Furano and Sapporo

[Seat0B]

Sunday 9 Feb 25 - Sapporo Snow and Ice Festival Illuminations

Well, the Snow and Ice Festival was absolutely spectacular and totally worth braving the cold and slippery conditions. It was pelting down snow and the pathways around the sculptures were quite treacherous. Snow accumulated on our hoods and Mr Seat 0A's backpack. And it was cold. Around -12 degrees.



There was a lovely vibe - lots of young couples out canoodling, groups of teenagers hanging with their friends (but not at all loud and threatening like some groups can be back home) and families with older children all there to enjoy the sights and have a good time. There was also amazing street food, but we were still full from afternoon tea/drinks at the hotel.



I was astonished at the level of detail in the sculptures.



My favourite was an anime style fierce girl defending Sapporo Odori Park (the site of the festival) from attack by a destructive dragon. It was so good, and incredibly detailed. Note the people below and the high rise buildings in the (snowy) background for scale. At a guess O would say this work was about 8-10m high.



After about an hour, we were quite cold, so we headed back to the hotel to warm up with hot chocolate by the fire. What a perfect introduction to Sapporo.

Edit:

Once again, I found the seriousness of the recycling process quite hilarious -as did one of the bored workers who interacted with me!

 

[Seat0B]

Monday 10 Feb 25 - Sapporo Part 1

Enjoyed a lavish buffet breakfast today - some selected shots below.



Then had a bit of debate about how to dress today. It's a clear blue day with temperature expected to peak at -5 degrees. We plan to visit the snow festival again, and then try to do some shopping in the underground malls, which we know will be very hot.

I compromised on 1 layer of Japan Heat Tech Extra Warm underlayers, heat tech pants and a long sleeved t-shirt under my big coat. Spoiler alert, this was perfect for the snow festival but way too overdressed for the shopping, as I feared it would be. Basically, the two activities were fundamentally incompatible, clothing wise .

Anyway, the snow festival did not disappoint. The sculptures looked spectacular against the clear blue sky, and the daylight revealed even more detail on some of the ones we had seen last night.




We also saw the sculptors giving a bit of daily maintenance to their works.




There was a different vibe today as well, with guests tending towards parent and grandparents with pre school-age kids, and school groups from tiny tots to high schoolers. It had the air of a country show in Australia, just a lot colder and the activities were largely free instead of outrageously priced. We stayed for several hours, taking it all in, and really enjoyed ourselves. The photos show the scale of some of the larger pieces. They were huge. We don't know who the J-Pop/K-Pop darlings were. But there was a fair bit of screaming and other fandom going on in the crowds.

 

[Seat0B]

Monday 10 Feb 25 - Sapporo Part 2

Next it was time for lunch, which was delicious and cheap. Butaniku man (steamed pork bun) and gyoza.



After this, we found the international entries in the competition. I really liked the entry from Lithuania, which I think came third. It was a deconstruction of the kanji character Shiawase (happiness), accompanied by a short explanation.





The other one I really liked reminded me of Munch - The Scream



And then there was this community effort - too cute!



The shady side of the exhibits was quite cold and the paths were slippery, so we called it over and headed to the underground shopping mall Aurora.

I had a grand, if excessively sweaty, time buying a pretty floral case for my specs, some extravagant hairclips for Seat Granddaughter, some little bottles for decanting lotions and potions that meet the travel size requirements and a pair of gloves labelled as windproof. If they are, that will be great, because the only part of me that has been consistently cold this trip is my fingers. Even my trusty Oyuki brand gloves aren't doing their job in these colder temperatures. Last night I actually wore my ski mittens to the festival and was warm enough, but they were a pain for accessing tissues, my phone, cash etc. So I really hope these do the trick. We also visited the local Mega Don, leaving with bags full of flavoured kitkats (matcha latte, strawberry shortcake, sakura etc) which make wonderful gifts for family and friends. By now I was so sweaty that I passed up a visit to Daiso- this is my must go to in Japan, so that tells you how overheated I was feeling
.

Traipsed back to the hotel, and got well and truly stuck into happy hour at the bar! Then I soaked in the very deep Japanese style bath in our room and read a book.

