Narita Airport

2014-03-01

So our trip to Japan had a terrible start. Well, it started out fine in Australia. In a crazy chance of coincidence we were seated behind a few Ergon guys I know from Townsville. Waiting at Cairns airport they taught me how to play pirate dice, which was a fun way to kill time while we waited.

The flight itself was okay for Jetstar. I had low expectations and they were basically met. Our problems began as we approached Japan. We were told it was snowing in Tokyo and so there would be a slight delay. At first this sounded like good news, as we were on a skiing holiday after all. After about an hour of flying in circles in heavy turbulence, most people seemed to have their sick bags at the ready. When we finally got cleared for landing it was definitely the craziest landing I've experienced. The runway was icy so we did some massive fishtails.

Going through security we were pleased to see snow out the window, as it was Mum, Dad, Sarah and Rachael's first time seeing snowfall. Once through security and at the train station it was a different story. There was a massive line up of people and after much confusion we eventually found out what was going on and that the trains were delayed because of the snow. After waiting in line for a few hours they finally announced that the trains were cancelled and there would be no trains that night. Buses and taxi's were also not running.

After resigning ourselves to spending the night in the airport (hotels were also booked out), we tried to find food but everywhere was closed. After finding a nice spot of concrete to set down our stuff we tried to sleep. It was as comfortable as you would imagine for a block of concrete with bright fluorescent lighting and constant PA calls about delayed or cancelled flights. At one stage (around 1am) they brought out free sleeping bags which was excellent of them, except the warehouse was nearby to the spot we were camped out so it just created even more noise. According to this news story, there was also snacks distributed but we never saw any.

The next morning (I had about 40min sleep I think) the sun was out and so we were optimistic that the trains would be running again, as there wasn't too much snow on the runway. After waiting in line with everyone else stuck at the airport for the train station to open, we were told that the first train for the day had been cancelled but the next one would maybe run.

After standing in line for a few hours they changed their mind to maybe in the afternoon, then eventually no trains that day with the train station shutting up shop. The really frustrating part was nobody seemed to know anything or want to give any answers throughout. Possibly more information was provided in the Japanese announcements, but those that spoke English weren't really willing to offer more than "too much snow" and "don't know". Perhaps it is a cultural thing where they don't want to commit to an answer that might be wrong.

The morning at the airport was pretty chaotic. There was huge lines for all the food places. Maccas had a constant wait time of about 1.5 hours, and buy lunch time they had run out of everything except chicken nuggets and french fries. We had breakfast at a restaurant which was expensive, not very nice and had a massive wait.

Buy lunch time we were all super depressed and tired, and there was still no news of what was happening. We had resigned ourselves to the fact that we would have to spend another night at the airport on the floor. By this stage a lot places were starting to run out of food and there was massive lines for everything. The 7/11 store was completely cleaned out, one guy I talked to was contemplating buying a kettle and a packet of pasta.

One place that was open at lunch and had a slightly smaller line was a Takoyaki place. Since the food was fast running out and no supplies could get in, Dad and I thought we better stock up and bought a few boxes of them for lunch/dinner. While I didn't mind the first couple this was not something you can chow down on and eat a lot of. Rachael and Sarah found them disgusting. We never heard the end of it, as Sarah felt sick for the rest of the trip when she saw one.

At this point it felt a bit like being in prison, we couldn't leave the airport, there was very little food, no comfortable seating (or any free seating really) and there was a massive wait to do anything. So we were all pretty heavily depressed and at the point were I think we would have been happy to turn around and fly home.

In the end the train line was opened late afternoon, although there was no PA call about it, dad realised when he went for a walk to go to the toilet or something. Despite not being told, there was a huge wait when we got there and an even bigger one behind us before too long, but eventually we got on the train and everyone was happy again.

There was heaps of snow on the side of the tracks as we entered Tokyo so we finally understood why it had been closed (although you still think they would have been more prepared). In the end we ended up getting to our hotel late that night at about the same time we had originally expected to get there the night before, so all up we were delayed by 24 hours.

We were pretty happy just to have a bed and shower, and so just stayed in the hotel leaving the holiday to start until the next day.