Sunday, May 20, 2012

DON’T BLINK: The 48-Hour “It-Seemed-Like-A-Good-Idea-At-The-Time” Itinerary, Part II


MAY 15, 2012


“-Arrive Narita Airport: 3:30 pm

**Food/Dinner-Depart Narita Airport: 8:10 pm, FLIGHT SKY879”

-Itinerary Of Doom, Chapter One, Verse Two 


“I arrived maybe half an hour ago at Narita via Terminal 1. It took me a good twenty minutes to figure out that I wanted to board a bus, not a train, to get to Terminal 2, where all the Domestic flights leave from…”                                    

-Travel Log, Narita Japan


            When you plan a trip to a foreign country on a budget, you’re going to have to make sacrifices. Sleep deprivation being one of them. Anyone who has ever flown from one hemisphere to the next, regardless of sleep time en route, will tell you: You will experience jet lag. In my case, as a teenager and adult, I’ve never really been one for a regular sleep schedule. This hasn’t spared me jet lag so much as made it a few days of inconvenient sleepiness rather than temporary narcolepsy.
            But be aware: Jet lag will attack like a shark with blood in the water if you’re not careful. Even if you aren’t tired, sleep as much as you can during your travel period. If you have to stay up all night before your flight to sleep twelve hours on the plane, do it—it actually may help.
            Adrenaline will usually get you through the first day, provided you have a destination in mind. When I travel, I’ve found that the promise of an actual bed and safe place to rest is a good motivator not to nod off during a layover and miss my flight. Caffeine helps, too.
            When I arrived at Narita, I asked for directions to the domestic terminal, and after some issues I got on board a nice bus that took me to Terminal 2, the domestic terminal. I arrived with five hours before my next flight with nothing to do except journal and wait, so I got some food from the convenience store on level one and a melon soda from the coffee stand.


The convenience store I sat in front of waiting to check in
for my flight.
            When arriving someplace new all on your own, your first instinct may be to look for comfort food—something to make things seem more “normal.” In Europe, you may get lucky and find some sort of western food that looks and smells American enough to settle your nerves. In Japan, especially the domestic terminal, I wouldn’t hold out too much hope. I made do with a rice ball stuffed with beef and a milk coffee for my main course.


Luckily, since I had been in Japan before I had a craving for a type of soda I’ve only had there: Melon. This helped settle me down because I could concentrate on the novelty of having one after so long instead of other things, like the fact that SkyAirlines didn’t have check-in until 6pm and the guy behind the counter hadn’t spoken very good English. 



Melon Soda!
The coffee shop across from the
convenience store, where I got...














I was hoping not, since I had a tight schedule after I got to Hokkaido: 24 minutes to get my bags and myself on the infamous Japanese Railway (JR), and hope I was going the right direction to make my connecting subway line to Sapporo. 


“-Arrive Sapporo/New Chitose Airport: 9:50 pm

-Depart Sapporo/New Chitose Airport: 10:14 pm, AIRPORT TRAIN 223

-Arrive Sapporo (JR) Arrival Track 1: 10:52 pm”

-Itinerary Of Doom, Chapter Two, Verse 1 


“…Sometimes, your face turns such an alarming shade of red compared to your blonde hair and navy blue blazer that the security people take your bags for you, send them through the scanner, and while you’re apologizing and trying not to look at the security guard because you’re breaking all the rules and he could totally arrest you, you turn around and that same security guard looks so nice and just plain concerned you’re about to have a heart attack he just waves you through…”

