The Quinn Family Excellent Adventure: April 2019

Friday, April 26, 2019

Goodbye Mastuyama Japan - Hello Narita Airport Moscow and Greece

Sadly we had to leave Matsuyama. The journey was long requiring an early departure. We left Guesthouse Miso Soup as quietly as possible and were soon on the wrong Tram. Yep we picked the incorrect Tram. Fortunately we had a time cushion and we easily made the proper station in time. Note to self, the trains here are very punctual getting on a train a few minutes early is probably not the correct train. It's nice to have a few moments to grab a hot tea, some grub and absorb the vibe. We saw commuters coming and going. They are way more friendly here compared to Tokyo. Our train was a really colorful theme parked advertisement. Cool.

Soon after departure, we learned that at an upcoming station, the train was to separate into two. We were hoping we wound up on the correct set of cars. Surely Hyperdia would not let us down. I was right to assume that. Our transfer to the Shinkansen was super easy and soon we were blasting back to Tokyo. Once at Tokyo station we walked to our now familiar Rail-Go service and scored our big bags. No issues there. We walked back to the Shinkansen tracks and parked Starbucks once again. I planned well with leaving a 1 hour cushion. Plenty of time to buy a phone. Even though Michelle lost and found her phone, not having a spare got me concerned. I got used to having a good quality camera from everyone. Not having one in case of a lost or stolen one was bad. I already knew where to go and what to buy. Bic Camera was only 700 M away. A quick walk and I was in line. Rather than ask a salesperson to find it, I asked the counter person who found what I needed in 5 minutes. I don't know if that's the correct procedure but I had little time to wait in Bic Camera's often huge lineups. I was back at the station in 30 minutes. Cool. Looking at the train schedule, we did not see our scheduled train number in the presented time slots. Damn, we are not taking the Shinkansen to Nariata Station. There is no Shinkansen to Narita Station. There is a Narita Station Airport Express for which we had reserved seats. We had 15 minutes to find this station. It was a little panicky but we found it with 5 minutes to spare.

The train to Narita was pretty nice. We put some of our stuff in the storage spot in the back of the car. The rest was at our seats. Getting close to the station we got jammed into the isle with others trying to get ready. Note to self have everything close and ready for the quick departure. Once at the station, it was a bit of work finding the proper exit and a taxi location. Narita Station feels that it's train arrival signage is meant more for Airport headed people. We soon found the proper exit and taxi stand. The taxi driver kindly indicated the Narita Tobu Hotel Airport had a shuttle but we took no chances with size/lineups waiting for it. KT had an evening planned with a person back in Tokyo which is an hour from our hotel. We wanted to waste no time. We grabbed a taxi, checked in and were in our room around 7 PM. KT did a quick pack and was off. Michelle and I reshuffled stuff around for tomorrows flight a little. With no plans for dinner I found myself walking 2 KM's to the nearest Lawson's. We had become so used to one everywhere. The Narita Airport hotels are massive here. The Lawson's was embedded inside. Wild. After a little dinner and some more packing it was time to hit the hay.

We paid a premium for an included breakfast and were downstairs with plenty of time to eat and relax. What an epic selection they had. Traditional and American foods of all sorts. Yum.

Over the past few days we were moving money around to pay for our upcoming Europe trips by rail. A Eurorail pass seemed wise as is can cover many European countries by regular trains, speed trains and even ferry's. The 2nd class Global pass for 3 month's was around $1200 Euros for each of us. Ouchie. I waited literally until the last minute to order this pass online. It must be delivered and luckily our Greece AirBnB host provided an accurate mailing address. I actually forgot to order the passes until we were packing and about to leave to the airport. That's what no sleep does. Luckily I knew the web site well enough to get is mostly right. I did make a mistake regarding KT's age. I selected her as an Adult and will later learn the Eurorail tickets had a Youth category for 12-27 years WTF? Oops that was a 277 Euro mistake. Oh well it was ordered and I splurged on the expedited shipping It should be in the mailbox in Greece in 5 business days.

