Things Go Pear Shaped at Nagano JR - 8 Feb 2024
First order of business was to get rid of the skis etc. Then activate JR Pass and book seats, then a coffeee. Hanging out for a coffee after a week of poor Shiga Kogen options
.
So off we roll with our bags to the Black Cat Office we have used for the last 5 visits, only to find a closed roller door. No signs, just a door. Hmm, maybe they are at coffee??? Waited a bit, but no action, so asked around and the consensus seemed to be that the office had closed, permanently. Off to tourist information for advice. Hmm, you could go to the convenience store or maybe the Post Office. Toddled off to the Family Mart (only konbini in the station plaza) and conducted the transaction all in Japanese but "no sorry, we do not send skis to the airport. Please go to the Post Office near #7 bus stop and ask there." So onwards to the post office, wait my turn in a longish line and happy days "Yes, we can send skis to airport." It's not Black Cat, but is the post office equivalent. And it's ¥3,700 instead of ¥2,600 per bag, I am heaving a sigh of relief. Things were looking grim for a bit there.
Race outside to Mr Seat 0A and lug all the bags into the post office. But clearly this clerk had never done it before. She needed a lot of information from me like:
- What is the street address of Haneda Airport? (um I don't know).
- Is the departures on 3F or 2F? (um I I don't know).
- Which Airline? (ooh I know that one, Qantas! except she did not recognise Qantas as an Airline and kept asking if it was JAL or ANA).
- Please wait a moment while I call a colleague. Long phone call that I could not understand.
- So, you want to send your skis to Australia? (No no no, I want to send to Haneda airport, collect skis and take with me on Qantas flight as my checked baggage).
- Oh, another phone call to colleague. When she hungup, I asked her where I would collect the skis at Haneda Airport (I don't know, I will call my colleague again).
At this point I just got really nervous, apologised for taking up her time and said I would find a Yamato office and excused myself.
We need to arrange a plan B. We cannot tour Japan lugging this amount of baggage.
So Mr Seat 0A did the only senisble thing at that point - he arranged for a coffee and cinnamon scroll as thinking fuel. Boy was I glad to see that.
View attachment 373955