Departure

Winston: Hey Dan, we're graduating this year. Wanna go to Japan?
Me: Sure.

The adventure begins.

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So our plan is to go to Kyoto, Osaka, Tokyo and any nearby cities/sites of interest while where here from May 30-June 23. We left on the 29th, but time zones kicked in and added 15 hours.

Before departure:
-purchased plane ticket
-purcahsed JR Rail Pass
-purchased travel insurance
-purchased travelers cheques (in USD)

-Travel Stuff-
Visa:
You automatically get a 90 day temporary visitor visa issued at the airport when you arrive in Japan so no worries about having to apply for one unless you're going to be staying longer than 3 months.

Hostels:
Booked hostels online. Information about them will appear as I talk about my stay.

Security Stuff:
You're not supposed to bring liquids onto the plane and if you do its restricted to small quantities but you can put big stuff in your checked baggage. They won't go through your checked baggage either, that's only for if you're going to catch a connecting flight in the states. You also can't lock your checked baggage if you're passing through the states.

I actually brought too much clothing with me. You only really need about 4-5 days worth of stuff that you can rotate through. Also, more clothing equals less space to bring back your awesome Japanese goods.

Now onto the trip.

May 29, 2008 (Calgary)
So I slept over at Winston's house the night before to save him having to come and pick me up before our flight in the morning. We drive to the airport with Winston's dad and head off to get our boarding passes. Our plane to Vancouver was supposed to leave at noon according to the print off we received from the travel agency so we arrived 2 hours early as they recommend on the Air Canada website. I went to reconfirm our flight the night before and our flight number ended up getting change, no big deal. We show the attendant our print offs only to find out our boarding time had been bumped up by an hour and 20 minutes! So we were slightly rushed after we got through the security check (my pants beeped). Uneventful flight to Vancouver.

After arriving at Vancouver International Airport we have to go and find out what gate our flight will be leaving from. We find it and go to get food. I happen to have only travelers cheques and some USD on me when I go to pay for my sandwich. Seeing as the Canadian dollar was stronger than its American counterpart at this time, 50USD = 48CAD. I left my bank card at home. This made Dan sad.

May 30, 2008 (Narita)
The flight from Vancouver to Narita International Airport was about 9.5 hours. Got two hot meals that actually tasted pretty good. Also saved some tasty Manoucher bread that came with our meals. Grinded some job levels in Final Fantasy 3, watched The Firm, passed out for a bit. As we got pretty closd to our destination, the screens showed a real time map of us on the plane and the airport. It was pretty exciting when they turned the screens off because we knew we were about to land. We arrived at 3:25PM Tokyo time. Despite being called Narita International Airport, Tokyo, the airport isn't even in the city! Following the landing we had to fill out a card with some information and get our fingerprints and photo taken. Waiting for our checked baggage took a while so I went to the washroom. Their urinals are pretty cool, but I turn around and there's a porcelain hole in the ground. Well to Japan.

After passing through customs we had to look for the JR ticket exchange to get our actual JR Passes. JR Rail passes are only available outside of Japan and are good for 7, 14 or 21 days. We exchanged our receipts for our rail passes and had to run to catch our train. At this point we were extremely rushed, had not yet exchanged any money, and were without food or water... Caught a local train to Shinagawa where we would board a Shinkansen bullet train bound for Kyoto. At that point we were pretty excited and there was a bit of cool scenery. Just as we get to the platform for the bullet train, one pulls up. Stupidly enough we just get on, before I ask a woman what train it is. It's the KODAMA and not the HIKARI that we were supposed to take. So we get off as fast as we can and 10 seconds afterwards the doors close. Major disaster avoided. Should have just read the digital sign, but I was pretty tired.

The HIKARI arrives a few minutes later and it's a painful 3 hours to Kyoto. Just to spite me, there's a woman pushing a food and drink cart up and down the middle aisle. My stomach cries a little. Legs are cramped from the luggage and my head is buzzing. It feels a lot like pulling an all-nighter seeing as I've been up for almost 24 hours. It feels like I'm in VC again in a different country. This made Dan sad.

We pull into Kyoto Station and there's tons of Japanese people everywhere. A lot of them also have little roller suitcases. We get lost and ask a policeman for directions to the street that hostel is on. The little Japanese I've picked up from years of watching anime tells me that I need to go in the other direction past Kyoto Tower. It's kind of like the Calgary Tower I supposed, except it isn't surrounded by buildings taller than it. The hostel is a 15 minute walk from Kyoto Station.

We couldn't remember when the reception desk for the hostel closed and were afraid we'd be stuck without a place to stay for the night (oops). Luckily for us, we get in at 9PM and the desk closes at 10PM. We check in and get our key cards. Our room has two bunk beds and at the bottom of each is a bunk is a lockable luggage storage compartment. The combination locks that I always carry around with me on my backpack are too thick for the hole on the lock. This makes Dan sad.

We're still stuck without spendable cash and its too late to go to the exchange office. Even worse is that with the time change, it's now Friday night and the banks and post office are closed until Monday. Winston suggested we find a 7-11 which is called 7-11 and I Holdings or something like that over here and manage to get money at an ATM using his bank card. Remember to tell your bank and credit card company that you're going to Japan. We're still starving at this point so we head off to a ramen shop that happens to be open until 1AM. I have never been so hungry in all my life. The ramen is delicious. There's even sliced green onions that I don't really like in it and they taste delicious.

We get back to the hostel and I pass out around midnight.

There's about another 3 or 4 days worth of stuff for me to add, but I'm gonna head off for dinner before I edit my travel notes and get them posted up.