10D9N Spring Japan Trip: Arriving at Haneda Airport
"Oh I think I've landed in a world I hadn't seen..."
Nowadays, my travel destination is not decided by proper planning. It's decided more by the offer for flight tickets. Hahaha. Singapore Airlines (SQ) was having a two-to-go promotion for its flight to Tokyo and hence, we decided to go with the flow and booked the flight accordingly. Good thing that it's SQ because well, SQ is quite comfortable for a long distance flight.
Other than the latest movie-on-board, SQ flight to Tokyo let passengers choose for a Japanese styled lunch set. Wow! I am those type of traveller who gets easily excited for meal-on-board. The Japanese styled lunch set comes with a slab of grilled teriyaki salmon, a 1/3 portion of white rice, a piece of broccoli, tofu and egg. Even though it looks simple, it tastes pretty yummy.
When we have landed and in the midst of waiting for our luggage, I totally felt that we have landed in a different world. I started to wonder why everyone leave a certain gap between the waiting area and the carousel.
It turns out you are not allowed to cross that area with your carts. And everybody obeys the law. My goodness, I will not be able to experience this in my home country, Indonesia.
The next thing that I saw makes me amazed even further. The luggage are put on the carousel with a distance from each other and if you notice, all of the luggage handle are put below for easy picking. This may look like small matter but I feel that the Japanese are very considerate people. I have never seen this before even in Singapore's Changi Airport.
Once we have picked our luggages, it's time for us to gather our thoughts again because there are apparently a lot of things to do in Haneda Airport to ensure you have the ultimate experience in Japan. First, we need to collect our wifi mobile device which we booked beforehand. We need to use Google Maps considerably a lot because we are not that good with maps, so we decided to rent wifi mobile device from Pupuru. You can collect the device at Haneda Airport (or Narita or hotel). If you collect the device at Haneda Airport (like us), you can collect them at this JAL ABC counter. If you don't know where they are located, I suggest you print this picture out and show it to the airport staff so that he/ she can bring you there.
Once our wifi device is kept safely in our bag, we proceeded to the JR East Travel Service Center (at Haneda Airport arrival area) to activate our Japan Rail Pass (JR Pass). The pass will give you unlimited access to use all JR lines and the high speed rail (which is also operated mainly by JR) for 7 days. One important thing about this useful pass called Japan Rail Pass (JR Pass) is that you must buy the pass outside Japan. You won't be able to buy the JR Pass in Japan because it is catered specifically for tourists. If you are travelling from Singapore, you can buy JR Pass at JTB outlet in Takashimaya. 7 Days Pass for Adult costs $362. You must not forget to activate the JR Pass too before you can use it for travelling. You can activate the JR Pass at JR East Travel Service Center which is also located at the arrival area of Haneda Airport.
The whole activity in the airport (including the immigration and waiting for luggage) took us one hour. Do take this into your consideration when you are planning for a trip in Japan. =)
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