On the weekend of the 16th/17th October we said our goodbyes to close family and friends, combining a lovely do at Helen’s parents house in Widnes with our youngest recruit to the Roscoe clan; Sukie-Bea (one on Tuesday – Happy Birthday!!!) to the eldest; Nana Champion (90 in November!!)

It was the first time the Rutter-Roscoe families met and it was a lovely occasion for us to celebrate our departure on the 19th. Lovely for us two but perhaps more emotional for others. We love you lots!!

So that’s the soppy part over with…here starts our travel blog for real! We flew from Manchester Airport early on Monday the 18th after a little send off from Mr & Mrs Rutter three coffees and one tea later and we left them for our departure lounge. Our first stop was a short spell in Frankfurt before boarding the new Airbus A380 along with 800 other Tokyo bound passengers. Lufthansa are going to be tough to beat on the smoothness of the flight, good selection of food and the added bonus of Toy Story 3!

After 16 hours of travel from door to door we arrived at the budget Hotel Sakura in the Kanda district of Tokyo. We thought we may be on the wrong path at one stage so followed other tourists off the train to find out where we should be going. Fortunately a helpful local man who spoke good English helped us on the right path toward our destination.

We managed to get an early check-in which meant we could finally get some sleep and a nice hot shower. Two hours later and we awoke jet-lagged but determined to get out and see some of the nearby attractions.

First stop; food at a nearby well-priced noodle bar. Second; a light stroll up to the local temple, Yasukuni-Jinja to walk off our meal, bustling with work-leavers and after-school chat, we managed an hour or so of sight seeing but after 26 hours of travel we were ready for bed.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, processed in Lightroom 3)