All up, a really enjoyable day and nearly cracked the 20,000 steps with my phone saying I had managed 17,786 steps today.

 

[Seat0B]

Tuesday 11 Feb 25 - Sapporo

Slept a bit later today until 0830, and boy was breakfast a zoo!

Another clear blue day, with a maximum temp predicted to be -1, so today I left off all the Japan Heat Tech underwear, and headed with a purposeful stride to Daiso, where I invested a very enjoyable 2 hours stocking up on my favourite things - various hair clips and bands for Seat Granddaughter, stickers for Seat Granddaughter, origami papers for Seat Granddaughter, sparkly beads for threading with....Seat Granddaughter - that child is keeping me perpetually broke . Also added a set of drawer dividers, a range of USB to various cords for charging devices, and some Japanese candy - you know, all the things you didn't know you needed until you went to Daiso.

When we left, our sunny blue day had been replaced with strong winds and heavy snow fall - about 5 cm had accumulated on the pavement during my shopping spree. It was beautiful, but very cold. You guessed it, I was under-dressed today! Here I am, happy with my purchases. And those are my new gloves from yesterday - yes, they were windproof, so I went back and bought a second pair. Very happy with that outcome.



We quickly made our way to the huge, and apparently famous Donguri bakery. It was a Japanese bakery on steroi_s! Absolutely spectacular, so we oohed and aahed, took photos and bought a large selection of pastries to have for lunch in the customer dining area. What a highlight.



Thus fortified, we headed over to the snow and ice festival, but I was too cold to persist with it, so we trudged home in still heavily falling snow. It looked really pretty.




I'm falling into a pattern now - a long soak and a bit of reading in the bath, then down for happy hour in the bar, where I again filled up on bar snacks and could not be bothered to go out into the cold and snow in search of dinner. I'm definitely not in the same foodie class as @rbjhan!



My Apple Airtags tell me that the ski bags are both at New Chitose Airport, so all good there. Tomorrow we will be heading home.

 

[rbjhan]

Well I did have some konbini meals here and there

 

[Seat0B]

Here are a couple of photos I forgot to add to earlier posts.

Some examples of yukitsuri - the protection of trees from heavy snow.



The hotel looked just beautiful in the snow.

 

[Seat0B]

Wednesday and Thursday 12-13 Feb 25 Sapporo-HND-SYD-CBR

Enjoyed a small sleep in, the breakfast, and back up to the room to pack. Arghhh. Have I mentioned how much I hate packing.

Anyway, we knuckled down and watched some Aussie TV on iView as we squished and squashed our things into our bags. Note to self, perhaps be a little more restrained with your shopping in the future . All finished and ready to roll by 1230, which was a bit annoying as we had a 1400 check out arranged to suit our 1700 flight from CTS-HND. Anyway, we decided that the time was better allocated waiting at the airport (which has a huge shopping mall attached!!!!!) than twiddling our thumbs at the hotel.

Easy check out, soon in the taxi and on our way to the Sapporo JR station, where we made our way to the ticket machines and got the first inkling that today might not be the smoothest travel day we had ever had. We were at the station just on 1300 and there were no seats available to reserve on the Airport train until 1430. So despite our experience on the way into Sapporo, we decided to chance it with the unreserved seats, and headed to the platform. Luck was with us, as there was an airport train just arriving, and there were plenty of seats, although not together. We settled in and the train progressively filled up before leaving a couple of minutes later. Then at the next 3 or 4 stops, more and more people piled on until it was absolutely jammed with people and luggage. We were very glad to have seats in the melee.

The airport platform was total mayhem, just as it was when we first arrived, and that chaos continued as we made our way to departures. Once again, I lucked into a seat in the food court, so sat there with our bags while Mr Seat 0A headed down to retrieve the ski bags from Black Cat. He was gone for ages, and I was glad of the extra time we had factored in by leaving the hotel early. He duly returned with the bags, and said that it was totally crazy down there too. So now it was time to check in, and so we headed over to the JAL check in area, past a very very very long line of people and trolleys loaded with skis and boards who were all waiting to check in. This was 100% a moment to be grateful for Platinum status, which allowed the use of the JAL First Class check in, where there was absolutely no one waiting and we had 2 check in staff to assist us. Literally just walk up and check in. We also got to use the separate First Class security line, which was appreciated, and then straight into the Diamond Lounge. Again, luck was on our side and we got 2 seats at the bench overlooking the runways where we could watch the planes come and go until it was time to board our flight JAL518.


