Journey from Nagoya to Taipei

For the third year running we flew on the 31st of July, which means we barely have time to remember, yet alone celebrate our anniversary on the 30th as we are so busy cleaning, packing and doing other jobs you have to do the night before an early flight. The taxi arrived on time and we made the airport bus from Fujigaoka with barely 5 minutes to spare leaving no time for the annual trip to Mister Donuts. The airport bus was completely full. We have never seen it full and we have taken this bus a lot. I always feel that my holiday is beginning when I am sitting on the bus listening to the recorded announcements: “Thank you for taking Meitetsu Bus today. We will take approximately 72 minutes to reach our destination”. We did too – exactly 72 minutes. Japanese buses and trains are amazing.

Japanese immigration at Central Japan airport is amazing too. Amazingly inefficient. We never understand why it takes so long as the queue is mainly full of Japanese people going on holiday. Why should immigration care where they are going or why? Why should each passenger take 5 minutes to be processed? In the queue we got chatting to a Korean Chemistry student going to Seoul. The three of us were getting nervous as we shuffled along slowly as our departure times were drawing dangerously near. We finally got through and legged it to the gate. The pre-departure lounge was deserted and we were worried that everyone was already on the aircraft and that we were too late to board. We did get on board and found a spookily empty flight. The last time we were on such an empty flight was when we flew to Bangkok during the SARS outbreak.

Japan looked beautiful from the air. We guessed that the wooded mountains and stretches of beaches must be Mie prefecture. We landed into the yellow cloud around Taipei airport about 2 and a half hours later.

The taxi took 45 minutes and I had Dubai flashbacks. It felt like Sheikh Zayed Road with everyone speeding and weaving into the emptiest lane to overtake. The driver looked like he was going to fall asleep. His tiny eyes kept closing and his head occasionally nodded. I was pretty scared and kept making distracting noises and sudden movements to keep him awake.