Taking inspiration from a good friend, and combined with my need to pun from time to time, I hope you enjoy the title.

Our journey begins in the early hours of the 18th of May, driving down a deserted motorway (not really, but this adds to the drama) to the not-so-London Heathrow airport. Yes, this was the first leg of our grand honeymoon tour of Japan.

Our journey to Tokyo first brought us through the Austrian capital. The stopover was a protracted one, and we needed a way to kill five hours. There’s a limit to how much time you can spend laughing at £5000 bottles of whisky and still keep your sanity. It was our honeymoon, so it was time to splash out. We booked the business class lounge, and to anyone considering your first foray into lounge-life we would highly recommend it. Not all lounges are born equal, and the food was questionable in Vienna (unless you like turkey sausages and beef consommé), but the snacks and drinks made up for it. Bottles of wine, prosecco, beer, spirits. You name it, they probably had it. And coffee. You could easily break even if you have a few hours to kill. A big part of the experience is being in a quiet, comfortable environment removed from the hectic atmosphere of the main terminal. It might seem like an unnecessary expense, but it can be really worth it for a special occasion.

By the time we reached the gate, we were the picture of zen. It was time to board the big plane for our eleven hour flight to Tokyo Narita. Narita is to Tokyo what Belfast International Airport is to Belfast, except twice as far away. Nowhere bloody near it. The inflight entertainment choices were decent, but I wouldn’t rate the food on Austrian Airlines long haul. I haven’t had food that bad on planes in a long time.

I was sat beside a Japanese woman who was living in Switzerland, leading to some bizarre hybrid German-Japanese language conversations. I managed to make it through Aquaman which somehow felt longer than the flight. Another DC film with squandered potential.

This is but the beginning of our journey. Stay tuned for the next part – Tokyo.