from there. I got about a collective three hours of sleep on the flight. Stuffiness, cough and nausea hit me, culminating with a hunt for the courtesy paper vomit bag at 4am.
The flight landed in Cairns after 7hours and 15minutes on board at 6am. We collected our suitcases and made our way through customs, thankfully without any problems. I cannot stress enough that if you have something DECLARE IT! Much better to declare something that you didn't need to than to get caught not declaring something because you weren't sure. Case and point - my fur earmuffs. The fabric is so soft, I would be surprised if it wasn't real fur, but I just had no idea.
We then hopped on over to the Cairns Domestic Terminal (outside in the humid north Queensland heat) where we had to wait to check in our bags. Once that was done, we waited some more in the lounge area before we were allowed to board our flight - at 9.45am. Yes - a whole 3.75 hours later. Grrrrr.
Once on board, all I could think about was getting home to shower and change into some clean clothing instead of the clean-ish yet horribly rumpled dress that I was wearing. It was another trip of fighting off the nausea. I had the jerk in the seat in front of me push his chair back into a recline, giving me no room (why seats even recline on a 2 hour flight is beyond me), but he must have overhead me speaking to the flight attendant that I wanted ice to settle my stomach after throwing up on the last flight, because almost instantly, his chair popped up. So, note for those out there who need more room - threaten vomit. It's amazing what will happen.
Then we were back to Brisbane. My wonderful father came out to pick us up. We jammed our suitcases in my car and home it was. I jumped straight into the shower to wash my hair and take care of some deforestation.
Tomorrow, the unpacking continues. But I have never been more happy to be in my own bed. If only the itches would keep themselves away - because yes, to top it all off, I have had an allergic reaction to something and am now covered in the most lovely red bumpy itch. Argh!
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