There is a recurring pattern when Thundergod, Hinjew and Fallout fly. We’re always boarding twenty minutes before the plane leaves. Luckily for us, we haven’t missed a flight yet.
We left Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka an hour and half before our flight. We took a taxi to Haneda airport, which cost us about 7500 Yen. Once there, a good ten-minute walk led us to the Skymark check-in counters. The lady, who spoke a bit of English, was nice enough to let our luggage go through without any penalties, since they were overweight for the flight. Thundergod thought that they let us through because it would be too difficult for them to explain the costs involved for having heavy luggage.
Once we went through the security checkpoint, we walked to the gate and boarded the flight immediately. In about two hours, we’re going to be landing at Fukuoka airport and picking up our Toyota Mark X to drive back to Tokyo.
After a great breakfast at Grand Prince Hotel, we had some time to kill before leaving for Haneda airport. We decided to go for a little stroll around Central Tokyo to get a small taste of Akasaka. As we walked out of our hotel, the sky suddenly opened up and the sun came through. For the first time since we landed, the weather was in our favour.
After fifteen minutes of walking, we came across a 7-11. We decided to purchase some drinks: Thundergod and Fallout had some beer (an Ahari and Sapporo respectively) while Hinjew went for the Pocari Sweat. The latter is an actual drink that, while sounding gross, it is a lightly sweet sports drink to replenish needed amino acids and whatnot for your body.
We walked for about an hour and managed to experience very little of what Tokyo has to offer. Everything is so densely packed; we can’t imagine how people live next to each other so close. There is little space in Tokyo, yet the city still manages to shove a vending machine around every corner. Also, everything is so clean and organized, unlike Montreal’s filthy sidewalks. The roads are in pristine condition (the asphalt is so smooth) and the overhead highways are made in steel, not concrete.
Finally, we came back to our hotel room and relaxed for a bit. We finished packing our bags and went downstairs to call a taxi. Now, it is time to head to Fukuoka to see the other side of Japan.
Last night, we managed to all pass out early once again in our hotel room. We visited the cocktail lounge for some pricey drinks along with a platter of cheese to go with. Once done, we came back to our suite and just passed out (starting with Fallout). While we all wanted to eat dinner, there was no energy to go out and get it. Fortunately, we slept very well, even on the 2-inch thick “mattresses” in our Japanese-styled hotel suite.
We woke up at 5 AM today and have a huge craving for breakfast. We’re going to go up to the 40th floor and see what they are serving. If it’s anything like Hilton’s breakfast yesterday morning, we’re going to be very happy.
A Japanese-style suite room sounds great at first, but it may not be the room you want to be in at night.
About five hours ago, I (Fallout) reserved a hotel room for 3 people. I noticed the Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka had great prices: 325.00$ CAD for a large suite with two washrooms, two sinks and a large shower. Without thinking twice, I booked the Japanse-style room, amazed at how I found such a great deal.
About an hour ago, we arrived at the hotel via a shuttle from Narita (cost us 3000 Yen). At the front desk, while checking in, the lady looked up our reservation and paused for a minute. She looked up at the three of us and with a perplexed face, asked, “Japanese-style room?”
We all nodded cheerfully, expecting a nicely themed hotel room with am abundance of Japanese artifacts. She smiled, took down my credit card information, and sent us off to our room, 34 floors up. We honestly didn’t know what to expect. Read the rest of this entry »
Our first night in Japan resulted in us trying various drinks that shouldn’t have been made, booking our hotel room at the Hilton hotel nearby Narita airport (15 minutes before checking in, thanks to the data connection) setting up the wireless connection and then crashing hard at 10 PM. At about 2 AM, we woke up to the sound of Thundergod tapping away on his laptop. We all heard it because we decided to share a room together for the first night, and I (Fallout) was sleeping next to him. His datacenter seemed to have some trouble, resulting in a bit of downtime for his websites. Crap way to start a trip!
We eventually all woke up at 3:45 AM to Facebook and MSN. None of us could sleep any longer since it was about 2:45 PM Montreal time. We were also looking for cheap flights to Nagasaki airport from Narita, and to pickup a car rental while we land at our destination. From our research, we were going to be paying a premium for a flight if we decided to fly out today, so we decided to postpone our trip to Nagasaki for tomorrow. Instead of paying 39,800 Yen (457$ CAD) we’re flying for 15,800 Yen (185$ CAD). Thundergod receives the credit here for finding this “last-minute” deal.
Looks like we’re spending some time in Tokyo tonight!
After touchdown the first item of business, after clearing customs and getting our bags, was to find something to drink and arrange a data plan! (Both items are on the ground floor on the triangle of needs). We fixed the former with a vending machine and some gag reflexes. Don’t choose your drinks based on the label color. I had what I could only assume was tree bark and water for my first selection, and a seaweed water for my second.
