I apologize for the slowing of posts everyone, I unfortunately got quite sick for a few days and now I'm making up for lost time. Posts should resume soon! :)
Tuesday 28 May 2013
Sunday 26 May 2013
Tokyo Disney Resort Day 1, or Why You Should Take A Break
From the title, it's possible to glean that this post may have some drama. You'd be right, but there's also a lot of fun, so follow along and you'll see ;)
I woke up to my alarm at 6am ready to get myself dressed and to Disney. I got dressed, put on sunscreen, make-up (which has better sunscreen in it than my stuff for my body) and packed my breakfast, and was out the door by 6:30am. I had researched the train journey previously and discovered that since my hotel was already on the Hibiya line, I could change to the Keiyo line at Hatchobori and avoid Tokyo station's staircase and tunnel of doom (To those not in the know, if changing to Keiyo at Tokyo station be prepared to lug your stuff down a really long staircase then walk a tunnel that literally takes about 10-15 minutes to walk).
The whole journey I was on the lookout for a bottle of Coke Zero, as I understood it was not common in the parks and as it is my main vice I wanted to take one in with me. Amazingly Tokyo's millions of vendo were letting me down on this particular journey.
When I finally reached Maihama station and exited the train, I couldn't help but notice something familiar. Was that...the Happiness is Here song playing as the station music? Yes, it was. Train stations in Tokyo each have their own unique bit of tinny music they play whenever a train stops there to subliminally let those on the train realise it's their stop if they tuned out the stop announcement. This by the way is also how Tokyoites are able to sleep on the train and somehow 'magically' wake up just before their stop. Their subconscious brain knows the music, and that of the station before. I stood for a moment in giggly marvel of the fact that Maihama had managed to change theirs. As it turns out, this is not the only time I would find 'Happiness is here' invading things like an adorable, well-meaning virus.
Sadly, I continued out of the station before thinking to look at the vending machines, and neither the famous Becker's or the less famous Beck's Coffee House had diet cola to offer. So I continued on, figuring I'd either get lucky or go without.
I passed Bon Voyage bang on 7:30am. I know this because I got to see the Bon Voyage employees do all the bowing and scraping that comes with opening the store. They were so incredibly smiley, they reminded me of the chirpy Japanese Disney cast members I had in store. I ducked in to the store quickly to see if I could grab a passholder (a sort of tiny, flat purse just for holding your ticket and fastpasses) because I'd heard for fastpass commandos like me they made all the difference. I was expecting to have to settle for something not that interesting, but my eyes quickly trained on an Alice one that I simply HAD to have. Within seconds I was at the register, able to communicate to the happy Cast Member that I would love her to cut the tag off, and bowing my way out the door to a chorus of 'Irrasshai!'
Tell me friends, does this seem like something I would buy? ;) When I get home I'm thinking necklace or giant pinbadge.
The bag checkers did a cursory look in my backpack ('Ohayo gozaimasu ' *glances at my cardigan on top of all my stuff, doesn't look under it* 'Ok!') and I headed for a spot on one of the side lines that everyone seems to ignore. I was happily only about 3 or 4 people back. I then proceeded to spread out my scarf as a picnic blanket, eat my breakfast, check my game plan (Beginning with running past Star Tours for a fastpass, then heading to Pooh's Hunny Hunt), and spend about an hour typing my blog from the last day on my phone only to have it fail to publish and lose it all. Grr! A note to all blogging from a phone: save before posting if your app has the function. Don't worry, as you saw I was able to retype it in line the next day.
As it came closer to opening time people started to look excited. A few minor characters came out to get the crowd riled up. They started letting the Resort guests in for their extra 15 minutes, and the rest of us tried not to look too scowly as they all streamed past the gates. Then Mickey and Minnie came out on opposite sides and started waving to people in line. 'Suddenly' Mickey saw Minnie and made a big show of rushing to get to her and hug her. I must admit this made me smile. These guys are pretty dedicated to creating special moments for the guests. The cast members then came out and did a long speech the gist of which I got was: don't push, have your passports ready, put your passport on the machine barcode down, and that's about all my Japanese would give me. Luckily if you know how to be nice and do what the guy in front of you does, you don't really need the speech. It's just an important thing to give the speech to the Japanese. Whenever you go to do anything, you get the smiley 'Here are the rules' speech. Even when you go to buy food you'll often get your food with a 'If you'll please proceed to the counter over there and pick up your milk, sweetener, straws and napkins'. Just smile, say hai, and look apologetic if you misunderstand anything.
Quite suddenly after the speech, at 9 on the dot, they started letting us in. Here the big difference between Tokyo Disney openings and others showed itself in full force: people RAN. They have carefully filled the entry area with Cast Members so that if you want to run, you have to duck and weave a bit, but they don't stop you. Also for every 7 Cast Members or so they have one Security Cast Member who is holding up their hands yelling 'Please be careful. Move at a safe speed please!' but again, they don't stop you, and everyone either ignores them, or momentarily slows down to a jog as they pass as if to say 'Look, I'm slowing down' then immediately speeds up again once past each security guy. I'll admit, I did this. Mwahahaha!
Unfortunately by the time I passed Monsters Inc I had to slow my run a bit because my asthma was playing up, but I rushed the rest of the way 'at a safe speed' and made my way to Star Tours for an 10am fastpass. Yes! If you are new to the fastpass system, it's basically a system where if you go to a bank of machines outside a popular ride and scan your park ticket, the machine will spit out a pass with a one hour window on it (starting from the first hour the park is open and moving forward in time as they sell out of fastpasses for that hour). If you return to the ride during your time window you can bypass a large part of the standby line and get on the ride faster. This ticket can turn a 2 hour line up into a 15 minute one, so I recommend getting one as soon as you can when you enter the park, and getting a new one as soon as you are allowed (it will say when you are allowed, in English, on your ticket).
After the fastpass I began to rush over toward Pooh's Hunny Hunt. I was distracted however when I passed Space Place Foodport, and discovered there in their display window - Coke Zero! One 'Kora zero o kudasai' later I continued on my way to find Pooh's Hunny Hunt with a 5 minute wait!
For those who don't know Pooh's Hunny Hunt, it is entirely different from the Pooh rides at other Disney parks for two reasons: it is popular, and it is popular for a reason. [SLIGHT RIDE SPOILERS AHEAD] The ride takes you through the story of the blustery day, Pooh's nightmares of Heffalumps and Woozles, and his attempts to get hunny using a blue balloon, but does so using ride vehicles that are not on a track, but guided by a radio control system that make your 'hunny pot' appear to have a mind of it's own. There are three pots in each set that will take different courses around each room, spin, go backwards and occasionally dance around each other in circles. It makes what would have been a cute animatronic story with great theming into a really fun experience. [END SPOILERS]
This tech is why the ride commonly has 110 minute lines on only averagely crowded days, so 5 minutes was really, really good. I ran onto the ride. My only regret was that I got on too fast to take any pictures of the queue, where you pass rooms of Christopher Robin's house and then weave between giant pages from the Pooh books. The ride was just as fun as I remembered it, and I was hit with that amazing joyous feeling holiday planners get, that 'I'm finally here' feeling.
When I got off the ride the wait was 20 minutes. I was weighing up whether to go again when I saw that the characters were out in force in Fantasyland. I quickly went and got photos with the Mad Hatter, who was slightly disturbed by the red and black card suits all over my hat and backpack, took photos of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and frightenedly snapped photos of Cinderella's Fairy Godmother from a distance.
Beware her scary plastic mask face!
I then realized Peter Pan's Flight had no wait, so I jumped on that. This ride not surprisingly takes you through the story of Peter Pan, and is one of the older, less technologically advanced dark rides, but I love it because it flies you over the scenes. Also because the ride vehicles look like this:
Sorry for the blur, but it's the best shot I got of the little pirate ships. So cute! They're about big enough to fit two people.
I then ran across and jumped on Haunted Mansion, also with a 5 minute wait. Yes, for those of you used to the other parks, the Haunted Mansion is in Fantasyland here. The main reason for this is because for the Japanese, who have very strong and different ghost legends, ghosts very much belong in the realm of fantasy. Of course, it probably didn't hurt to save space in Adventureland either.
[SMALL RIDE SPOILERS AHEAD] The Haunted Mansion is a ride where you get taken on a tour of a mansion that houses 999 ghosts, and they're looking to make it an even 1000. You are put in a two person magically moving chair and narrated by a ghost somewhere in your vicinity who takes you through hallways of haunted pictures, ghost parties, ominously knocking doors, haunted attics and graveyards just to name a few. [END SPOILERS]
The scenes of this ride are lovingly done and include a lovely amount of detail to notice on subsequent ride throughs. I also love this rider's tech because your 'doom buggy', much like the Peter Pan's Flight vehicles, is constantly moving, and loads with passengers standing on a conveyor belt moving in time with the vehicle. This means it loads faster and the queue moves faster too. I also took note this trip that they keep their Haunted Mansion, and their dark rides in general, very dark in Tokyo. I had trouble making out some of the scenes at first. You also cannot see any technical tricks like the dusty scrims you can sometimes catch in other parks, as the Oriental Land Company who own Tokyo Disney Resort have the money (and the Japanese love of cleaning) to keep their rides very well maintained. I noticed this a lot in the parks actually. Most of the effects that have ever worked, do work, which is nice in comparison to the 'oh that broke years ago' issue going on in some parks.
After the Haunted Mansion I took a wander through Cinderella's Fairy Tale Hall with no wait. This is an attraction that has popped up since my last visit, when the Cinderella's Castle Mystery Tour was still running. It's a sort of walk through gallery inside Cinderella Castle that has all sorts of artworks depicting scenes from Cinderella.
