Sunday, September 23, 2012

StuPidiTy CosTs.... Part 1

I went for a long-awaited trip, that was 3-days Kansai trip. First day, Osaka. Second day, Kyoto. Third day, Nara. The itinerary was quite simple as I went alone, so I just planned it roughly. Lost is part of the fun, they said. 

I arrived at Yokohama on September 9. Being told that the next weekend would be a long-weekend (Happy Monday system by Japanese law), I thought, hey, maybe I can go to Kansai. So that day I browsed all day about going to Kansai.

My only problem was I wasn't prepared for this trip. I brought with me a huge luggage and a standard backpack. I didn't (and still don't, haha) have a credit card, which I found later it could be very useful to reserve this and that.

I asked my friend if it was possible to store my huge luggage somewhere instead of bringing it along. She suggested coin locker. Well, I saw some coin lockers at some stations, but they were usually small and medium size. After I googled it, I was still in doubt that my luggage could fit in the big size one, not to mention that only few could be found in large substations. If I was lucky enough to find it, there's very big chance that it's already occupied and I would have to bring it everywhere. So I googled more. I found an alternative, check it here. The other alternative was just to keep it at the hotel if possible.

September 10, I googled for night-bus from Yokohama to either Osaka or Kyoto. I found Willer Express. He needed credit card for online reservation. I also looked for probable accommodation in agoda website. They also needed credit card. Darn. 

I then picked some places I thought interesting and browsed for Osaka subway route map and Kyoto subway route map. 

September 11, I still hesitated buying shinkansen tickets because my friend told me that she bought night-bus ticket for only 5000 yen (compared to a 13,000 shinkansen ticket, yes it was a lot more cheaper). So I went to JR ticket office at Yokohama station. Guess what, he told me to order by phone. So I came back empty-handed. I googled and JR said their night-bus tickets for September 14 were sold-out. Bah.

September 12, once again I googled for the accommodation, now in booking.com website. Then I found it. There were apparently few hostels or guest houses didn't require credit card for online reservation. But by the time I knew, only one guest house suitable for me, and it was a dormitory room for 6 persons with bunk beds. The guest house name was HennkaWell, I took it. 

September 13, I (finally!) bought shinkansen tickets, reserved seats, September 15 for 8:06 departure from Shin-Yokohama, and September 17 for 15:17 departure from Kyoto. Hurray, I thought. I also informed hotel staff that I would like to check-out on September 15, then check-in again on September 17, and if it was possible to keep my luggage at the hotel. She said OK. More hurray, I thought.

September 14, I still didn't do packing.

... (to be continued)

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