We got an early jump to the airport with a massive shuttle bus. It's was a little chaotic with a huge number of people and bags getting on. The staff we very kind so as to place the bags in reverse order for the upcoming 2 airport terminal stops. Our flight was with Aeroflot a Russian airline. Our flight times were interesting

Tokyo 12:22pm - Moscow 3:59pm
Moscow 8:51pm - Athens 12:46am

Once at the Narita counter, we were required to fill out forms as we did not have a flight out of Greece. Been there done that. The flight to Moscow was interesting. It looked cold, barren and snowy for lot's of it. Moscow looked beautiful from the air. We landed at the Sheremetyevo International Airport. It was a bit of a gong show at the airport. After exiting the plane we were required to follow through the transfer process. Hundreds of people were to walk through the transfer area. We had to have a person visually see our passport, have the boarding card stamped and then a baggage scan. The department where we had all this done was very understaffed. There was no crowd control so rather than lines of people there were multiple mobs. Some being redirected by staff towards the "front" of the line. It was nuts. One loudmouth spoke up to fresh arrivals and we though a fist fight was to happen between them. I think we waited 30-45 minutes for that process. I felt terrible to the stressed out staff. It's not their fault they are understaffed. After that gong show we were in the gate area/shopping mall. I've seen many airports try to couple shopping with gates and waiting area's but Moscow takes the cake. There were gates leading to massive airplanes with waiting area seats of around 20 whilst surrounded by 6 huge gift shops. WTF. The inevitable boarding lineups crossed the pass way to other gates so now pedestrian traffic could not get through. Stupidest design I've ever seen. We were toast and needed sleep. Our gate had chairs enough for 2 of us. Michelle saw some cool sleeping pods and was soon inside one. Before long we heard our plane was delayed with no gate assignment. Bummer. It was only a hour or so but was going to make our Athens arrival a little hard on our AirBnB host. We somehow got internet enough to let her know. Soon our gate was assigned to one of the shopping mall no seat ones. Interesting. The boarding, flight and meals were awesome. Athens customs was super slick. The baggage carts needed 2 Euro's and would not accepts a 20 bill. The ATM dispensed 50's. Dang. We walked carrying our stuff towards the exit hoping for a Sim place. I eyed and stole a free cart. No Sim place. Kinda knew that. We found our exit and were approached by a limo taxi van dude. We negotiated from 25 to 20. I usually give it back in tips ha ha. He was super helpful as we drove to our AirBnB about 20 minutes from the airport https://goo.gl/maps/GJyy1A1qJFwDdXdA9 We talked about the economy, the cost of living and some must see places. We were kinda spaced out and looking forward to a bed. He had to drop us off at the end of a one way. As I was paying him we thankfully saw Niki our AirBnB host waving us down. What a sweetheart. I think it was like 2:00 AM. She gave us a quick tour of her big place. It was an awesome beach side location right across the street from the police station. A quick bite to eat and we were down for the count. Hello Greece.

Dogo Station kinda early

Mastsuyama Station

Kinda cool train

We had no idea we were on the Anpanman Train

https://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-transport/anpanman-train

This was a big bridge

Like over 5 KM's big, check the scale

I skipped to the next morning at the Tobu Narita Airport Hotel

That's a big plane

777-300ER

396 Passengers,wow

See ya Japan

A chilly looking Russia

Sup Moscow?

Cool we are in Russia

These things were priceless at $7 US per hour

Dark Moscow Departure

Hey Athens

Yay, Athens

Narita Takeoff

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1MsglRpkP8feKeJuWdg0XSWkU4f_yyxay

Chilly looking Moscow

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1DeMs7sxKDbNOwqBLCApeW5BwD28Rr-Kr

Landing in Moscow

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mMkDPr7SGgsC6uk2uC34XbDM8qNyhbd6

Nap time in Moscow

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1795NgtOl8s_4gsJEgYQddly0GcRTPsK2

Goodbye Tokyo 2 Japan - Hello Mastuyama Japan

I don't think any of of slept very well with the crazy previous night. We had an early rise, last minute pack up and quick cleanup to add to the haze. We were out of our AirBnB at about 8:15, a little later than I wanted but still had a time cushion. It was time for the longish walk through the Tokyo streets, through the cool grocery store and into the train station. Once on the platform, we knew what was up. During this time, it's pretty well peak Tokyo commuter time. We let one train go past to peek into the other cars as it went by. It was jammed. No choice. The next train was kinda packed but at least you could hold onto a pole or handle. Only 12 stops I thought. After a few more stops it was clear we were going to get jammed in. We were so lucky to be on the side of the car that did not exit to these stations. Our heavy backpacks were embarrassingly in the way of others. I felt kinda bad and could not turn else crash into someone. It was hot, packed and tiring. My heart was racing. KT though she was going to barf. It was nuts. Finally we hit Tokyo station. I was hoping a bulk of the people were also getting off. Not. I kinda had to force my way out excusing as I went. KT and Michelle had it easy falling in behind my wake. Whew, that was done.