Cinderella papercraft anyone?
Some of the artwork is really detailed, moving, or even uses tricks of light to change it's shape. There are also images in the throne room that change if you photograph them with flash. You can take photos on Cinderella's throne and pretending to try on her glass slipper. I spent some time doing the 'I'm a funny gaijin' dance behind a mother to help her get her twins to look in the same direction for their throne photo (for my twin friends reading this don't worry, they got seperate photos too). I then took some very silly photos of myself, which I won't put you through the pain of. What I will show you is my favourite part about going into this hall: the fact that you exit part way up the castle.
Fantasyland is pretty!
It was now finally time to head for Star Tours, but as a fastpass junkie, I had to get a new fastpass on the way. You are able to get a new fastpass either two hours after you got your last fastpass, or at the time your current fastpass window begins, whichever is earlier. The queue for Space Mountain had already grown huge, so at one minute past I grabbed a fastpass for that and headed on to Star Tours.
I would like to take a moment to point out how much I love fastpass. It's a system that rewards you for being the early bird and for being willing to structure your day, and that sits very well with a planner like me. The other reason I love it is because of the pure fun of actually bypassing the line. First you approach a ride like Star Tours to find a big line outside. Instead of getting in it, you idle on past to the fastpass attendant who waves you in to the building. Inside you will usually find a huge line looping backward and forward, full of people waiting. Try not to smile or wave smugly as you skirt around the side of this entire line in a queue of your own that is virtually empty. Feel free to let yourself think 'Later, suckers!' though, I always do ;) Finally reach the part where the fastpass and standby queues merge, and enjoy the moment when the Cast Member stops the standby line to let you go first. A short line later you will be on the ride and out of here.
This was very much my experience with Star Tours, in the first room I was even able to stop and take a picture of the room and the line I'd bypassed:
I then spent 10 minutes or so waiting in a line where C-3PO was doing his planning next to R2 and a big version of the 'ship' we were about to 'board'. We all listened carefully as cutesy ladybot gave us the story on a television screen, then we were off in to the next room that took us through customs and security. Here we encountered entertaining talking droids, infra-red cameras checking us over, a really cute 'window' showing us the silhouettes of the variety of other types of passenger boarding at this station, and of course a few hitchhiking droids:
Tee hee, Haunted Mansion, tee hee.
We then moved into the loading room where I was all set to wait another 10 minutes to board when a Cast Member came up the line looking for a single rider. Score! I was loaded into the last seat at the back, which is right next to the entry doors and has no seats directly in front of it. Double score! I had great fun with this ride, especially it's randomly generated story, as in this run through we bumped into Vader himself within the first minute and were thrown around the hangar by his powers. I won't spoil any other scenes for future riders, but suffice it to say it was more exciting and fun than I expected a simulator ride to be.
After this I wandered around for a little purchasing my Happiness Pendant (a special, light-up anniversary necklace that interacts with statues called Happiness Spots around the park), looking for Happiness Spots, and trying to find the popcorn bucket I wanted. I couldn't find the popcorn bucket, but I did get to two Happiness Spots. One in the the plaza, then on the way to one in Toontown, I discovered characters out in force yet again. Scrooge McDuck, Daisy, Chip and Dale, and the Three Little Pigs with the Wolf were all entertaining the crowd. Once I'd hung out with them for a bit I headed for the Happiness Spot, put the pendant on the statue, pressed the button, and the statue lit up and played sound effects. It was quite cute, especially because it seemed to thrill the kids around the place who didn't have pendants. One more Happiness Spot and I'd have visited enough to get a special medallion to wear on my Happiness Pendant, yay!
The Pigs and Wolf enjoying a bit of farce, 'running into' the Jolly Trolley.
After this it was 11:00, time to head for lunch before the lunch rush. I got into the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall with a small line, which ten minutes later stretched far out the door behind me. Hurrah for the early bird! Not long after this I was seated in what I consider one of the prettiest themed dining rooms in Tokyo Disneyland. It features giant flowers, a hedge maze, and a lot of castle scenery.
I chose the Heart Shaped Hamburger Patty, which, face it, was theme park food, but the vegetables and sauce were nice, and I loved the tray and it's little crown. I also like how they carry your tray to the table they know is empty for you, it saves you a lot of time looking around awkwardly balancing a tray trying to find a seat without tripping over strollers.
Now as my hotel room was about an hour's travel away, I decided to take my time with this lunch and take another long sit before parade time rather than taking a break in the middle of the day like most Disneyland lovers do. I'd done the parks before without a break, and figured I could do it with just some restful time in the middle. This would turn out to be a mistake, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
I realized that soon my fastpass window would be up and Big Thunder Mountain still had fastpasses available, so I headed over to Westernland (the Japanese don't really understand the word 'frontier' as it's not a part of their history, so Frontierland makes little sense to them). I was distracted by a moment by a very animated Woody and Jessie from Toy Story but I soon managed to move through their crowds of fans. Bam! Third fastpass.
I then headed back over to Tomorrowland, and once again did the VIP walk past a huge line onto the ride. I have a soft spot for Space Mountain, as I'm a bit of a wimp with coasters but since Space is all in the dark and I can't see how high up I am, I love every second of it. I will say Tokyo's version is a bit odd though with it's lack of music. All you can hear is coaster tracks and excited squealing. Still, so much fun. I then wandered around having a preliminary look at the Monsters Inc. store and giving in and buying the Star Wars popcorn bucket, which I also quite liked, since the one I wanted seemed to be nowhere to be found.
I decided it was time for another rest so I bought an Orange Mickey Bar pop and wandered over to Fantasyland to eat it and people watch. As I sat there people started to gather around me to save seating for the parade. Hold on, I thought, it's hours before the parade and people are only usually allowed to set up an hour beforehand, and it's not usually nearly this popular. Ah but wait, this is a NEW, SPECIAL EDITION parade, and the only thing Tokyo Disney Resort visitors seem to like more than shows and parades are new things. The Cast Members weren't even stopping them as long as they were sitting on benches and fences and not putting down mats yet. This concerned me however as I had a fastpass for Big Thunder coming up and no-one to save my seat. Luckily, I realised at the last moment that the girl who I'd been speaking broken Japanese to for a bit after she sat down next to me might be willing to hold my place. I managed between bad Japanese, putting a scarf down on my seat, and showing her my fastpass to ask, and she was fine with it, so I ran over to Big Thunder. This is another coaster ride I love because while it has speed, it lacks the two things I hate on coasters: height and drops. True to fastpass standard I was on the ride quickly and able to be back at my spot, dutifully saved, in time for my new friend to go get some food while I saved her spot, and watched her bags! She must have trusted me, but I suppose she knew I wasn't going anywhere before the parade started.
The parade was adorable and included a few characters I didn't expect, especially Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh who doesn't always rate a parade appearance it seems. I think I will always have a soft spot for Jubilation! and its variety of floats, but these ones were nothing to sneeze at either:
The final float (excepting sponsor floats) with Mickey and Minnie.
I was starting to feel quite tired, but once the parade route began to clear I ran over to Splash Mountain to take advantage of the single rider line. Single rider is a rule on a few select rides that if you're riding alone, you can use the fastpass queue without a fastpass to put you in a line for filling up ride cars with uneven passenger numbers. It's a really cool trick for taking a ride with a 110 minute wait, like Splash did at that time, and turning it into a 10 minute one. I had never had a chance to use it before as I usually go to Disney with at least one person who needs hand holding/wants a companion on all single rider applicable rides, but not this time. I walked up to the fastpass queue, indicated by status by holding up one finger and saying 'Singuru rider desu' and was waved through. I felt pretty cool as I wandered up the queue without a fastpass, then when I got to the section where the lady takes your fastpass from you, I explained again, and instead of waving me through she unclipped a section of the queue and motioned for me to go down an entirely empty queue right to the loading area! I then had to stand on a little line waiting for an uneven number, but this happened in minutes. So I now know that single rider is not only a free fastpass that can be used more than once, it's sometimes BETTER than a fastpass! Use it people. Even if you're with a group, unless you're planning a photo pose I suggest trying it at least once.
Now, some of you may remember me saying something about hating drops. Splash Mountain, in order to create significant splashes, has quite a few of these, culminating in the big outdoor one at the end. I love the theming and the Brer Rabbit storyline though so I tend to ride it anyway. It was no less stomach churning this time, and my fellow riders seemed amused by my hesitancy so I decided my Splash Mountain photo pose would be the 'scaredy cat':
See if you can spot me. Hint: you can't see my face ;)
When this photo came up at the booth after the ride the girls on the ride with me cracked up laughing, and when they saw I was laughing too had a giggly chat with me in Japanese.
After Splash it was time to revisit one of my favourite Tokyo Disney foods: the maple churro. I had been thinking about maple churros since I had them on my trip three years ago and I was terrified they wouldn't be as I remembered, but I knew they sold them at the Splash exit so I got one. It was exactly the same! I savoured every memory-filled bite. After this I jumped on Mickey's Philharmagic because I was a fairly tired, there was little wait, and I hadn't seen it since Hong Kong Disneyland about 6 years ago. I then wandered around Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Westernland trying to get a read on the shops for when I did my buying.
It was somewhere here, among the tired feet and previous Disney shopping memories that I got a bit gloomy. I didn't have someone to point the funny souvenirs out to. I didn't have as much money as last time, so I had to weigh up every single purchase. Was I spending too much money? I decided the shopping wasn't helping my mood so I headed off to the Hungry Bear for dinner. Unfortunately, the moodiness followed me there. I sat alone at a table in the corner in a spiral of unhelpful, unreasonable thoughts. Why was I sad? I was at Disneyland! I'd spent so much money on this trip, how could I not be enjoying myself? I decided to do a trip just for me, if I wasn't enjoying it what was the point? Was I ruining Disneyland for myself by having this freak out? Was it even worth coming back tomorrow? All of this effort for nothing!
