I think airport trains hate me
I managed to experience a rare double today - there were issues with the airport trains both at my departure airport and at my destination!
Hong Kong's Airport Express had an issue with overhead cabling between Tsing Yi and the airport, so that meant queuing up for replacement buses - about 30 minutes to get on a bus, then a slower than normal trip out to the airport. Fortunately, I'd allowed some padding but I still only managed to make it to the check-in desk 5 minutes before the cut-off.
Arriving at Narita, I headed down towards the trains, only to hear an announcement that Narita Express services had been suspended due to an accident. I initially tried to get a bus straight to Shinjuku but the operator warned me that traffic was so bad that I was better off taking one of the other train options.
In the end I took the Keisei Skyliner to Nippori then changed for the Yamanote Line to (slowly) finish my trip. With all the going back and forth and queuing, I wasn't even on a train until 17:42, after arriving shortly before 16:00! I finally checked into my hotel, about 10 minutes walk from Shinjuku station, a little after 19:00.
So, a stressful day's travel - pretty much the entire day gone, only traveling between Hong Kong and Tokyo.
My favorite airport train story remains the time I was headed home from Sydney airport when the driver went though a red. This meant the train had to be reversed to the preceding station and everyone had to get off and wait for the next train, which ran a modified service (which changed again en-route). The already glacial 2 hour trip blew out to nearer 4.
Hong Kong's Airport Express had an issue with overhead cabling between Tsing Yi and the airport, so that meant queuing up for replacement buses - about 30 minutes to get on a bus, then a slower than normal trip out to the airport. Fortunately, I'd allowed some padding but I still only managed to make it to the check-in desk 5 minutes before the cut-off.
Arriving at Narita, I headed down towards the trains, only to hear an announcement that Narita Express services had been suspended due to an accident. I initially tried to get a bus straight to Shinjuku but the operator warned me that traffic was so bad that I was better off taking one of the other train options.
In the end I took the Keisei Skyliner to Nippori then changed for the Yamanote Line to (slowly) finish my trip. With all the going back and forth and queuing, I wasn't even on a train until 17:42, after arriving shortly before 16:00! I finally checked into my hotel, about 10 minutes walk from Shinjuku station, a little after 19:00.
So, a stressful day's travel - pretty much the entire day gone, only traveling between Hong Kong and Tokyo.
My favorite airport train story remains the time I was headed home from Sydney airport when the driver went though a red. This meant the train had to be reversed to the preceding station and everyone had to get off and wait for the next train, which ran a modified service (which changed again en-route). The already glacial 2 hour trip blew out to nearer 4.
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