As has become my custom, an early morning flight departure involves an overnight at an airport hotel. I’ve booked the Holiday Inn, as I just can’t be bothered with the stress of a cab or an Uber that doesn’t turn up or does what seems to be a common practice which is cancel the trip when nearby if a ‘better’ fare comes along. The Holiday Inn is what I would call a ‘high traffic’ hotel – it needs a refurb, but is generally clean and comfortable for one night. It’s a brisk 10-minute walk from the Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport to Terminal 2, despite the construction work. I’ve been to the airport carpark near the terminal often enough over the years to know the undercover short cuts.

Boarding for JQ34 at Tullamarine is 05:55, seat 1F, and the flight heads north to Cairns mostly on time. We take off at about 06:43, after some runway congestion. The economy leg is bearable, but my hoped for empty middle seat between me and the aisle passenger doesn’t eventuate. The middle seat passenger spends the entire 3 hours man-spreading with the seat reclined, so I feel sorry for passengers in the row behind. That being said, the extra legroom in the 1st row is very welcome, and the flight is only just under 3 hours by the time we land in Cairns. That’s the current Jetstar way to Narita — change of plane in the tropics to acclimate to what promises to be a hot and humid 20 degrees Celsius on arrival in Tokyo. Side note – a business class points redemption for this sector still means that you have to pre-order and pay for food on this leg if you want to guarantee your choice of menu item. Or bring your own.

There’s no need to collect and recheck baggage in Cairns – the 1 hour and 34 minutes between flights allows for a brisk walk around the airside of the international terminal, and a forgettable iced latte at one of the cafes.

JQ25 boards at Gate 4 in Cairns. Boarding starts at just before 10:50 – it’s an odd one, as business class is called to board well in advance for some reason. Another window seat, 1A this time. The woman seated next to me was in the aisle next to our man-spreading buddy during the economy leg. He seems to be seated on the other side of business class on this flight. We’re taxiing at 11:34 past a line of low green hills, and half an hour later the reef is under the wing — long narrow coral cays edged in white, with cloud sitting in lines on the water beside them. The yellow-tinged windows are deeply annoying and seem to be a centrally controlled setting to minimise the sunlight, as they are not apparent when we are on arrival into Tokyo.

It’s getting dark by the time we’re on descent into Narita, the sun is setting and Narita is under low grey cloud. Jetstar’s on-board service can be patchy, but a special call-out to Scott, the cabin manager who was at pains to make sure the business class cabin was well-serviced. The flight is uneventful, and overall a relatively comfortable day flight to take for a reasonable points outlay. I’d do it again, but only if it’s a day flight.

Narita is not my favourite airport to arrive or depart from – it’s over an hour on a high-speed train to Tokyo, with another 15-20 minutes of travel to Shinagawa. The Narita Express to Shinagawa costs ¥3,330. As this is only a short stopover, I should have bought a return ticket for a discount but couldn’t be bothered faffing around with the ticket machine. The first night is at my favourite Tokyo hotel, The Strings, perched at the top of an office building, high above Shinagawa station. On a clear day, you can see Fuji-san from the windows at reception on the 26th floor.