So then, you may or may not know that the plans I was excited about in my second to last post did not transpire. The most snowfall I've ever known in the UK fell 2 days before my parents were due to fly. The temperature remained subzero for over a week and Heathrow airport was crippled - they couldn't de-ice the plans fast enough. So on the Tuesday morning (Monday evening for me) that my parents were due to fly to Tokyo their flight was cancelled and, due to the backlog of other people whose flights had also been cancelled, they couldn't get a flight out until Boxing Day.
We ummed and ahhed about taking those flights and rearranging the whole holiday, maybe extending it for a few days at the end. But ultimately we realised that we didn't want to compromise on a holiday which had already had hundreds of hours of thought put into it, not to mention it wasn't going to be cheap. So, on the same day, Mum and Dad decided to cancel the holiday and they would rebook for spring or early summer when they might still be able to get into the hotels they want, plus the weather would be a bit nicer.
At first I was quite upset, not only because I wouldn't get to see Mum and Dad, but also because all of my plans for Christmas and New Years Eve had just been wiped and I felt a bit lost. Mum and and Dad could see on webcam I was disappointed so we decided to take a gamble and, at the last minute, bought me a flight home for Wednesday. It was a bit of a gamble because we didn't know if Heathrow would have sorted itself out by the time I'd fly but it was worth a go. We also decided, as a little present to him, we wouldn't tell Quiggin I was coming home.
So I woke up at 6am on Wednesday, I had to boil a kettle to have a hot shower because the hot water seemed to have broken, and I set off at 7. I made my first mistake of the day by trying to take a bus directly to Shinjuku Station rather than walking to Takadanobaba and taking the Yamanote line round to Shinjuku. I'd never taken this bus before but I knew it'd go right past the station, so I gave it a go. It stopped outside two Shinjuku Stations (Shinjuku Sanchome and Shinjuku Higashi) but not the main one. Then the bus informed me nexts top was Kita Sando. Bugger, that's a stop beyond Shinjuku. So I got off the bus with my suitcase and went into the nearby metro station. I was starting to cut it fine and also starting to panic. So I got the train to Shibuya. I don't know, it seemed to make sense at the time. The Narita Express stops at both Shibuya and Shinjuku and I know Shibuya Station a little better.
Anyway. I got to Shibuya station, 8.00am, rush hour. Commuters were rushing everywhere, I was sweating buckets from the ridiculous temperature they keep on Tokyo Metro trains and then I got a bit lost. Eventually I found the right place and I found a chap to help me use the ticket machine and by a ticket to the station. I arrived at 8.00 on the nose and I was aiming for the 8.02 train. He informed me the next train was at 9.45 which arrives at the airport at 11.00 - 30 minutes before my flight takes off. I had missed my train by just a few minutes and the next train was too late. I nearly had a panic attack - he couldn't understand me when I asked if there was another way to get to the airport... So. I shook myself and remembered that there were other services to Narita from other main train stations - the biggest of which popped into my head at Tokyo Station, 25 minutes around the Yamanote line. The longest 25 minutes of my life. Did I mention how hot the trains were?
So I got to Tokyo station and a nice chap informed me there was a train at 9.00am which arrived at Narita at 10.00 - 90minutes before take off. Utterly ideal. I was so happy. I didn't actually manage to calm down and accept I hadn't missed my flight until I was sat on the NEX to the airport. Hallelujah.
From then on the flight went incredibly smoothly. I checked in and bumped into Valentina (who had left the dorm after me and arrived before me), I grabbed a quick Macdonalds and, happily, boarding was delayed by 10 minutes which gave me time to eat it. The flight was comfortable - the seat in front of me and the seat beside me were empty so I wasn't squashed. I landed 5 minutes early, my luggage was one of the first on the carousel (with a mysterious 'priority - first class' label) and then I walked through the exit to find Mum and Dad who had arrived only 5 minutes earlier. Even the drive home was easy, and quite pretty with all the snow.
Phew.
But the next part was to surprise James. Completely by luck he'd messaged Mum earlier saying he wanted to pop over that evening to pick up my Christmas gift so he could post it to me. So, half an hour late, he dropped by to pick it up. Then Mum and Dad said they had a present for him, led him into the family room where I was waiting and everyone was happy, Christmas was saved, good will to all men etc blah blah blah. He did look quite happy to see me!
So Christmas has been lovely- catching up with old friends, winning pub quizzes, trying to get computers to recognise new iPods (Dad's just heading out as I type to buy a new copy of Windows as I seem to have utterly borked this. Seriously, we've tried everything, reinstalled everything, spoken to helplines etc. it's the last option before chucking the laptop out a window).
I've got a week left in England and I'm looking forward to a party to see in the new year at James's St Albans flat (the pub quiz winnings padding out the booze kitty nicely) and more catch ups with friends next week. So, whilst we're all still rather sad to not be on our holiday of a lifetime travelling around Japan, we're certainly happy that Christmas has worked out for the best and, to put a positive spin on it, we get to re-plan the holiday for nicer weather. I hope everyone reading this (if you made it this far, congratulations) has had a lovely Christmas and enjoys their New Year's celebrations! Bring on 2011
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