We watched the de-icing crew at work



Fortunately this kept us entertained for quite a while as the food offering was sparse (miso soup, rice balls, croissants and nut mix) . There was plenty of alcohol, but not much else to drink (I am still not really liking alcohol since the chemo made it all taste dreadful). And ....our flight was delayed , which never happens in Japan. Well, hardly ever! There was an announced delay until 1730 due to late arrival of incoming aircraft. At 1730, boarding still hadn't been called, so clearly it wasn't going to be a 1730 departure, but it did say go to gate, so we decided to head on out as we were sick of the underwhelming lounge. This gave us the opportunity to witness the slowest imaginable pre-boarding of the elderly and infants, which took over 15 minutes. Again, not the usual process we have experienced in Japan. This was followed by a very slow boarding of Groups 1-6, with me (WP) once again allowed to board in Group 1, but Mr Seat 0A (LTG) relegated to Group 2 despite being on the same booking. This was followed by a lot of unexplained waiting on board, followed by a long, slow taxi and finally takeoff occurred just before 1900. By now I was feeling a bit anxious about the connection at Haneda. It's a 1 hr 15 min flight (takes us to 2015), then a 15 minute bus transfer to international terminal, plus any wait for the bus, which can be up to a further 15 mins (takes us up to 2045, worst case). The we still have to do security and immigration, however long that takes, and boarding for our flight commences at 2120. And with that, our leisurely 3+ hr transit in Haneda became something of sprint due to delays. Also, there was nothing to eat on this flight. We had somehow skipped lunch in the transit, and I was a bit hungry, andfelt a bit down that we would likely not even have the chance to eat in the underwhelming lounge at Haneda either.

And so it was, we arrived at the international terminal with less than 20 minutes up our sleeves. So there was no time to stuff around with QR code food ordering or even to have a shower in the lounge before boarding began. I was feeling a bit hungry by now - no lunch, no dinner, no real snacks on the way. So it was off on the long hike to gate 145 to board QF60 to Sydney.

 

[Quickstatus]

Then, packing. Oh how I hate packing.

One big Volkl Family

 

[Seat0B]

One big Volkl Family


View attachment 437872

100% Volkl in the Seat Family. I have Kenjas, he has Kendos and we both love them. They are a true all mountain ski. Cuts through crud and handles ice, but also gives a good fun ride when there is some powder to play in. We were both disappointed earlier in the year to learn that Kenja and Kendo have been discontinued - we were thinking about a replacement. Will hold off a bit longer now and see what they add to the range.

 

[Quickstatus]

Kenja and Kendo have been discontinued

I believe they have merged the Kendos in to the Mantra range and the Kenjas are now the Secrets.

I dont know about whether they are the same - though I think the Mantra replacing the kendo are very similar but who knows

I still have 2 Mantras, 1 Kendo and the 90Eight no need to replace for me

 

[Seat0B]

I still have 2 Mantras, 1 Kendo and the 90Eight no need to replace for me

That's brand dedication! We are one ski in the quiver - so far not enough time on the slopes to warrant more, but as I am seriously likely to fully retire this year, that may be changing soon.

 

[Quickstatus]

the one in the picture 90Eight was a lightweight replacement for the Mantra. It's a very nice all rounder ski. The older Mantras were heavy duty and heavy

The 90Eight has been replaced by the Blaze. Maybe an option for consideration

The multitude of skis is only from progression. Kendo >> Mantra but then not long enough >> longer Mantra which was then too heavy >> 90Eight

 

[Quickstatus]

@Seat0B
I want to check your Black Cat transfer from Furano to HND. How many hours before your flight did you hand over the luggage?

 

[Seat0B]

@Seat0B
I want to check your Black Cat transfer from Furano to HND. How many hours before your flight did you hand over the luggage?