I had let myself get too tired, and I hadn't given my brain a break from the songs and the crowds and the rushing all day. I was having a textbook Disney crash. I'm sad to say, dear readers, that I sat at that table quietly crying into my curry, frantically messaging my partner hoping he'd cheer me up somehow. He did a half decent job, as he eventually managed to convince me that if this trip was for me, I could do whatever I wanted to, including leave. I decided I didn't want to leave, but instead wanted to get up, go see Dreamlights (the evening electrical parade) as it was soon, and then leave if I wanted, as long as it de-stressed me.
I was still in a bit of a mood as I waited for the parade, but knowing I could leave anytime the parade actually reminded me why I wanted to be there. I giggled at my favourite childhood characters; I took note of the technical differences in this parade discussed online; I watched foreign cast members and remembered when I wanted to audition to be one. The magic wasn't exactly back, but the passion was there, and that was enough. After the parade I had a quick wander through the lands, checking for short queues but mostly enjoying the night scenery and reminding myself why I love these parks, and why I wanted to come back tomorrow. I left about an hour before closing, shaky but satisfied with my evening.
That, my friends, was the story of my first Disney crash. I sincerely hope I never let it happen again, and I hope you can all avoid my mistakes. If you're doing a full day in the park, and there is any way to leave the parks and take a break, DO IT. Your feet, eyes, body and especially brain will thank you for it.
Next up, believe it or not, a mostly enjoyable day at DisneySea!
I woke up to my alarm at 6am ready to get myself dressed and to Disney. I got dressed, put on sunscreen, make-up (which has better sunscreen in it than my stuff for my body) and packed my breakfast, and was out the door by 6:30am. I had researched the train journey previously and discovered that since my hotel was already on the Hibiya line, I could change to the Keiyo line at Hatchobori and avoid Tokyo station's staircase and tunnel of doom (To those not in the know, if changing to Keiyo at Tokyo station be prepared to lug your stuff down a really long staircase then walk a tunnel that literally takes about 10-15 minutes to walk).
The whole journey I was on the lookout for a bottle of Coke Zero, as I understood it was not common in the parks and as it is my main vice I wanted to take one in with me. Amazingly Tokyo's millions of vendo were letting me down on this particular journey.
When I finally reached Maihama station and exited the train, I couldn't help but notice something familiar. Was that...the Happiness is Here song playing as the station music? Yes, it was. Train stations in Tokyo each have their own unique bit of tinny music they play whenever a train stops there to subliminally let those on the train realise it's their stop if they tuned out the stop announcement. This by the way is also how Tokyoites are able to sleep on the train and somehow 'magically' wake up just before their stop. Their subconscious brain knows the music, and that of the station before. I stood for a moment in giggly marvel of the fact that Maihama had managed to change theirs. As it turns out, this is not the only time I would find 'Happiness is here' invading things like an adorable, well-meaning virus.
Sadly, I continued out of the station before thinking to look at the vending machines, and neither the famous Becker's or the less famous Beck's Coffee House had diet cola to offer. So I continued on, figuring I'd either get lucky or go without.
I passed Bon Voyage bang on 7:30am. I know this because I got to see the Bon Voyage employees do all the bowing and scraping that comes with opening the store. They were so incredibly smiley, they reminded me of the chirpy Japanese Disney cast members I had in store. I ducked in to the store quickly to see if I could grab a passholder (a sort of tiny, flat purse just for holding your ticket and fastpasses) because I'd heard for fastpass commandos like me they made all the difference. I was expecting to have to settle for something not that interesting, but my eyes quickly trained on an Alice one that I simply HAD to have. Within seconds I was at the register, able to communicate to the happy Cast Member that I would love her to cut the tag off, and bowing my way out the door to a chorus of 'Irrasshai!'
Tell me friends, does this seem like something I would buy? ;) When I get home I'm thinking necklace or giant pinbadge.
The bag checkers did a cursory look in my backpack ('Ohayo gozaimasu ' *glances at my cardigan on top of all my stuff, doesn't look under it* 'Ok!') and I headed for a spot on one of the side lines that everyone seems to ignore. I was happily only about 3 or 4 people back. I then proceeded to spread out my scarf as a picnic blanket, eat my breakfast, check my game plan (Beginning with running past Star Tours for a fastpass, then heading to Pooh's Hunny Hunt), and spend about an hour typing my blog from the last day on my phone only to have it fail to publish and lose it all. Grr! A note to all blogging from a phone: save before posting if your app has the function. Don't worry, as you saw I was able to retype it in line the next day.
As it came closer to opening time people started to look excited. A few minor characters came out to get the crowd riled up. They started letting the Resort guests in for their extra 15 minutes, and the rest of us tried not to look too scowly as they all streamed past the gates. Then Mickey and Minnie came out on opposite sides and started waving to people in line. 'Suddenly' Mickey saw Minnie and made a big show of rushing to get to her and hug her. I must admit this made me smile. These guys are pretty dedicated to creating special moments for the guests. The cast members then came out and did a long speech the gist of which I got was: don't push, have your passports ready, put your passport on the machine barcode down, and that's about all my Japanese would give me. Luckily if you know how to be nice and do what the guy in front of you does, you don't really need the speech. It's just an important thing to give the speech to the Japanese. Whenever you go to do anything, you get the smiley 'Here are the rules' speech. Even when you go to buy food you'll often get your food with a 'If you'll please proceed to the counter over there and pick up your milk, sweetener, straws and napkins'. Just smile, say hai, and look apologetic if you misunderstand anything.
Quite suddenly after the speech, at 9 on the dot, they started letting us in. Here the big difference between Tokyo Disney openings and others showed itself in full force: people RAN. They have carefully filled the entry area with Cast Members so that if you want to run, you have to duck and weave a bit, but they don't stop you. Also for every 7 Cast Members or so they have one Security Cast Member who is holding up their hands yelling 'Please be careful. Move at a safe speed please!' but again, they don't stop you, and everyone either ignores them, or momentarily slows down to a jog as they pass as if to say 'Look, I'm slowing down' then immediately speeds up again once past each security guy. I'll admit, I did this. Mwahahaha!
Unfortunately by the time I passed Monsters Inc I had to slow my run a bit because my asthma was playing up, but I rushed the rest of the way 'at a safe speed' and made my way to Star Tours for an 10am fastpass. Yes! If you are new to the fastpass system, it's basically a system where if you go to a bank of machines outside a popular ride and scan your park ticket, the machine will spit out a pass with a one hour window on it (starting from the first hour the park is open and moving forward in time as they sell out of fastpasses for that hour). If you return to the ride during your time window you can bypass a large part of the standby line and get on the ride faster. This ticket can turn a 2 hour line up into a 15 minute one, so I recommend getting one as soon as you can when you enter the park, and getting a new one as soon as you are allowed (it will say when you are allowed, in English, on your ticket).
After the fastpass I began to rush over toward Pooh's Hunny Hunt. I was distracted however when I passed Space Place Foodport, and discovered there in their display window - Coke Zero! One 'Kora zero o kudasai' later I continued on my way to find Pooh's Hunny Hunt with a 5 minute wait!
For those who don't know Pooh's Hunny Hunt, it is entirely different from the Pooh rides at other Disney parks for two reasons: it is popular, and it is popular for a reason. [SLIGHT RIDE SPOILERS AHEAD] The ride takes you through the story of the blustery day, Pooh's nightmares of Heffalumps and Woozles, and his attempts to get hunny using a blue balloon, but does so using ride vehicles that are not on a track, but guided by a radio control system that make your 'hunny pot' appear to have a mind of it's own. There are three pots in each set that will take different courses around each room, spin, go backwards and occasionally dance around each other in circles. It makes what would have been a cute animatronic story with great theming into a really fun experience. [END SPOILERS]
This tech is why the ride commonly has 110 minute lines on only averagely crowded days, so 5 minutes was really, really good. I ran onto the ride. My only regret was that I got on too fast to take any pictures of the queue, where you pass rooms of Christopher Robin's house and then weave between giant pages from the Pooh books. The ride was just as fun as I remembered it, and I was hit with that amazing joyous feeling holiday planners get, that 'I'm finally here' feeling.
When I got off the ride the wait was 20 minutes. I was weighing up whether to go again when I saw that the characters were out in force in Fantasyland. I quickly went and got photos with the Mad Hatter, who was slightly disturbed by the red and black card suits all over my hat and backpack, took photos of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and frightenedly snapped photos of Cinderella's Fairy Godmother from a distance.
Beware her scary plastic mask face!
I then realized Peter Pan's Flight had no wait, so I jumped on that. This ride not surprisingly takes you through the story of Peter Pan, and is one of the older, less technologically advanced dark rides, but I love it because it flies you over the scenes. Also because the ride vehicles look like this:
Sorry for the blur, but it's the best shot I got of the little pirate ships. So cute! They're about big enough to fit two people.
I then ran across and jumped on Haunted Mansion, also with a 5 minute wait. Yes, for those of you used to the other parks, the Haunted Mansion is in Fantasyland here. The main reason for this is because for the Japanese, who have very strong and different ghost legends, ghosts very much belong in the realm of fantasy. Of course, it probably didn't hurt to save space in Adventureland either.
