The airports here (as best I can tell) are a lot like airports should be in the US. They truly respect the class of service you're ticketed for. First class really means first class. Upon arriving we walked right up to the counter, checked in and breezed through security. The security agent made me take my laptop out of my TSA approved laptop bag but I didn't require me to remove my shoes, a trade off I would make any day. The computer the screener was using was mainstream in the early 90s. Other than that everything in the Tokyo airport was new and impressive.
On our way to the United Lounge we saw the new Airbus A380,,, WOW. That thing is huge. The United Lounge was nice. We couldn't find the bar,,, then we realized they just have bottles of liquor laying around along with a beer tap next to chilled beer glasses. We had an hour wait before heading to the plane. This was our first ride on a 777,,, nice. Since they use this plane as their "inter-Asia" plane there was no first class. However, the business class is still far superior to anything I've seen domestically.
One thing we noticed right away is that there was no one on the speaker yelling at us to hurry up, put our bags up, sit down, shut up, put your seat belt on, etc etc. It was quiet and very pleasant. Also worth noting is that the business class cabin had its own gangway separate from the main cabin. After takeoff we were given our own bottles of champagne and just about anything else we wanted. The food seemed like it would be good if you were in to crazy stuff from the sea (the salad and meat were pretty decent). The sake was also a pleasant surprise.
The flight was about 4 hours. Enough time to watch The Transporter (bad) and the Bucket List (great). Upon arrival we were greeted at the gangway by a Peninsula representative. She escorted us through customs to the Peninsula luggage guy. The Peninsula luggage guy took us to the Peninsula driver. When we walked out to the pickup area the first thing we noticed was that 1) it seemed the Peninsula has their own pickup section and 2) the line of green Rolls Royce cars. Our driver quickly loaded the luggage and off we went.
The ride in seemed quick, about 30 minutes total. The driver spoke great English and was able to share a lot of interesting information about the town. It's amazing to see the high-rise poverty around the area. Arriving at the hotel was even more impressive then our arrival in Tokyo. We were met at the vehicle by our own concierge who welcomed us by name. She escorted us strait to our room (this room is amazing). We were given champagne, chocolate and coffee mugs as gifts from the hotel for our "special occasion." Then, to our surprise, was another gift from the best travel agency ever --- big shout out to Admiral Travel. The gift..... a helicopter tour around town. The best part is that the helicopter picks us up on the roof of the hotel ---- in the words of Joe Farrell,,,, "how nice is that?"
After checking in,,, Katie and I sat down in the comfy chairs and quickly dozed off. 2 hours later we woke up (about 6:30 pm) and started getting ready for dinner. We watched the 8 PM light show from our room and then headed down to an 8:15 dinner. Katie had a nice steak and a baked potato, I had the salmon. Both meals were perfect.
After dinner we walked towards the "Ladies Market" - about 25 blocks away. Walking there was interesting to say the least. This town is far dirtier then any town I've ever been in. It makes New Orleans seem like a temple. The neon signs are reminiscent of Vegas 30 years ago (at least what I imagine Vegas was like). The stores go on forever. During our 25 block walk there were stores on both sides of the street the entire way and down most of the side streets. 1000s of them. Most of the stores stay open until 11:30 PM which is pretty cool. The first part of the walk was Cartier, Burberry, Tiffanys, etc. A couple blocks away the stores went downhill. Mostly knock off clothing, bags and questionable electronics.
The Ladies Market was more of the same stuff,,, interesting to say the least. Above the stores all throughout the town are tons of rundown looking apartments with ACs and clothes hanging out of the windows. We walked backed and ended up at the hotel just after midnight,,, that was enough for one night.
I started a new album for our Hong Kong pictures,,,, check it out:
More to come.....
Great blog Jesse. I hope you both have a fabulous trip (sounds great already)!
ReplyDeleteLove reading this guys! Thanks!
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