The route to our bag storage was super easy with yesterdays homework already done. Drop off and payment was slick. We enjoyed our lighter walk to the Shinkansen train location and found a Starbucks with plenty of space to relax. Yay. We had 1 hour to chill, grab some grub/drinks and prep for a long train day. The train station convenience stores have a huge selection of boxed Sushi type meals. Not too pricey as well. We each grabbed 2 meals and soon headed to our track and car location. Once on our train, we did not have to think for over 4 hours until Okayama station. Sweet. At Okayama station it was easy to find our 3 hour regular train to Matsuyama. The regular train feels slow after being spoiled by the Shinkansen. It was very beautiful to go slower beside this amazing countryside. Plenty of time to blog and relax. Once in Matsuyama, a tram was no far away and soon we were clanging down the street towards our final station Dogo Onsen Station. The tram journey revealed beautiful parks, rivers, streams flowers all yet to see. Dogo Onsen station is an epic location https://goo.gl/maps/GEB9ffMSAfXevGRx6. It is very close to several famous traditional bath houses like the Mastaysama Hot Springs https://goo.gl/maps/fbg9KWh5APFkv5Wj8.

The walk to Guesthouse Miso Soup was literally 2 minutes.
https://goo.gl/maps/sTifjMXGWpD8yEyn8.
We met Rie, the manager of the place and a few guests. After payment, rules and a tour we were checked in. As Rie was native Japanese, we asked her for advice on several things including perhaps finding Michelle's phone, local trip suggestions and where to get great sushi. She said no problemo. Guesthouse Miso Soup is an older traditional Japanese home renovated to be a guesthouse. It's like an old cottage. Not insulated, quite simply decorated, almost rustic. There were 3 guest rooms. One mixed, another women only a third I never say. 2 bunks are in the mixed and women only. It was nice and simple. We met several guests participating in the Shikoku Pilgrimage A multi-site pilgrimage of 88 temples on the island of Shikoku, Japan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikoku_Pilgrimage#/media/File:Shikoku-Pilgerweg_Karte.png

Typically walking is 1,200 kilometers, taking anywhere from 30 to 60 days to complete. We met 1 walker, 1 rider and 1 motorcycler. Apparently there is tremendous support from the community with offers of free food and lodgings along the way. Michelle and I were immediately plotting our return.
After a long travel day, we enjoyed our first sleep in our bunks.

We all slept like champs. My morning 6 AM routine found a nice quiet house. I had plenty of time to research getting to Cat Island. It appeared to be a 2 hour public transit ride to the ferry location. It required a super early departure to make the early ferry. Unfortunately it looked like the transit arrived a little before the ferry left. Dang. Taxi? 2 hours. OMG we need Rei.

SpaceX was attempting a Falcon Heavy launch for which the timing was perfect. We watched them pull a triple booster landing for the first time in history. Soon after the landing one of the Japanese guests was getting up. We struggled for communication a bit but we made it through. He had a small displacement Honda motorcycle outfitted for long duration camping. It was crazy how much stuff he managed to carry with him. During a photo op, something he said indicated he was into rockets or science. I told him about SpaceX's very recent success and he lit up. He too is a fanboi. I'm glad I connected with him. It was only 1 hour later and he was off. Another Japanese guy was soon on his pedal bike and was off. I got a shot of his bike's generator, something I thought was dead tech is still quite popular. Sweet

Others began to awake and soon Rei was preparing her breakfast. She asked about making the lost phone call. I had compiled very specific details about the phone type and lost location. She found a better number to call and bam. Someone had found the phone and it was waiting to be reconnected. They immediately began shipping it to Matsuyama estimating it to cost around 1000 Yen. On a Saturday, wild. We were ecstatic. Rei, Michelle, and KT coupled the good news with a "Sushi Train" suggestion she had. Rei loved excellent Sushi but was very frugal with her money. An excellent Sushi location was not close and she offered to take us. Of course we would buy to thank her for her help. I thought Rei would help up with a long walk or transit. Nope we drove in her car. Wow that is service. On the drive, I asked her about Cat island and transport. She had a very different perspective on Cat Island Aoshima, Ehime https://goo.gl/maps/Sm5VgDW8zGWD1fiX8

This island had only become recently popular and due to a YouTube video. The local population is very small and they cannot handle the tourist attention. Many come, disturb the locals and leave behind plenty of garbage. This is not something I was interested in doing. We were to think about it more. If we did go, I'd be bringing garbage bags to cleanup the mess and somehow communicate we are sorry for the intrusion. The Sushi place was awesome. Not expensive at all and totally fun. We got some movies of the train delivery which is so cool. It was so nice to a great Sushi experience.

