Hokkaido was never high on my travel list; heck, I had never included it in the list for the longest time, but here I am — writing to you from Hokkaido, having reached northern Japan’s island a few hours earlier.
I am here with my friends — Vi, Yin and Charles, who joined me from Singapore.
Our initial plan was to rent a car and drive around the island for the entire week – from one small Japanese town to another. But, unfortunately, only after reaching here did we find out that Charles’ driving license — the only non-expired driving license among the four of us, is not valid in Japan.
After a long, frustrating back-and-forth discussion between the car-renting company and us, we gave up and purchased a last-minute expensive JR pass.
Following a satisfying meal in a small food stall at the airport, we are now on the train to Otaru, a small seaside town. The train ride will take us around one hour, just enough time for me to start munching on local Pocky and hot green tea I managed to bag right before we caught the train. Vi and Charles are discussing how to get to our Airbnb from the station; bless their planning minds, I just will follow.
After a night there, we move to Furano to take some Instagram-able pictures of Farm Tomita. After that, the plan is to have a proper Japanese-style R&R at Lake Akan before coming back to Sapporo for a few days of shopping and seafood eating while staying at Guesthouse Waya.
To be honest, it doesn’t matter where we go or what we do for me. I am just so glad that I am with my friends in Japan. Life can get any better than this.
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