19 and 20 October 2026
Time to say goodbye. But not until the afternoon. Breakfast is sponsored by Tim’s Gold status and is complimentary. We are guided to a table, and a small sign on the table identifies us as Gold status members. Thanks for the invitation, I say. A lot of choice from both western breakfast dishes and Japanese ones. I go for a good mixture of it. The bread is not good, but some cereals are okay. Otherwise Japanese dishes and an omelette, made by a cook on order.
Since I do not have to be at the airport before 16:55, we have enough time for a trip to the AEON Mall in Narita. The free shuttle bus from the hotel goes first to two other hotels, then to the JR station in Narita and then to the mall. About 40 minutes in a full bus.
The mall is big and has a lot of shops. A stroll through the mall to see what they have on offer. For me it is a stop at the supermarket to get some stuff like mirin and cooking sake (which you cannot get in Norway, since they contain alcohol), a box of miso and some sweets as gifts. How much I buy, and whether that stays within my legal quota, will remain a mystery. 😁
After that more walking and window shopping. Tim is looking for clothes, but Japanese sizes are not made for tall Europeans. A project soon given up on, but I find another item I wanted in one of the stores. Small dishes for dipping soy sauce, to use with my chopsticks.
Lunch is also an option at the food court in the mall. Our choice of the day is Korean fried chicken with a spicy sauce, rice, miso soup and some pickles. I am not very hungry today, so not everything gets eaten.
Tim reminds me to find a geocache, and he finds it before I have a chance.
We still have a lot of time. What do you do? MEGA Don Quijote Narita (I cannot get the song from their advertisement out of my head…) is a little bit down the street. Why do we do that? This chaos of stuff everywhere and noise and everything making sound. At least I can use some of my leftover yen on the Suica card for a Kit Kat and a drink.
Back to the mall. We both take the 500 yen we have left in cash (we have no more use for it) and play an arcade game. 1,000 yen gives us 150 token coins (you cannot win money here), and the goal is to use them all up on the coin pusher (where you put in coins and hope they push coins down into the payout slot). We share a machine and run into a problem… we are too good at this. We win more and more coins that we do not need. We keep trying, but then we get bonuses here and there, and in the end we just have to try to get rid of the coins since time runs out. We have to catch the bus, otherwise we have to take a taxi to the hotel. A handful of coins that we had left over I gave to a lady playing the same game.
Outside it is queue time again. 15 minutes until the bus comes, and it is full again. But a shorter ride to the hotel, since we do not have to go to the station. Then it is up to the room to pack my last bought stuff into my luggage and hope it all gets home safe. For the next bus to the airport it would be 45 minutes of waiting. But I like to be there on time. Down to the reception we go, I order an Uber for 11 € to the terminal, and then it is goodbye to my amazing travel partner. All good things come to an end, but I am not happy to have to go home. I enjoyed these three weeks in Japan.
The taxi ride to the airport is fast, and Terminal 2 is big. But I do not see the domestic check-in. The information desk helps. It is two floors down in a corner. There are not many domestic flights here. I packed my luggage and stayed under the 23 kg on the big one, and the small one is far from the limit. Before going to the gate, a last fight with a vending machine and my watch/phone. My Wise card does not work with some of the vending machines in Japan, which must be a problem with those machines. I had this problem often. My watch and the card did not connect. So it is the Suica card again, and some more yen used up. No use for the money anyway, and I do not get it back.
The terminal is empty since I am too early, as always. Charging my phone for the flight and watching videos. The gate fills up and then it is time to board the JAL Boeing 737-800 (for the plane nerds here). Economy class. They have inflight entertainment screens, but I cannot switch mine on, and it is only around an hour’s flight to Nagoya anyway. Takeoff and then over the lights of the megacity of Tokyo. Nagoya airport is an artificial island in the water, and we land on time.
Now this is a crap airport. International connections have to leave the departure area, walk through the check-in area and go through security control again. Who planned this? One good thing: they have the scanners where you do not have to empty your bags. Just take the belt out of your jeans and empty your pockets. So it is a fast procedure, but again: why?
Time to kill until my Finnair flight to Helsinki. That means tax-free shopping for a 700 ml bottle of Japanese single malt whisky and some sweets. And then some dinner, since the flight is long. My LoungeKey access gives me access to one of the restaurants. I get two small dishes from a list. Not anything super cool, but it is free. A hot dog (not good) and some gyoza, as well as unlimited drinks for an hour. Not a culinary highlight.
Boarding the Finnair Airbus A350, my first time on this type of plane. Premium economy. The seat is nice and comfy. The table has a terrible construction that does not fit me. The old JAL plane on the way to Tokyo had a table that worked even for a fat guy like me. But the entertainment system is modern and really good. I feel tired, and it is 22:50 when we depart from the gate. An old Harrison Ford movie, but I do not finish it. Dinner is “Japanese style pork”. Nothing Japanese about it. Not even close. Boring taste, and the cake at the end is a filled cookie… I had thought Finnair would do more for people who paid 2,000 € for a return ticket.
After they finally collect the tray, I use the blanket as a pillow against the wall (it is too warm on the plane anyway) and try to sleep. It is not good sleep, but I make it nearly 6.5 hours in this reclined sitting position. That really did nothing for my neck. At least I can finish the movie, and just to have something to do an old Harry Potter movie. We took the route over the North Pole today and are approaching Helsinki from the north of Norway.
Breakfast is the classic overcooked vegetables, an egg and some potato rösti, and some fruit. No highlight, but you can eat it. Landing in Helsinki early, at 5:30 in the morning local time.
The next flight to Oslo is in 1.5 hours. Through security control, then automated immigration, which is easy for EU citizens. Very fast, and this time I remember to remove my glasses. Of course my gate is at the end of the terminal. I drank too little on the long flight and buy some water to hydrate.
The flight to Oslo is 1 hour 20 minutes. I preordered a sandwich with a smoothie and some chocolate. Okay, I will say, not more than that. Oslo arrival is 7:50 and my next flight leaves at 16:10. Not fun. I feel tired. On top of that we have the workers at Oslo airport who manage to send 5 pieces of luggage to the belt, then take a break, then send some more. After 30 minutes I get my big luggage, and then nothing. 15 minutes later, I and 2 others make our way to the luggage service of Finnair. I have my luggage tags, so I know the bag was on the flight. 15 minutes later the belt suddenly starts again and spits out my small luggage. What the f… Oslo airport. I do not think I will have any positive feelings the next time the people here go on strike for better pay. This level of working is not acceptable.
But I get through customs without anybody there, and now it is just to put some more stuff in the small luggage and then check them in to get rid of them. How to kill time now? Buying a coffee and a bolle, calling home and watching YouTube. That kills some hours. Then the culinary highlight of a lunch at Burger King (we avoided such places in Japan) and more videos.
New security control, more sitting and waiting, and then my plane to Molde is 30 minutes late. Did I mention that I am tired? At least the flight time is only 40 minutes. Beautiful blue sky, and the approach to Molde is always nice in this weather. At least here my luggage comes out fast, and thanks to Martin my car is just around the corner. I manage to buy some basic food and then empty my luggage before I hit the bed early at 21:00.
That was Japan. Tomorrow it is work and memories of this amazing trip. I loved every day of it.
