Day 1. Sapporo 札幌

　

I was dead tired when I arrived at the Sapporo station, at 9 am in the morning. The night before, I had to work till 11 p.m. to complete the internet connection at Blink, and then stayed up all night to clean up my apartment. Since I started working for Blink in April I haven't done any house cleaning, you can imagine what a mess it was, and I didn't want to face this mess after I come back from my long-waited vacation. Since my flight was at 6:25 am, I didn't have time to sleep at all, but I felt very satisfied when I finally cleaned up 4 month's worth of mess. Maybe I should have stayed for one more day in Tokyo to avoid the last minute rush, but I just wanted to get a break as soon as possible.

I just wanted to find a place to sleep, but it was too early to check in. Deep inside myself I was longing for an onsen spa where I could cleanse my body and soul to get rid of the trouble and fatigue in Tokyo. So I chose the Art Hotel located in downtown Sapporo. I would be just happy if they allow me to rest in the lobby, but the front desk staff was very friendly and made special arrangement for me use the onsen immediately. For a Japanese hotel to be this flexible is something extraordinary and I really appreciated it.

Even more, when she saw that I was carrying some fresh fruits (which I bought at the Sapporo train station) she offered to keep them in the hotel refrigerator for me until I check in.

The onsen was big and I was the only customer. The hot bath, the cold bath and the sauna were all for my private use. Soaking in the cold water I felt like my mind is floating away from my body. Yesterday is fading away. My vacation in Hokkaido is coming into focus.

I spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping.

When I woke up it was around sunset. I asked for a room on the higher floors, and the friendly hotel staff gave me one on the 21st Floor. The view was splendid.

　

(Japanese Peculiarity of the day

The secret to save hotel cost is to use the tourist information center usually located inside the JR station building or airport. This time I got a 10% off for my stay at the Art Hotel. What a great system: things are actually cheaper when an intermediary is involved! This saving is not the volume discount that travel agents receive, because the agent doesn't hold any inventory. I guess this highlights the importance of proper referral in this country, even if you just meet the party referring yourself a minute ago.)

Back | Home | Next