First, the plane. I flew premium economy on Japan Airlines. That meant two things. The first was that I was allowed to sit in the Air France Lounge for the 90 minutes before I had to board. I had never been in an airport lounge before, so I felt pretty excited. The TVs were set to CNN, still collecting information about the recent bombing at the airport in Brussels. Certainly picked a day to fly.
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| From the lounge window |
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| Nice lounge |
The second was the seat itself, which was much larger compared to the one I sat in on Cathay Pacific last year. It also had a lot more legroom, especially as I was up against the wall dividing business class from premium economy. I'm talking about I can expand my legs all the way!-type of legroom. But while the seat reclined more, it was built into a plastic shell, which merely shifted the seat down. Not too comfortable, but at least I got some sleep on the plane this time.
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| My legs breathed a sigh of relief. |
After exchanging cash in the terminal, I called for my rental car, and a representative from Nissan Rent-a-car brought it over. I had originally booked a Nissan Dayz for a week, which was about $600 [exhales painfully] for the whole week, including a one-way fee but not tolls or gas. The rep took me out to the parking lot on the side of the terminal entry to head to the car. I saw a Dayz in the parking lot close to the curb and got excited. That excitement quickly turned to confusion when the rep unlocked my actual car, the Nissan March.
I asked the rep about the possible mix-up. After a brief pause, he told me that there were no Dayz available. The March is one tier up from the Dayz, and for no additional charge, I had nothing to complain about. We went over existing damage and I took pictures of it. Then I got in the car and went to my hotel for the night.
The trip up today was a nonstop push for Aizuwakamatsu. It was supposed to snow starting in the evening, so the goal was to get up there by the afternoon. I made the same mistake that I did the last time; instead of merging onto the expressway towards Tsukuba (north), I merged onto the expressway towards Narita (south). My guess then, and now, was that the road is relatively new, and as such, the GPS didn't get the update, because my entry point on the expressway only had the option to go north, and did not warn me about the merge. So I wound up spending an extra 300 yen on tolls, which brought my total toll bill up to around 7300 yen ($65). By the time I got off the highway, I had to stop at a local McDonald's, because my legs were starting to annoy me. In a few days, I'll make a post about the car.
On my way to dinner tonight, I got stopped by a group of people who wanted to take a photo with me. This is actually the first time that this has happened. The last time I was here, I mostly stayed in cities, where there are plenty of 大きな外人 around to the point where it's a common sight. Maybe they're from an area where that isn't the case. Still, I was a good sport about it.
Tomorrow I'm moving into my new dorm. I'll also have to get food and linens. Here's to hoping that it all goes smoothly.
And finally, because this is Japan, an obligatory of course, this exists in Japan moment: Kit Kat-flavored Japanese sake.
-wp
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