Part of the reason I have held onto this lifestyle of mine for so long is because of what it enables. Let me be clear – there are some definite downsides to the way I live.
- I don’t have the financial security of a regular job
- I don’t have health insurance
- I don’t have any kind of retirement plan (except hustle and luck)
Those are big big downsides and that’s why, for most people, living like me just isn’t something that you can do. For those who can though (like me) there are some upsides that (for me) outweigh the downsides.
- I have a huge amount of time to figure out how to survive and thrive. My options are only limited by money, health, and worry. I feel like I have the time to get past those things.
- When things come up that seem amazing (like hey, I’d like to offer you this amazing trip for free in return for helping us fine tune it for tourism) I can say YES!
- I can embark on a sudden spree of unplanned travel within the confines of my limits – as I am doing right now.
My travel plans this time in Japan were mostly around getting my house ready for winter. With everything I needed to do done, I found myself with about a week to play with before my flight from Narita airport in Tokyo to Honolulu (fun fact, flight was $234 one way with ZipAir). I needed to get from Sapporo to Narita and the flights were either at inconvenient times on the day of my flight or really expensive. So, I decided to leave early and do a little unplanned travel.
I booked a ferry ticket from Otaru to Niigata for about $60. Niigata isn’t near Narita so I would still need to get to Narita from there, but since it is at least on the same island, I could take a train that cost less than $250 like the Shinkansen (bullet train) from Hokkaido to Narita. That was all I planned, the ticket.
On the ferry – which completely overwhelmed my expectations – there was an onsen, nice restaurants, I had a private bunk etc – I made several new friends and one of them offered to drive me to the train station – so I decided not to stay in Niigata. A friend I’d made in Wakkanai had shown me cute pictures of snow monkeys he saw in Nagano, so I booked my train to Nagano. I’d thought maybe to hitchhike, but I slept poorly on the ferry. So the train seemed good.
On the train, I booked a hostel that had amazing ratings – it was a little far from the station, but those ratings and the price (about $26/night) made me do it. The hostel lived up to expectations and I made new friends there with the staff and guests and decided to stay for both my free nights. During my time there, the snow monkeys were not where people could go see them, but I did some incredible hiking and visited some of the most important Buddhist temples in Japan. The cost for these things was minimal. I ate incredible food at about $40 total for the two days.
Then, today, I booked a $60 train to Tokyo and wandered around the areas near Tokyo Station. I found a film festival that was screening outdoor movies for free and relaxed outside on a sunny day watching independent short films that made me laugh and feel good. I splurged a bit on a nice lunch at $13 and then it was time to catch the train to Narita.
Here I am now. Customs and immigration were a breeze as is often the case in Japan and the three hours I gave myself was more than enough. My flight boards in 1.5 hours. This isn’t the most exciting airport but it’s okay for a cheap overnight flight. If I would have bought a direct flight to arrive at the airport at the same time I would have had to spend around $200 and would have had several hours longer to kill here and I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy all those things I listed above – which all told ended up costing about $250 not including my airfare to Honolulu.
So…here is to unplanned travel! Come join the chat at https://indignified.substack.com/chat and share your favorite unplanned travel!