Khaos

YAPC::NA - Morning 1

Having to speak at YAPC::NA first thing in the morning meant that I was completely stressed out for the start of the conference. I don’t remember much about the registration process but it must have been really straight forward or I would remember. (Actually I’ve just remembered something about being given a glass which I no longer seem to have…).

I really like the venue so far – though I have only seen the main auditorium. It’s an easy room to speak in and the mikes and projectors work really well.

The only good thing about giving the first talk is that I can now enjoy the conference. It did mean that I didn’t attend the pre-conference dinner last night because I didn’t think I would be able to cope with meeting people. The people I did meet up with for breakfast and before the conference were all great and did help to calm me down.

Narita - My Favourite Airport?

Flying from the North Wing of Terminal 1 in Narita airport can be incredibly hassle free. Today I managed to get off the train, check in, and go through security and immigration in under half an hour. The airport is clean, spacious and air conditioned. Sitting at the gate is so comfortable that I haven’t bothered to try and find the airport lounge I can use. If only all airports could be like this.

9 Responses to “Narita – My Favourite Airport?”

  1. Tatsuhiko Miyagawa Says:

    If only Narita is a bit closer to the central Tokyo, not having to do 2 hour short trip to there 🙂

  2. Leon Brocard Says:

    What makes such a big difference to me is that it is so quiet – no security guards shouting orders at you, only people thanking you politely for going through security etc.

  3. Around the world in 80 airports : Understanding Nothing Says:

    […] thinks that Narita might be her favourite airport. Personally, I hated it. I’ve had a few bad […]

  4. karen Says:

    It would be good if it didn’t take quite so long to get there 🙂

    I’ve just gotten a bus from London Heathrow to Gatwick and I think Heathrow is probaby my least favourite airport.

  5. Tatsuhiko Miyagawa Says:

    I agree that Narita is very good when you leave Japan, but recently I find it somewhat clumsy when you arrive at Japan, especially if you’re an alien.

    The security guards are actually shouting at you to keep the line for the immigration (in Japanese!) that requires fingerprinting and face photos against the horribly long line for foreigners.

    That made me feel bad.

  6. Geoff! Says:

    I think that Heathrow might just possibly, excluding sections of Paris, be the rudest place on Earth. When I returned from Japan last year, I landed and was immediately “greeted” by a screaming security woman, encouraging us at great volume to present only one bag.

    After nearly three week’s politeness, it was more than I could take, and my first thought was to turn back to the plane and see if they would take me back! 🙂

  7. Tatsuhiko Miyagawa Says:

    OH by the way my least favorite airport is IAD (Washington DC Dulles) with probably the same reason you hate Heathrow.

  8. karen Says:

    I have also had the pleasure of listening to Heathrow’s screaming security staff when in transit. I was horrified by how they were treating people who couldn’t understand why they having bags taken off them (because they had been allowed to leave their home country with two pieces of hand luggage that would not fit into one bag).

    The new immigration procedure in Japan does seem much more chaotic than the old one. I am very lucky as I fall into the smallest category of people entering the country – those with a re-entry permit – and I haven’t even had to queue at immigration recently.

    Heathrow is always a bit of a culture shock for me now. The other airports I find hard to cope with are American. All my experiences at Houston have been horrific. Last year when I arrived for YAPC off a 13 and half hour flight I had to stand for longer than 2 hours at immigration. I was exhausted.

    The last time I flew into Washington my onward flight to the UK was cancelled…

  9. Yuval Kogman Says:

    The worst I’ve had is Frankfurt, but this is a bit special. Because Germans are pretty uptight about stuff in general, and with the Munich thing at the olympics and then a few attempted and one successful kidnapping the flights to Israel are apeshit. These flights essentially have their own terminal. Once you go through security (while you are not shouted at, getting prodded like cattle with the metal scanners, having a mandatory pat down, etc is probably worse) you are also completely isolated. There is nothing but the gate, and you can’t get out without going through the security again. Oh, and in Munich they even have a little duty free shop for the little terminal.

    What is especially odd is that the security flying from Israel feels almost lax. The people are relaxed and friendly (at least to Israelis), you are allowed to carry liquids etc. Speaking of which, the tube of moisturizer which I had taken on 3 flights already was confiscated today. Urgh.

Website Woes

I tried to make an online payment to my UK pay-as-you-go phone. As I haven’t used this in a while and my credit card had expired. I followed the link to amend payment, put in the new details are was told that something had gone wrong, they didn’t know what, but maybe I could try again in a few days!

I then tried to check my seat assignment with Virgin Atlantic as I occurred to me that Marty and I may not have seats together. But I can only do this up to 24 hours before the flight. I can’t actually think of a good reason why I can’t still update my seat but at least they could have shown me what seat I have been assigned.

I then thought I would have a quick look at the website for the Portuguese Perl Workshop but this wouldn’t load for me. I would find it hard to live without the Internet but sometimes it drives me mad.

(I’m only blogging because the sink has blocked up and I can’t finish washing the dishes. I had thought that using the computer for a bit would help me feel less stressed. It hasn’t worked.)

No Control

I’m having one of those days when nothing goes as planned. To make matters worse I’ve also become really clumsy. I’m managed to whack my foot of the wooden under-bed drawers, headbutt the kitchen cabinet and trip over my own feet. I also keep dropping things – but only one has landed on my foot so far.

I’m behind in more than my blogging and early tomorrow morning I will be flying to Europe. Hopefully I don’t become a health hazard at the Portuguese Perl Workshop!