Takayama to Hakuba

Another big(ish) travel day from Takayama which should have required several trains, a Shinkansen and two buses, but because we got lucky and managed to find ourselves on a direct train and a direct bus, there was a lot less switching involved. Pretty sure we paid for the luck though. It was also supposed to be a day where we were going to get Kate to do the navigation as a learning experience. This was thwarted by the daughter's ownership of a stupid iPhone with a cracked screen, no phone charge within the first hour or so of leaving Takayama, a dodgy battery pack and her not having brought the correct cable from Australia despite several reminders of her father to do so, which then led to requisite teenager attitude being deployed as though all of those things were our fault. Happy days. 😔

Once we hit the Hakuba bus terminal we were supposed to be met by the hotel shuttle where they were also picking up four others. No shuttle in sight, a bit of stalking of parties of four, and we found our fellow hotel guests, which at the very least confirmed that we hadn't missed the shuttle. They were just very late. We are now checked into the Shakespeare Hotel, aka Australia Hotel. It is quite run down, so you are paying for the privilege of it being near snow rather than anything flash, like... the toilet... which is fully manual - no electronics and no heated seat. What??? How will we cope? The barbarians at the Shakespeare Hotel do not even issue toilet slippers! (Actually, they forgot to give us towels and a shower curtain too, but at least these were standard issue when we did ask).

It was nearly 4pm, so we then did a mad dash a few kilometres down the road to a ski gear rental place. Apparently this was something we were supposed to have booked in for, but they kindly squeezed us in. After emptying our wallets, we are now fully geared up for four days in the snow. Skis, poles, helmet, goggles, gloves, boots. Bad news though, the "no planning anything" method of travel I am finding myself in seems we have missed out on being able to get any ski lessons tomorrow, and after ringing a ski school and talking to Dan the Australian on the phone at 7pm, we are now left with ski rental shop suggestion of just rocking up tomorrow at Happo One ski resort and seeing if they can fit us in.

An early dinner at a tiny little pub thing right next door to the hotel for ramen and yakisoba and we were tucked up in bed by 9.30pm or so. It is predicted to rain all night tonight and all day tomorrow and the next day, so a postcard white Christmas with us frolicking in the snow is looking a bit doubtful at the moment. ❄️Read more