[SMALL RIDE SPOILERS AHEAD] The Haunted Mansion is a ride where you get taken on a tour of a mansion that houses 999 ghosts, and they're looking to make it an even 1000. You are put in a two person magically moving chair and narrated by a ghost somewhere in your vicinity who takes you through hallways of haunted pictures, ghost parties, ominously knocking doors, haunted attics and graveyards just to name a few. [END SPOILERS]
The scenes of this ride are lovingly done and include a lovely amount of detail to notice on subsequent ride throughs. I also love this rider's tech because your 'doom buggy', much like the Peter Pan's Flight vehicles, is constantly moving, and loads with passengers standing on a conveyor belt moving in time with the vehicle. This means it loads faster and the queue moves faster too. I also took note this trip that they keep their Haunted Mansion, and their dark rides in general, very dark in Tokyo. I had trouble making out some of the scenes at first. You also cannot see any technical tricks like the dusty scrims you can sometimes catch in other parks, as the Oriental Land Company who own Tokyo Disney Resort have the money (and the Japanese love of cleaning) to keep their rides very well maintained. I noticed this a lot in the parks actually. Most of the effects that have ever worked, do work, which is nice in comparison to the 'oh that broke years ago' issue going on in some parks.
After the Haunted Mansion I took a wander through Cinderella's Fairy Tale Hall with no wait. This is an attraction that has popped up since my last visit, when the Cinderella's Castle Mystery Tour was still running. It's a sort of walk through gallery inside Cinderella Castle that has all sorts of artworks depicting scenes from Cinderella.
Cinderella papercraft anyone?
Some of the artwork is really detailed, moving, or even uses tricks of light to change it's shape. There are also images in the throne room that change if you photograph them with flash. You can take photos on Cinderella's throne and pretending to try on her glass slipper. I spent some time doing the 'I'm a funny gaijin' dance behind a mother to help her get her twins to look in the same direction for their throne photo (for my twin friends reading this don't worry, they got seperate photos too). I then took some very silly photos of myself, which I won't put you through the pain of. What I will show you is my favourite part about going into this hall: the fact that you exit part way up the castle.
Fantasyland is pretty!
It was now finally time to head for Star Tours, but as a fastpass junkie, I had to get a new fastpass on the way. You are able to get a new fastpass either two hours after you got your last fastpass, or at the time your current fastpass window begins, whichever is earlier. The queue for Space Mountain had already grown huge, so at one minute past I grabbed a fastpass for that and headed on to Star Tours.
I would like to take a moment to point out how much I love fastpass. It's a system that rewards you for being the early bird and for being willing to structure your day, and that sits very well with a planner like me. The other reason I love it is because of the pure fun of actually bypassing the line. First you approach a ride like Star Tours to find a big line outside. Instead of getting in it, you idle on past to the fastpass attendant who waves you in to the building. Inside you will usually find a huge line looping backward and forward, full of people waiting. Try not to smile or wave smugly as you skirt around the side of this entire line in a queue of your own that is virtually empty. Feel free to let yourself think 'Later, suckers!' though, I always do ;) Finally reach the part where the fastpass and standby queues merge, and enjoy the moment when the Cast Member stops the standby line to let you go first. A short line later you will be on the ride and out of here.
This was very much my experience with Star Tours, in the first room I was even able to stop and take a picture of the room and the line I'd bypassed:
I then spent 10 minutes or so waiting in a line where C-3PO was doing his planning next to R2 and a big version of the 'ship' we were about to 'board'. We all listened carefully as cutesy ladybot gave us the story on a television screen, then we were off in to the next room that took us through customs and security. Here we encountered entertaining talking droids, infra-red cameras checking us over, a really cute 'window' showing us the silhouettes of the variety of other types of passenger boarding at this station, and of course a few hitchhiking droids:
Tee hee, Haunted Mansion, tee hee.
We then moved into the loading room where I was all set to wait another 10 minutes to board when a Cast Member came up the line looking for a single rider. Score! I was loaded into the last seat at the back, which is right next to the entry doors and has no seats directly in front of it. Double score! I had great fun with this ride, especially it's randomly generated story, as in this run through we bumped into Vader himself within the first minute and were thrown around the hangar by his powers. I won't spoil any other scenes for future riders, but suffice it to say it was more exciting and fun than I expected a simulator ride to be.
After this I wandered around for a little purchasing my Happiness Pendant (a special, light-up anniversary necklace that interacts with statues called Happiness Spots around the park), looking for Happiness Spots, and trying to find the popcorn bucket I wanted. I couldn't find the popcorn bucket, but I did get to two Happiness Spots. One in the the plaza, then on the way to one in Toontown, I discovered characters out in force yet again. Scrooge McDuck, Daisy, Chip and Dale, and the Three Little Pigs with the Wolf were all entertaining the crowd. Once I'd hung out with them for a bit I headed for the Happiness Spot, put the pendant on the statue, pressed the button, and the statue lit up and played sound effects. It was quite cute, especially because it seemed to thrill the kids around the place who didn't have pendants. One more Happiness Spot and I'd have visited enough to get a special medallion to wear on my Happiness Pendant, yay!
The Pigs and Wolf enjoying a bit of farce, 'running into' the Jolly Trolley.
After this it was 11:00, time to head for lunch before the lunch rush. I got into the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall with a small line, which ten minutes later stretched far out the door behind me. Hurrah for the early bird! Not long after this I was seated in what I consider one of the prettiest themed dining rooms in Tokyo Disneyland. It features giant flowers, a hedge maze, and a lot of castle scenery.
I chose the Heart Shaped Hamburger Patty, which, face it, was theme park food, but the vegetables and sauce were nice, and I loved the tray and it's little crown. I also like how they carry your tray to the table they know is empty for you, it saves you a lot of time looking around awkwardly balancing a tray trying to find a seat without tripping over strollers.
Now as my hotel room was about an hour's travel away, I decided to take my time with this lunch and take another long sit before parade time rather than taking a break in the middle of the day like most Disneyland lovers do. I'd done the parks before without a break, and figured I could do it with just some restful time in the middle. This would turn out to be a mistake, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
I realized that soon my fastpass window would be up and Big Thunder Mountain still had fastpasses available, so I headed over to Westernland (the Japanese don't really understand the word 'frontier' as it's not a part of their history, so Frontierland makes little sense to them). I was distracted by a moment by a very animated Woody and Jessie from Toy Story but I soon managed to move through their crowds of fans. Bam! Third fastpass.
I then headed back over to Tomorrowland, and once again did the VIP walk past a huge line onto the ride. I have a soft spot for Space Mountain, as I'm a bit of a wimp with coasters but since Space is all in the dark and I can't see how high up I am, I love every second of it. I will say Tokyo's version is a bit odd though with it's lack of music. All you can hear is coaster tracks and excited squealing. Still, so much fun. I then wandered around having a preliminary look at the Monsters Inc. store and giving in and buying the Star Wars popcorn bucket, which I also quite liked, since the one I wanted seemed to be nowhere to be found.
I decided it was time for another rest so I bought an Orange Mickey Bar pop and wandered over to Fantasyland to eat it and people watch. As I sat there people started to gather around me to save seating for the parade. Hold on, I thought, it's hours before the parade and people are only usually allowed to set up an hour beforehand, and it's not usually nearly this popular. Ah but wait, this is a NEW, SPECIAL EDITION parade, and the only thing Tokyo Disney Resort visitors seem to like more than shows and parades are new things. The Cast Members weren't even stopping them as long as they were sitting on benches and fences and not putting down mats yet. This concerned me however as I had a fastpass for Big Thunder coming up and no-one to save my seat. Luckily, I realised at the last moment that the girl who I'd been speaking broken Japanese to for a bit after she sat down next to me might be willing to hold my place. I managed between bad Japanese, putting a scarf down on my seat, and showing her my fastpass to ask, and she was fine with it, so I ran over to Big Thunder. This is another coaster ride I love because while it has speed, it lacks the two things I hate on coasters: height and drops. True to fastpass standard I was on the ride quickly and able to be back at my spot, dutifully saved, in time for my new friend to go get some food while I saved her spot, and watched her bags! She must have trusted me, but I suppose she knew I wasn't going anywhere before the parade started.
The parade was adorable and included a few characters I didn't expect, especially Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh who doesn't always rate a parade appearance it seems. I think I will always have a soft spot for Jubilation! and its variety of floats, but these ones were nothing to sneeze at either:
The final float (excepting sponsor floats) with Mickey and Minnie.
I was starting to feel quite tired, but once the parade route began to clear I ran over to Splash Mountain to take advantage of the single rider line. Single rider is a rule on a few select rides that if you're riding alone, you can use the fastpass queue without a fastpass to put you in a line for filling up ride cars with uneven passenger numbers. It's a really cool trick for taking a ride with a 110 minute wait, like Splash did at that time, and turning it into a 10 minute one. I had never had a chance to use it before as I usually go to Disney with at least one person who needs hand holding/wants a companion on all single rider applicable rides, but not this time. I walked up to the fastpass queue, indicated by status by holding up one finger and saying 'Singuru rider desu' and was waved through. I felt pretty cool as I wandered up the queue without a fastpass, then when I got to the section where the lady takes your fastpass from you, I explained again, and instead of waving me through she unclipped a section of the queue and motioned for me to go down an entirely empty queue right to the loading area! I then had to stand on a little line waiting for an uneven number, but this happened in minutes. So I now know that single rider is not only a free fastpass that can be used more than once, it's sometimes BETTER than a fastpass! Use it people. Even if you're with a group, unless you're planning a photo pose I suggest trying it at least once.
Now, some of you may remember me saying something about hating drops. Splash Mountain, in order to create significant splashes, has quite a few of these, culminating in the big outdoor one at the end. I love the theming and the Brer Rabbit storyline though so I tend to ride it anyway. It was no less stomach churning this time, and my fellow riders seemed amused by my hesitancy so I decided my Splash Mountain photo pose would be the 'scaredy cat':
See if you can spot me. Hint: you can't see my face ;)
When this photo came up at the booth after the ride the girls on the ride with me cracked up laughing, and when they saw I was laughing too had a giggly chat with me in Japanese.