The person who had previously conceived the triangle obviously didn't have facebook.
So, after much debate over which network was going to be our telecom bitch for the next 11 days we decided to check out Docomo. After finding the Docomo booth in Narita airport on the 4th floor, we quickly found out that they didn’t offer any phones on a rental/prepaid basis. Subscribers only. After unsuccessfully trying to explain that we didn’t need a phone but rather a SIM card with a data plan, I was told that Docomo network only works on Docomo phones. I showed her my HTC HD2 currently running on the docomo network (It is a telestra 9193 version) and tried to explain that if I had a Docomo SIM card it would work on the network without any issues. Alas, this still didn’t result in us getting a SIM card due to issues with Docomo not issuing cards and plans without phones. At least she was impressed when I showed her my phone – enough to ask what kind it was and show it to all her colleagues.
Upon entering the plane, we were greeted by the first class private cabins. These are the chairs that turn into beds and totally isolate you from your neighbours. They looked kind of flimsy to be honest. Business class always looks good, and would probably net you a better flight from the looks of it.
Thundergod and Fallout decided to play Diablo 2 to kill some time. We turned on the CradlePoint PHS300 broadband router to create a wireless network on board. After a good hour or so of gameplay, Thundergod decided to plug in his laptop into the power outlet (at the time, I was already on the AC adapter plugged into my seat’s outlet). Immediately, both of our outlets tripped the breaker, and a resulting red light came on (see the photo). Right away, this ended our 1-hour Diablo 2 run for the rest of the flight. Looks like having too many laptops plugged into the same strip is way too much power.
We spoke with an Air Canada employee on board to see if they could reset the breaker for our seats. The woman explained that the map program (the little flight status overview system) was known to break power outlets from a supposed overheat. Unfortunately, resetting the LCD screens in our seats did not reset the power outlets. We didn’t think so it would work anyway. We were given compensation forms to fill out to receive a travel voucher or Aeroplan miles.
Depressed from not being able to use our laptops for too long on the trip (except Fallout, since he’s got a Macbook Pro with a 7 hour battery) we decided to all pass out for a bit. We must have slept for a good 2 hours or so. We all eventually woke up when a flight attendant came to serve us some water.
Enjoying our time in the Maple Leaf Lounge at Pearson Airport, we didn’t exactly want to leave so soon as the free food and drinks were working wonders on us. It was roughly 12:30 PM at the time. Our flight to Tokyo was at 1:15 PM, so we figured we had enough time to hit the currency exchange kiosk before boarding.
Thundergod has been hung-over since this morning and hasn’t had the chance to sleep. He finally woke up and decided to grab a bite to eat before leaving for the gate.
At the exchange kiosk, the woman was counting our money until an Air Canada flight director came up to this and asked, “Are you guys going to Tokyo?”
“Yes we are” we heartily replied.
“Good, because you guys are the last 3 people to board the flight. We were about to remove your luggage off the plane if we didn’t find you in the next 5 minutes.”
Fallout said “but it’s only 1 PM, you guys can’t leave yet.”
Even though there were a good fifteen minutes until the flight took off, we didn’t exactly calculate the fact that they might close the entry doors sooner.
“Ok, we’re almost done exchanging our dollars”.
The flight director, a bit ticked off, replies, “Umm, do you guys want Japanese Yen or to go to Japan? We need you guys on the plane right now.”
Hinjew had to stop the woman from counting his money and run to the gate, or else we were not going to be able to board. In any case, the gate was right next to the kiosk, so a two-minute walk led us to our seats on the plane.
Fallout – I slept at 1:00 AM and woke up at 6:00 AM sharp. I barely got some (good) sleep, as the excitement was rushing through me. I kept waking up every hour or so and thought I was going to miss my plane.
Thundergod – I went out clubbing to celebrate a friend’s birthday. I slept at about 4 AM and woke up at 7. Right now, I am hungover like crazy. I plan on sleeping in the Maple Leaf Lounge until we board our second flight.
Hinjew – I slept at 2 AM and I didn’t even pack my bags yet at the time. Woke up at about 7:20 in the morning, just over an hour before my flight. I then packed everything and left for the airport.
While waiting for our Tokyo flight, we snuck into the Maple Leaf Lounge for some R&R. Since Pearson Airport is Air Canada’s flagship hub, it was no surprise that the lounge was the best one to date we’ve visited.
There was a fully stocked bar, beer on tap, soft drinks, an espresso and cappuccino machine, a coffee machine, soup, fruits, salad and pasta.
I love this place. It feels just like I’m at home. I walk up to any of the available kitchens and grab whatever I feel like eating. There’s even showers available in case you’re feeling raunchy from flying a dozen or so hours.
