Early morning walk..
Woke up way too early… and made the most of the daylight before breakfast..
Bromptoneering or Bust
Travel related posts
Flight time
When you’ve got nine hours on a plane during the day there’s a variety of activities to keep yourself occupied… I stuck to watching movies… and Kym planned a couple of our rides in Tokyo.
Transiting with Bags..
Unfortunately suitcases are a necessity when travelling to Japan, especially when taking our Bromptons. While packing last weekend Kym said ‘I just want to travel without this stuff..!’, but I highlighted we would not get the experiences of cycling in fabulous places without the Bromptons so we have to put up with a very short term problem for long term happiness. To be fair I think he would like someone else to do all the packing (don’t we all!).
The Brompton suitcases themselves are large, but small enough to fit within the size requirements for normal luggage by the airlines. They are easy to move… but annoying from the perspective of travelling from ADL to SYD collecting them, getting on a bus to the international terminal side to the hotel and the next day checking in for the international flight to Japan.
In lifts people look at our suitcases with a quizzical look on their face… and I usually pipe up ‘they’re folding bikes’… which is usually met with ‘ah that’s so wonderful… I did wonder what amount of clothing would be inside..’.
Transiting is a necessary part of the journey… but we are always pleased to have checked in… seen off the bags, got through the gates and made it to the lounge… oh and find a seat. With just enough time to ensure there are enough ebooks/audiobooks on my phone for the plane journey.
Ah… here we are – again!
Holidays overseas are a wondrous thing, especially if you’re exploring new places. While we’ve visit Japan many times, we find ourselves returning… and continuing to search out places not yet visited on our bikes.
If you’re new here – welcome! You are either here to live vicariously through our holiday adventures (good and the wrong turns) as hopefully you’ve enjoyed our past adventures, or you’ve an interest in Brompton bicycles and keen to see where we ride in Japan once again.
Now if you’ve followed this blog for a number of years (… at least 20 years of holidays) you’ve probably recently been receiving additional posts about the Adelaide Bromptoneering rides… don’t panic we’re just maximising our online site. Those new to the blog had the opportunity to choose just Adelaide Bromptoneering posts or just Brompton or Bust holiday posts.. so thanks for signing up… and welcome all!
20 years and counting…
This blog started more than twenty years ago with our 2004 trip to the United Stated and Canada. This holiday was a turning point in our lives – we came back knowing that we needed to get fitter. It was, in some ways, the true genesis of our riding life and ultimately our life and travels with Brompton Bikes.
As I looked back over our first blog, I recall what it was like trying to blog without an iPhone. We had to rush into local internet hotspots in libraries and such. The big issue was whether we could even get the photos off our camera to upload. There were plenty of promises to upload photos later. 20 years later, I have now uploaded the missing photos and corrected some spelling mistakes! If you are interested, you can revisit our 2004 holiday. See our 33-year-old selves by following this link > https://bromptoneering.blog/category/bromptoneering-or-bust/2004-usa/?order=asc
Since the first post about our itinerary in 2004, we posted 979 other posts (including this one) from all over the world. Our first trip had a total of 54 posts.
In 2025 and beyond we will continue with our travel blogging. We are, however, going to add some posts about riding in Adelaide both with and without Brompton Bikes. So if you have already subscribed to this blog you will receive all of the posts. If you would like to change that, visit the blog site. You can select the sort of posts you want to get.
Thank-you non Brompton friends…
When visiting Tokyo, we always catch up with our ‘non-Brompton owning’ friends – who we’ve known since 2009.
As we’re in Japan for a month we were able to see them a few times. Firstly they took us to their local popular Izakaya. The food was as fabulous as the company – as it was great to catch up with them after 12 months.
They also spent time with us taking us to places in Tokyo.
.. and on our last day we were able to catchup with them again before taking the plane home. We enjoyed the local speciality of Sendai (tongue) and went to the fish art museum. Let’s face it they are impressive when you get an opportunity to see them up close and well lit).
Afterwards they took the time to come to the airport, enjoy one last meal together at the airport before we took the plane home.
Being from Australia we don’t necessarily value the large number of leave provision days we can take off. Japanese get much fewer days off – so when our friends let us know they are taking a day for us – it’s very special and we value their time… and can’t wait to see you again – hopefully next year.
Thank-you Brompton friends!
There are many things which go into making holidays great. Often it’s a combination of deciding where to go, what to experience with the time you have available, navigating your way around and being prepared to be opened minded for what you might experience. This is often our experience in Japan.
We recognise we are fortunate to have Brompton cycling friends in Japan – it was really great to see them again – and we have a very enjoyable time in their company.
These holidays we got to spend time with them –
- Cycling Oshima island over the first weekend- off the coast of Honshu, Japan
- Catching up over a couple of dinners in their city (Tokyo & Kobe) – which were great experiences (…it’s not all about the Bromptons)
- Spending the day cycling the Tama and Arakawa river in Tokyo and going to the summit of Mt Takao
- Attending the ‘Brompton In Palace’ Christmas event (inc. food and all you can drink) in Tokyo
Because we have known them since 2016.. we have learnt more about them, their culture, and as a bonus it’s helped us learn the best ways to get around Japan by Brompton. Through this friendship we also hope what we experience inspires them to visit the places in Japan we visit with our Bromptons – as they inspire us to cycle different places in Japan.
Mayumi, the leader of Brompton in Palace also does her own blog of cycling with her Brompton and about the events. If you are interested in reading the blog – I recommend you take a look. If you don’t read Japanese, don’t panic as there is a translate button in your internet browser.
ありがとうご座います… and we look forward to seeing you again next holiday.
Back home
Adventure no more. We managed to finally get home today. I mean that as the flight to ADL from SYD decided to take another loop around Adelaide plains and hills as the first attempt to land was aborted.
Two weeks ago Takero, our Brompton friend lead a ride to a park to watch planes from Haneda take off. That day there were a lot of planes taking off and landing. However there was this one that tried to land a couple of times… and I remember saying at the time “I would hate being on that plane…”. Well today that was my experience. 😞
The pilot attempted to land from the sea approach due to the winds, and unfortunately the wind was change direction so we got an extra loop ride no one wanted. I was glad when we landed.
Transiting…
I know some people like flying… but I’m not one. As I’ve said the only part I like is the taxi-ing before take off and landing. But enough talking about the actual flying experience.
Over the years we’ve gotten transiting to the airport with luggage in Japan to a fine art. When travelling internationally we use hard cases for our Bromptons as we know Australian airlines do not enable bikes to be transported in an open courier box like they do domestically in Japan. In addition to bike suitcases.. we have one mid-size luggage and a small carry on case which transitions to checked luggage home.
Moving via the train to either Haneda or Narita is the best option – but not with bicycle cases. Platform transitioning is too hard (based on where we stay), so now we take a taxi – and my arms are happier for the experience. below shows the luggage as we left the hotel in Tokyo.
Food on the plane from Japan is a delight – we were able to order a special meal – which was fabulous. Last Japanese style fish dish for me for awhile…
… and the breakfast was pretty good too.
Did I manage to sleep on the plane – a small bit (I tried, I really did), so I’m asking for your understanding if you interact with me today.
We will be doing a few posts over the next couple of days about cycling our Bromptons in Japan, details on trip planning for the avid Brompton owner and what we did over the last few days.
But first coffee
… as always morning priorities after the bags are packed! At the beginning of our trip we found a great new coffee place near the hotel… great beans and great breakfast. so we went for the last time.
They also do a great hand-drip coffee style too which was enjoyable today.
