Matsumoto to Nagano to Tokyo station to Narita airport... a big day!

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An early start so we could bring our trains forward. We wanted to spend more time in Nagano for Marcus’ sake since he was here for the Nagano Winter Olympics.

The train was smooth, no hiccups or dramas. We arrived early in Nagano but unfortunately everything was closed being a Sunday and things did not open until at least 10a.m.

We had our bags, so we did not go far except around the local ate breakfast and, whilst cooler than Matsumoto, it was warming up. It was a nice city, much smaller than the ones we had visited, or perhaps it felt that way.

Marcus was able to reminisce and we wandered around only an hour, then had to return for our next train.

The next leg was great and very quick. The trains in Japan are excellent. Thank goodness our JR Pass covered much of the travel (except for the landslide that forced us to have to buy bus tickets instead of train to Takayama).

We spent a couple of hours in a Tokyo station, wandering around shopping for last minute items and getting some food.

Our last leg took us to the airport. We had planned to sit out our last few hours in the Qantas lounge, but we could not check in until for two hours so we wandered, shopped for last minute kilograms add to the luggage and spend our last yen and wasted time on the internet. We eventually checked in, went through to the lounge and relaxed.

It had been a hot holiday, but a very enjoyable holiday for both of us. It is an incredibly orderly, organised country and a wonderful place to travel solo, as a couple of with children.

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