After Splash it was time to revisit one of my favourite Tokyo Disney foods: the maple churro. I had been thinking about maple churros since I had them on my trip three years ago and I was terrified they wouldn't be as I remembered, but I knew they sold them at the Splash exit so I got one. It was exactly the same! I savoured every memory-filled bite. After this I jumped on Mickey's Philharmagic because I was a fairly tired, there was little wait, and I hadn't seen it since Hong Kong Disneyland about 6 years ago. I then wandered around Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Westernland trying to get a read on the shops for when I did my buying.
It was somewhere here, among the tired feet and previous Disney shopping memories that I got a bit gloomy. I didn't have someone to point the funny souvenirs out to. I didn't have as much money as last time, so I had to weigh up every single purchase. Was I spending too much money? I decided the shopping wasn't helping my mood so I headed off to the Hungry Bear for dinner. Unfortunately, the moodiness followed me there. I sat alone at a table in the corner in a spiral of unhelpful, unreasonable thoughts. Why was I sad? I was at Disneyland! I'd spent so much money on this trip, how could I not be enjoying myself? I decided to do a trip just for me, if I wasn't enjoying it what was the point? Was I ruining Disneyland for myself by having this freak out? Was it even worth coming back tomorrow? All of this effort for nothing!
I had let myself get too tired, and I hadn't given my brain a break from the songs and the crowds and the rushing all day. I was having a textbook Disney crash. I'm sad to say, dear readers, that I sat at that table quietly crying into my curry, frantically messaging my partner hoping he'd cheer me up somehow. He did a half decent job, as he eventually managed to convince me that if this trip was for me, I could do whatever I wanted to, including leave. I decided I didn't want to leave, but instead wanted to get up, go see Dreamlights (the evening electrical parade) as it was soon, and then leave if I wanted, as long as it de-stressed me.
I was still in a bit of a mood as I waited for the parade, but knowing I could leave anytime the parade actually reminded me why I wanted to be there. I giggled at my favourite childhood characters; I took note of the technical differences in this parade discussed online; I watched foreign cast members and remembered when I wanted to audition to be one. The magic wasn't exactly back, but the passion was there, and that was enough. After the parade I had a quick wander through the lands, checking for short queues but mostly enjoying the night scenery and reminding myself why I love these parks, and why I wanted to come back tomorrow. I left about an hour before closing, shaky but satisfied with my evening.
That, my friends, was the story of my first Disney crash. I sincerely hope I never let it happen again, and I hope you can all avoid my mistakes. If you're doing a full day in the park, and there is any way to leave the parks and take a break, DO IT. Your feet, eyes, body and especially brain will thank you for it.
Next up, believe it or not, a mostly enjoyable day at DisneySea!
Tuesday 21 May 2013
Day 2: Shibuya and Akihabara
On this day, I was all planned and ready to go to Shibuya. Waking at 8:30am on my own due to the only slight time difference between Tokyo and my home town, I was washed, made-up and at the stores by the time they opened at 10. Unfortunately, I was there in the rain. The rain was light, but persistent, and I stubbornly refused to buy an umbrella until I found the perfect cute one. Instead, I either rushed from awning to awning when it was heavy, or walked stoically through the rain when it was light, affecting my best hardcore 'Yeah, what of it?' face for the umbrella holding public.
Luckily, I had an indoor destination in mind. Shibuya 109, just across the famous Shibuya scramble crossing and to the left. For those who are unaware, Shibuya 109 is a very tall but narrow building full of hundreds of little shops dedicated to gyaru fashion, which ranges from very hip hop to floaty country sun dresses to styles we've never even seen back home. Basically, if you're feeling feminine and looking for some preppy fashion with a whole lot of weird to boot, here's your place.
I got in to the building and systemically browsed every store to my taste in the entire building. I saw crazy stuff. Bright colours appear to still be quite in in Tokyo if you go to the right brand, so I had fun ;) I was wearing my Lego heart necklace, 8-bit hairbows and a ton of my other favourite accessories, and it turns out these attract sales assistants like an insect lamp attracts mosquitoes. Adorable girls trotted over to me store after store to squeal 'Kawaii!' and attempt to ask me where I got them even if they had literally no English skill. Luckily my bad Japanese helped a little here. Although it made me realize I have no idea of the Japanese word for 'online'. Some understood the English word, while others put up with my doing a comical mime of using a computer. Either way, they were very happy when they understood.
I tried to just look and avoid buying this time around as it's so early in the trip, but I did cave in for a bright yellow t-shirt that parodies the Jelly Belly logo and a few accessories. From here I headed to find the Japanese souvenir vending machine I had read about (yes readers, I'm a vending otaku). It was an awesome bank of two machines full of traditional cloth and paper crane earrings. It also had a cool sign on it saying thank you for foreign tourism because without it the youth of today may not continue their traditions and they would be lost.
I then headed over to the Disney store. It was adorable!
(For some reason my picture of the front won't post, but everybody posts that anyway. Personally I like the theming of the side entrance).
It was full of cute things, but I promised myself I would just look until after I had been to the parks - with one exception. I had heard about this thing called a 'cool towel', a cloth that stays cool as long as it is wet. I heard about it just before I left Australia and didn't have a chance to buy one. Lo and behold, Disney had one with Mickey printed all over it. Needless to say it is mine now.
It was at this point I realised it was getting late for lunch and I had intended to go to a specific shabu shabu place. I used the wonder of GPS to wander back streets I would never have gone down otherwise on my way to the restaurant. Unfortunately when I got there they had closed lunch early due to a lack of patrons :( Determined not to let it ruin my mood, I wandered around until I found a cute looking omerice (omelette stuffed with rice covered in tomato sauce) cafe on the second floor of a building. It was delicious and had great iced tea.
It was here that my crazy shopping brain took over. I saw a pink and blue skirt in the second story window of the next building I just HAD to see. So once I was done I went straight over and navigated to the window. To my dismay, it was pink and gray! Somehow the window had tinted it, and this is not my preferred colour scheme. Slightly dejected, I hung my head and went out the next side door I could find.
When I emerged, I was on a little sloping street full of really cool shops (it turns out the omerice joint was at the entrance of it). I found a shop that sold adorable homewares and came out with a couple of frilly loli-style aprons and a bunch of stuff with cute faces on it. It was then I realised where I was. This was the famous Spanish Slope I'd read about but hadn't had time to research! Hurrah for serendipity.
I then was determined to do two things: find the Tokyu Hands banana vending machine, and get lost in Tokyu Hands properly, both things I hadn't had time to do last time. The vending machine was surprisingly easy to find, and I loved the conveyor belt system to keep them from bruising! After that I explored Tokyu Hands, home of every gadget you never knew you needed.
Mouth stickers for the snorer??
Catan, anyone?
I suppose you could just dress up as a rice ball.
Of course, if you only like to dress as other kinds of food, we've got you covered too.
It's also the home of every sticker set one could ever want, including some with a lolita dress up doll and all of her tiny sticker dresses and accessories (I may possibly own one of these now *blush*) I ended up spending about $50, but I got a wide variety of stuff.
Finally I ended the day by heading to Akihabara, the electronics, games, and anime area of Tokyo. You couldn't wipe the smile off of my face as I wandered from store to store staring at comics and character goods. My main purchases however were made at Don Quixote, the cheap, often wacky, Japanese housewares/costumes/sundries store that is home to some of the best 'only in Japan' gifts. I bought a DragonQuest slime, and finally bought the Akihabara station sign washcloth that I've been regretting not buying for three years! I only paid about $2 for it too :) Anything else I was tempted by I reminded myself there is still plenty of trip left to come back and that I still had Harajuku street fashion, Nakano, and Disney shopping to think about.
I had dinner at The Granvania, a maid izakaya that is designed to look like a tavern from a role playing game. I visited this place a lot last time and I'm glad to say it hasn't changed. The girls are still just friendly girls who happen to be in maid costumes, and they still get to design their own costumes and looks. The theming is still adorable too. So with my stomach full of delicious pub curry, I headed home to pack my Disney backpack and prepare for the next day: Tokyo Disneyland!
Luckily, I had an indoor destination in mind. Shibuya 109, just across the famous Shibuya scramble crossing and to the left. For those who are unaware, Shibuya 109 is a very tall but narrow building full of hundreds of little shops dedicated to gyaru fashion, which ranges from very hip hop to floaty country sun dresses to styles we've never even seen back home. Basically, if you're feeling feminine and looking for some preppy fashion with a whole lot of weird to boot, here's your place.
I got in to the building and systemically browsed every store to my taste in the entire building. I saw crazy stuff. Bright colours appear to still be quite in in Tokyo if you go to the right brand, so I had fun ;) I was wearing my Lego heart necklace, 8-bit hairbows and a ton of my other favourite accessories, and it turns out these attract sales assistants like an insect lamp attracts mosquitoes. Adorable girls trotted over to me store after store to squeal 'Kawaii!' and attempt to ask me where I got them even if they had literally no English skill. Luckily my bad Japanese helped a little here. Although it made me realize I have no idea of the Japanese word for 'online'. Some understood the English word, while others put up with my doing a comical mime of using a computer. Either way, they were very happy when they understood.
I tried to just look and avoid buying this time around as it's so early in the trip, but I did cave in for a bright yellow t-shirt that parodies the Jelly Belly logo and a few accessories. From here I headed to find the Japanese souvenir vending machine I had read about (yes readers, I'm a vending otaku). It was an awesome bank of two machines full of traditional cloth and paper crane earrings. It also had a cool sign on it saying thank you for foreign tourism because without it the youth of today may not continue their traditions and they would be lost.
