Japan Hokkaido - 16 May 2015

As with all first times, it was also my first in taking a connecting flight via ANA (All Nippon Airways). One of the question that popped up was this, "Do I need to get my luggage bag from the baggage claim area?" The answer was yes and also need to go through immigration and custom. For a Malaysian travelling from Singapore to Haneda and from Haneda from Sapporo, we need to fill-in the customs declaraction form and the usual embarkation/disembarkation form. The 1.5 hours of interval between the connecting flight is actually not a very long time. After going through immigration in Haneda airport, there was about 20 minutes wait for the luggage to be out. After which, need to check-in the luggage for the domestic flight. There was just about enough time to catch the shuttle bus to the right gate for the domestic flight. The bus ride is about 15 minutes.

All was good, and managed to do so without much issue though was somewhat concerned when the bags are not coming out of the conveyor belt. ANA flight staff do not speak much English but no worries as we could still communicate. As per past experience, ANA food option was categorised into Set A or Set B; where one option is usually Japanese food and the other International/Western styled food. Managed to watch Frozen for in-flight entertainment. The domestic flight from Haneda to New Chitose Airport, was an hour and a half ride, and one gets a snack pack and a cup of juice.

From New Chitose Airport, just head towards the JR ticketing office to purchase the JR Rapid train ticket with reserved seat to Sapporo. At the same time, also collected the tickets for the Hakodate trip which I had booked earlier via its online ticketing reservation service. No need to splurge on first class tickets as normal tickets with seat reservation was comfortable enough. Reserved seat area are non-smoking.

Find out the correct platform number from the ticketing officer or look at the electronic info board. The train ticket will only contain information on the carriage and seat number.

JR railway station New Chitose Airport

One thing that must be noted; the trains in Japan will usually depart on-time. If the train is scheduled to depart at 10:33am, then you will need to be onboard at least 5 minutes before that. The 10:33am train was at the platform around 10:25am, so it can be boarded once the airport passengers disembarked.

Luggage storage for bulky luggages is usually at the end of the reserved seat carriage.

"U seat" carriage for reserved ticket holder

inside the train

for ticket inspection

Don't forget to bring your ticket along, otherwise will not be able to pass through the destination's station gate.

scenary on the way to Sapporo

First impression of the city when travelling from New Chitose Airport to Sapporo, was that the streets looked so empty...


Links: Pre-trip prep

Japan Hokkaido - May 2015

Had this idea to do a solo travel during birthday month, and Japan was one of the first few options that came to mind. Never doubt the influence of Japan Hour! Hahaa, humour aside, I love Japanese food, the culture and of course, the ease of transportation and feasibility of travelling solo also counted towards the consideration.

Why travel solo? With friends, usually we'd handle a portion of the overall work. For example, one will handle the flight bookings and accommodation, another will handle itinerary planning (or all supply to this person) and basically what gets implemented will be based on who has the strongest urge to do which activity on that day. Mostly, I'd done shopping trips and also sightseeing trips with friends. Work trips are a whole new ball game, and thus, solo trip will add on to the experiences.

Air tickets were booked pretty early, and it was done by December 2014 with a cost of SGD1143.20. On hindsight, there was absolutely no need to book so early. Could've saved SGD300+ if the air tickets were booked in 2015. Sigh. But one thing for sure, was that I wanted to fly with All Nippon Airways. First experience in 2009 via ANA was quite good, so wanted to have that again.

Hotel rooms were also booked around the same time via www.agoda.com. Chose Century Royal Hotel, which turned out to be quite a good choice. Only at a later date did I decide to do an overnight stay at Hakodate, and hence, another room at Hakodate Grand Hotel was booked for that purpose. One of the criteria that I had for myself, was that the hotel room must be less than SGD100 per night.

When the two most important item were settled, then itinerary planning starts. Once tickets and accommodation were paid for, the whole thing was more or less cast in stone. No backing out!

Thought it would be quite easy to plan for myself but on contrary, it was quite a headache. Wanting to make full use of the time there yet, knowing self and the pace I'd like, there were quite a few rework here and there. Was ambitious initially and wanted to go north, east and south (basically everywhere!) but then, time is limited and travelling via train will take a few hours each trip to the other places.

Things that I knew I wanted to do in Hokkaido; to eat local food especially seafood, fruits and dairy products, to see mountain view, to listen to local people speaking in their native language and to communicate with them if possible, to get souvenirs for family, close friends and colleagues.

Also knew that there are some places that might be difficult to access on my own, so sourced around for local tours and eventually found two that looked interesting. Decided on Chuo Bus Tour and signed up for  Sapporo Night View Dinner Tour (Mt. Moiwa and Mt. Okura Sapporo Night View Tour) to happen on first night so that dinner is taken care of. Additionally, also signed up for Scenic Cape Shakotan Tour to happen on Day 5. In between, Hakodate was slotted in to happen on Day 3.

Shopping list from family, colleagues and friend? Scallops, make-up and lavender stuff and Yamazaki whiskey. Ok, got it.

 For those whom are interested, here's the itinerary. Click to view.

Hokkaido Itinerary 2015

Links: Start of Journey