It was 3 full days before the flight. The hotel was very nervous and told me they go not accept if it’s less than 48 hrs. They are always worried about heavy snow causing issues on the roads. It didn’t bother us as we had 3 days after skiing to visit Sapporo. That’s one of the reasons we like to ski first and tourist after.

When we’ve skied and travelled on Honshu, we have sent our skis to Haneda for 2 weeks (once actually 16 days) and they just held them there no problems.

It’s a great system so you can travel lighter. Cost is also very reasonable at JPY 2700-3000 per item depending on size and weight.

 

[Seat0B]

Oh and I forgot to mention that we only sent the skis to New Chitose this time. Collected them and came straight home. I expect you could send from Furano to Haneda and it would just cost more and take longer.

 

[Quickstatus]

Yes we have Black Catted before. Very efficient and VFM.

Apologies and Yes reading back it was BCat to CTS rather than HND
So the not less than 48hrs for somewhere in Hokkaido to CTS and if snow forecast it may be longer. Good info

We Black catted from Madarao (Honshu) to HND 5 days prior to flying out. Similar ski first then tourist later strategy

 

[Seat0B]

Wednesday and Thursday 12-13 Feb 25 CTS-HND-SYD-CBR Part 2

So finally, we boarded QF60 to Sydney. I usually skip the meal because I usually eat in the lounge and I like to try to get some sleep as this is a fairly short flight for sleeping if you take the meal service. However, as foreshadowed above, I was really hungry after the delays in our connecting flight from Sapporo, the underwhelming food in the JAL lounge and on the JAL flight (nothing at all) and then no time in the lounge in Haneda, so I opted for dinner.

I was very happy with my choice of panko crumbed chicken breast with green beans and tomatoes, followed by an ice cream (no photos - I was so hungry I just wolfed it down and then realised I hadn't taken any photos - oops ).
Mr Seat 0A chose the Japanese bento option with pork tonkatsu, and was also happy with it.



I took a 5mg melatonin and slept very well until woken for breakfast. I ordered fruit, yoghurt and ricotta omelette, which looked lovely.



Unfortunately, it was dreadful. It was tepid, and very hard and chewy. So here is the after shot of my breakfast. Yep I ate the fruit that was ripe and left the unripe, plus I don't eat grapefruit and that is all I managed, so I was feeling hungry again, verging on hangry


Honestly, I am very cheesed off with breakfasts on QF International J. Bad in both directions. In my forthcoming TR for the trip to ME and Europe we did Nov 24-Jan 25, I will mention a few other total fails. And it was the same last year too. The breakfasts are inedible. The only difference this time was that I was served by the CSM, and he noticed that I had barely eaten anything and asked if there was a problem. So I told him. He said he would give me the other option, a bacon and egg thingy (which I had avoided after Mr Seat 0A's experience on the way over), but people were complaining about that too apparently.

We arrived a few minutes ahead of schedule at 0950, did not have to use a bus gate, and whizzed off the plane and straight through immigration in record time. The new biometric readers are really good! So next thing was luggage. Well blow me down, but for the first time ever our bags came out #1 and #3 for the whole flight. Amazing. That has never happened!! I felt a new faith in priority baggage labels. Still ahead of the bow wave of pax, we headed over to oversize baggage to collect the ski bag - and the whole good experience fell apart. After a total wait of 45 minutes, out came our ski bag, 2nd or 3rd last off the plane. That is the longest I have ever waited, but at least they all arrived. Of course, in that time, the customs line had become very long, so we had a much longer wait there than we would have if our skis had arrived more punctually.

