And now, for the never-before-told story of my trip to America! Prepare yourself for a harrowing tale full of drama, intrigue, and Starbucks.
OK, so maybe the above description is a bit dramatic. I'm jet lagged? You know, it really is amazing. Jet lag is like the ideal all-purpose excuse for every moment of stupidity. Unfortunately, it was a quite valid excuse for my first several days home - hence the blog about my trip almost two weeks after the fact. I do think I've just about worn out the jet lag excuse now...but when I go the other way I will have a whole fresh crowd to use it on.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand. I left my house about 6:00 am Japan time on December 23 (Happy Birthday, Emperor Akihito...thanks for the holiday). This would have made it about 3:00 pm Central time on December 22. Oh, before I left my house, I got to experience the fun of pouring windshield wiper fluid into my toilet to keep the remaining water (after flushing out the pipes) from freezing. I have no car, but I have a jug of windshield wiper fluid. But anyway, after taking care of the pipes, unplugging everything, and obsessively checking over my apartment, I headed out of my apartment...full of nervous excitement.
I towed my large suitcase, rolling carry-on, and mesenger bag out into the snow, and encountered a new problem...how to operate rolling luggage in the snow. It's trickier than you would think. The suitcase decided to take on a new part-time job as a snowplow. The snow was not too deep, but enough fresh stuff had fallen to mae things kind of difficult. I wrestled the luggage to the one place with packed down snow...the road. Yes, the same road that cars drive on. My big suitcase is about the size of a small car in Japan, so it worked out ok.
Finally, I made it to the intersection generally frequented by taxis. I stood on the corner of the road and waited for a taxi. No taxis came, but I think I got several strange looks. I decided that the corner was not the best place for me and my caravan of luggage, so I piloted it over to the bus stop. I couldn't really get to the sidewalk, because of snow, so I just waited and hoped I wouldn't still be there when the buses started running. Well, I continued to wait, but no taxis came. This had never happened to me before, so I finally broke down and called a taxi. I think that was my first phone call in Japanese! The taxi came quickly after that and took me to the train station. Once on the train, I enjoyed my first sunrise, and we were off! It was, as usual, a lovely train ride.
I spent a wonderful afternoon in Sapporo with a good friend. We had a leisurly lunch of sushi and then did some shopping, as no trip to Sapporo would be complete without a shopping marathon! That evening, we went to Mr. Donut and I bought two doughnuts that I was really looking forward to eating (I wasn't hungry when I bought them). I think we said our goodbyes somewhere between 6 and 7 pm and I caught the train for the town of Chitose (where my hotel was).
The train ride was going to take a little while, so I pulled out a book and read for a few minutes. I felt a bit anti-soial, so I put my book down. A few minutes later, the lady next to me started talking to me. Well, she and just about the whole train (including the conductor) got worried that I was going the wrong way (there is a separate train that goes to the airport...and I was obviously going to the airport at some point). After several conferences, they determind that I was going the right way and where I needed to get off. It was so sweet and so cute that complete strangers would take an interest in where I was going!
Soon, I arrived at my station and caught a taxi to my hotel. And my story will have to end there for now, because I want this to post while it is still today!
OK, so maybe the above description is a bit dramatic. I'm jet lagged? You know, it really is amazing. Jet lag is like the ideal all-purpose excuse for every moment of stupidity. Unfortunately, it was a quite valid excuse for my first several days home - hence the blog about my trip almost two weeks after the fact. I do think I've just about worn out the jet lag excuse now...but when I go the other way I will have a whole fresh crowd to use it on.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand. I left my house about 6:00 am Japan time on December 23 (Happy Birthday, Emperor Akihito...thanks for the holiday). This would have made it about 3:00 pm Central time on December 22. Oh, before I left my house, I got to experience the fun of pouring windshield wiper fluid into my toilet to keep the remaining water (after flushing out the pipes) from freezing. I have no car, but I have a jug of windshield wiper fluid. But anyway, after taking care of the pipes, unplugging everything, and obsessively checking over my apartment, I headed out of my apartment...full of nervous excitement.
I towed my large suitcase, rolling carry-on, and mesenger bag out into the snow, and encountered a new problem...how to operate rolling luggage in the snow. It's trickier than you would think. The suitcase decided to take on a new part-time job as a snowplow. The snow was not too deep, but enough fresh stuff had fallen to mae things kind of difficult. I wrestled the luggage to the one place with packed down snow...the road. Yes, the same road that cars drive on. My big suitcase is about the size of a small car in Japan, so it worked out ok.
Finally, I made it to the intersection generally frequented by taxis. I stood on the corner of the road and waited for a taxi. No taxis came, but I think I got several strange looks. I decided that the corner was not the best place for me and my caravan of luggage, so I piloted it over to the bus stop. I couldn't really get to the sidewalk, because of snow, so I just waited and hoped I wouldn't still be there when the buses started running. Well, I continued to wait, but no taxis came. This had never happened to me before, so I finally broke down and called a taxi. I think that was my first phone call in Japanese! The taxi came quickly after that and took me to the train station. Once on the train, I enjoyed my first sunrise, and we were off! It was, as usual, a lovely train ride.
I spent a wonderful afternoon in Sapporo with a good friend. We had a leisurly lunch of sushi and then did some shopping, as no trip to Sapporo would be complete without a shopping marathon! That evening, we went to Mr. Donut and I bought two doughnuts that I was really looking forward to eating (I wasn't hungry when I bought them). I think we said our goodbyes somewhere between 6 and 7 pm and I caught the train for the town of Chitose (where my hotel was).
The train ride was going to take a little while, so I pulled out a book and read for a few minutes. I felt a bit anti-soial, so I put my book down. A few minutes later, the lady next to me started talking to me. Well, she and just about the whole train (including the conductor) got worried that I was going the wrong way (there is a separate train that goes to the airport...and I was obviously going to the airport at some point). After several conferences, they determind that I was going the right way and where I needed to get off. It was so sweet and so cute that complete strangers would take an interest in where I was going!
Soon, I arrived at my station and caught a taxi to my hotel. And my story will have to end there for now, because I want this to post while it is still today!
Comments
That speaks volumes about them ..
Hey, what happened to the two donuts???