2016年 12月 13日 (火)
What felt like a pipedream was now a reality. My friends and I were in talks about this trip for the longest time but we didn’t walk the walk. I kept prolonging anything from happening because I was waiting for cheap fares, but I was a foool. It didn't help that shifts were scarce, leaving funding for the trip waning as days went on. And maaaaaybe it didn't help that I was spending so frivolously (still do to this day) . BUT! Through the bleak clouds of doubt came a ray of sunshine called action.
It was an early September morning where I thought to myself, “what better way to start the season than to spring into action”. Now there weren’t any sales or promotions active at the time but I made the decision to book the flights anyway. That’s not to say I rashly came to that decision. I looked around ...for a good couple of minutes.
Let’s geddit
While this trip would have been fantastic by myself, it was exponentially better thanks to the accompaniment of my dear friends – the cream of the crop. Hand selected for their love of Japan, strong rapport, and being the only ones available (time-ly and fiscally). That left me with Alex, Carolyn, Vivian, and Wilson - each contributing their unique personalities and traits to make the trip better or worse (100% worse).
All that was left... save up HAH
⏩ past the anguish and quickly to 13.12.16, the day I had been waiting for all this time.
As per usual for me, on a night before anything that was remotely eventful, I barely got in a wink of sleep. And silly ‘ol me didn’t realise until later that instead of just lying in bed trying to sleep, it was better to do something. All those wasted hours...
Last minute triple checks and a carpool ride later, the gang was physically together for the first time. Cue the usual dreary airport routine, where time and space ceases indefinitely.
It was a good start with the flight to Brisbane. Time being docked and in the air felt short enough and the food was edible. Maybe the flight experience won’t be so bad this time. Wrong, so so wrong. The events that transpired after touching down were nothing but misery.
Signage around the airport was minimal and unhelpful to say the least. Getting to the international port was such a hassle travelling back and forth, between the differing sectors.
Compounding on my petty misery was the painstakingly slow security clearance. Alex was “lucky” enough to join the body scanner line (a.k.a. the express lane). Meanwhile, the rest of plebs waited ever so patiently for things to move along (if at all). It wasn’t the time for patience though as boarding time was just around the corner... When my time arrived, I swept through security without a hitch and unlike those before me, I did it quickly. Gunning it to the gate, we made it juuust in time.
Whatever goodness I had before was out the window with this flight; I had nothing going for me. The media selection was barely a meh, seating felt smaller and cramped and because of this, sleep was rendered virtually impossible. The flight was 9hrs and I was practically awake for all of it. With no sleep the night before, this was just dandy.
Sleep wasn’t my only problem. Meals? I was practically starving myself. In previous flights, I didn’t have much of a problem with airline food but lately, that’s been changing for the worst. I cannot stand the stuff (and that putrid airport/aeroplane smell. bleugh). So now I am deprived of sleep and nutrition. Juuust dandy…
FINALLY, we arrived at Narita Airport and there was plenty to do before embarking on our journey. First up was the collection of the pocket Wi-Fi. According to the low-res 2x2px map provided, it was on the third floor at a post office. Simple, right? Yeah… naaah. Guess now was a good time as any to use my shitty Japanese. Walking up to the security-esque person, I asked where this (pointing at map) was. The man eloquently instructed where we needed to go and I nodded in agreement. As you may have figured out, I registered nothing. Trying to zero in on key words left me forgetting what he actually relayed to me. Striding back to my friends in a faux-confidence, I informed them of my pitiful exchange.
Eventually finding the goods, we trudged back a floor. It was time for my next disappointment, the JR pass. With my broken Japanese and their English, the whole exchange finished smoothly without a hitch. We were done in no time.
…hahah…
…hah…ha…
As slow as the start was, we were finally hitting our stride. And by stride, I mean completely the same pace as before, if not slower. The others needed an IC card (useful for painless public travel, vending machines or paying things in general). It was just 10m away from the JR pass exchange counter. If only I realised that sooner.
Near the finish line now! I only had to withdraw some money (since Japan is cash reliant for the most part). Surely, I couldn’t screw this up hah. With a Citibank card, it was advertised that any ATM would be accessible but I was refused from numerous machines - even SMBC (what Citibank Japan branches have turned into). That’s alright, I’ll just live off the couple hundred I had in hand... Eventually, I found a compatible ATM, a 'Prestia’ branded SMBC ATM. In slid the card and out came a sigh of relief. I was now staring at this machine feeling quite nerved. I had read horror stories of being locked out of your account, even if you notified your bank. A lot of spending money was on this card... I punched in my PIN and amount needed.
DENIED
...
WHAT?! This could not be happening. Repeated tries still resulted in repeated denials. Withdrawing from another account type still got me denied. I only had one option left… the machine whirred for what felt like hours. Then, the divine glow as the gates of heavYen opened and presented me with glorious 10k bills. It was weird though, I was explicitly instructed to use x but ended up using y.
Okay! Truly finished now and it was high time we bounced. The plan was to leave at 19:30ish… we promptly left ~2 hours later… Not including transit time to our accommodation for the night (cue another hour).
Emblem Hostel, our stay for the night. A nice place that's decently affordable but quite far from the bustling parts of Tokyo.
It was well past my dinnertime and despite having very little food in me, I was surprisingly getting on well. Props to me. Prior to our departure, I made it my mission to find the nearest CoCo Ichibanya branch. It’s been too long and I needed my fix. Now this certain branch didn’t have a lot of information regarding its operating hours. It was gonna be a 10min wet walk and I wasn’t particularly keen on arriving at a closed shop. After weaving through the empty side streets, the beautiful curry plate sign was visible far in the distance. My eyes lit up as bright as the sign and next thing you know, I was at the front door in a matter of seconds. Still open? Check. The pains and sorrows of the day were washed away with spoonful after spoonful of that rich delicious curry. The pearly white rice bathing in an aromatic curry and topped with a crispy succulent tonkatsu was just divine. It was good to be back.
That concludes the main events of the day. We returned to knock out “early” to be ready for the new day and travels ahead. Falling asleep was a breeze if you compound no sleep 24hrs before and the comfort of a proper bed.
Thanks for reading and join me next time as we embarked for Kyoto.