Made our way to domestic transfer and were pleased to be told we could be moved forward to the 1210 flight instead of the 1450 that we had booked. We had our connecting flights on separate PNRs to the main flights and I wanted a bit of time up our sleeves, plus they were CR tickets and I wasn't able to get reward seats when I booked on the 1210 or 1310 flights. The check in agent seemed to do a lot of huffing and puffing to make this happen though, and after 25 minutes, I asked what the issue was. Some problem with the weight of the ski bag. It had been checked through from CTS-xSYD-CBR at a weight of 28kg, but her scales were only showing at at 26kg and that was causing some kind of issue. Just shows how much you are at the mercy of the scales at any given airport. We had not taken anything out of the bag, It was locked and the lock was not tampered with (that we could see, and when we got home, we confirmed that nothing had 'fallen out'), so who knows what the real weight was, but she didn't seem to know how to correct it in the system. Got her neighbour involved and finally a supervisor, and then we got yelled at at security because I told the guy accepting the hand luggage for screening that I had knee replacements and asked if he wanted my shoes off. He said yes, so I took them off. Then when I beeped, the guy there said take off your shoes and put them through the machine and go through the scanner again. I said "shoes are already off" and he went ape. How dare I anticipate, if I was going to mess with the process I would be subject to extra screening and if I had joint replacements I should have told them. I said "I did tell your colleague and he told me to take off my shoes." "well you needed to tell me" he said. Then he left me to stand there and continued screening others. I asked when he would call someone to wand me and he said "when I am ready." This is such a difference to how you get treated in Japan at security screening. Anyway, 2 buses came and went with all that palaver and when we finally made it to Dom J Lounge, we had only 20 minutes until boarding. So I set off quickly to find the panini bar that people were talking about.



I had a green goddess chicken, which was OK but not fantastic. It was not warmed right through, the bread seemed stale and there was a lot of dressing on not much chicken and it was served with a side of potato chips. So I was again quite disappointed until...The most delicious warm scone with jam and cream, fresh out of the oven. it was so good I ditched the panini, and had a second scone.


Headed down to the gate and ran into some friends who had also been skiing at Furano, and who had, unbeknown to us, been on all the same flights as us, but with no FF status. They said they had waited over 2 1/2 hours to check in at CTS. Nasty.

Soon boarded, and then just sat there for ages, going nowhere. Captain came on and announced that the delay was the result of needing to load a LOT of ski and board bags, but that was nearly complete, and so we taxied off, #5 in line of departure and finally airborne at 1310 - 1 hr behind schedule, but still earlier than we would have been, so all good. Its always a bit of a let down to fly the last leg of a fantastic trip on a Dash-8, even if the price is right, so I coped by sleeping the whole way home.

Soon collected our bags and went expectantly to oversized luggage counter to collect our skis. After a while, it was apparent that actually, NONE of the skis had been loaded in Sydney and there were at least 15 groups of people with no skis to collect. So then we waited 35 minutes more to be processed - told our skis would be delivered to our house later that day or the next day. That sort of worked in our favour as skis can often be a bit of a bother in a taxi/Uber and now that is QF's problem.

Caught an Uber with our driver Abdullah, a very pleasant and proud Pakistani who encouraged us to visit his country for the beautiful scenery and fabulous food and cultural experience. He also refused a cash tip for manhandling our bags (we have a steep driveway), saying he would like an Uber driver in Pakistan to look after his parents with respect. I hope that Allah looks after Abdullah, alhamdulillah.

And just like that, our trip is over! It's always lovely to be home again, and I am looking forward to seeing my 90 year old mum, my 4 year old grandaughter,my daughter and my friends again soon.

In my wrap up post, I'll write a few of my observations about this trip.

And then, I will make a start on the belated TR for Bangkok, Dubai/Abu Dhabi/Oman, Spain/Portugal, Sri Lanka and Singapore... What a wonderful life I am living. I truly give thanks to all the people involved in fixing my health issues so that I can travel, to the kind friends and family, including people on this forum who cheered me on towards remission recovery, and to Easy Travel Insurance for insuring all my conditions for a very affordable few hundred dollars so that I can do it without worrying about possible medical disasters. Lucky me.

 

[VPS]

Thanks for perservering. Interesting reading

 

[drron]

Very much liked the TR. Recognised quite a few places in your pics. You will have to go back in July for the spring flowers. absolutely spectacular.

 

[love_the_life]

Thanks for a great TR. We don't ski but did visit the Ice Festival in Sapporo a few years ago. Like you, we enjoyed it immensely and loved the detail in a lot of the sculptures. In our case we travelled by train back to Tokyo before we left.