........
By something magical, I found myself in Business Class from Bangkok to Tokyo. Or perhaps Premium Economy is a better descriptor…I got the same food as passengers in economy, but my seat was AWESOME. It turned into a bed. Like, it laid out flat and even had a massage feature built in. It’s funny, because I have always complained that I never get bumped up, my flights are never overbooked so I can volunteer my seat—and this is the second time with JAL that I’ve ended up in a seat that’s much nicer than what I paid for (especially since my ticket was less than $900 round trip!). I think Someone was listening to my complaints and has decided to answer my prayer, haha. Unfortunately, the flight from BKK to Tokyo wasn’t a long one (less than 6 hours), so I didn’t get to take as much advantage of the situation as if it had occurred on that obscenely long flight from Tokyo to JFK (or vice versa). But, beggars can’t be choosers. I’m totally psyched that I got such an awesome seat, and without having to miss my flight or pay a disgusting amount of money or anything like that.
And I tried to keep the good karma coming: there were two friends who were traveling together but got seats that were separated by the entire middle section. One of the girls asked the guy she was sitting next to whether he would mind moving so that she and her friend could sit together but he refused. So the other girl, who was supposed to sit next to me asked me (or rather, asked the stewardess who asked me), and since it was simply moving from an A seat to a K seat (both windows), I readily agreed. The girls were SO grateful, and it really was a minor inconvenience for me (I have no idea why the guy refused—I ended up sitting next to him, and he did seem a little bit…off…). But yeah. Maybe that little kindness will lead to me finding myself in another snazzy seat on the hugely long flight (can you tell that I’m looking forward to it? L)
I am currently sitting at a table in a Hard Rock Café in Narita. I know, I know—I should be soaking up the Japanese culture, and, by extension, the food, but I’ve eaten lots of Japanese food on this trip and I think it’s kinda cool to eat at a Hard Rock Café in another country. I think this is the only other country I’ve eaten at one of these…or maybe in Australia too. I did order an “Oriental Chicken Sandwich,” whatever that means! I got approximately 4 hours of sleep last night, and being that it’s currently 11.30am, I have 7.5 hours more until my flight departs for good old JFK. I’m starting to feel the exhaustion, which is less than ideal.
Sorry to sound my own horn, but I am really proud of myself. I managed to get out of the Tokyo/Narita airport (thank goodness, because it’s pretty dull and empty) and make my way to Narita, which is much closer to the airport than Tokyo is (Tokyo is about an hour away by train, maybe a bit more). Finding my way to the train departure platform was not too difficult, but that is where the easiness for me ended. There were two different train “brands” and I could not for the life of me figure out what the difference was. I don’t know if they made different stops or had different prices or what. But I figured out the price and station order for one of them and decided to just go with it—so I bought what I hoped was a ticket to Narita station, from one of the little automated vending machines, because the line to speak with a counter agent was too long for my early morning patience. Even getting through the stupid little gate was a challenge for me—but I managed. Then I was trying to figure out which train I should take. All trains for this particular company leave from the same platform, whether they’re going to the other terminal of the Narita airport or heading out toward Tokyo. What I couldn’t figure out was whether or not they ran on a circular route, or whether it actually did matter which train I boarded. This was especially confusing because the train that was coming next was going to “Narita Airport” (isn’t that where I am?) and the next one was going to a station that wasn’t listed anywhere that I could see…so where did that leave me? I opted to NOT take the train going to Narita Airport (good job me!) and to get on the other one, figuring that if it went somewhere crazy I could just get back on it going the other direction and try again. Fortunately, it did not go somewhere crazy, it went right to my station.
As we pulled into the Narita station, my heart sank. It was a combination between an industrial area and a residential area. I could see nothing that looked promising for occupying me for the next 10 hours, let alone to feed me (because it was breakfast time and my stomach was complaining angrily). I walked down the platform (in the wrong direction first) and up to the station, and followed signs that said taxis and buses. It did not look promising once I exited the actual station. There was one little café surrounded by approximately 10 hair salons. I have no idea why there were so many hair salons, but they were everywhere. It was still early, about 8.30am, and the area looked dead. I walked a bit hoping to find life, but to no avail. So I headed back to the little café and decided I could at least get a coffee before going back to the airport. I thought of how the immigration officers would be really confused by the fact that I left the airport at 7.45am only to be back at 10am. I took my time in the café, ate a cinnamon roll and drank a coffee, and then decided that there must be more to Narita if I just walked a bit more. So I wandered over to the bus stop, hoping that some of the signs would be in English, or that I could determine something useful from them. Nothing.
But I refused to give up. I had heard that taxis were ridiculously expensive so I was determined to avoid using them. Plus, where would I tell them to take me? “Umm, excuse me, could you take me…somewhere interesting?” I feel like that would not have been helpful, or even successful, given the language barrier. The extent of my Japanese is “konichiwa,” “ichi ban,” and “arigato.” Not much, obviously. So I walked, and walked, and walked. And there was still nothing except hair salons (why?!?!) and industrial stuff. I walked back to the station on the opposite side of the road, thinking that maybe I could find some information inside that would give me inspiration.
As I exited the stairs back in the station I looked out and I saw…PEOPLE and RESTAURANTS and STORES. Of course, it was all in the direction contrary to the signs for taxis and buses, but there it was: life. The city. Suddenly, things didn’t seem so sad anymore. I took some random pictures, the ultimate tourist, and then wandered down a street and came across, what do you know, a bus stop. With some information in English. I located a schedule for a bus that was running to a shopping mall that I had read about on JAL’s website, and stood in what I hoped was the line to board it. It was. I got onboard an air-conditioned bus that went directly to a huge shopping center. Consumer that I am, where else would I go?
Just kidding (mostly). I figured a mall was the best place to kill hours though, because people wouldn’t be creeped out by the random person sitting around for an extended period of time, and I could always check out the items that Japan has to offer (though Japan is EXPENSIVE. This is my conclusion). Malls always have a Starbucks or some other such coffee shop type place where you can people watch for extended periods of time without getting yelled out (and this mall is no exception). So yes, here I am at the mall, just hanging out, eating lunch, and making my next plan. I’ll probably head back to the airport around 3pm and hopefully they’ll have a gate for my flight because this morning when I checked in with JAL’s connection desk to get my boarding pass for the flight tonight, there was not yet a gate. *sigh*
I’ve been spending a lot of time with airports recently. Last night I was in the Bangkok airport for 6 hours, JOY. It actually wasn’t too bad, except that I was annoyed because I could not check in (or drop off my bags, since I had already checked in online) when I arrived—the JAL counters were not populated by JAL employees, and would not be until 7.30pm (it was just before 5). I walked around randomly and taxi drivers kept approaching me offering to drive me somewhere, which was weird because I was NOT on the arrivals floor, AND they’re not supposed to solicit customers inside the terminal. I filled in a couple of post cards that I had and mailed them, and then it was finally time for me to be able to collect my boarding pass. Only, they only gave me one, for the flight from BKK to NRT. I guess it was because the next flight was almost 24 hours later, but I’d never had to collect my connecting flight’s boarding pass after the original check in. I was a little bit concerned that I would not get a good seat (and remember, this is the disgusting flight) but when I actually went to the connection center in NRT the seat I had chosen was already there, except she asked me if I wanted a window or an aisle when I had already selected my seat online. It was kinda strange, but all is well. I have a window seat that will hopefully be bearable for the long journey ahead.
No comments:
Post a Comment