I then headed over to the Disney store. It was adorable!
(For some reason my picture of the front won't post, but everybody posts that anyway. Personally I like the theming of the side entrance).
It was full of cute things, but I promised myself I would just look until after I had been to the parks - with one exception. I had heard about this thing called a 'cool towel', a cloth that stays cool as long as it is wet. I heard about it just before I left Australia and didn't have a chance to buy one. Lo and behold, Disney had one with Mickey printed all over it. Needless to say it is mine now.
It was at this point I realised it was getting late for lunch and I had intended to go to a specific shabu shabu place. I used the wonder of GPS to wander back streets I would never have gone down otherwise on my way to the restaurant. Unfortunately when I got there they had closed lunch early due to a lack of patrons :( Determined not to let it ruin my mood, I wandered around until I found a cute looking omerice (omelette stuffed with rice covered in tomato sauce) cafe on the second floor of a building. It was delicious and had great iced tea.
It was here that my crazy shopping brain took over. I saw a pink and blue skirt in the second story window of the next building I just HAD to see. So once I was done I went straight over and navigated to the window. To my dismay, it was pink and gray! Somehow the window had tinted it, and this is not my preferred colour scheme. Slightly dejected, I hung my head and went out the next side door I could find.
When I emerged, I was on a little sloping street full of really cool shops (it turns out the omerice joint was at the entrance of it). I found a shop that sold adorable homewares and came out with a couple of frilly loli-style aprons and a bunch of stuff with cute faces on it. It was then I realised where I was. This was the famous Spanish Slope I'd read about but hadn't had time to research! Hurrah for serendipity.
I then was determined to do two things: find the Tokyu Hands banana vending machine, and get lost in Tokyu Hands properly, both things I hadn't had time to do last time. The vending machine was surprisingly easy to find, and I loved the conveyor belt system to keep them from bruising! After that I explored Tokyu Hands, home of every gadget you never knew you needed.
Mouth stickers for the snorer??
Catan, anyone?
I suppose you could just dress up as a rice ball.
Of course, if you only like to dress as other kinds of food, we've got you covered too.
It's also the home of every sticker set one could ever want, including some with a lolita dress up doll and all of her tiny sticker dresses and accessories (I may possibly own one of these now *blush*) I ended up spending about $50, but I got a wide variety of stuff.
Finally I ended the day by heading to Akihabara, the electronics, games, and anime area of Tokyo. You couldn't wipe the smile off of my face as I wandered from store to store staring at comics and character goods. My main purchases however were made at Don Quixote, the cheap, often wacky, Japanese housewares/costumes/sundries store that is home to some of the best 'only in Japan' gifts. I bought a DragonQuest slime, and finally bought the Akihabara station sign washcloth that I've been regretting not buying for three years! I only paid about $2 for it too :) Anything else I was tempted by I reminded myself there is still plenty of trip left to come back and that I still had Harajuku street fashion, Nakano, and Disney shopping to think about.
I had dinner at The Granvania, a maid izakaya that is designed to look like a tavern from a role playing game. I visited this place a lot last time and I'm glad to say it hasn't changed. The girls are still just friendly girls who happen to be in maid costumes, and they still get to design their own costumes and looks. The theming is still adorable too. So with my stomach full of delicious pub curry, I headed home to pack my Disney backpack and prepare for the next day: Tokyo Disneyland!
Day 2: Shibuya and Akihabara
On this day, I was all planned and ready to go to Shibuya. Waking at 8:30am on my own due to the only slight time difference between Tokyo and my home town, I was washed, made-up and at the stores by the time they opened at 10. Unfortunately, I was there in the rain. The rain was light, but persistent, and I stubbornly refused to buy an umbrella until I found the perfect cute one. Instead, I either rushed from awning to awning when it was heavy, or walked stoically through the rain when it was light, affecting my best hardcore 'Yeah, what of it?' face for the umbrella holding public.
Luckily, I had an indoor destination in mind. Shibuya 109, just across the famous Shibuya scramble crossing and to the left. For those who are unaware, Shibuya 109 is a very tall but narrow building full of hundreds of little shops dedicated to gyaru fashion, which ranges from very hip hop to floaty country sun dresses to styles we've never even seen back home. Basically, if you're feeling feminine and looking for some preppy fashion with a whole lot of weird to boot, here's your place.
I got in to the building and systemically browsed every store to my taste in the entire building. I saw crazy stuff. Bright colours appear to still be quite in in Tokyo if you go to the right brand, so I had fun ;) I was wearing my Lego heart necklace, 8-bit hairbows and a ton of my other favourite accessories, and it turns out these attract sales assistants like an insect lamp attracts mosquitoes. Adorable girls trotted over to me store after store to squeal 'Kawaii!' and attempt to ask me where I got them even if they had literally no English skill. Luckily my bad Japanese helped a little here. Although it made me realize I have no idea of the Japanese word for 'online'. Some understood the English word, while others put up with my doing a comical mime of using a computer. Either way, they were very happy when they understood.
I tried to just look and avoid buying this time around as it's so early in the trip, but I did cave in for a bright yellow t-shirt that parodies the Jelly Belly logo and a few accessories. From here I headed to find the Japanese souvenir vending machine I had read about (yes readers, I'm a vending otaku). It was an awesome bank of two machines full of traditional cloth and paper crane earrings. It also had a cool sign on it saying thank you for foreign tourism because without it the youth of today may not continue their traditions and they would be lost.
I then headed over to the Disney store. It was adorable!
(My picture of the front won't post for some reason, but people always post that anyway. Personally I love the theming on this side door).
It was full of cute things, but I promised myself I would just look until after I had been to the parks - with one exception. I had heard about this thing called a 'cool towel', a cloth that stays cool as long as it is wet. I heard about it just before I left Australia and didn't have a chance to buy one. Lo and behold, Disney had one with Mickey printed all over it. Needless to say it is mine now.
It was at this point I realised it was getting late for lunch and I had intended to go to a specific shabu shabu place. I used the wonder of GPS to wander back streets I would never have gone down otherwise on my way to the restaurant. Unfortunately when I got there they had closed lunch early due to a lack of patrons :( Determined not to let it ruin my mood, I wandered around until I found a cute looking omerice (omelette stuffed with rice covered in tomato sauce) cafe on the second floor of a building. It was delicious and had great iced tea.
It was here that my crazy shopping brain took over. I saw a pink and blue skirt in the second story window of the next building I just HAD to see. So once I was done I went straight over and navigated to the window. To my dismay, it was pink and gray! Somehow the window had tinted it, and this is not my preferred colour scheme. Slightly dejected, I hung my head and went out the next side door I could find.
When I emerged, I was on a little sloping street full of really cool shops (it turns out the omerice joint was at the entrance of it). I found a shop that sold adorable homewares and came out with a couple of frilly loli-style aprons and a bunch of stuff with cute faces on it. It was then I realised where I was. This was the famous Spanish Slope I'd read about but hadn't had time to research! Hurrah for serendipity.
I then was determined to do two things: find the Tokyu Hands banana vending machine, and get lost in Tokyu Hands properly, both things I hadn't had time to do last time. The vending machine was surprisingly easy to find, and I loved the conveyor belt system to keep them from bruising! After that I explored Tokyu Hands, home of every gadget you never knew you needed.
Mouth stickers for the sorer??
Catan, anyone?
I suppose you could just dress up as a rice ball.
Of course, if you only like to dress as other kinds of food, we've got you covered too.
It's also the home of every sticker set one could ever want, including some with a lolita dress up doll and all of her tiny sticker dresses and accessories (I may possibly own one of these now *blush*) I ended up spending about $50, but I got a wide variety of stuff.
Finally I ended the day by heading to Akihabara, the electronics, games, and anime area of Tokyo. You couldn't wipe the smile off of my face as I wandered from store to store staring at comics and character goods. My main purchases however were made at Don Quixote, the cheap, often wacky, Japanese housewares/costumes/sundries store that is home to some of the best 'only in Japan' gifts. I bought a DragonQuest slime, and finally bought the Akihabara station sign washcloth that I've been regretting not buying for three years! I only paid about $2 for it too :) Anything else I was tempted by I reminded myself there is still plenty of trip left to come back and that I still had Harajuku street fashion, Nakano, and Disney shopping to think about. I had dinner at The Granvania, a maid izakaya that is designed to look like a tavern from a role playing game. I visited this place a lot last time and I'm glad to say it hasn't changed. The girls are still just friendly girls who happen to be in maid costumes, and they still get to design their own costumes and looks. The theming is still adorable too. So with my stomach full of delicious pub curry, I headed home to pack my Disney backpack and prepare for the next day: Tokyo Disneyland!
Luckily, I had an indoor destination in mind. Shibuya 109, just across the famous Shibuya scramble crossing and to the left. For those who are unaware, Shibuya 109 is a very tall but narrow building full of hundreds of little shops dedicated to gyaru fashion, which ranges from very hip hop to floaty country sun dresses to styles we've never even seen back home. Basically, if you're feeling feminine and looking for some preppy fashion with a whole lot of weird to boot, here's your place.
I got in to the building and systemically browsed every store to my taste in the entire building. I saw crazy stuff. Bright colours appear to still be quite in in Tokyo if you go to the right brand, so I had fun ;) I was wearing my Lego heart necklace, 8-bit hairbows and a ton of my other favourite accessories, and it turns out these attract sales assistants like an insect lamp attracts mosquitoes. Adorable girls trotted over to me store after store to squeal 'Kawaii!' and attempt to ask me where I got them even if they had literally no English skill. Luckily my bad Japanese helped a little here. Although it made me realize I have no idea of the Japanese word for 'online'. Some understood the English word, while others put up with my doing a comical mime of using a computer. Either way, they were very happy when they understood.
