Aaaaaaat laaaaaaaaassssssst….
This blooooog is almost doooonneee….
And then I have to go and finish writing all the other unfinished trips… But let’s go one step at a time.
On my last day in Japan, Chris woke up early again to head into work. Our quality time was limited, indeed. He’d actually tried to get a day off to hang out, but when he asked his manager, his response was, “No. And you’d better not be late tomorrow.” Yikes.
After a sleepy hug goodbye, I was on my own once again. I dozed a while before managing to scramble up and figure out some sort of plan for the day. Once again, I did my best to dress conservatively without risking overheating, and then I soaked in the view from Chris’s apartment.
My flight was in the afternoon, so I didn’t have too much time, but I like to cut it close, so my first stop was fluffy pancakes in the city!
It was worth the trek. So fluffy. So delicious.
After pancakes, I probably should have called it a day, but nah. I wanted to see some views from up top. I headed over to an office building with free access to a panoramic top floor, where I hoped to catch a glimpse of Mt. Fuji. Before heading up, though, I stopped to peruse a calligraphy and photography installation on the ground floor. When I exited, I was asked to sign the guest book, and I was one of the only names who signed horizontally. I really need to practice writing my Chinese name….
Cutting it ever closer to my departure time, I hit the elevators, and the view from the top did not disappoint!
Such panoramic.
No Fuji, though. (It would be right behind those twin buildings in the above photo.) I wasn’t too surprised. Apparently it is rarely visible due to fog and smog, though due to improvements in air quality, visibility is much higher now than it used to be. Still got a lovely view, and I snapped a pic in front of a fake Mt. Fuji just for kicks.
Now, here’s where the real fiasco begins. There are so many different trains and busses that go to the airport, but I wanted to take the train that was free under my Japan Rail pass, of course. I had to take a subway to get to the departure station, and though I had had little to no issues navigating the trains thus far, this particular train was very poorly labeled and had multiple stations along the line with similar names, so the fifteen minute ride to the station ended up taking over 45 minutes because I kept having to get off, transfer, or turn around. It was so frustrating.
Then it got worse. The (ridiculous) issue with the JR train to the airport is that you must reserve a seat to ride this train, and I was unaware of this until I reached the platform. The train was scheduled to depart in ten minutes, and in order to book a seat, you had to visit an in-person ticketing agent. The machines, for some reason, were incapable of selecting seats for JR pass holders and would only work for people buying a full-priced, standard ticket.
So then I had to run like a madman through the train station to find the ticketing office, only to find a line forty-people long. There was just no way I would catch this train, and the next one was in half an hour or something. I was so frazzled at this point, but my phone directed me to another option, so I hopped on the first of two trains and was off in a flash.
When I reached the station for the second train, though, I learned that this train was not covered under my rail pass, and I had just missed the last train. So I ended up arriving at the airport at the same time as I would have if I’d stood in line at the JR ticket office, except I was out another thirty dollars. Ugh.
I was stressed the whole ride to the airport, but there was nothing else I could do at that point. In the end, I made it to the airport safely, and security was a breeze. I wish I could have gone back in time and told myself to calm the heck down, but what can you do?
As a reward for all my troubles, Japan Airlines blessed me with an exit row window seat directly behind the bathrooms with nobody in front of me. I basically had unlimited legroom.
The sun was setting as we prepared for takeoff, and I was almost immediately served a tiny bottle of white wine and a glass of iced plum wine. Winning.
Dinner was also delightful.
Some hours later, I got to witness a beautiful sunrise while snacking on breakfast/ lunch.
Mmmmm icy window.
And then I got a lovely view of the Canadian Cascades!
I flew round trip from Vancouver to Tokyo to save those moneys, so I spent the next half of this very long day wandering the Vancouver Public Library.
Highly recommend the views from the top!
I rounded the day off with a slice of my favorite cake from my favorite patisserie in the whole wide world.
And then I snoozed for the long bus ride back down to Seattle. I got home around 11 at night and had a job interview the next morning, and that’s all she wrote! Now I’m a working stiff again.
Sadly, this concludes the saga of my 2019 Funemployment, but have no fear; I have plenty of Scottish, French, and Portuguese stories left to tell! Stick around and journey with me on this crazy ride back in time. Until then,
私はあなたに最高を祈ります/ best wishes,
-Lizzy-wa