Getting lost in the Tokyo subway system for 5 hours...with my 45lb baggage in tow

When I got off the plane in Tokyo, I thought that I had plenty of time to do everything I needed and get to my hostel with time to spare. It was only 5pm and I knew, after double and triple checking, that check-in time went until 11pm at the hostel I had booked. The way that my tickets worked out, I flew into the Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND) and needed to fly out of the Tokyo Narita Airport (NRT) the next day after an overnight layover. The fact that there were two, large, international airports in one city should have been my first clue that there was probably a significant distance between the two- or it should've at least clued me in to how huge Tokyo and the surrounding areas were. I had looked at maps before I left for my trip and quickly studied the route that I would have to take on the subway- a daunting task in and of itself, but I went into this trip feeling a smidge invincible and I thought that energy would guide me in the right direction for this specific mission. Boy, was I wrong.

After making my way through immigration with my shiny new covid test, I was immediately stopped by customs and issued a warning because I had brought illegal agriculture into Japan. Note to self: eat the rest of your sliced apples ON the plane, Basia. After dealing with that minor debacle, I picked up my suitcase and made my way through customs and into the section of the airport that held the currency conversion counters and the entrance to the subway system. I converted $100 of my USD to Yen and made my way to the “Tourist Help” train terminal. When the tourist help attendant couldn’t give me directions in English, I realized that my assumption that “~everyone~ knows a little bit of English!” might have been a little ignorant of me. I told myself that as long as Apple Maps could tell me which trains to get on and show me which direction I was going in, I would be fine.

By the time I had gotten my baggage, converted my currency and gotten my train ticket, it was 6pm. “Okay easy”, I thought, “Still plenty of time”. When I entered the subway system from the airport, there was only one side of tracks, the other side was just wall. So it felt easy; I just needed to get on the train that displayed my next destination on the LED screen and I didn’t even need to worry that I was in jeopardy of taking it in the wrong direction because it wasn't possible- didn’t seem like rocket science to me. Except that, and I’m honestly still not sure how this happened, I did go in the wrong direction. And I was so blindly confident in myself that I didn’t realize my mistake until I had traveled about 15 minutes and several stops in the wrong direction. In my defense, the little blue dot that showed my location remained in the Haneda Airport area, giving me no clear indication that I was moving backwards or forwards, for about 10 minutes. I’m not sure if this was due to lack of service because I was underground or if my phone was still ~getting used~ to the new, local service provider it had linked up to through my international day pass.

Whatever the case may be, I knew I needed to get off of that train and figure out where I went wrong so that I could try to fix it. This subway trip was already going to be a long one, with my original route showing me that I needed to transfer to 4 different trains, including one that required a special ticket- with no indication of where to buy it. I quickly got off at the next stop with my 45 pound baggage in tow and tried to figure out how to correct my first mistake.

me mid freak out like, "no this is cute I need a picture"

After that, I got on a train going in the direction of the main subway terminal, where I read that I would be able to buy my ticket for the train I’d be taking most of the way to my destination, the Narita Express. The hostel I had booked for that night was located in Narita about 10 miles past the airport. I had an early flight out the next day so I thought it would be a good idea to get the bulk of my Tokyo travel done that night, rather than the next morning, so it made more sense to me to stay the night closer to the airport I'd be flying out of the next day.

I got into the main subway terminal after talking to several people who gave me directions by pointing their fingers in the direction I needed to go. I walked into what I assumed was the main ticket office for the terminal and proceeded to stand in line. I kept anxiously checking my watch and seeing the minutes go by- realizing I had less and less time to make it to my destination by 11pm, and still multiple trains left to catch. At this point, it was already 7:30pm. I spent about 15 minutes in line before I was approached by someone who led me over to a self-pay kiosk after I explained where I needed to go. He luckily spoke some English and told me that I was to take the ticket and follow the line on the floor that said “13” through the terminal and to the platform. After that, I was to wait by the train platform that also said 13 and get on the train that pulled up to that platform.

in line

At this point, it all felt achievable again. This was my longest train, expected to be about an hour and 30 minutes of travel time in total and it would drop me at the Narita Airport, where I would only have to ride my final train a few stops before getting to my hostel. When I got down to the platform and checked my watch to see the time, I saw that the train wasn’t scheduled to arrive for another couple of minutes. Just then, a train showed up.

all of my thanks to the man who wrote where I needed to go on my ticket in english

Being unaware of how accurate the subway system was timing-wise in Tokyo, and basing it on my not-so-satisfactory experiences taking public transport in Hawaiʻi- where buses are always late or sometimes just never show up- I assumed that the train had just arrived early. I knew I couldn’t miss my opportunity as this specialty express train only ran once an hour, so I hopped into the train unsure if I had made the right decision. As soon as the doors closed, I knew I had made the wrong call. I got off at the next stop and was told by a conductor to go downstairs to the ticket office to change my ticket so that I could find another train to get me to where I needed to go. She also explained that the Narita Express wasn’t running because a passenger had fallen onto the tracks and gotten hurt and so there were a few tracks that were stalled or weren’t expected to run again for another couple of hours. I’m not sure if that happened between the time that I bought my ticket for the Express train or if there was just a lack of communication between the ticketing office and the trains themselves, but either way I was confused. I don’t know if my train would have even shown up if I would have waited and not gotten onto the incorrect train. Either way, I needed to fix the second mess I had gotten myself into. I went downstairs to a small office that I saw people going into to ask questions, and I followed behind.

