Hey Hive!
It's been a busy few weeks so sorry about the hiatus, but we had a crazy long charity stream to celebrate my birthday, then went on another trip to relax after that. But now we're back and just in time for us to share a new trip we took back in Feb 2023!
We took a trip to Tokyo last year for our anniversary! It'd been at least 3 years since we visited Tokyo and the last time was pre-covid so we decided to go back and maybe find some new places to explore while revisiting our favourite hot-spots. Let's-a-go!
2 Feb 2023. Wednesday.
We had a night flight on our actual anniversary date so we enjoyed a chill day together at home before heading to the airport. We're both night owls anyway so night flights are never a bother for us, and we get to maximise the day when we reach our destination.
We checked in our luggage and cleared customs very smoothly, and headed straight to the airport lounge for some late dinner!
Unfortunately the lounges we had access to were separate from each other and we wanted to view our options before deciding on one.
I think now that we've had a taste of airport lounges we might be getting spoiled from them, but honestly I'm still amazed by them every time.
Most of them are very comfortable and they have free flow buffet and drinks, what's not to love?
We did have a few options to choose from, like this Marhaba lounge, which has quite a lot of seating but was a little crowded that day for some reason.
They do have a pretty decent buffet though, but I think they didn't really have vegetable dishes at the time.
After viewing the Marhaba lounge and deciding we'd rather have the SATS one we walked through the food court to get there.
I don't think I'd seen this food court before but it actually looked pretty decent on its own already!
We headed to the other side of where we came in from the customs and headed to the SATS Premier Lounge which is always a popular choice.
Somehow we always end up in this lounge over the others since it's more convenient and it's spacious and welcoming. There's actually two sections to this lounge; you enter into this area with dark cushioned seats and charging ports above side tables.
And this other section that is very zen with a nice little stone fountain in the middle of a rock garden.
For seating, there's a bunch of armchairs, some sleeping pods for privacy, and plenty of regular tables and chairs.
The bathrooms also have showers for people taking long-haul flights and they look pretty nice although I've never actually used them.
The buffet spread is pretty decent too, with a number of hot dishes from various cuisines and a salad bar, and plenty of drinks as well.
The food section is also arranged very neatly and the whole vibe of this lounge is nice and chill, I guess that's why we prefer this one.
That day they had some different dishes compared to the last time we came here, with mashed potato, baked fish and some greens and Indian dishes.
It looked and smelled really good! They also had two vegetable dishes which makes it better than the other lounge already. Something I notice about airport lounges sometimes is they don't always have good vegetable options other than salad. Since we prefer hot vegetable dishes, it can be a little difficult.
We took our first round of the buffet and some drinks to enjoy!
Since we here at SATS we always have to go for their signature laksa! It's one of our favourite dishes to get here and it's always such a comfort. I think this is exactly what they serve on SIA Business Class as well, and I especially like that the taste is always consistent.
We relaxed in the lounge for a bit and headed to the gate on time. We were trying out ZipAir this trip, which is a new budget airline by Japan Airlines. I think that's also why we decided to go to Tokyo this time since they had cheap tickets to promote the new airline.
The plane itself is a Boeing 787 and was pretty nice too. The seats looked pretty decent and were quite comfortable.
The seats seemed quite new as well, I think they probably reupholstered all the seats since I've never seen black seats on an airline before.
As with most airlines nowadays, they also provide in-flight wifi.
Our tickets also gave us in-flight meals which is not common for budget airlines. I was still quite full from the lounge buffet though.
We ordered one of each meal so we could try them both. This was the minced chicken with rice, peas and some scrambled eggs. The chicken had an interesting seasoning to it but was pretty alright.
I guess you could tell this was from a budget airline since the meal is only the bento box and a bottle of water, whereas a the regular airlines would have extra sides like appetiser, dessert and a bun.
This was the other in-flight meal; butter chicken curry with rice. The curry wasn't spicy but both dishes were pretty yummy.
I'm not good at sleeping on planes unfortunately, but I tried and managed to get about 2-3 hours of rest I think? By the time we arrived in was mid-morning in Japan.
It'd definitely been a while since I totally forgot that we'd be greeted by my favourite video game characters from Nintendo as we arrived in Narita Airport!
I feel like I was the only one excited about this though but I didn't care if other people were staring at me because it was just so cool!
I think it was also a while since we arrived at this airport in Japan. I don't remember if they have this at Haneda as well but it's unlikely.
There was even a Visitor Service Center with more Nintendo stuff! I think they put all this in during covid when the airport was shut down, and we did see some advertisements for it but this was the first time we were seeing it in-person!
Once we were out into the public area of the airport we made a beeline for the visitor center so see what they had in store!
Unfortunately the Nintendo Check-In area was closed at the time! I think it was a little too early in the morning since it was before 9am at the time, sadly.
It did look really cool though! There was a life-size Mario and Toad statue in travel gear and some screens showing Nintendo gameplay.
There was also a wall with the world map where you could stick a Nintendo sticker on the country where you're from! I think Singapore would've definitely been all filled out though.
They also had screens where I assume consoles were setup so you could play Nintendo games like Smash Bros. but they were all switched off at the time with no one manning them.
Sadly everything was closed and the only thing that was available and on were the screens showing different games and this warp pipe, which was at least something I guess.
It was a bummer that we got there too early but tbh I was just glad to see it in-person and it was still a very nice surprise since I wasn't expecting it at all.
It was definitely a very nice welcome to Japan and it strangely felt like I was coming back home. A lot of things changed since the last time we visited so there was a nice familiarity coming back here.
We headed to the trains since we were heading toward the city centre and it was quite a ways away.
We were going to take the airport express train which we've actually never taken before.
There are a lot of advertisements for it around the Arrivals section of the airport though and it did look quite luxurious.
We had some time to kill so we bought some snacks before heading to the platform to wait for the train.
Thank goodness for Japan convenience stores! We got a cream puff and a nice warm yuzu lemon drink since it was pretty cold.
The train itself looked really nice and reasonably comfortable.
The seats were definitely a lot more comfortable than the plane though and Sean fell asleep almost immediately after we departed.
But not before we tried our other snack, this chocolate cream crepe roll of sorts. It was pretty good and not too creamy. The crepe was a little eggy though.
We enjoyed a smooth train ride into the city. It was pretty empty apart from a few people so it was nice and quiet. Sean enjoyed a nap but I couldn't sleep since it was too bright for me.
About half an hour or so, we arrived at our station!
The hotel we were staying at was a short walk from the station but it also meant we had to drag our luggage there which is something we both despise.
But taxis are crazy expensive here so we grin and bear it on the short walk to the hotel.
We get to familiarise ourselves with the route as well so it's not too bad.
We were staying in Mercure Hotel and technically they had a station right at the basement of the building but unfortunately it was a different line and not connected to the airline express that we took.
We arrived and took the elevator up to reception and I might've taken a nap in their very comfortable and eclectic lobby while waiting.
It was too early to check-in to our rooms so we left our luggage with the reception and took a short break there before heading out to explore!
But I think we'll cover that next time! Thanks so much for reading and hope you're excited about this trip as I am!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Check out my previous post in this series!
TacoCat’s Travels #261 (SG): Exploring Art and History before Delicious Dim Sum! 📸
