It's about a week after our trip to Tokyo Japan and though I promised myself and my husband that I will be chronicling our trip the day after, I ultimately forgave myself (and I'm sure hubby does too) for not fulfilling that promise. The sheer exhaustion from our travels would be enough excuse let alone the insurmountable stress of handling 3 small kids tagging along this trip.
But i only have 3 words to describe our struggles - ALL WORTH IT!
So how do I begin to retell this note worthy travel?
Let me start with...
Day 1:
We slept in our studio condo unit in Pasig the night before. Since we had a lot and I mean a loooot of bags to bring (family of 5), my husband ditched the original plan of commuting to the condo from our house in Antipolo. Instead, he had to go back and park our car in Antipolo at about 9pm. He was able to go back to the condo at around 11pm. By then I have successfully packed all 4 big bags and 5 small bags. We did not need not avail of a baggage services as I have already packed everything so immaculately. I am an expert packer :) Our 3 kids have slept well from 9pm after dinner to our wake up time at 2am. They were already wearing their first layer of clothes so they didnt have to change in the early morning. At 3am, we booked a grab car and were off in a few minutes.
We arrived the NAIA 3 at 4am and did not experience the usual horrible lines, we queued for about 5-10minutes. Upon entering the terminal, we went straight to checkin but since we already checked in online and did not have baggage to checkin, we were directed not to line up anymore. We only had to pay the travel tax (a total of P5,670 for all of us), in about 15 minutes we already had our boarding passes and was on our way to immigration.
Surprisingly, passing through immigration was also a jiffy. The lines were quite short and without any questions, our passports were promptly stamped.
On to the last baggage check, we also did not have any problems.
And so we waited for our flight. There was one change of gate, but other than that all went smoothly from there including the 4-hour flight.
We landed at around 11:30am (Japan time). The first thing we looked for after the Japan immigration check was the wifi rental.
We found one just near the train terminal. we opted to get the 5 days package for 5,000 yen. It was I think the mid speed one. Good thing a family friend (who we met in Japan) told me to get this in advance because I really can't imagine myself stressing out to find wifi around Japan. P2,300 for 5 days is quite expensive for internet but I think the convenience of having unli wifi without worrying about the bill is truly worth it.
We then looked for the train going to our hotel. I was lead to the skyliner ticket office where a pleasant Japanese lady who could speak little English asked me to choose between the faster (and more expensive) or the cheaper train. Of course, we opted for the cheaper on which cost us 3,200 yen (for all of us), good thing my baby boy (4 years old) was free to ride and my 2 kids enjoyed half fare rates. And so we boarded the train which took around 1 hour and 30 minutes to Ueno Station. After Ueno Station, we're supposed to go transfer trains of another color for the Oimachi station which is the nearest to our Hotel.
The train ride was awesome. We got to see the more laidback side of Japan as we traverse Narita's green landscapes. We knew that we were approaching Tokyo when we already saw some tall structures along the way.
We alighted the train at Ueno Station. Not knowing were to go next and realizing that we were already very hungry, we decided to go out of the station. Upon exit, the cold air welcomed us out. Good thing we were ready with our layers of clothing. We had to find a place to eat but we hesitated to go and try the restaurants that we saw because we did not want to blow off our budget on the first day.
And so, trailing off with our kids and luggages and bags, we set off to find food. And a few minutes of walking paid off as we saw a 7-11 nearby. We were so glad to see that there were so many food options to choose from. We bought ramen (450yen or P225), Gyoza (250yen), 5 kinds of buns (120 yen each), some water (100yen) and a bottle of green tea (100yen).
Looking for a place to eat, we asked the lady in the cashier if they have tables, but she only pointed out that we could probably eat there (pointing towards the door). Of course, these was all in Japanese and I had to assume that she understood my question. And so we followed her lead and just went out the door. And boy am I glad we did because out there about a few steps away is the Ueno Park. A very beautiful place where pigeons and crows are walking and flying about.
Since we were both so hungry and exhausted, we sat down on the side and started eating. We had to share and pass the ramen and the buns around since there were no tables around.
The food by the way was soooo delicious! I mean, this is 711 but it was better than any Japanese restaurant I've tried in the Phils. The Gyoza was superb!
After the filling meal, we were off again to find our hotel. From Ueno, we bought ticket to Oimachi station. Thanks to the wifi, we were able to find everything without hassle.
When we alighted the train, we saw our hotel building at once but had to figure out how we could get there. We took a wrong turn I guess because the travel up kept on telling me that we were walking towards the wrong direction. And so we stopped and asked a man from one of the supermarkets, he told us that we had to cross sides again but we could use the connection from the mall.
I a few minutes, we found our hotel. We were let to the other tower since we entered the first. The hotel location was the best, having a starbucks, a grocery, a convenience store and some restaurants just on the ground floor. It was an awesome place to be. We checked in easy and I paid for our stay in full (60,000 yen for 4 nights). We were given 3 key cards. The lobby by the way was one of the best I've ever seen from a 3-star hotel.
The room was at the 5th floor and it had a vending machine available. The room had three beds placed together which gave more than enough room for our family of 5! It also had a small table and some seats. The toilet had an amazing bathtub and ample toiletries. The TV however only showed Japanese so we didnt use it for anything. The wifi was ok but we did not have any need for it since we bought our own.
We were all so tired from the trip so we had to rest for 2 hours before heading out again. We reached the hotel at 4pm and slept til 6pm.
It was already dark when we went down to check out the grocery store. The amazing thing there are the food options available in the supermarket. So many kinds of food from meat to fish to ramen and veggies come in various price range. There were tempura and dumplings, sushi and sashimi which were all looked so good. We were careful not to buy too much and bought just enough for the night. We also bought milk and bread for breakfast the next day.
We ate our loot at the hotel and each of us agree that all the food taste great!
After dinner, we called it a night. The kids quickly dozed off but my husband and I had to stop and pray to praise and thank the Lord for this awesome day. Truly, the Lord is great and wonderful! To him be all the glory, power and Praise!
amazing story keep up the good work
ReplyDelete