Airport lounges

Even though this is my second year as an Aeroplan Elite (Star Alliance Gold) member, today is my first time using the lounge.

I've got to say, it's pretty sweet! I had no idea that you could get free food and drinks in one! Unfortunately I ate a larger than usual lunch at the train station (a cream cheese & salmon sandwich, a mixed fruit sandwich, and two anpan with, respectively panda and penguin designs!) so if I ate now it'd really just be out of simple gluttony.

Still, seeing that I have access to free food I'm very glad that I gave away the 2000yen food voucher I got from the airline (because of the delay). I knew there was no way I'd be able to eat anything, so rather than letting it go to waste I "accosted" a couple standing and looking at a restaurant window and offered them the voucher if they were planning on eating at a restaurant somewhere today. Thankfully they accepted it so I didn't have to force myself to eat close to 2000yen worth of food just so it wouldn't go to waste. (I really would have!)

Oh well, since I'm here maybe I'll just nibble on something, or at the very least have something to drink. Still another 2.5hr to go!

[Update: So much for nibbling! I totally pigged out on inarizushi, sushi, sandwiches, senbei, shortbread cookies, chocolate and soup! And I actually had a second plate, too! ^_^;; ]

The power of desperation

(Note: This is a continuation from my previous post.)

So flight AC003 was supposed to arrive in Tokyo at 17:25 and in order to catch the last Shinkansen to Shichinohe-Towada Station at 20:04, I needed to catch the 18:15 Narita Express (N'EX). (Actually, I later found out that I could've also taken the 18:48 N'EX but that would've left me with only 15min to catch the Shinkansen which is doable but difficult.)

I was hoping that the third time would be a charm and I'd arrive on time or early just once this trip (to recap: my original flight was delayed 4hrs, and the AC103 flight to Vancouver arrived almost 30min late) but my bad luck held and we arrived 20min behind schedule--leaving me with only 25min to catch the N'EX.

As soon as the seatbelt sign was off I jumped up, grabbed my stuff and raced to the front of the plane saying "Sorry, excuse me. I need to catch a train that leaves in 25min!!" I managed to be one of the first five passengers to get off and as soon as I had enough space I literally ran past the people who had gotten off before me and booked it to customs.

I'm horrendously out of shape so I only managed to sustain the run/sprint for about 15m (although in my defense I'd just gotten off a 10-hr flight and was carrying a fairly hefty backpack and duffle bag) and thereafter had to settle for a fast walk.

It was 17:56 by the time I hit the first movator (i.e. moving walkway) but thankfully the distance between the international gates and customs at Narita is a lot shorter than the distance between the domestic and international gates at Vancouver Airport! I made it to customs right around 18:00 and was lucky to have been able to go straight to the front of the line because they were just splitting one line into two when I got there. (I felt bad about basically butting in front of a bunch of people, but I was desperate, so...)

The one minor bump in my journey from the plane gate to the train platform was the fingerprinting. I'd forgotten that I had a bandage on my right index finger so I wasted a bit of time there first getting an error message and then having to hurriedly pull off the bandage.

But still, I managed to make it onto the N'EX train by 18:08--with 7 minutes to spare! I was embarrassingly out of breath and huffing and puffing like mad, but at least I was safely on the train!

So the lesson I learned is that it *is* possible to make it through customs within 15min of getting of the plane with a little luck and a lot of desperation.

To save myself from the stress, next time I'm not going to bother buying return train tickets. So even if my plane is super late (and with my luck recently I'm fulling expecting to get hit with more delays) at least I won't have to worry about the money I spent on train tickets going to waste.

Oh, and on a slightly random but related note, I *did* actually end up writing Air Canada to compliment them on their helpfulness in re-booking my tickets so I could have a chance to catch my trains. And as thanks for the email, they actually sent me a code for 5% off of a future ticket purchase (for travel up to Jan. 13 2012)!! Sweet!

Hoping lightning doesn't strike twice in the same day

It's 11:19am (PST) on Wednesday, January 5th and I'm currently sitting in the Vancouver airport. I was supposed to be on a plane to Tokyo by now but thanks to my colossal bad luck I realized late last night that my direct flight from Toronto to Tokyo was listed as being delayed by FOUR HOURS.

This was a huge problem since it pushed the scheduled arrival time to 19:10 but the last possible Narita Express train (to Tokyo Station) that I could take to catch the last train to Towada was the 18:15. And I already had tickets purchased. (Once a train has left you're pretty much out of luck and just have to buy a new ticket--no sympathy for situations beyond a traveler's control...)

On calling to inquire whether I'd be able to receive any compensation for the new train tickets I'd have to buy after missing the last possible train out to Towada, I learned that since the delay was due to mechanical problems I had a slim chance of being able to make a claim. (If it was a weather delay I'd be out of luck.)

After that call ended, I thought, maybe I can get re-booked onto a flight to Vancouver and then Tokyo! So I called Air Canada yet again and found out that there was space on the flight to Tokyo, but no seats on the flights to Vancouver (from Toronto).

Following a couple of calls to Japan (to see if I was completely out of luck with the train tickets or if I could cancel them from Toronto and get some money back), inspiration hit: could I go on standby to Vancouver?