I tried to just look and avoid buying this time around as it's so early in the trip, but I did cave in for a bright yellow t-shirt that parodies the Jelly Belly logo and a few accessories. From here I headed to find the Japanese souvenir vending machine I had read about (yes readers, I'm a vending otaku). It was an awesome bank of two machines full of traditional cloth and paper crane earrings. It also had a cool sign on it saying thank you for foreign tourism because without it the youth of today may not continue their traditions and they would be lost.
I then headed over to the Disney store. It was adorable!
(My picture of the front won't post for some reason, but people always post that anyway. Personally I love the theming on this side door).
It was full of cute things, but I promised myself I would just look until after I had been to the parks - with one exception. I had heard about this thing called a 'cool towel', a cloth that stays cool as long as it is wet. I heard about it just before I left Australia and didn't have a chance to buy one. Lo and behold, Disney had one with Mickey printed all over it. Needless to say it is mine now.
It was at this point I realised it was getting late for lunch and I had intended to go to a specific shabu shabu place. I used the wonder of GPS to wander back streets I would never have gone down otherwise on my way to the restaurant. Unfortunately when I got there they had closed lunch early due to a lack of patrons :( Determined not to let it ruin my mood, I wandered around until I found a cute looking omerice (omelette stuffed with rice covered in tomato sauce) cafe on the second floor of a building. It was delicious and had great iced tea.
It was here that my crazy shopping brain took over. I saw a pink and blue skirt in the second story window of the next building I just HAD to see. So once I was done I went straight over and navigated to the window. To my dismay, it was pink and gray! Somehow the window had tinted it, and this is not my preferred colour scheme. Slightly dejected, I hung my head and went out the next side door I could find.
When I emerged, I was on a little sloping street full of really cool shops (it turns out the omerice joint was at the entrance of it). I found a shop that sold adorable homewares and came out with a couple of frilly loli-style aprons and a bunch of stuff with cute faces on it. It was then I realised where I was. This was the famous Spanish Slope I'd read about but hadn't had time to research! Hurrah for serendipity.
I then was determined to do two things: find the Tokyu Hands banana vending machine, and get lost in Tokyu Hands properly, both things I hadn't had time to do last time. The vending machine was surprisingly easy to find, and I loved the conveyor belt system to keep them from bruising! After that I explored Tokyu Hands, home of every gadget you never knew you needed.
Mouth stickers for the sorer??
Catan, anyone?
I suppose you could just dress up as a rice ball.
Of course, if you only like to dress as other kinds of food, we've got you covered too.
It's also the home of every sticker set one could ever want, including some with a lolita dress up doll and all of her tiny sticker dresses and accessories (I may possibly own one of these now *blush*) I ended up spending about $50, but I got a wide variety of stuff.
Finally I ended the day by heading to Akihabara, the electronics, games, and anime area of Tokyo. You couldn't wipe the smile off of my face as I wandered from store to store staring at comics and character goods. My main purchases however were made at Don Quixote, the cheap, often wacky, Japanese housewares/costumes/sundries store that is home to some of the best 'only in Japan' gifts. I bought a DragonQuest slime, and finally bought the Akihabara station sign washcloth that I've been regretting not buying for three years! I only paid about $2 for it too :) Anything else I was tempted by I reminded myself there is still plenty of trip left to come back and that I still had Harajuku street fashion, Nakano, and Disney shopping to think about. I had dinner at The Granvania, a maid izakaya that is designed to look like a tavern from a role playing game. I visited this place a lot last time and I'm glad to say it hasn't changed. The girls are still just friendly girls who happen to be in maid costumes, and they still get to design their own costumes and looks. The theming is still adorable too. So with my stomach full of delicious pub curry, I headed home to pack my Disney backpack and prepare for the next day: Tokyo Disneyland!
Monday 20 May 2013
Day 1: Airport, Shinjuku and Sanja Matsuri (or so I thought...)
(Please forgive the lack of pictures, the internet here is having trouble uploading them. I will update them when I get the chance!)
This has been a big trip already, and it’s only the first
day! I dozed on and off for the flight to Narita, finally giving up on sleeping
properly when they started serving breakfast. Surprisingly the breakfast was
not one the usual fare of pieces of scrap meat in sauce or “special” omelette
(with surprising seafood pieces) kind of meals like last time. There was an
option for plain cheese omelette with sausage and some of the most delicious
strawberry yoghurt I’ve had in a while. This certainly lifted my drowsy
spirits. Not long after that we began the turning circle over Tokyo and it was
amazing. Watching the dawn sun over the clouds, then having them slowly
disperse to reveal the city as we descended was breathtaking.
The airport, as usual, was very Japanese. Incredibly sparse,
with only things that are necessary and some occasional displays to introduce
tourists to Japanese art forms and building techniques. I followed the crowd
onto the train and through customs smoothly. It turns out I stillremember by
heart things like where the toilets are in the arrival hall or how to get to
the train counters. Station layouts as well it seems. The funny part however is
that my Japan memory has occasionally been a little off, for example not
remembering a whole block between two buildings of note, as the block had
nothing memorable in it. It has been amusing to be certain these two buildings
have always been next to each other only to realise I’ve been remembering it
wrong for three years!
I hit my first slight stumble of the trip when I confidently
bought a ticket for the train I needed, found my way to the platform number on
my ticket, only to be encountered by a train going TO the airport, not from. I
was entirely confused, with only about a minute until my train departure.
Luckily in my frantic looking around I managed to spot a doorway in the wall
behind me – revealing the other side of what I had until then assumed was a one
sided platform! Luckily I do a good last second train jump when I need to ;)
Crisis over, I enjoyed the train to the city immensely. I love how it passes
both old-style Japanese houses with their rice and vegetable farms as well as
big ugly shopping outlet buildings and wayward looking telephone wires and
towers. It’s awesomely jarring to see these two sides of Japan juxtaposed.
Thanks to my research obsession I had committed the route I
needed to get to my hotel to memory and I didn’t even need to consult the map I
brought (which was good, as it was buried in my carry on). I dropped my bags
and headed for Shinjuku Takashimaya to buy my Disneyland tickets for in two
days time. The lady at the counter was very helpful and I had no problems with
the tickets, only problems getting myself out of the store without buying
anything! I managed to stay strong though, as the less I buy there, the more
park merchandise I can allow myself. I then decided to take an initial look at
Shinjuku Closet Child, a second hand shop specialising in big Japanese Gothic
and Lolita brand names. I had decided I would be very selective in my EGA/EGL
buying this trip, which would mean having a good look around. I saw a couple of
coats that I was really tempted by (those who know me will know more coats are
the very last thing my wardrobe needs) but I decided to truly make a decision I
would need to see what the other Closet Child branches, as well as actual
outlets had to offer.
This led me to Harajuku, and from there I lost control a
little. I wandered wide-eyed from store to store amazed at the fun things on
offer this season. I must have tried on 15 outfits at least, and stared at
countless accessories. Luckily my frugal-mindedness still appeared to exist
when it came to actual buying. I decided I would only focus on EGL clothing
today, and ended up buying one fairly low priced second hand Baby, The Stars Shine Bright dress, one decora
bracelet, one Angelic Pretty necklace (also second hand), and a few shirts and
accessories that Closet Child amazingly had on a ¥600 ($6ish) and under rack!!!
For me, this is a pretty good effort at not buying much when faced with Tokyo
stores. I still feel I need one more dress in a particular style for my EGL
shopping, but I know what’s out there now so it can wait until I’m sure and
know my remaining budget. Meanwhile tomorrow I am planning to go to Shibuya and
then Harajuku again, this time focusing on gyaru and street fashion. I highly
suspect that quirky Harajuku street fashion will be my biggest buying
temptation this trip, so it will be interesting to see how it goes.
After taking my purchases back to the hotel and settling in,
I ventured out again to see one of my favourite Japanese festivals: the Sanja
Matsuri. The Sanja Matsuri celebrates the time when in 628 AD when two Japanese
fishermen found a huge statuette of the Bodhisattva Kannon (often known to
non-Buddhists as enlightened or skinny Buddha) in the Sumida River. A local
Buddhist heard of this and taught the men the religion surrounding the
statue. The three created a small temple for the statue which is now Senso-ji,
Tokyo’s most popular temple. Sanja Matsuri was formed around celebrating this
event. In 1649 Togugawa Iemitsu commissioned Asukusa-jinja, a Shinto shrine
just behind Senso-ji, in honour of the spirits of these three men, solidifying
the importance of the festival and the ability of the Japanese to allow these
two religions to exist in harmony. In its current form, Sanja-Matsuri lasts for
3 days, and today was the day that large groups of people spent all day
carrying giant portable shrines around the 44 districts of Asakusa, paying
their respects, before returning to large crowds and fanfare in the evening.
Well, large crowds was an understatement. I was lucky enough to get within a
few rows of the front of the crowd, but we were constantly being crushed,
pushed around, and generally maimed by the huge amount of people crammed into a
small space. I chose to find this an interesting experience rather than a pain,
and once I started giggling about it I got the woman next to me doing it too.
It turns out she spoke English, and we kept each other in good conversation
until the festival finished and the crowd dispersed. It was great seeing the
performers, and to see the mostly local crowds cheering so hard for both their
performers in the festival and their district.