-Travel Log, Narita Japan


            To say that I was “exhausted” by the time I found my way to the departure gate in Terminal 2 would be too kind. “Death warmed over” would be more accurate, except if I were dead I wouldn’t have felt so freaking exhausted. I had entered a sort of grey limbo world where the only explanation for my suffering was that I was actually the avatar in some freakish role playing game, and the real person in charge of me didn’t know how to play.
            I walked in circles around a post, hoping to find the entrance to the staircase going down. I stopped periodically to get coffee from vending machines. I walked past the same sign three times, going different directions. In short, I was in a maze out of an old video game and the departure gate was the opening to the next level, but instead of fighting random bosses I was being sapped of my strength by the horrible specter of “Jet Lag” that I had so foolishly trifled with.
            My stats would have read somewhere along the lines of “Awareness: 50%; Strength: 25%; Money: 99.98%; Caffeine/Blood ratio: 99:1.” By the time 8 pm rolled around and we started to board I could have cared less how foreign I looked, acted, or sounded. Chameleon plan be damned—I needed to get to Hokkaido. If I could just get to Hokkaido, I could pass out or call Nicole or maybe even crawl to the hostel where a nice shower and bed were waiting for me… But: ONLY. IF. I. GET. TO. HOKKAIDO.  
            And this flight was my one chance, since I could barely stand let alone swim through an ocean.
            Luckily, the flight was pretty much empty. I was the only foreigner, but without the blonde hair I would have stood out as the only idiot with three pieces of luggage as carry-ons, one of which was a huge bright green backpack that took a flight attendant and very nice man five minutes to wrestle into an overhead compartment while I just sort of stood in the aisle awkwardly.
            When I sat down, the nice flight attendant who had helped with my backpack told me I could put my bags wherever I wanted. Then I was left sitting in a row with a junior high girl, and across the aisle from three giggling school kids who obviously found my whole situation hilariously stupid. I agreed, but if I started laughing with them they would probably have really thought I was crazy. Laughing was too much energy, anyway.
            I took what was left of my dignity (read: nothing) and sat down, strapped in, and listened to the flight attendant give the pre-flight directions in Japanese. The whole flight, which was actually pretty smooth given the rainy season, I just sat with my eyes closed. I opened them as we were landing, when they actually translated the landing procedure into English as well as saying it in Japanese. I ended up staring at the kanji for “emergency exit” for about five minutes, and actually memorized it based on a story I made up to go with the pictures.


First Picture: All people run to the aisle
Second Picture: A person running with their hair blowing and one arm bent in front
Third Picture: The opening to the light at the end of the tunnel



            No idea how to pronounce it, but if I’m ever in an emergency and need to find the exit, I’m set for life.


“-Arrive Jimmyz Backpackers Hostel, Sapporo: 11:15 pm                                     

-Itinerary of Doom, Chapter 2, Verse 2  

“…I asked my way to the train station three times just to be sure. Because I didn’t check anything, I made it to the earlier train at 22:00—which saved me 15 minutes. Which was good, because true to my nature I got off the rapid express from New Chitose, followed the arrows to the Toho subway line, paid, and got on the train going the exact opposite way I wanted to go.”                                    

-Travel Log, Sapporo Japan


            The amazing thing about Japanese transportation has got to be the fact that it’s so easy to fix your mistakes, once you realize them. It took me four stops to figure out I was going the wrong way on the Toho line. Instead of panicking, I surprised myself by pretty calmly getting off the train and walking literally across the platform and onto the waiting train going the direction I wanted.
            I stayed in that sort of zen-like “what happens, happens” state all the way to the Hosui Susukino stop where I got off, pretended I could still feel my arms, and found Exit 5. From there, I decided that since it was 22:45 if I felt uncomfortable I would just spring for a taxi. But it turned out to be a nice night. The air was really refreshing, and the directions to the hostel were so detailed that even I didn’t mess up even once.
            Once I got to Jimmyz Backpackers Hostel my whole adrenaline zen world crashed down on my head. The man who runs the hostel, “Jimmy,” was seriously amazing. Not only did he know my name, because I had emailed about arriving after 22:00, but he spoke fluent English. No more pointing and mimicking, no more 40% chance communication failure.

The living room at Jimmyz. Tatami mats on the left. The
hostel used to be an actual house before it was converted.

It was beautiful. I settled up the remainder of my account, since I had paid a reservation fee when I had booked online at hostelworld.com, and he gave me a set of keys to a locker, the dorm door, and the lock on the front door. Then he asked me if I was going out that night, and I couldn’t help it—I started laughing. Or, tried to laugh. Like I said, I didn’t really have the energy. Instead, I asked if it was true the shower was 24 hours, and if I could rent a towel. He said yes, and that the towel was free. Then he helped me take my stuff to the dormer, where I thought I would be sharing with three other girls.

I got free reign of the kitchen, including free tea. 

It turns out I was the only girl that night, and I only saw one guy. So I got to spread out my stuff, go take a life-giving hot shower, and re-pack everything so it was easier to carry. I went to sleep and set my timer on my cell phone so I would wake up at 7:30 am to check out by 8:30. I still had a long way to go. 

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