Fifteen countries thus far and this is just my first entry on a country that I’ve visited. Not having to pay for visa, my travel buddy and I found this the next appealing target after Taiwan. Why in November? For one thing, we both like the colors of autumn. Other reasons are the cold climate and zero fare sale by Scoot (SG$360 for 2-way).
Here’s the crew after service, wishing us a great trip to Japan
Airports are one of my fave places to be in.
After attending church service on Saturday night, we head back home for last-minute packing and left after 10pm toward the airport. Our 1am flight to Tokyo was via Taipei so we practically slept through the night and just got up for the connecting flight at 5am. Reaching Narita with a growling tummy before 12nn, we grabbed some rice wraps at a goods store.
Grabbing our first authentic Jap dish at the convenience store. Haha!
Their smoking chamber for smokers
We boarded the bus that goes directly to our hotel on a 45-minute ride at ¥900 (SG$10). First accommodation was at APA Hotel Tokyo Bay Makuhari (SG$80/night). Booked it via Agoda as an insider’s deal. At that price, we didn’t expect much. But tada! The room exceeded our expectations. We got nice view, spacious room with twin beds, bathtub, techy toilet bowl and complete bathroom essentials (their shampoo, conditioner and body wash were really soft on hair and body).
The Q for check-in was very long but amazingly, it was moving fast because they had a long row of front desk officers. We just dropped our stuff and made our way to Disneyland, which was only 6 stops away by train.
We had a fair share of bloopers at the station because we didn’t know how to buy tickets and use them. Some friendly Japanese assisted us. On the way out, we were not aware that we were supposed to slot in the ticket at entrance and do it again on the way out. We just walked past the gateway through the barriers. Excuse to be blur.
Since the whole morning was gone, we purchased the starlight ticket (for 3pm onwards on weekends) and paid only ¥5,400 (SG$62 each instead of the full price SG$80).
Though I’ve been to Hong Kong Disneyland, it felt like my first time going. When I went there in 2010, it was raining that day in December. We spent more time trying to get warm inside the shops than walking around to enjoy the park.
Anyway, it felt like a dream coming true. I was like a child again! Sadly, I didn’t have much memories of being at theme parks and carnivals like this when I was a little girl. “Whooopeeeee!”, says the kid in me.
We got to the hotel around 10:30pm. We just realized the hotel has a shopping arcade, 24-hr convenience store and a bunch of restaurants in the building. Unfortunately, only one was open at that time. Nevertheless, we ate to a satisfying meal. I won’t forget that Quattro Formaggi pizza, oozing with yummy cheese goodness!