So I called Air Canada for the third time in less than two hours and confirmed that it was indeed a possibility.

The tricky part was that even if I got the flight from Vancouver, I'd have a very small margin for delays. The Vancouver flight was scheduled for 13:55 and would arrive at 17:25--giving me a mere 50min to get through customs and to the train. (On a good day I can get off the plane and be out of customs in 30min but with my luck recently...)

Anyway, I figured better to take the chance of being able to catch the train rather than waiting for the delayed flight which would give me no chance at all. (My dad also had an experience where a mechanical delay ultimately ended up getting the flight canceled so he had to go back home and try again the NEXT DAY!!)

So I re-packed my bags so I wouldn't have any checked luggage--only carry-on--and then my poor dad had to take me to the airport around 5am!

I managed to get onto the 7am flight to Vancouver on standby. Once I got on that flight they were supposed to try to check me into the 10am flight to Tokyo but since it was a special/added flight (AC2003) I guess they made a mistake and put me on the regular AC003 (13:55) flight instead.

Unfortunately I didn't know that so when the flight arrived in Vancouver at 9:38 I nearly killed myself running to the absolute farthest international gate (for future reference going from a domestic flight to international gate D63 in less than 20min is VERY painful--particularly carrying bags). I made it just before 10am (9:56 or so?) and only found out at the gate that I was actually checked in for the later flight.

Not that I'm complaining because before this morning I hadn't even known about the 10:00 flight and had been planning to take the 13:55 flight originally anyway, but I really wish they had told me that when I got onto the 7am flight to Vancouver so I wouldn't have had to kill myself running through the airport....

But anyway, I'm extremely grateful to Ms. LG who was at the AC ticket sales desk in Toronto this morning. I know it was a lot of hassle to re-route me and I suspect that since it wasn't an emergency (family illness, connecting flight, wedding, etc.) other staff might have just said: "Tough luck, wait it out." But she was really helpful and I'm definitely going to email AC to tell them how thankful I was/am for her help. (I'm pretty quick to complain about poor service, so I figure it's only fair to praise good service as well.)

Now I'm just waiting an hoping that lightning (i.e. delays) won't strike me twice in the same day and that I'll be able to catch trains to get home "tonight" (Thursday) as originally planned.

Must resist...

I first learned about Shinzi Katoh in the spring of my first year in Japan. My parents, Brenda & Ceci were spending a couple of days in Tokyo and there happened to be a mini Shinzi Katoh fair going on in the Ginza Mitsukoshi.

There was so much stuff that I wanted, but I limited myself to a bag, an aluminum water bottle, and two "clear" files:

My friend lives next door. A boy has a black rabbit. A girl has a white rabbit.

 

I went shopping with my neighbor.

We bought black&white rabbits, a big-eared monkey and three pigs.

I got a hairstyle like a mouton when I went to the hair salon today.

I've also seen a variety of Shinzi Katoh mugs, teapots, etc. in various stores but have always managed to resist the temptation to purchase any for myself...

But then recently I had the urge to check out the Shinzi Katoh Collection Online Shop (there's also an English site). Probably not the smartest idea since Christmas is around the corner and I have ZERO presents purchased so far, but now all I can think about is how much I want to get a mug for myself (or two or three or...) !!

The only thing saving me from spending a ridiculous amount of money ironically is that there's such a huge selection available that I can't decide what to buy! =P I know that I want a cafe mug (it has a small dish for candy, etc. that stacks on top), but there are three different types to choose from--"upside down" "ボミ(bomi)" and "ワイド(wide)"--not to mention the "ダンダンマグ(Dan Dan Mug)" which is pretty much the same thing except the dish stacks on the bottom rather than the top. And of course within each category of mug there's a variety of designs to choose from as well.

The "upside down" mug seems the most practical, since it has a small cup that can be used as either a cup or a candy, etc. dish.

 

In particular, I like the "murmur" design.

But the "bomi" style has a really cute set of  bunny characters - "Oui."

 

But the "wide" style has some fairy tale themed mugs which of course call to the book lover in me. I particularly like the "Snow White(白雪姫) - poison apple" one.

In terms of overall cuteness, though, the Dan Dan mugs really call to me with their bright colours and super cute animals. I love the giraffe and monkey and pig and...

Apart from the cafe mugs, there are also a bunch of different mugs with lids. It'd be perfect to use during the summer at Kirita when tons of flies are around... There's the basic "ノンラップ(non-wrap)" type with the plastic(?) snap on lid, and the slightly funkier "Facile" style.

Then too there's the Paint Club Mug Set which is just a regular set of mugs, but has really cute characters and gives you 5 mugs for the price of ~3 of any of the other ones I've mentioned so far...

And finally there's the "Tea for Two" series which is a stackable set of two mugs plus a teapot! Again, super super cute!! I like the "ソラベア (Sora Bear)" one--and I also happen to have ordered the picture book (illustrated by Shinzi Katoh, of course!) recently, so...

Wah! Too many choices and not enough money!! Oh well. I'm definitely not going to order anything (for myself at any rate) until the new year because, as I said earlier, Christmas is coming up and I need to "save" my money for buying presents!