Side Note - is it redundant to call it Yakushima Island?
Day 1 – Christmas Eve
To say that the start of my journey
was a little haphazard might be a bit of an understatement. Let it be
known, at the very least, I have interesting adventures. For some
reason, I had the wrong dates in my mind for when I began and it was
only a last minute confirmation that revealed I was leaving a full
day earlier than expected. Apparently, I had been reading my ferry
ticket instead of my airplane ticket for the last month.
So, my day started at 6:45 with a last
minute check of Steam’s Christmas Sale. There are some priorities
that just can’t be ignored. Sadly, there was nothing of interesting
so I grabbed my pack and was on my bike by 8:30. The plan was to take
the direct bus right to Haneda airport which, assuming nothing
unexpected happened, would leave me with a two hour wait at the
airport. I figured it was better to be early than late in these
situations.
The plan also included stopping by the
post office to get some extra cash. However, it seems, ATMs have more
benefits than most workers as they were closed until after the
yuubinkyoku opened at 9:00. So I had to stop at the central post
office. At least that was on the way to the hotel.
I parked my bike in the notoriously
dangerous Belinda/George neighbourhood, hoping that the sad state of
repair my bike was in would deter any would-be thieves. I then
hurried to the hotel and quickly purchased two tickets for the Haneda
airport. Curious when my bus would arrive, I popped outside to check
the timetable.
I had missed the only one that would
get me there on time – at 8:00. The next one wasn’t until 11:35.
Oh shit.
With few options, I hopped on the bus
to Tokyo station, fishing my Lonely Planet out and plotting a route
through Tokyo’s underground to Haneda airport. Thankfully, getting
there by train was incredibly easy. According to my research, I had
three stops and a twenty minute tram. It was good that I allotted two
hours in case of emergency.
Alas, it turned out, that two hours
wasn’t enough. Who would have guessed that the roads would be
incredibly congested on Christmas Eve. Well… this probably
surprises nobody but me. It took over 3 hours to get into Tokyo and
though I got from the station to the airport without any
difficulties, I still managed to arrive just as my plane was leaving.
Thankfully, the Japanese pride
themselves on customer service and an incredibly helpful worker got
me a new ticket for a plane in a hour and ushered me through security
before I even knew what was going on. It seemed that, while everyone
was going somewhere, they weren’t going by plane.
I also learned that my backpack counts
as carry-on. Furthermore, I learned that tripods can’t be brought
on as carry-on. Good things to know for when I return.
Now, I don’t know if it is customary
or if the attendants saw me board, but they gave an English version
of every announcement. I was more impressed that I could understand
them more than anything else. Not that this was anything but a nice
observation since I promptly spent the entire two hour flight
unconscious save for a brief moment when they offered me a
complimentary drink. Too groggy to want to deal with it, I told them
I was fine in Japanese. To which, the attendants immediately began
talking about how I spoke Japanese… or something. I can’t really
remember too well since I just rolled over and went back to sleep.
I have notes here on turbulence during
the flight but that’s pretty boring. Let’s see if there was
anything else of interest that happened this day. Airport staff got
me safely on a bus for Kagoshima. Couldn’t find my hostel for an
hour since the Lonely Planet’s map is incredibly useless. Hostel
service was pretty unimpressive but the place was cheap.
Oh, to celebrate the festive season I
made some wonderful purchases for you – the reader. First was a new
pair of earbuds that are both rain and sweat resistant! They’ll be
perfect for my runs on Monday which, invariably, is the same day
Kamisu decides to rain on every week. I also bought a tripod, one of
those Gorilla things that can wrap around posts. I’ve been meaning
to get a tripod in order to improve my photos for awhile now and
Yakushima seemed the perfect time to try and get better photos.
I passed a Kentucky Fried Chicken and
can confirm that the Japanese eat chicken on Christmas. There was no
seating in the restaurant as that whole area was packed with piles of
take-out buckets. I wish I was exaggerating. Had I my camera with me,
I would have photographic proof. Sadly, you’ll just have to take my
work for it.
My dinner was less exciting. I stopped
by a conveni for a typical bento and a piece of “Christmas” cake
and eat it in my bunk at the hostel.
Merry Christmas…
Sigh. Forever Alone.
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