They really didn’t want to stay in Tokyo – but flight times etc. meant it was the sensible thing to do. And perhaps, that was the most sensible thing they all did on their first day.

I farewelled the group around 8am before they headed to the Qantas Lounge….for almost four hours as it turned out.

Mick sent me a photo of himself enjoying a glass of champagne around 10am. And, there was still almost 2 hours before the flight departed. But I thought, perhaps optimistically, that he would probably take a snooze somewhere over the Philippine Sea during the 9 hour flight.

I headed to bed once I saw that their flight had landed safely. And, I woke up to a very brief WhatsApp message from Mick sent around 10.30pm Tokyo time saying “best meal ever!!!”

A man of few words.

Today they are to catch the bullet train to Osaka where they will spend 3 nights

The train trip will take them less than 3 hours, but when I asked Google how long it would take if they drove, while it depended on which route they chose, it would take between 6 and 8 hours. So that is going to be one very fast train!

So far this sharing of trip photos and details is not going too well – but probably as well as I had expected.

I’ll keep you posted.