Kansai International was a ghost town one hour before our flight. It
actually only took us about thirty seconds to get through security! I
didn’t even have to take off my shoes!
Today
begins our seven day trip to Hokkaido! We woke up pretty early to head
to the airport, after thoroughly prepping the house for the dog (Vaaska
will be dog-sitted by two nice women twice a day). I’ve been so excited
for Hokkaido- and now that we’re here at the ryokan hotel, I can update
my blog! (Though all of these posts will be late, as there isn’t a
stable internet connection here).
The plan ride was really short, but
there was this really cool camera that let you watch the take off and
the landing from the pilot’s point of view.... also, airport security is
nothing like it is in America. I didn’t have to take off my shoes, and
it took all of thirty seconds to get through it. It blew my mind!
It gets dark really early here, so we
are going to have to keep that in mind when we go around exploring. By
5pm, it was already dark, and by the time we got to the ryokan, there
was nothing open! Speaking of the ryokan,
though, it is a gorgeous place~! I was sort of worried, as the pictures
on their website don’t really do the ryokan justice, but, when we got
here, there were two wonderfully nice women who greeted us, took us to
the largest room in the ryokan, and served us tea. When we went out to
get dinner, they gave us a handful of candy too! So nice!
The room itself is super gorgeous, and
when its not so dark, I’m going to try and take pictures again. I was
expecting something subpar, but it is a full tatami room, with scrolls
and futons and a really nice table- all for only $38 US a night per
person!
We are very excited, and are looking forward to the next week in Sapporo- I’ll update again tomorrow!