Lounging at the Airport

Well, we arrived on time in Miyakojima on Sunday after a short 30 minute delay taking off from SFO

Here we are lounging at the SFO while eating Trader Joes' wraps

Typical Economy Class seating, and this time, the food on JAL was far from memorable.  

Here is what Sam and Em got with their Vegan selection.

My Chicken Curry was very blah.  A little bite from the curry was the only good thing to enjoy about the overly soft, powdery thigh meat.  Even my Japan brewed Asahi wasn't that great...

Here is our first "hotel" at Haneda Ryokan.  "Find it yourself" bedding.  Sam has staked out a comfortable bed, and while fast asleep, a large crowd gathered.  Apparently, there was some J-idol who was arriving at Haneda International.  Social Media likely tipped off the groupies, and there were tons of people, many middle aged and older (!), waiting to see some guy.  I caught a glimpse of the guy, who basically just zipped on by the queue, without even making eye contact.  As soon as he passed, these people made a beeline to our left to the vehicle lanes, perhaps hoping to see him make a getaway. Anyway, I was glad to see the crowd leave, so that we might have some peace and quiet.

However, I had a bad night.  I couldn't sleep at all.  Just my personality, I guess.  I was born without an on-off switch in my brain. I had multiple tasks to do.  Send one of our not-needed-til-later big suitcases from the Takkyubin place to the Four Seasons in Tokyo (I will digress a little; it cost ¥1740 and worth way more in convenience; I plan to Takkyubin our big suitcase with our snorkel gear to Tokyo so we don't have to handle the big sucker on the Yamanote). Pick up our rental phones and Pocket wifi.  Reload our SUICA cards so we can make a quick getaway when we return to Haneda from Miyako. 

Anyway, I was tired and couldn't sleep, so I had a cup of cold Tully's Latte and took a ¥1030 shower in the lounge area to make me feel at least clean. Since it is the middle of the night, there isn't much to do in Tokyo.  There is a 24/7 Onsen Spa, about 15 minutes away by taxi, where you can lounge for ¥3000 per person.  But, it seemed a bit much.  Next trip, I would consider First Cabin (the capsule hotel at the airport) for about ¥5000 for the night.

After the 11 hour layover in the middle of the night, our next plane was a 3 hour flight from Haneda to Ishigaki, an Okinawan Island that none of us have been to.  A touristy island, but the snorkeling isn't as good as Miyakojima, and there are more poisonous jellyfish there.  Also, there are said to be poisonous Habu snakes on the island.

So, we landed at the tiny Ishigaki airport and had a 2 hour layover.  When booking, I couldn't find a direct flight to Miyako using either of the JAL or ANA "passes."  A great deal, these passes allow Foreign travelers to get plane trips around Japan for about ¥10,000 each.  There are some low cost airlines that approach these fares, but not for these long Okinawan flights.  We flew on ANA, which amazingly didn't require ANA international travel (we were on JAL).  They just required a Foreign Passport AND any international ticket to/from Japan.

Here is Ishigaki Airport and our plane for the 20 minute flight from Ishigaki to Miyako.  

Em taking a sip of my "Ice Draft Coffee" which comes directly from a tap

After her sip, I really had to load up the sugar and cream.  It was quite strong, even for my taste buds.

The quick plane trip resulted in our arrival at MMY 10 minutes early. We quickly got our suitcases and made our way to the rental car shuttle.  They were typically efficient and got our Mazda Premacy, kind of about the size of a CX-9.  I was worried about fitting all of our suitcases (what is light packing??), but this vehicle is big.  It's a minivan.  We first stop at Maxvalu near the Miyako outlet of Donki.  The rental guy called it a Max-Donki.  We purchase a bunch of supplies since MMY isn't exactly a gourmet destination. The 2.5 vegans out of the four of us have some difficulty eating out.  We got a nice hotel room at the Breeze Bay Marina in Miyako.  A "Family Room" with three full size beds (for the four princesses) 

and I get the converted sofa.

It is a fairly spacious room, with a beautiful view of the reef and bay (gotta trust me on that, pictures to come) from our balcony.

Mini kitchen with one burner, Micro, small refridge/freezer, big sink, and a combo washer and dryer which I will have to figure out.  I'll have to have my alternative brain help me to figure it out.

Here, my alternative brain is checking out the tablet ordering device at our first real meal in Japan. 

Here, she is using the Google Translate app (great app, btw) to help figure out what to order.

Pug, Willow and Karl (with a K) wanted some of my Orion, but they're too young.

This place is called Ootoya. An eclectic selection of foods, including soba, udon, salads, Katsu, Kakifurai, etc.  Lots to order from.

It was actually pretty good.  Our first meal was supposed to be at Hirochan, but they were CLOSED!  At first, I thought, oh, are they closed for good? But it turns out that it was only the first three days of our five in Miyako. Bummer. So, we ventured out by driving to Maxvalu, and Connie spies this restaurant while driving into the parking lot.  This is how we found Ootoya.

Veggies galore. Kakifurai below.

We clobbered this meal.  Only ¥4200!  Including a big Orion.

So, we get to Maxvalu and see Viennetta!  Haven't seen this in the US for eons!!!  So, we bought some and had it our first night.  Mine went well with the Ebisu that I bought at the grocery.

When the kids cook their vegan meal, I plan to purchase something like this and eat!

 

Tomorrow, we explore the whole island area and enjoy the warm, clean ocean water.