*cue Great Escape music*
With the lingering itchy feet from the last holiday, I decided last week to get out of Hokkaido for golden week and see some other parts of Japan. Golden week is one of the busiest travel times, also one of the most expensive with everyone on holiday, so I had a cunning plan.
When I was little we lived near Newcastle in the north east of England, a ferry port and a truely cool place to visit if you're ever in that region. My Dad is also a keen sailor so many holidays were spent, by the sea or on the sea. We took ferries to Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway and I loved every minute of being on the ship- it feels like something from another age, almost exotic. I enjoy being on the sea, I even don't mind if its a little rough.
Japan being the island nation it is has many ferries and I've been dying to try them out. Last summer I went up to Rishiri and Rebun islands (the most northen islands of Japan), taking the ferry from Wakkanai to the islands and back again.
This time I'll be taking the ferry from Otaru to Niigata and back from Akita to Tomakomai. Whats really cool is the price- 12,800Y for the ferry (that's there and back). This is less than a flight from Sapporo to Tokyo, one way! Of course you could pay more and get a private cabin or even a first class suite, but I decided on a 2nd class berth- a bed in a 4 bunk room. There was a cheaper option of a large communal area- basically a place on the floor, but I splurged and decided on a little more privacy and comfort.
The only slight problem I've got is that I misread the timetable and thought I would be leaving Otaru at 10.30pm on the Friday and then arrive 0700 in Niigata on the Saturday. Maths was never my strong point and somehow my brain was incapable of recognising that this was considerably less time than the timetabled 18-20 hour long voyage. As I booked it yesterday at the travel agents I realised its actually a 10.30am departure from Otaru, so I'll be taking the Friday off as holiday. I'm not changing it, so that will have to stay. My return trip from Akita to Tomakomai is a day trip and I'm looking forward to passing through the Tsugaru straits between Hokkaido and Aomori in particular, that and trying out the baths on the ferry, after all this is Japan.
4 comments:
Ooh, sounds like fun! I've only taken short ferry trips here but I'd like to try a longer one someday. Are you going to travel by train up the coast back to Akita?
Yep, I've got 3 nights to get from Niigata to Akita so I'm stopping off in Aizu Wakamatsu and Yamagata along the way, add some more prefectures to my list. I'll try and be good and actually write up what happens. Have you got any plans for golden week?
Sounds good! I like hopping off trains in places that don't look like they'd have much going on... most of the time they actually don't but sometimes you find something really special ;)
We're heading to Scotland, yay! Haven't been back since GW last year so I'm gasping for stuff like quorn, scottish plain bread and cider. Fingers crossed that the volcano quietens down by then though...
Scotland- Awesome! I really hope you can get there (and back too).
Enjoy your cider, bread and quorn...
I'll be dreaming of flakes, baked beans and heinz tomato soup
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