Got up at 5 am this morning to catch the 6:16 am train from Sapporo to the New Chitose airport, which is about 40 min away by the rapid train.
Made it to the airport at 6:55 and was checked in and through security in less than 10 minutes. Nice, clean airport. Love how cracking a beer at 7:30 am and walking around the airport is socially acceptable here 😆
Such efficiency and patience at the gate. Boarding was to be at 8:05 for my 8:25 flight and not one person stood up – there was a huge open space in front of the gate! Even at 8:05, everyone waited for the attendants to initiate boarding before we all line up in a single file line. Once on board, people cleared the aisle to let others on. The girl in front of me say with her suitcase on her lap until the aisle cleared before putting it in the overhead bin! The plane was in the air by 8:26 – no messing around.
Took a few shots out the window during take off:
After takeoff, the overhead tv screens played some funny shots about how to avoid smacking her kid with the tray, to avoid squishing your fingers on the bathroom doors and a warning that a new law about ‘sneak photography’ may result in a 3 year prison sentence (showed a guy in the aisle seat using his camera to film up a woman’s skirt as she was getting her bag from the overhead bin).
Arrived in Kobe about 25 minutes early and the bags were out within 5 minutes of landing. As I was changing airports, collected my bag. Took the ferry shuttle from Kobe to Kansai airport across Osaka Bay. Ride was about 30 minutes and then the shuttle to terminal 1 was around 7 or 8 minutes.
Went through security, customs and immigration pretty quick and headed to the lounge for the 5 hour it so layover.
After the long wait in the lounge, finally boarded my flight to Vancouver. Definitely feeling tired after the early morning so am hoping I sleep well on the flight!
The flight to Vancouver was a bit delayed due to them having to repair something. I assumed we’d make the time up but not than halfway through the flight, it appeared we’d be a bit late so I got a bit concerned I might miss my flight to Calgary.
Managed to sleep for about 4 hours and noticed these strange lights north of Japan. Not sure what it was as there didn’t seem to be anything around and we were high up:
Nice and sunny on the way into Vancouver so some nice views of the mountains.
Arrived about 20 minutes late and moved quickly to get through customs. Luckily wasn’t too bad as there was a separate section for people on Canadian connections. Had bought some cat treats at the Don Quixote and declared those so went to the booth and had to translate the package to determine what they were. The fish was okay, but not the chicken so that had to be discarded. They were very friendly and it only took a minute or two!
Got to my gate about 10 minutes before boarding but it turns out the prior flight was from Austin and was delayed so it was unloading in the US area and would then have to be towed over. Luckily, the person behind me in line was someone I knew so was able to chat a bit.
Finally boarded but there were further delays to get everyone boarded and pull away from the airport. Flight was about an hour late leaving but we finally arrived in Calgary! Nice to finally be home after a long day of travel!
