The journey from Fiji to Japan was not easy. Almost everyone, except Marianka, had a slight cold. This situation seemed a bit comical, considering that it was around 30°C in Fiji.

The plane was packed to the brim, with practically no empty seats, crammed like sardines we were ready for a 9-hour flight. Fortunately, when flying with Fiji Airways, meals, drinks, and friendly service were included in the ticket price, and there were screens with games in the headrests again. The boys played chess non-stop, while Aliya either played something or watched a cartoon.

We arrived at Narita Airport, located about 70 kilometres east of Tokyo, around 7:30 PM. Wiktor was coughing almost constantly, and his eyes were telling us he might have a slight fever. We knew that Japan had lifted all entry restrictions some time ago, but temperature checks were still in place. I also felt like I had a slight fever.

As we approached border control, we saw a thermal camera pointed at approaching people a distance it was resembling a large camera lens. Marianna whispered, “What do we do?” We had no choice but to go with the flow, so I said, “Nothing, just walk.” We saw the eyes of the lady at the monitor darting up and down, from the monitor to the passing people, and a lady with a regular ear thermometer was the icing on the cake 😊 Deep breath and we walked confidently. We made it through without being stopped. Later, standing in line, we had to watch out Wiktorek’s cough to avoid raising suspicion, but fortunately, he managed to control it. There were other devices at the airport, but I don’t know what they were for, and I probably don’t need to find out. The most important thing was that we got through without any medical consultations or other issues.

We stepped outside and breathed a sigh of relief, enjoying the cool breeze of fresh air. It was about 8°C. We didn’t expect that we would miss the cold so much.

Half an hour later, we caught a bus to Narita Gateway Hotel. We were impressed with how easy it was to navigate at Tokyo’s airport. Everything was perfectly marked. Comparing it to Sydney Airport, where we really didn’t know what was going on, the difference was enormous.

We had to spend one night at the airport hotel because car rental services in Narita are open from 8 AM to 8 PM. We had reserved a car for the next day, which was actually convenient because we couldn’t imagine driving another 200 kilometres to our first home in Yugawara after such a long flight. At the hotel, we immediately went to sleep.

Our first day started with breakfast at the hotel, which turned out to be an interesting and tasty experience. We were surprised that even French fries were served. We wondered where that idea came from – you don’t eat fries for breakfast in Europe, nor in Japan, maybe in America? Anyway, alongside Japanese treats, you could also taste fries.

Photo: Breakfast at Narita Gateway Hotel, Japan

At the car rental, we met a German family. They were very friendly people who let us use the Internet to load maps. As soon as we arrived, my phone automatically connected to the network, so there was no problem. I was convinced I could use the Internet just like at home, similar to our stay in Australia and New Zealand. However, it turned out that the Internet worked only because there were still two SIM cards in the phone from the UK and Fiji, and I still had a balance of about 25 dollars on the latter, allowing me access to the Internet.

We were left without a map or Internet at the rental. Thanks to the German family’s kindness, we managed to set up navigation. Although the car had built-in navigation, it couldn’t find our destination address.

The number of cars on the roads was incomparable to Australia or New Zealand. The road infrastructure was perfectly developed, and the bridges, viaducts, and tunnels were impressive in their appearance and scale.

We stopped to eat at the Japanese chain Sukiya. It took us a good 15 minutes to explain what we don’t eat, but eventually, we managed to get our order. For a chain restaurant, the food was of very good quality, the portions were large and very tasty. For meals for five people, we paid about 4000 yen (around £21).

Photo: Salmon with rice, somewhere in Japan

Well-fed, we continued our journey. When traveling by car in Japan, it is very useful (even essential) to have an ETC card installed in the rental car. We lost count of how many toll gates we passed, but there were at least ten on that single journey. With ETC card toll fees are paid when returning the car.

We decided to stop at a market on the way, looking for a Japanese SIM card to have internet access. There was no SIM card. We noticed an ATM and withdrew some money. We left with a feeling that our stop was not in vain.

Later, at one of the smaller toll gates, we could only pay in cash. If it weren’t for the previous stop, we wouldn’t have had any Japanese money. The toll booth operator smiled and spread his hands when I handed him a 10000 yen note. The toll was only 200 yen, but he cheerfully gave us the change. We don’t know how it would have ended if we didn’t have cash. Our journey, although short – about 200 kilometers – took us over 6 hours in total. Tired but happy in the evening, we arrived at our first home in Yugawara.

Photo: Our first home in Japan