To Tokyo

 We have a long wait in the lounge in Singapore. The flight to Tokyo is 6.5 hours. Its a "tweener" flight. Just long enough to require sleep yet not long enough to get a good rest.

The flight is on a Boeing 777. This is a wider plane than the A350 of the first flight. The pods are larger but poorly designed. These pods have a mishmash of storage space, still inadequate compare to Q-suite pods. We question how the lay flat beds works. Apparently so does everyone since there is a special announcement to show one how they work.

As an engineer, CJ is beside himself. Did someone really specify coming up with the worst and most uncomfortable and complicated lay-flat and pod design ever. The daytime flight from Adelaide to Singapore and the long lay over in the airport has us ready to sleep. For the first time we opt to forgo the meal service until the end of the flight and go directly to sleep after takeoff.

It is apparently an interesting flight; or so says Carol. Somewhere north of the Philippines, we fly through a tropical depression. The plane feels like it is going to shake itself to pieces, the crew is running through the aisles screaming at people to get seated and belted in, meal service is suspended, and the flight attendants solicit Carol's assistance getting the unbuckled sleeping CJ buckled. It is a fool's errand. She cannot waken him. He must survive the turbulence as he lies.

When he is finally awakened for breakfast, Carol questions him about the excitement. What excitement. She asks him about the storm. What storm? It appears in his sleep he heard an announcement that he thought told of the beginning of service and was aware of "minor" turbulence. CJ's sleeping is legendary.

Perhaps he is not alone. The Frenchman seated in front of CJ is still sleeping in the lay flat configuration as the cabin empties. Because Carol has ordered a wheelchair, we are asked to wait until the cabin empties. When the crew come to escort her off the plane, they see him and wake him. He slept through the storm, the breakfast service,  a hard landing, and people exiting the plane!

Welcome to Japan.

We exit customs to a placard with our names. Our guide, driver, and car await. After a short ride to the hotel to check baggage, we begin touring.