Day 8 - Heading Home 08 Feb 2012

Well... with a "solid-packed" itinerary, time really flies! It was the end of a short 8 days Hokkaido Winter Tour. After breakfast, it was time to lug our luggage again walking on the snow-covered and sometime ice-covered road/path to get to the Sapporo JR station. It was just a short 5 to 7 mins walk depending on how fast one walks. With luggage, it actually makes sense to reserved seat (+300 yen) on the train even though it is just a short 30 minutes or so to get to the airport. We did not quite expect the train to be so "popular" so we didn't reserve seat and ended up standing in the aisle all the way to the airport. It was quite crowded and many travelers similarly also stand with the luggage filling up the aisle. As we were "busy" jostling (maybe a little bit only lah) for standing space, so did not take any picture until we were at the airport domestic departure hall, when we are more at ease.




Be prepared with lots of cash (or credit card also can :) when there are so many shops "crying" for your cash...... :) Shop Shop Shop .... but actually many shops sell pretty much the same things that tourists want to buy; all the usual biscuits and stuffs from Shiroi-Koibito, Rokkatei, LeTao, etc




































Even one seafood store selling all the famous Hokkaido seafood. They will get it packed properly for you to cart home! Fancy any king crab leg? Before you buy, check the price at our Sheng Shong or NTUC supermarket first, to make it worthwhile carrying it all the way from Sapporo to Singapore! Remembered seeing Sheng Siong advertising one whole king crab (about 1.2-1.5kg each) selling like S$68 during some special, but it was frozen alaskan king crab not hokkaido king crab (anyway not sure if there is any difference)






Saw an EVA Air plane with Hello Kitty painting while waiting for our ANA domestic flight to Narita.




This was the ANA plane we took to Narita.




As the plane was slightly delayed and it took longer time to touch down and move to a parking lot before we were fetched by bus to the terminal building, we were left with not much time to run (sprint if i may say so) to return the rental phone on a different floor and then quickly sprint back to the International departure gate to clear immigration and get to the boarding gate, we were pretty much the last few to board the plane! We really sprint all the way from the minute we touch down from the domestic flight right to the point when we board the international flight! It was an unbelievable mad rush in order not to miss the flight and at the same time to be able to return the rental phone! So please don't ask me how the shopping is like in the Narita Airport!!! We never get the chance to take a good glance of what is available in the international departure hall. My legs were literally like jelly after sitting down on my seat in the plane and was sweating so badly! Just for your reference in case you are considering a similar flight connection from Sapporo-Narita-Singapore, do ensure you have at least 2 to 3 hours between connection to avoid the mad rush we been through! Our connection time was only 1 hr 15 mins which is risky considering that if there is a slight delay due to unforeseen circumstances like weather, airport congestion, etc, you could potentially miss your connection flight. We were booked with ANA throughout, so not sure if they will do their best to ensure we will not miss our connection international flight if their domestic flight was delayed, so i will rather not take the risk!




Frankly, I don't really like the food served on the ANA flights! It just doesn't look appetizing to me!










All the stuffs carried back home. Those melon jelly seems to be raved about frequently by forummers but it seems none in the family actually said it is great and must buy more the next time. The biscuits from Shiroi-Koibito and Rokkatei are definitely must buy on the next trip though ;)