Goodbye, Japan! Hello, Singapore

So, before going to Japan, my cousin, Pauline, showed me a website that was super helpful in planning out our use of the public transportation in Tokyo.  The website (and app) is called Hyperdia and I highly recommend it.  Well, I recommend it for most things...except for one of their suggestions on how to get back to the airport.

First let me just say that I'm glad we decided to play it safe and leave Asakusa about four hours before our flight.

Okay...on with our story.


I decided to be cheap, and take the Keisei main line towards Narita.  The cost? 1200 yen each.  The other option that we saw while we were in Nippori was to take the Skyliner--2400 yen each.  So yeah, I cheaped out.  So anyway, James and I followed the signs to what we thought was the Keisei main line and took it--to this day, I'm still not sure if we took the right one.

So, riding the Keisei main line, we saw a guy with a huge suitcase, which made us fairly confident that we are taking the correct train.  After all, who else but someone who's heading to the airport will have a huge suitcase on the train with them?  Anyway, so we get on this train and I would say we've been on it for a little over an hour (I expected us to reach Narita in 1.5 hours) when James and I saw the guy with the suitcase get off.  Concerned, we looked at each other and then back at the guy who was leaving the train.

We must have looked a little more than concerned because a lady who sat next to the guy with the suitcase asked us, "Are you guys going to the airport?"

We nodded.

"Then this is your stop," she said quickly.  "You need to transfer from here."

What?  My thoughts were running.  I could have sworn this train went to Narita.

"You need to get off here," the lady said again, more urgently this time.  "You need to transfer."

We quickly got our backpacks on and left the train.  We looked at the signs above, which said that the Narita Express was about to come soon.  The guy with the huge luggage looked at us and said, "Airport?"

We nodded.

"Yeah, the woman back there said we were supposed to get off at this stop," I replied.

"Yeah, she told me that too," he said, "but I don't understand.  I asked the train conductor if the train went to Narita and he said it did."

All of us looked over at the train, where the lady nodded to us to let us now that we were doing the right thing.  So with great trepidation, we waited for the train that said "Narita Express."  We got in as soon as it arrived and James commented that we got lucky to get into that train because our previous train went to the other direction--in fact, it went back to where we came from!

So, we ride this Narita express...and I start getting nervous again.  Some time has passed--more time that I expected in order to get to the airport.  I began to fidget and try to find a map that had and English version of the map.  Fortunately, our luggage carrying buddy can read some of the characters and told us that Narita was actually about seven to eight stops away.

Whew!

Okay...now my more immediate problem is that I need a ladies' room.  I probably should not have drunk as much water and coffee as I did prior to getting into the train.  But now, that's the only thing I can think of.  Oh, and luggage guy also told us that while we do get off at Narita, it's not the airport.  We gotta catch another train to get to the airport!

What is this?  Seriously, my research on how to get back to the airport did not inform me of this fact.  We are sooo lucky to have gotten into a train with this guy.

Anyway, when we finally got to Narita, James and I hurried towards a platform for the train that will take us to the airport.  Now, all this train stations, you gotta go up or down a flight of stairs to get somewhere...and I was in a hurry so I tripped!  Down the stairs!  My shins had bumps for days!  I just feel lucky that I didn't pee my pants during that time!  And yeah, I made it just in time to find the restrooms :)

So we finally caught the train towards the airport towards the last stop (Terminal 1, I believe) where we headed towards the arrival section in order to pick up our luggage from GPA.  We had stored them so that we can explore Japan unhindered.

GPA counter for luggage storage.

We had to rearrange our luggage again to make room for all the stuff we bought during our traipsing across Japan.  And we also had to change clothes to ensure that we arrive in hot and humid Singapore wearing proper attire :)  After everything was sorted, we checked in and grabbed a bite to eat.

Something nice about the plane ride to Singapore to Japan--it wasn't full.  I was able to move a row back from where we were sitting and I got that whole row to myself while James got the whole emergency row exit to himself.

Arriving in Singapore was almost anticlimactic after the day we had in Japan.  The only slightly amusing thing I experienced was when James was segregated for a bag check.  One of the airport guys looked at him and his suitcase and asked if he had anything to declare.  We were walking together so we both replied, "No."  The guy looked at James's two suitcases and asked to have it x-rayed.  I asked if he wanted to x-ray mine too but he declined.  Later, Dewi would tell me that this was because they are suspicious of foreigners with huge suitcases as they think that they are attempting to smuggle alcohol into the country.

After that, we headed over the the Singapore Stopover Holiday counter.  I booked us a Singapore Stopover Holiday in order to get cheaper hotel rates.  It also included transport to the hotel and back to the airport.  Two ladies were there supposedly to help us...but I gotta say...they seemed sort of incompetent to me.  I lament the loss of Japan and their excellent customer service.

Anyway, after several minutes of typing something at their keyboard and both of them looking blankly at the screen, they finally gave us a sticker to put on our shirts to indicate to the transport drivers that we are part of their tour.  After waiting in the lobby for over half an hour with two other couples, a driver finally arrived and asked us all what our hotels were.  When the other two couples' recited their hotel names, he gave them a nod.  But when James and I said our hotel (Furama Riverfront), he looked confused.

So yeah, we spent several more minutes at the counter with the two ladies who keep looking blankly at their computer screens.  I'm gonna have to say, this made me a little nervous about whether or not they had scheduled our hotel pick up accurately.

McDonalds near the Singapore Stopover Holiday Counter

Mickey Dees is everywhere.

After some time, we finally left the airport and I attempted to take some pictures during our drive.

I don't know why there was a statue of a cow where we were, but I found it odd enough to take a picture.

James, during our ride to the hotel.  This picture is deceiving.  It is actually around four in the morning  but it looks bright in this pic.

Anyway, we finally got into the hotel...and I must say, I was quite pleasantly surprised by the interior.  More on the Furame Riverfront later :)