Day 13: China Adventure – Hong Kong to Tokyo

I had to leave for the airport at 11:30 AM, so I couldn’t really go and see any sites in Hong Kong that I hadn’t seen yet as they are all day trips. I decided just to sleep in and get one good night sleep before heading to Tokyo where I’m staying in a hostel.

I packed the rest of my bags & hopped on a bus to take me to the train station. Hong Kong is very well connected by mass transit. It has free shuttles from all major hotels to the train station. At the train station, all the airlines have check in counters where you can drop your bags off so you don’t have to do it at the airport!  It was very convenient.

After about a 30 minute train ride, I arrived at the airport and went though security. Then, I found a Priority Pass lounge and relaxed until my flight. The lounge had a variety of lunch options, so I was able to save some money!  I also met a fellow Penn Stater – we are everywhere!

Best Part of Lunch

Then, I boarded my flight to Tokyo. I flew a Japanese airline, ANA Airways, and was very impressed by their service. I’d definitely fly them again!

When I arrived, we had to go through customs. The lines were pretty normal with 20 people in each, but I was brought to the handicapped lane where there was no line. I went right through and my bag was already on the carousel. On my way out, the Customs Officer checked my backpack which was full of souvenirs that I accumulated so far on my trip. After a minute of looking at my Terracotta Warrior statue, he let me go.

There are two ways to get into Tokyo on a budget (a taxi cost over $160) – a train or a bus. I decided to take the bus to Tokyo Station and grab an taxi from there to my hostel.

After arriving at my hostel, I met a few people in my room from around the world.  We all were pretty hungry, so they showed me the 7/11 that was located across the street from our hostel.  I was surprised to find out that 7/11 is owned by a Japanese company, so Japan has more locations than anywhere else in the world!  All the food items were in Japanese, so I relied on someone from Hong Kong to tell me if the food had any fish in it.  She handed me something that she thought said chicken on it, so I bought it.  It was a seaweed covered rice triangle with chicken in the middle of it.  It wasn’t my favorite dish in the world, but it served its purpose!  We took our food back to the hostel and ate in the common area.  After chatting with a few other people, we called it a night!

My dinner