I woke early this morning without an alarm. The sun was out way before 0600 I reckon. It’s nice to wake naturally, with assistance from sunlight from the outside. This wasn’t the case in wet gloomy Tokyo with natural light further obscured by neighbouring buildings.
I made the most of the onsen once more before being treated to a large breakfast. There was no reason to stay much longer even though the check-out time was 1100. I hopped on the 0940 bus from outside the hotel. Along the way, I caught glimpses of beautiful Mt Fuji against the glorious blue sky, both of which hadn’t featured yesterday. I took some desperate snaps as views of the lake and Fuji were meant to be one of Hakone’s highlights.
I reached Shinjuku station around midday. Again, it was hard to find my way around the multiple stations but I worked it out more easily this time. I had to get to Narita Airport but with plenty of time at hand, the cheapest way was with a change at Nippori for about one-third the price of the non-stop service.
With limited funds and trying to avoid further withdrawals, I made use of the Nippori stop to grab lunch from the convenience store and do things leisurely and carefully to ensure I didn’t hop on the express train or the wrong train.
Despite the dilly-dally I got to Narita Airport at 1500 for an 1830 departure. I had a standby ticket and for the first time ever and after many years, I was left behind outstation due to the flight being overbooked. Being Japan, passengers had all checked-in rather early and by 1700 (some 90 minutes prior to departure), they had confirmed that there were no seats left.
I took the train to Narita town centre and started looking for hotels in the station area. First up was Mercure (full), second was Center (only smoking room), third was the Comfort (full) but fourth time lucky I got a huge beautiful room at the Richmond for only JPY12300 walk-in.
After a cheap dinner, I went for a soak at Hana Noyu a cheap but beautiful onsen one bus-stop away from Narita town.
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- Finally I have good weather which gives me a glimpse of Mount Fuji.
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- Dog obedience school.
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- Bedding of the homeless in Tokyo.
