Leaving Japan … Take 2

After a breakfast of pastries, I checked-out and left my bag at the hotel reception.

I began my exploration of the Narita area by walking to Narita-san, the temple nearby. It was actually a very nice temple for something that was so accessible and un-promoted. I remember the alleyway from about 15 years ago where there were lots of live seafood. Perhaps, being still early in the morning, none of these were seen.

I continued by foot to Aeon Mall some 20 minutes away. It was a great mall but there wasn’t anything that I needed or wanted. I hopped on the circle-route bus to another mall which turned out to be less interesting. Lunch in the basement was good enough.

Malls are much the same anywhere and I thought I’d use my time more productively by looking for accommodation in the highly likely scenario that I couldn’t fly again tonight. I hopped back on the circle-route bus to Narita town and tried various hotels on both sides of the railway track.

There wasn’t much choice but the Richmond and the APA had a handful of rooms left.

At the airport later, I was told by 1715 that I wasn’t on. There were a couple of seats left but my priority was low and others would have precedence over me. I stood by in case there were families or groups that didn’t want to be split up. As it turned out, a family of four put their two kids on the flight home while the adults remained.

Back in Narita town, the Richmond’s available rooms had been snapped up and APA only had smoking rooms left. I took it. It was tiny compared to Richmond and also costlier.

I wasn’t too upset about not getting on the flight for two consecutive days. Narita was a nice play to have a day or two to explore. If it hadn’t been for work on Monday, I would have left the region to explore further afield until the flights cleared. As it turned out, it was the end of the New Zealand school holidays but Japan isn’t the kind of place Kiwi families holiday in.