Friday September 11
Early morning wake up so i can make my way to the airport. I managed to get picked up early in the morning by Murray’s Coaches who i had won a 2 hour hire of their “9 Seat Executive Limo” which is in reality, a 9 Seat Mercedes Coach that could easily fit 15 sets but only has 9. It was awesome. Clear run through to the airport and i was actually there a good 20 mins early than i expected. After the last few days of sickness i was just glad to be feeling ok and managed to walk around the terminal a bit as I was to early for check in.
Check in was a breeze, first J class person checked in and I was off to the lounge. But was beaten there by someone else. Just sorta chilled around in the lounge, waiting for TRS and Duty Free to open so i could go and get some money back and do some shopping.
After sitting in the lounge and trying to while away the hours by taking a walk. it was time to Board.
Brisbane to Tokyo – Narita (BNE-NRT)
Qantas/Japan Airlines/Jalways – QF389/JL762/JO762
0845/1705
Boeing 767-300 – JA621J
Business Class (Executive Seasons) – Seat 2K
Board: 0820
Pushbank: 0845
Take Off: 0905
Top of Decent: 1615
TD: 1700
Boarding was right on time, and they preboarded business, so i strolled past the massive queue for economy. However because this was only a single door aircraft (JAL don’t have a second door for their 767’s) so it was pretty much then a continuous flow of peopl e heading to the back. No pre take off beverage though 🙁
Once everyone was seated. Doors were shut, and we pushed back. The safety demonstration was a lovely cartoon which i couldn’t help but chuckle at. Taxied the long way to Runway 19 and it was good to see that JAL have a nose camera fitted. It was great to watch the taxiing from a nose camera, and the nose camera actually pans down once the wheels are retracted so it was a great view of Brisbane as we took off.
As the seat belt sign came off, the FA’s were up and out came the menu’s drink orders, then i spent a good 5-10 minutes trying to work out the IFE. Since i couldn’t drink (although i am breaking that rule right now as we speak) it was just water for me this morning. I did eat some of the food keeping it light and taking it easy and it was good food.
Skipped the desert and just ate the fruit and then settled back to watch the IFE. As we flew north over PNG and the Solomons we also passed over Guam and Iwo Jima. I managed to finish watch almost 4 movies (being X-men Origins, Monsters Inc, Star Trek and Back to the Future 2).
As we started the decent we took forever and must of been in a holding pattern, cause we did quite a number of circuits. We finally came around and i could see the runway in the nose camera. We touched down on 16R and took a long time to taxi round to terminal 2. Thankfully we were not out on the Satelitte so was quickly off the plane and to immigration. Bag was about 5 or 6 minute wait (still in the priority set though) and then I was off to the hotel. Was chatting to a few people while we waited for the coach and it was suprising to see just how many people were being overnighted at JAL’s expense, on their way to Europe.
Checked in nice and easy and just chilled out in the room for a bit. The room was tiny but I wasn’t going to complain. I was REALLY tired and just wanted somewhere to pass out. Managed to find a convienece store inside the hotel and bought some water and was dumbfounded at all the different foods etc. Japan is so wierd!
So after a little while i managed to pass out and sleep my way into the next day!