The man behind the counter didn’t speak any English but had a small translator that he pulled out and was talking into (as well as having me talk into) so that we could communicate, while I typed out longer messages to him on Google Translate on my phone. He told me I would need to take a train back to the main terminal (one stop away, in the opposite direction of the direction I needed to be going in) and repurchase a ticket for another train. I looked down at my watch yet again, it read 8pm. I knew I didn’t have time to make another mistake and I was afraid that I wouldn’t make it back to the main terminal on the first train I got on- Thus far, I found that I needed at least 2 trains to get my bearings figured out enough to understand where I needed to go and what I was doing wrong.

I will not be doing that, thank you tho <3

It was at this point that I took a gamble. I was already in the terminal, through the turn stop and had purchased a ticket to somewhere, and damnit I was going to find my way to the Narita Airport on my own if I needed to. I followed signs and plugged in directions to the Narita Airport, instead of to my hostel, into Apple Maps- figuring that it would give me the fastest route to what needed to be the next stop on my journey. I found a train going in the direction of the airport that was labelled as being a Narita Airport train. Unlike the Express train that I had bought a ticket for, which was a faster train with very few stops- the final being the airport- this train stopped frequently and meandered its way through the various districts of Tokyo before finally finding its way to both terminals of the airport.

But, no matter how long it was going to take to get from point A to point B, the train I had found was coming soon and I had no idea if it was my only option, as it was getting later and later and the trains were coming less and less often. So I decided it was my best bet.

I got on the train and proceeded to apprehensively glance at my location every 2-3 minutes, to make sure- like the voice over the loudspeaker commanded at each stop like clockwork, that we were actually on our way to my desired destination. The little blue dot and me started to get along as I traced the path I’d be traveling with my eyes over and over, as it finally seemed to be going in the right direction.

All seemed well again until the train stopped on the tracks right before approaching the airport. I had gotten comfortable once I saw we were getting close to the airport and had put in my AirPods, so when the train suddenly stalled, I had no idea what was said over the loudspeaker. At this point, it was just myself and 2 other people left on the train- we would be riding it until the end of the line. I kept checking my watch as the time went from 9:45pm to 10:20pm when luckily, we finally lurched forward and started moving again. At this point, the train that I was supposed to take from the airport to my hostel wasn’t running anymore, as it was too late at night. I knew that I only had one option available to me- sprint to the part of the airport where Ubers are allowed to pick-up and drop-off and get the first Uber I could find to the hostel.

As the train neared the first airport stop, Terminal 1, I kept checking the Uber prices and what my ETA would be. I had discovered, while the train was stalled, that it would be a little bit cheaper to get an Uber from the 2nd terminal rather than the 1st, so I decided I would get off at the further terminal.

As I sprinted through the airport to the designated Uber waiting platforms, I saw my short window of time slipping away quite literally before my eyes. The projected time of arrival growing later and later, showing my potential Uber getting to my hostel at 10:58pm, then 10:59pm and then, as I saw the numbers switching to 11pm, I finally got to the Uber waiting platform.

It was only after the 4th Uber cancelled on me, and the projected time of arrival had long since crossed the 11pm threshold and now sat somewhere around 11:15pm, that I finally reached out to my Dad and explained my situation. I had tried contacting my hostel and requesting a late check-in hours beforehand but they never got back to me and their website showed a strict rule stating that they would not accept late check-ins after 11pm without previous approval.

I was sweaty and tired and running off of no sleep. I wanted to cry but the tears wouldn’t even come to my eyes. I felt like I had made the wrong decision. I felt like all of this had been a sign that maybe I wasn’t capable of traveling alone. I mean, I wasn’t a quitter by any means and will never be one, but at that point in time I just wanted to crumple into a ball on the airport floor and assume the fetal position.

My one rule about complaining is that I can only complain about things if I immediately find a way to solve them after I let out my frustrations. So, after the initial shock wore off that I would not be able to make it to my hostel, I started to mentally prepare myself to sleep on a hard plastic chair in the airport that night.

My Dad, who by some miracle happened to be awake at 7am his time and checking his phone, was able to find out within seconds that Uber is not a common mode of transportation here in Tokyo- something I should’ve researched more thoroughly before my trip. That made sense to me, although I’m not sure why it hadn’t clicked before, because at 10:45pm at night at the airport, there was no one around or available to pick up incoming travelers, which seemed like a missed opportunity monetarily to me. I had assumed that the Uber prices, which were incredibly high, were just a reflection of Tokyo as a vacation destination and that, if one wanted to travel here, it would be a bougier vacation, with more money needing to be saved for private transportation.

I had originally decided to use the subway system for this very reason, because when I had checked- both before my trip and after landing, an Uber trip from Haneda Airport to my hostel in Narita, would’ve run me about $300 USD. (!!!)

My Dad was able to connect me to a Taxi company that told me where I needed to go within the terminal to find the taxis and I booked myself a room at a nearby hotel that offered free shuttles to the airport that next morning. Part of me feels like all of the Tokyo chaos happened for a reason and if I would’ve ended up at the hostel in Narita I had originally booked for that night, I might not have made it to my flight that next day. Or, at least that’s what I told myself to keep my spirits high.

feeling much better after a good night of sleep

I woke up the next morning feeling extremely grateful for the 6 hours of sleep I had gotten and the hot shower that had subsequently followed- thinking about what would’ve transpired if I had decided to tough it out and sleep in the airport that night instead. I went down to the lobby, where a 7/11 was conveniently situated, and bought myself the breakfast of champions- pancakes in plastic wrapping, and a package of “baby cheese”. The vegetarian options in Tokyo, at least in the few places I had gone to, were slim pickings- so I took what I could get.

these were actually delicious

baby cheese <3

After 21 hours of heart racing anxiety and split-second decisions, left only for me to solve, the rest of my day was -thankfully- pretty boring and all went well on my flight to Bali. I got into Bali late that night and the relaxing trip I had dreamed of (and seen none of up until that moment) had finally begun.