Japan - Part 1 - Melbourne Groundhog Day

Mushi mushi.

We are back for another trip overseas (this time - Ant didn't instigate it) - this time - checking out Tokyo for a couple of days then off to Niseiko to ski/snowboard.

We had to get up super early for our flight to Melbourne (try 5am for a 6am start). This seems to be a recurring theme in our holidays.

Last night - Ant called up everyone's favourite rip-off taxi company - Canberra Cabs - to book a big taxi for the wee-hours of the morning. In typical Canberra Cabs tradition - they usually advise you to leave at least 1 hour before your flight's scheduled departure time. But this time - as we were booking a taxi which could fit my skis - the guy said if you have luggage - you need to leave 1 and a half hours before your flight.... As Rove would say - "what the??!". It isn't like we are travelling vast distances or going thru big traffic. According to "whereis.com.au" - the distance from our house was 6.8km - and it isn't like Canberra gets "gridlock" 5:30am in the morning. We refused their advice and just wanted to leave 45 mins before the flight (to give us some Qantas club breakfast time).

Our trip to Melbourne was non-eventful - although the b#### hostess told me to switch my PSP off 25 minutes before we landed. Also - they were showing "Everyone Loathes Raymond" episodes - just to pi$$ everyone off...

So here we are at Melbourne Airport - and there is a definite sense of "Groundhog Day" - only being a couple of months since we were last here (for 26 hours - yay Qantas).

A couple of the shops have changed and there is now an ANZ Bank branch in the airport. "Oh yes - I'll just pop into the ANZ before my international flight to fill out a home loan application!". Convenience.

The Qantas Club seems to have undergone more crazy renovations since a couple of months ago - there is a little bit of natural light (but amount the same amount of natural light in a Goulburn Super Max Prison cell) and some of the walls seem to have been randomly moved around. Maybe it has something to do with Feng Shui.

Anyhow - touch wood - our flight isn't delayed - cause the airport here is pretty boring.

Sayonara! (By the way - Mushi Mushi and Sayonara make up about 1/3 of the Japanese words I know - except for the "C" and "D" words that my brother taught me - plus Geri and Gero aka spew and diarrhoea - handy to know in Peru).