After a couple of months planning, booking, and researching, we are finally in Tokyo, Japan! I couldn't be more grateful with this opportunity to explore my favorite country once again!

Much needed airplane snacks!

So we started our planning for this 2-week long trip last October, where we started reservations to different accommodations at least 4 months prior to our trip, in this way we can make sure the rates are not yet exorbitantly expensive compared to booking for stuff in a shorter notice. I'll talk more about the whole Japan trip planning in a separate post 😉


So our day started at 7:00 am, where we made a couple of last minute checks before Ken's friend, Jay, pick us up to drive us to the airport. Given that our flight is on a Monday, even though we fly at around 2 PM, we made sure to be as early as possible. I suppose my hellish experience with the immigration part during our latest Hong Kong trip last year sort of traumatized me into going to airport 4 hours prior to any flight I'll take in the future.

Go away huhuhu!

But as much as I want to go earlier, there's a big hindrance to this. Prior to the actual day of this trip, I had a huge mishap with Klook and its courier of choice, LBC, with regard to our Osaka Amazing pass. The Pass I ordered via Klook did not arrive on time, and this is solely LBC's fault, because upon checking of the status of my parcel it says there that the parcel was already received by a certain ARCHIE FRANCISCO!?!?! I was like...

with mouth gaping yes.

I truly cannot comprehend why would the LBC guy give my package to this Archie Francisco entity when:

1. I did not give any proof of authorization to receive this parcel to anyone.
2. I do not know any Archie Francisco.
3. My name, Nicole Alejandro, is sooooooo far from Archie Francisco.

Some people would probably rebut,"Why didn't you just choose to pick up your Osaka Amazing pass at the airport?". I would if I could, however the Osaka Amazing pass pick-up point is at the Kansai airport, unfortunately our point of entry is Narita Airport since we'll be spending the first half of our trip in Tokyo, then Kyoto, and lastly Osaka- Hence the reason why I opted for delivery.

After a loooong email thread, 3 calls to Klook's customer service, and a couple of Facebook comments pointing out LBC's inability to follow the most important rule, don't give the package to anyone unless that's the rightful receiver, Klook decided to give me brand new passes instead, to be delivered via Grab, to be received by me at Terminal 3,  Departure Area, Bay 4. Good job, Klook!



After finally receiving my Osaka Amazing passes, we decided to have lunch at Tim Hortons and grab my favorite Chipotle Chicken wrap and thick potato wedges. By the way, the Tim Hortons at Terminal 3 doesn't serve ice blended drinks, so if you want a frappe-like drink just go to Starbucks after going through immigration.


And that's what I did! However I did not buy a frappe, I just got myself a tall cold brew to jump start myself into finishing a report that I have to send within the day - I KNOW, I SHOULDN'T HAVE BROUGHT WORK DURING MY VACATION! 🤷🤷🤷

Pahabol P.O. ✌

Finally we arrived! After 4 hours of turbulence-filled flight (it was cloudy that day huhu), we arrived at Narita Terminal 2! For some reason I don't get as scared during turbulence than before, I suppose it's because our bus rides in Edsa are far more rambunctious than this flight 🤣

Keep calm and enjoy the ride.

We are still oblivious with how cold Tokyo is outside.

The train station is conveniently situated below the airport. As far as I can remember there are different kinds of train lines available, heading to different parts of Japan (not only Tokyo). Among the train lines we took the Keisei line, where it connects to JR Yamanote line and from there we were able to transfer to a specific line going to Minamisenju.

After checking in at &And Hostel Minamisenju, and leaving all our bags safely in our tiny room, we headed out for a late dinner at a quaint local Japanese fast food, and got ourselves some ramens for ¥ 600 and a yummy Gyoza.

Such a good welcome-to-Japan meal <3

And that's it for our 1st day in Japan! It was so cold, that our acclimatized Manila weather bodies were freezing off hahahah! Note: Bring gloves!

Will be posting more about this trip, but in the meantime I shall go take a shower and prepare to transfer to Osaka 😉

Love Always,
Nicole 💓


P.S.
Tuna Mayonnaise Onigiri for the wiiiiin!