Tokyo trip 2
Sat 02.November - Sun.17.November.2019
DAY 14 Saturday, 16. November
Today we were going to pack up our bags and switch over to an airport hotel. The checkout time at our current hotel was at 11.00 am. As expected, all of my stuff didn't fit my luggage, so mom took some of my stuff in her bag, but there were still two plastic bags of stuff that didn't fit in anywhere. Not to worry, we had a plan!
We gave away our room in a timely manner and then walked over to Akihabara Station. We found some coin lockers and put our bags there to wait while we were going to run a little errand. Unfortunately, today out of all days, the convenient Yamanote line was not in use, which created a bit of chaos at the stations. We only needed to get to Tokyo central station, which luckily was only one stop away, so we had it relatively easy.
From a previous visit to Tokyo Station, we remembered there was a shop that sold travel bags and they happened to have some of their bags on sale for 50 % off. Finnair flights allow each passenger to have two baggage as long as the combined weight of them doesn't exceed 23 kilos. My luggage was bursting at its seams already, but my mom's luggage even when full, weighted only half as much as mine did. So the plan was to buy her another bag and put the rest of my stuff there. We bought the cheapest one that was on sale and then took a train back to Akihabara. We got our bags out of the lockers and I immediately put the new bag in use and shoved the two plastic bags inside. Now we were ready to go!
Saw this cat on our way to Asakusabashi
Then our day started to go a little downhill after that. The airport buses allow only one bag per passenger, so our most easiest and convenient option was not an option anymore. We had already sort of planned to ride the local trains to the airport, it is the slowest option, but we weren't in any rush. From Akihabara we walked over to Asakusabashi station and boarded a train. After a couple of stops, we had to get off and switch trains. We were in a totally new place for us, so we were having a hard time navigating ourselves to the right platform. We had to exit our current station and then walk 200 meters or something and enter another station and of course there was lots of stairs involved. It wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't have to drag an odd 20 kilos with me, but I put myself in this situation.
We found our right platform eventually and boarded the first train that said "Narita". Welp, that was a mistake! We should have waited for a train that said "Narita airport" because the train we boarded only went to the city of Narita and not the airport at all. It didn't help at all that as we were outside of Tokyo, the trains didn't have any announcements in English anymore. As the train arrived in Narita, it stopped for a really long time. We still believed we were on the right train, so we waited. When the train started moving again, we were going back the same way we came, and that's when we realized we messed up. In hindsight, I guess our best option would have been to get off the train in Narita and search for another train to take us from the city to the airport, but too little, too late. What made it even worse, the train we were on was some semi express train that didn't stop for every station. After passing six stations, the train finally stopped at a place called Sakura and we could finally get off. Luckily, it was a small station and there was no risk getting further lost.
We were both feeling a tad bit stressed so we grabbed something to drink from a nearby vending machine, while we waited for the right train to arrive. Once it did, we double checked that it actually said "Narita airport terminal 1"! We got on board and were finally heading in the right direction. The train arrived at terminal 1, but we had to get to terminal 2. Thankfully, it was just a matter of walking there. It was such a relief to finally see a familiar place! We would be late for our flight for sure, if we had to get to the airport and board a plane on the same day. Good thing we always take it into account that we will mess up and that's why we always spend the last night at an airport hotel.
The day wasn't over yet, now we had to find the right bus to take us to the hotel. We found the stop easily, but as per usual, we just missed the bus by a couple of minutes, which meant we had to wait for the bus to come back for 20 minutes, which feels like forever when you are tired.
It soon became very apparent that I chose a very cheap hotel, once we got there. The reviews of the place were not all that positive, but we were only staying there for one night, it can't be that bad I thought. We checked in and went looking for our room. The key to the room was an actual key and not a key card, like they usually are. And it came attached to this damn huge keyring, which was the size of a banana.
We found our door and it was like an entrance to a bunker, the door was very wide, metal door that made an awful sound when you opened or closed it. Same for the bathroom door, a heavy, metal door. The room itself and the beds were fine, but there was no air conditioning, so it was uncomfortably hot in there. We dumped our bags in the room and went back down to the lobby to grab something to eat from the vending machines. It was very slim pickings. There were like six vending machines there, but only one had food in it, the rest were drinks and one had ice creams.
We settled for some sandwiches and a bowl of tofu-rice we split between us. The tofu-rice was really spicy, so I had run back to the lobby again to get us some ice cream to get the burn out of my mouth.
After our less than fantastic meal, I did some arranging in our bags. I removed some more plastic packaging that was taking too much space, even if I risked some of the items getting broken. One Dart Maul figure in particular turned out to be a problem. I removed it from its box, to make more room in my bag, but I was in for a nasty surprise. The figure was all sticky and gross. I have heard that this can happen to a figure that stays inside their box for too long, this should be fixable if you give the figure a good soapy wash. I wasn't going to be able fix this thing now, so I just put it in a small plastic bag and hoped it wouldn't ooze all over.
When it came the time to go to sleep, it was easier said than done. There was a floor fan in the room we had on full power, but it didn't help much. The room was like a furnace. One of the worst night I've had in a hotel.
DAY 15 &the Flight Home, Sunday, 17. November
We woke up 6 AM and by seven, we were already checked out from the hotel and waiting for the airport bus. The bus driver burst out laughing when he wasn't able to lift my bag with just one hand like he was able to do with the others he loaded onto the bus.
The check-in for Finnair didn't open until 9 AM, so we had some time to waste. I returned our rented pocket Wifis to a mailbox. We weighted our bags again at one of those airport scales. I bought us some Onigiris and sandwiches from a kiosk, it was going to be a while before we would be getting any food on the plane.
After getting rid of our bags, we went straight through the security check. Last time, we were in a bit of a hurry to find our gate, so we didn't see much of the area that lies beyond the security gate. Now we were there early, so we had time to look around. Mom still had a little room in her carry on luggage, so I spent our last coins on buying some Japanese sweets. This time we actually had time to sit down and relax while we waited for the gate to open. I counted my leftover money, which totaled at 64 yen. Definitely no need to exchange them back to euros.
Next up, the haul from Tokyo Trip 2 , and once that's done, I'm about ready to start writing about something else. I'm done reminiscing.
Oh f*ck me again. Why did it take me over a year to get all this written down?
Ei kommentteja:
Lähetä kommentti