Browsing

Lately I've been keeping an eye out for deals on flights to Japan. I check Air New Zealand's grabaseat page nearly every morning. They're mostly domestic fares of course, but occasionally they put up international fares. I saw a really cheap fare to Shanghai a few weeks ago. You never know, maybe Tokyo will pop up one morning.

The other day I was browsing STA Travel's website when I noticed a Christchurch-Tokyo return fare of $1346 (including taxes and surcharges). It was on Air Pacific, which would entail flying via Nadi in Fiji, but when I looked on a map I saw it was actually a pretty direct route with not much of a dogleg at all. I seem to recall flying via Nadi on one of my first ever trips to Japan. Anyway, as I did when I came across a cheap fare with Tahiti Nui a month or so ago, I checked out the airline website to see what the connections were like and what sort of aircraft they operate. Only later when I took a closer look at the original website did I notice the fare was restricted to students and youths. Foiled!

Actually, I think I'd prefer to fly as directly as possible even if it means paying a bit of a premium. Often with the cheaper, non-direct fares you end up paying more anyway because you need to stopover somewhere. So that means either Air New Zealand or Japan Airlines (who code share, so it'll be an Air New Zealand plane in any case). Last year Japan Airlines came out with some cheap deals in June, so hopefully they'll offer some similar bargains this year. Japan Airlines also let you fly open jaw at no extra cost, which means I can fly into Kansai Airport on the way there and out from Narita on the way back, eliminating the need for a domestic plane or train ride back to our starting point at the end of the walk.

The toe's feeling pretty good today, although it's still not 100%. Keiko and I went out for lunch, and it was so nice to get out of the house for a couple of hours. I think I may have a bit of nail taken out next week once the infection has died down completely. That'll mean taking even more time off from walking while the toe heals, but hopefully less chance of a relapse once I do finally get back into training.

Distance walked today: 0km
Total distance walked since blog began: 78.4km