We got a very early start in the morning, thanks to not being able to find a cab to drive us to Nishi Akashi station. Instead we drove our car to Kobe airport, parked there, and took a ferry across to the Kansai Airport. We had done something similar before when we went to Taiwan, so we were already familiar with the procedure. The parking is unlimited and free, so that was a big plus. It was also nice to be able to drive and stay cool and dry on a rainy day like today.
We arrived at Kansai airport on time, did a quick and easy check-in at the counter of Air China, and then breezed through immigration and security. Usually our routine is to have a pre-trip cocktail, but seven in the morning is a little too early even for us. We substituted coffee and a hot dog, and then caught the two and half hour flight to Beijing.
When we arrived at Beijing I was surprised by the amount of air pollution. We had been to Beijing before for a weekend trip and were lucky enough to have blue skies and clear weather, which I understand now to be sort of a rarity. Since we had about three hours to kill before our next flight, we hit the bar for draft McKilney beers (something a little hard to find in Japan) and an appetizer of sausages wrapped in bacon. Getting that big calorie hit right up front!
The next flight to London was a little bumpy but no big problems. Most of the passengers were noisy, so it was a little hard to sleep. I spent most of the time watching movies, but I did get an hour or two of sleep. The food wasn’t bad, actually. This was our first time on China Air, so I didn’t really know what to expect.
Arrival in Heathrow was followed by a very long walk to the immigration and customs areas. It seemed like we walked for 20 minutes, with the occasional help from the people mover runways. The immigration booths were pretty empty and there was no waiting for us to pass through. Our immigration officer looked a little bored and chit-chatted with us as we went through. He asked about our jobs and teased me that the correct spelling of “labor” is actually “labour”. Even though immigration was quick, picking up our suitcases took a long time. The system at Heathrow airport is automated so that if the carousel is full, no new suitcases will come out. That means that you can either wait for passengers to pull off their bags, or the passengers can arrange and sort the bags already on the carousel so that there is space available for new bags. It was a strange system, and it took maybe 30 minutes to get our bags and get out of there.
From the airport we caught a train on the Piccadilly Line using our Oyster cards that I had sent away for previously. It was nice to be back on the London Underground. We put our suitcases next to us and had a peaceful journey into town. I was enjoyed the landscape as we went along – it was very green and all the houses and villages we passed looked very British. It was Kuniko’s first time to see the landscape, so I thought it was a good way to get a first impression of England. We arrived at King’s Cross station after about an hour. My only previous experience with King’s Cross station was 14 years ago when my father and uncle and I traveled in England, and we had passed the station to rent a car. I still have a vivid memory of some drunken homeless guy puking all over the pavement outside the station. Luckily there wasn’t a repeat episode, and we could find out hotel without much trouble.  We stayed in the Montana Excel Hotel, on a street with a little row of hotels. It was a pretty small hotel, and we were on the third floor, so we had to lug our bags up the narrow stairs, and pull them down the narrow hallway and into our narrow room. The room was a bit smaller than we are used to, but we are very flexible about things like that, and we settled in quickly.
We thought it would be good to go out and find a pub for a bite to eat and some beers, so we backtracked to the station and found one in the back of the station. It was next to “Platform 9 3/4”, of Harry Potter fame. The station had built a little photo opportunity area, and there were a huge amount of people lined up waiting to take a picture there. We didn’t feel like waiting so we passed and went right into the Parcel Yard pub. We managed to find a table away from other patrons and I ordered us a couple of pints. At our table we also ordered some food, and had a very nice beef pie that came with excellent mashed potatoes, and also we had some chickpea croquettes that were delicious.
Even though we had picked a table away from the crowds a large group of British guys took the big table next to us, and started carrying on. They also had come in past the long line of tourists at the Platform 9 3/4, and one guy loudly said the line was “full of Chinks”. His friends belatedly looked over, saw Kuniko, and tried to get the guy to shut up. I pointedly looked over and caught one of the guys’ eyes, and he flushed with embarrassment. I think they were all pretty ashamed, but no apologies. We didn’t really care so much, and later I explained the situation to Kuniko who hadn’t noticed at all. I guess there are racists wherever you go.
Anyway, after dinner we were feeling the effects of all that travel, so we headed back to the hotel and went straight to bed. It was a big first day!