After this I stopped into an Asakusa restaurant for some ‘meat
spaghetti’, a Japanese attempt at spaghetti bolognese with far less tomato than
it generally requires. It wasn’t too bad, and I got throught the entire
ordering/eating/paying experience in Japanese. I then headed for the hotel, as
I don’t want to stay out too late on my own, and today has been a very long one
with a lot of trains and a lot of walking. Hopefully I can get a good sleep on
my futon and be strong of mind for tomorrow, a day of street fashion shopping
temptations. Wish me luck!
Blog from The Dreaded Stopover
One flight leg down, one to go. I spent the morning in an
oddly dissociative state, feeling as though it wasn’t really me going. It
wasn’t really me zipping up my bag. It wasn’t me going through security. I
couldn’t really be finally going back to Tokyo. Luckily I was able to snap out
of it when I had to say goodbye to my partner and roommate at the international
terminal gate, and from there on I was on my own. The flight itself was fairly
good. I had been informed both on my flight documents and by several websites
that my particular flight would only have overhead tvs playing preset movies,
not Audio-Video on Demand systems for each passenger. I was surprised, as I was
pretty sure the whole fleet had the new systems fitted, so I had prepared for
the worst while maintaining a healthy hope that the documents were wrong. It
turns out they were! Hooray! I therefore got to spend most of my flight
catching up on a couple of movies I missed in the cinema, a tv show on the
making of wedding cakes, a travel show on Tokyo I hadn’t seen yet, a
documentary on Rowan Atkinson’s early career, and an episode or two of Top
Gear. TV and movie loving me was very, very happy :)
So here I am at Kuala Lumpur Airport after a 7-hour flight,
and facing another 7-hour flight in three hours time. Luckily that flight
starts when I usually go to bed, so I’m hoping I can sleep (or what passes for
sleep on a plane) most of the flight. I flew through KLIA last time I went to
Tokyo 3 years ago, so everything is causing me a strange déjà vu. For one
thing, it has become apparent to me that some places do indeed have a smell to
them, even if it doesn’t seem that obvious. When I walked from the plane onto
the bridge I caught a whiff of how the air smells here and BAM! Memories, right
in the face. Thankfully they were mostly good ones.
I am also embarrassed to admit that it took me exactly 8
minutes from stepping into the airport to browsing a shoe store. Seriously,
once I realised what I was doing I cracked up laughing and checked my watch. I
then wandered further into the airport and found myself doing all the things I
did last time. Marvelling at how shiny things are, noting the huge line at
Burger King in comparison to other food outlets, and once again immaturely
giggling at the noodle bar named ‘Nööödles’. I then staked out a spot at
DeliFrance, at a table by the window watching the planes taxi through the
lights at night, and wrote this post for you, dear reader.
Overall I can recommend countries like Malaysia for transfer
airports, as it is helping me slowly wade in to the experience of being abroad
again. Most people speak English extremely well here, but are culturally
different. The signs all have English on them, but in smaller writing under the
words in Malay. Most conversations around me are taking place in a different
language. I’m glad that I have this chance to get used to things being a little
bit foreign again before jumping back in to a culture that mostly functions in
a foreign language. Having said that, my Japanese is much better than my Malay
;)
So I’m off to find something else to do for the next two and
a half hours. I’ll report back when I’m standing on Japanese soil :)
Sunday 19 May 2013
A truck just asked nicely if I would give it some space...
Seriously, it had a little speaker that had a recorded woman's voice politely chirping in Japanese 'Please remember to give the truck some room. Thank you very much.'
I love this country sometimes.
Proper blog entries will resume after I've worked out how to get internet on my laptop as well as my phone ;)
I love this country sometimes.
Proper blog entries will resume after I've worked out how to get internet on my laptop as well as my phone ;)
Wednesday 15 May 2013
Planning, Practicalities and Packing
Hello everyone!
So here I am, just less than 3 days away from the moment I
take off for Tokyo. I have been a mess of planning this past few weeks,
suddenly realising the amount of time I had left between work and other
commitments to finish my planning. Going through and updating my previous
information was a long process, but I am proud to say that a couple of days ago
I was able to print and bind my new personal guidebook, with personalised maps
and lists of all of my preferred sights, shops, restarants and other experiences
in each suburb I will be visiting. I know that in this day and age a smartphone
renders a lot of maps and lists moot, but I’ve found it works better when
looking for specific destinations. I still find a printed book or list useful
so that I when I think, “Hmm. I’m in Shibuya. I’m hungry. Where should I go?” I
can use a quick glance at my map to find the nearest restaurant that I
personally wanted to visit. The same can be done with experiences on unplanned
afternoons, and thankfully, for atms or police boxes in emergencies. I also
love the experience of taking a book like this with me, as I write notes or
corrections on it as I experience the places on the list, which not only has me
going away much more informed, but with a book full of memories I can look back
on whenever I choose.
Having said that, I would say the biggest difference between
this trip and my trip in 2010 BY FAR is the fact that I now own a smartphone.
After some looking around my smartphone now possesseses:
- A packing list
- GPS map guidance
- A train travel app to plot the course, duration and cost of any trip I want to make in Tokyo
- An app that calls Japanese emergency numbers at the touch of a button without the need to remember a list of foreign numbers
- Chat apps to speak to my friends at home including Skype
- Japanese language learning software
- Japanese guidebook apps
- Books for the plane
- A blogging app to geotag my photos and upload my posts here live
- A browser to find any new trip information I might need, at any time.
All of this assistance is available to me at the cost of a
$40, 1 gb Japanese data sim that I bought online and had sent ahead to my hotel
for the day of my arrival. I won’t be able to make traditional calls, but I’ll
have Skype which costs less, and I have free wifi at the hotel. Gone are the
days where I feared getting lost on the train or in the backstreets of
Harajuku, my phone has my back. My only extra tip is this: If you plan to have
all of these apps and use them, make sure you either have an incredibly good
phone battery or one of the mobile recharging devices, because you’ll need it.
Once I had this sorted I finally had to get to the nitty
gritty: finalizing the packing list. Now as I have previously mentioned, I have
a catch-all, fairly light packing list that I use for all trips by simply
crossing out the things not applicable for the season/type of trip, and
changing the exact item packed for each use. The trouble is while I know I’m
bringing two shirts, I now had to decide WHICH two shirts. Clothing was a
decision I had been mulling over since I booked the trip so I already had some
ideas. When choosing I had to consider:
- Weather
- Fit
- Comfort
- Quick-dry fabrics
- Cultural appropriateness
- Suitability with other clothes taken
- Suitability to clothes I likely to buy there (Let’s face it, I’ll buy.)
- Adaptability/Re-wear potential (How many outfits could I make with this one item?)
- Packability/Weight
- Stylishness (I come to Tokyo partly for the fashion, so no shorts and knee-socks for me)
It took me a while, but I finally managed to come up with
two t-shirts that between them could suit almost any casual occasion or street
style outfit I planned to wear, two pairs of black pants (one comfortably
stretchy and classy looking, one black pair of jeans), a black scarf/pashmina
to suit a variety of purposes, a jacket, a cardigan, and a nightdress for
sleeping in which with the right accessories also made a frighteningly good little
black dress for evening occasions! I am confident that if I bought nothing on
this trip and did laundry a few times, I could use these items (plus some
accessories and some coloured tights), and barely wear the same outfit twice in
the trip. One of the shirts has multiple colours on it, which allows me to
create different outfits by wearing accessories that highlight the different
colours. I can also change the look of it by wearing it with a jacket, with the
scarf tied differently over it, or by wearing the shirt over the dress to make
a skirt outfit. Seeing as those are just the looks I can do with one shirt, I’m
pretty confident with my selections. My only concern is that once I start
buying clothes I’ll feel I brought too much! To be on the safe side though, I’ve
brought what I feel I’ll need, plus backups (eg. the pants) in case something
happens to the first pair. Foreigners beware, you may not be able to find
certain items of clothing to fit you in Japan! I know for a fact that it’s
quite hard to find pants to fit my generous butt, or bras to fit my bust over
there, so I’m bringing two of both.
So now I have come to the big, exciting, scary part of the
trip. I know where I want to go, what I want to do, and I’ve booked it all and
written it all down. I have cleaned out and backed up files on my laptop and
made sure I saved and installed all of my lists, documents, bookmarks, and
games on it for mid-trip reference or entertainment. Last week I did a big
house clean, so that my room will be clean when I return (I’m sure I can trust
my roommate to make a mess of the rest of the house while I am gone).
I then
had room on my nice, clean bedroom floor to set out all of the items on my
packing list next to my suitcase, and check that each item had a valid use (or
multiple uses) and couldn’t be disposed of in favour of something else I was
bringing or something lighter. Again, for shoppers like me, the golden rule is
the less you take there, the more you can bring back. The list has given me an
item to deal with nearly every possible need without having to buy anything,
which is a very good position to be in to start your trip, and it all weighs
less than 8kg including some items (toiletries, snacks) that I will use up or
leave there. A further kg or so is represented by items (old ballet flats, old
tights, disposable cheap items) that I would be happy to throw away at the end
of the trip, as I brought them specifically as they are on their last legs and
therefore do not need to return with me. If I were trying harder I could make
my bag a bit lighter than this, but as a fashionista and a traveller that likes
to allow herself some luxuries, I like leaving myself a little room to bring a
few extra accessories or that really useful gadget that makes my morning go
smoother. Luckily, thanks to new policies with my airline, I have 30kg baggage
allowance on this economy class flight, so I’m allowing room for over 20kg of
souvenirs should I need it! My wallet is hoping I won’t need it, but it’s still
good to have.
So here I am, basically organised, with just a few last
minute things to pick up and do. Hopefully this will lead to less stressful
updates in the next few days, but no promises! Thank you for reading, see you
soon.
xxx
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