A quarter past seven in the morning doesn’t sound too bad, until you remember that you need to check in a couple of hours early. When I wake up at 3am, I think it’s not worth sleeping again. Get ready, check out. The halfu staff member who checked me and reminds me of a comedian on Last Man Standing in is still there. Don’t they sleep?
Passengers are resting in the passageway, buying food from the 24 hour Lawson konbini. The Qantas check in isn’t even open,. there’s hardly any queue to drop off the bag.
No point waiting, pass through security without drama. Everything is closed on the other side bar a couple of eateries. It’s sunrise, beautiful outside, but I am not feeling very well. Need more sleep.
I sit at the gate for a while, try to snooze and keep the phone charged. The JAL Sakura lounge only opens at 5.30 am, but allows Qantas Club entry. It is very nice and has a decent food selection. All I get is a small muffin, some potato salad and lemon juice. I can barely keep it down.
I fall asleep for a little, wake up and it’s almost boarding time, but as I get up there are a couple of staff holding a QF26 sign. Boarding has almost finished, I might be the last to board, along with two girls in front of me.
The reason turns out to be that the flight isn’t even half full in economy. I have a spare seat besides me, four seats after that. Ahead and behind me.
Maybe other flyers aren’t morning people either. Except for those with young kids. There are a few of those. I don’t care. I’ve taken a baby on a plane before.
This A330 is equipped with wifi internet and we are informed that we can fill in the Australian quarantine declaration through the Qantas app, the first time I have encountered this option. It turns out to be very easy to do, better than filling in those damn paper forms in the cramped and dimly lit plane.
The downside to inflight internet means that you can’t escape the rest of the world. I see work emails appearing on my phone and am tempted to tell them to go away, I’m at 41,000 feet. Best not to reply at all.
Mount Fuji can be spotted in the distance as the Qantas A330-300 taxis out to the runway under mostly clear skies with high cloud out to sea.
The turbulence website warns of moderate turbulence near the start, end and middle of the flight, smooth for the rest of it. There are impressive views of Tokyo Bay and the Boso Peninsula as we take off and head out to sea. Twenty minutes later and the seat belt lights are switched on again as we bump through a bit of high cloud.
The First Officer apologises and says it should only be five minutes, the sharp peak on the turbulence map. It’s not too bad. Also that we have departed early and should arrive early as well.
The crew drop off water bottles, then come around with breakfast. An omelette or pancakes with ricotta and blueberries, which I choose. There is a blueberry and custard pastry and a tub of yoghurt to the side, which I decline.
I can finish neither the pancakes or pastry. Just can’t stomach anything. Anxiety? Sick?
For the rest of the flight I stare out the window, sleep, stare, sleep, while listening to music on my Walkman. The cabin is dark, for much of the flight mine if the window shade up, but only partly and I do my best to block it. The light on the eyes helps me sleep more than darkness.
The skies are pretty smooth, scattered cloud far below, floating above the blue ocean, sometimes reaching upwards with the rising of the warm air. Mirrored in the sea or casting shadows.
Snacks are handed out, a Japanese version of Pringles with the bag inflated in the low cabin air pressure.
There is high cloud around Guam, I don’t need the map for that and as we approach the equator the skies get bumpy again. This is the middle peak of the turbulence chart. The seatbelt lights are not switched on and eventually it dies down to smooth skies again.
Papua New Guinea is divided into thirds along its latitude. A white wall of storm clouds cover the north, but the central Owen Stanley Ranges are clear, but for the smoke from the slash and burn agriculture. Scattered clouds reappear to the south, but the mighty Fly River Delta can be seen stretching towards the east.
The Torres Strait separates Papua New Guinea from the mainland of Australia, its scattered islands and atolls pass below. Tiny Warraber (Sue Island) is particularly noticeable, bisected by its airport.
The tip of Australia is covered by cloud, with only brief glimpses of the land below as we fly through the centre of Queensland. Seasonally dry riverbeds, the salt of Lake Buchanan and Lake Galilee.
Lunch is served late and I am hungry. I choose the ginger pork rice, served with a warm butter bun, purple cabbage salad and a chocolate brownie. It is almost too much for me, I cannot finish the rice.
The third turbulence spike corresponds to a METAR warning of a region of severe turbulence along the jetstream. As we close in on Sydney there is a layer of high cloud below us, but also contrails in the sky hinting at stable air.
The aircraft begins its descent into Sydney in the evening light. The First Officer announces that we are running almost an hour ahead of schedule. Down through that thin cloud layer, no bumps, now into a gloomier light, the Central Coast, the bridge at Brooklyn on the Hawkesbury River, Palm Beach.
There is a glimpse of the Sydney central business district with its distinctive landmarks, then we fly just west of Botany Bay and the airport, the lights of other aircraft visible as they land. It is here that there is a bump, maybe wake turbulence, then the seatbelt light is illuminated. But it is a smooth descent the rest of the way.
Over the Royal National Park, turning east into the Pacific, then north. Past Cronulla, the seas smooth today, over the Kurnell Peninsula and across Botany Bay for a perfect landing.
We have indeed arrived an hour early. Immigration is fast, but it all comes unstuck at the baggage collection. Nothing. Not for an hour and a half. Apparently the baggage handlers are running late because we arrived early. Pathetically understaffed and underpaid. That early arrival was for nothing and there is nothing to do while waiting for luggage.
I had imagined arriving in the evening, maybe having some dinner in the food court watching the last arrivals and departures for the day. When I finally get my bags I am tired and just want to go home. We get drive-thru McDonald’s for dinner.
It was exhausting, but I feel like I achieved a lot on this trip, ticked off a lot of trains from my bucket list. My highlight would be the Shimokita Peninsula and Osorezan, truly an otherworldly experience. But there were also the smaller scenes, the trains at dusk, the onsens, the local lines. Those memories will stay with me for a long time.