The Japan Saga: Day Two
After way too much travel (15 hours plus layover time - in short, it was uncomfortable) that started way too early (4 a.m. arrival at the airport), we arrived at the Narita airport.
We met our tour guide Christian
at the airport and took care of the logistics - namely taking any money we needed out of the ATM and changing our American money to yen. There aren't a lot of ATMs in Japan and there are fewer places that can change money...and a majority of places only take cash. With logistics out of the way, we hopped on our first bus and headed to the Hotel Bellegrande. The hotel was about an hour from the airport so we got a chance to see the outskirts of Tokyo as we drove in. At first, I assumed my impressions of Tokyo had been wrong. There were buildings but they were spread out and there was more space - but that was just the outskirts. As we got closer (and out of the "suburbs") Tokyo started to look more like what I'd pictured - densely packed buildings and lots of people crammed into one space.
During check in we were assigned our roommates for the trip. I stayed with Kenny, whom I'd met a few times before the trip.
She's also friends with Mel (hazelrah for those in LJ land) and Chris (btp_aome in LJ land), and I knew I was staying with her in advance - so thankfully no surprises.
We had a very short time to relax (I used my time to take a shower and wash all the travel off) before meeting for dinner. We walked to a cute local restaurant. Since we were supposed to be getting a feel for the authentic Japan (as much as you can on a group tour, anyway), we ate on the floor, which was an interesting experience.
Not surprisingly, the trip over started to catch up with everyone at dinner and I crashed shortly after.
We met our tour guide Christian
at the airport and took care of the logistics - namely taking any money we needed out of the ATM and changing our American money to yen. There aren't a lot of ATMs in Japan and there are fewer places that can change money...and a majority of places only take cash. With logistics out of the way, we hopped on our first bus and headed to the Hotel Bellegrande. The hotel was about an hour from the airport so we got a chance to see the outskirts of Tokyo as we drove in. At first, I assumed my impressions of Tokyo had been wrong. There were buildings but they were spread out and there was more space - but that was just the outskirts. As we got closer (and out of the "suburbs") Tokyo started to look more like what I'd pictured - densely packed buildings and lots of people crammed into one space.
During check in we were assigned our roommates for the trip. I stayed with Kenny, whom I'd met a few times before the trip.
She's also friends with Mel (hazelrah for those in LJ land) and Chris (btp_aome in LJ land), and I knew I was staying with her in advance - so thankfully no surprises.
We had a very short time to relax (I used my time to take a shower and wash all the travel off) before meeting for dinner. We walked to a cute local restaurant. Since we were supposed to be getting a feel for the authentic Japan (as much as you can on a group tour, anyway), we ate on the floor, which was an interesting experience.
Not surprisingly, the trip over started to catch up with everyone at dinner and I crashed shortly after.