KT broke in some shoes on a long walk and got a few blisters. We needed some simple antiseptic cream so things went smoother. The local pharmacy had plenty but it was tough to translate the boxes of product. Even the Google translate App camera struggles a lot as well. The pharmacist heard our struggle and got her small electronic translator. It worked amazing for both languages. No training necessary. This is something we and later KT will certainly benefit from. I had to do some research.

It was about this time I was struggling with the magnitude of images we were generating. With my blogging process I work on copies of the original images rather than risk our main copy. My computer microSD card was no longer big enough. Time to get a 64 or 128 GB. It was also finally time to grab some shoes as mine were long past done. A little Googling found 2 huge electronics/sports stores about 5 KM's away. Sweet. Over the next few days I walked like 3 times. It was awesome to get a feel for the place. The microSD card was simple enough to find. Shoes were crazy hard. I take a 10, but in Japan I needed an 11. There were only a few 10's and 2 11's in this entire sports store. Wild.

The translator device I chose took a bit of time. The device available her is called a PocketTalk https://www.pocketalk.net/ According to my research it needs internet through WiFi or a Sim. One version included a 2 year worldwide Sim plan. That was the best choice for us and KT. Showing up at airports with crappy WiFi and no Sim is where this is needed most. I tried to decipher the stores Yamada Denki and K's Denki (Denki is Electrical) website for details. I was concerned about the need to activate the Sim. It's been a problem in other places. Once I got to the store the staff and I struggled a bit but used the translator to learn about the translator. It was not 100% clear I could simply walk away and use it. Fortunately it turned out ok. Once back home Rei challenged it against an App she had found with much time researching called VoiceTra https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.go.nict.voicetra&hl=en
VoiceTra was actually really good but lost one three things. No Global Sim, No noise elimination and countries supported. The Pocketalk supports 128 languages whilst VoiceTra only 33. Worth the $

We bailed on Cat Island, KT understood. It looked like a rainy day anyway. We chose to sleep in, relax and let a rain day not bum us out. One of the guests we met at Guesthouse Miso Soup awoke with exactly the same idea. We learned her name was Jude and she too was a teacher. We talked for hours literally melting away the entire afternoon and early evening. She was cool. A very compassionate teacher for which we need more of. Her Japanese and Japan experience was really good so she offered us all kinds of cool angles of local experiences. Being a math wiz and a physics teacher, we had a huge number of great conversations.

I forgot to mention one cool part of Guesthouse Miso Soup. All our conversations, research, relaxing was done around a low heated table called a Kotatsu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotatsu. The table itself is quite low but below the table is a cutout in the floor perfect to sit your feat. In the center is a heater. Fire it up and soon you have toasty feet and a comfortable seat. It was grand.

While I was walking epic amounts of KM's, Michelle and KT were checking out epic local sites and getting Tatoo's. Yes KT got a tattoo.

Jude told us in our Kotatsu conversation about the local Bath houses or Onson's. We were contemplating it but need to know a few things. Apparently the truly traditional Onson's refuse those with tatoos. There is interesting history in Japan with Tatoo's https://taramoss.com/visiting-japan-tattoos/ There is also a certain etiquette with Onsens one must adhere too. We were a little scared off until this conversation. Fortunately because of Jude, we went to our first Onsen that evening. The process is kinda neat. We went early attempting to avoid the crowds. We stood in line in the rain for only a few minutes. We first locked up our umbrella's, yes there is an umbrella lockup station. We then paid for our tickets and locked up our shoes. We were then separated into Women and Men bath's. Once in the bath location we needed to get completely naked. Lockers were available for your stuff. After that we walked into the hot spring itself and head first to a wash up location were we were required get completely clean. It was kinda weird learning what to do but thankfully there the place is busy and you can watch others as to what to do. After washing up you simply walk slowly into a pretty hot spring pool. For whatever reason, a majority of the locals have a small face cloth sized towel they lie on their head. It's bad manners to let it into the water. Whatever, I had no towel. Problem solved. The water was crazy hot. I could only last about 10 minutes. After that a quick cleanup/dress up and I was ready to split. It was great. We met up outside and felt great. KT wanted to attend but her tatoo was on the ankle and could not get wet. Bummer. We soon had to leave Matsuyama. We said goodbye to everyone in the evening as our departure was super early. Thanks Guesthouse Miso Soup.

The short walk to Guesthouse Miso Soup