 Between dreams and reality 負ける気がしねぇ！！
Tracy desu yo, pessimist and world’s worst procrastinator. Uni student with still a lot of things to learn. Interests include otome games, Naruto and Japanese.
 : Loves pink, food, ice-cream.
Summer is my eternal love.  Waiting for: 
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Japan Trip Day 1: flying and then Shinjuku
written on Sunday, April 6, 2014 @ 9:57 PM ✈
Day 1 - December 3rd Okay so this post got super delayed and I feel so unmotivated to do it on blogger because it is so picture unfriendly :/
Nevertheless here we go! For those of you who have seen my facebook album then these pictures will be the same since I don't have any others ¯\(°_°)/¯ The flight was at 8am or so which meant having to leave the house at 6, and waking up at 5am. Thanks to some last minute issues, I was still well and truly not-in-bed-sleeping at 1am. So I got less than 4 hours sleep before the trip, typical of me LOL
Going through the airport didn't take long and soon we were on our way to Japan hurray! ＼( ^o^)／ By the way, I totally hate flying. I'm not scared, nor do I get sick, it's purely because of BOREDOM. For some reason, my head gets fuzzy (not painful) if I try to read so I can't, no computer lasts long enough so I can't watch anything so usually all I can do is listen to music. SLEEP is the best time waster but I can never sleep well on a plane. This is the most regretful point because I fall asleep easily on a bus, train or car but not plane :(
However, this was one of the best plane rides EVER, better than all those times going to China. Why? They had quite a collection of good movies (though I don't really like watching movies - too long for me), but also this was the first time I saw bejewelled on a plane LOL. I apologise in advance for these blurry photos, I don't know why I was that shaky on the plane > <
You play with the audio and volume remote :)
Their food made me SO happy! SO much stuff
and so delicious too. My favourite was the noodles
which you eat with the sauce that came in the little bottle :)
The sky was so nice that day. I got told off by dad for
leaving the window shade up and absorbing x-rays > >
First time being given ice-cream on a plane! I don't like
chocolate but since it was ice-cream who cares!
The air hostess kindly told everyone you could
see the coral from the greet barrier reef outside ^^
Not sure if it's all of that though
雲海~ (unkai) Sea of clouds.
Second meal huhu~
When we got to the airport, I think we got through quite quickly again. Getting our fingerprints taken is fun lol. Also they're all quite serious there. I will always say that the Australian airport is the most friendly, most of the staff there crack jokes and are all smiley but if you go to Japan and China this isn't the case D:
After getting out of the security part of the airport and into the main waiting area place, the first thing I saw was an ice-cream vending machine! Unfortunately I didn't get any nor did I take a picture *regret* Though I do have another picture of the same machine elsewhere. I will always remember how there was an announcement saying Julia Gillard was lost in the airport somewhere, late for her flight LOL
We then had to go buy a precious N'EX (short for Narita express) and Suica package which cost around 4000 yen from memory (~$40 aud). Unfortunately for us, all international flights to Japan pretty much end up at Narita airport which is about 66km from central Tokyo. The other airport, Haneda airport is only 14km south of Tokyo but is mainly for domestic flights. This means besides the $1000 something airfare, you'd have to pay about at least $30 to get to Tokyo as well as endure the extra ~60 minute trip it takes to get there. You can take either the N'EX or the Keisei Skyliner depending on where you will be staying.
The N'EX and Suica package is a great deal since it gives you a return ticket to the airport and the Suica is a great card which lets you load up money onto it (the deal gives you 2000 yen on it) and you just tap the card to get through stations and what's left on it shows up on the screen (unlike what our crappy opal cards will be doing, don't make me think about how sucky they will be). I just looked it up again and apparently they are no longer offering that package since the end of March this year :( I'm actually really sad about that because it means I'll have to do new travel research when I want to go again.
Even more devastating is this: The Suica card has a 500 yen deposit on it which you can get the 500 yen back when you return the card before you leave the country. However, if you have more than 500 yen left on it when you return it, they charge you a 210 yen handling fee so you get less than 500 yen back. Basically, if you have less than 500 yen on it (or zero is best) you're good and you get it all back. Anyway, I had more than 500 so I decided to keep it til I came back next time since these cards are valid for 10 years (definitely coming back within 10 years!) so I thought I'd buy some ice-creams first when I come back next time then return it LOL. But then since this package no longer runs does that mean I'm stuck with this card and no refund...? I actually don't know since these cards are used all over japan so maybe I can return it somewhere but I'm not sure if they do returns that aren't part of that package hmm...
Anyway sorry about all that musing. If you plan to travel around Japan and you're stuck, ask me how and I'll research it for you kekeke I spent ages doing mine so I'm used to it LOL. I saw this christmas tree light display while I was on the N'EX (I think it was from a hotel building?):
They also sell snacks and sandwiches on the N'EX.
There's also shelves at the end of the carriage
to leave your luggage on! With locks even, if you're
paranoid someone will steal it :)
Then came the REAL challenge. We finally had to experience the despair that is the lack of organised street signs and numbers that is Tokyo. Google maps said it was an 8 minute walk from Shinjuku station to our hotel but... never trust Google maps, not for Japan at least. It took us easily at least 40 minutes plus asking at least 3 people to get there wwww. Trust me, it's got nothing to do with being bad at directions. I honestly cannot explain it to you, you just have to experience it. But! Now I'm very familiar with that area of Shinjuku so I'm sure it won't happen again HAH! Man it was so awkward going through so many streets with our suitcases haha.
By the time we got to our hotel it was probably 9 or 10pm by then (can't remember for sure) but even more so than any other Tokyo city, Shinjuku is a place that never sleeps. It is pretty much a lot of bars, restaurants, karaokes and the like so people are still out and about even that late. I have no recollection of if dad was hungry then but I was no where NEAR hungry because of the two meals we had on the plane. However, we passed a mister donut on the way to the hotel so after check-in we went back there since I wanted to try one ^^
Actually, I was after the hello kitty donuts which I saw on the internet but somewhere in my heart I knew I wouldn't get it since these sorts of things are limited time only and it had been quite some time.
 
What I wanted :(
and so this became my "dinner" LOL
When I ordered it, the person asked me if I wanted to have it here and this was the first time I had to say something that wasn't asking for directions and I froze up a split second LOL. Thankfully I remembered the word which I wanted to say - 持ち帰ります mochikaerimasu, "I'd like to take it away." And after eating that, showering, reading the hotel stuff and more research I went to bed :) Though super late of course haha.
~Day 1 end~
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