On Wednesday evening I got a tip from a Facebook friend that Air New Zealand's Grabaseat site had some very cheap seats to Tokyo, for a limited time. I logged on and snapped up one of their $650 (all-inclusive) economy seats, departing this Sunday. (Yes, by the time you read this I'm already there!) I was immensely pleased because I’ve always wanted to go, but the seats were always too expensive (ranging from $1500-2200 + taxes).
The euphoria died on Thursday when I looked up TripAdvisor to find out what I could do and where I could stay. I’d forgotten that Tokyo is one of the most expensive cities in the world. That’s the problem with cheap airfares – your brain tricks you into thinking the whole trip will be cheap, when it won’t. I emailed my friend in Tokyo (who for 10 years has been saying ‘You should come over’) and asked him if NZ$1000 cash (on top of my credit card) would cover me for my weeklong stay. He responded by asking what I planned to do on the second day, because Tokyo is expensive. I’ll be busking, I suppose.
He’s sorted me out with a hotel for what he assures me is the bargain price of NZ$200 a night. So now I’m excited again. I’ve just decided ‘fuck it – I’m going so make the most of it’. And that he can buy the drinks.
For someone who’s always wanted to go to Japan for the longest time you’d think I’d actually have an itinerary sorted, but I don’t. After 4 hours on TripAdvisor I was just as confused as when I began, so I gave up. None of the names or places mean anything to me, so I thought ‘bugger this – I’ll just decide what to do by reading the inflight magazine’. Yes, I know it’s stupid, but some of the best times I’ve had traveling have been when I just wandered around aimlessly.
There was one time, in San Francisco, that I ...
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