Finally concious

10th July - Ichi

Having left England on Wednesday I have now arrived and had a night's sleep... subsequently it is Saturday!

That was my first time flying alone but obviously I was packed as a sardine with others, so not really that alone. After unfortunate train delyas to Manchester frightening me I managed to make it from the platfrom to the gate in under 20 minutes (would have been quicker had the signs ot disappeared and been replaced with counters of CK1  rather than the gate for TK050 - my flight.

I first flew to Istanbul overnight and was lucky enough to see their mosques and Haggia Sophia as the sun rose in the morning. UNforunately being in transit meant I couldn;t go and see it for real and I was glad of the stick of sexiness as I limped off the plane. It took me an hour to find a toilet clean enough to use and then I had another 6 to attempt to sleep. I couldn't though as I was worried I'd not wake up. I also couldn't get any water to drink so it was a very thirsty time.

My next Turkish Airliines flight was 13 hours to Tokyo. It hurt a lot and for some reason none of the vegetarian meals came with pudding!

Unlike on my third and final flight from Tokyo to Sapporo where I got a map to help identify the areas we were flying over, there was no flight info on the Istanbul to Tokyo flight. Therefore I can say with some confidence that we flew over the Great Wall of China, the Himalayas and at least 3 versions of Machu Picchu.

Tokyo airport was a great mini-induction to Japan. Something for every Palmer of the clan. Mum - everything is designed for people 5ft or less, Rebecca - toilets have enough options to cope with an RLP, Ellie & Catherine - food is so cheap you can try everything, and for me I liked that smokers have to go into little glass boxes so they don't smoke up all the entrances and exits. Even Lucy couldn't fault the cleanliness.

I was slightly disturbed by a full grown woman carrying a Hello Kitty and Hello Kitty suitcase but apparently this is a national emblem, and she also found me bizarre - I caught her taking a photo of me hobbling off the plane with my stick of ultimate sexiness. This was a useful emblem in itself and saved me a lot of time as I was allowed to use the priority 'diplomat' lane.

I found Andrew in arrivals, waving his Union Jack and grinning.

Although it was now morning the most I managed in terms of sightseeing was a milk ice cream at the underground part of Sapporo and round the shop before falling asleep into a bowl of instant ramen.