Hokkaido, here we come (finally)

Tomorrow is the day! Tickets are bought for the morning Hayabusa Shinkansen (bullet train). It has got to be one of the coolest trains ever. Here's a little video what it looks like - I cannot wait to sit in it, travelling at 320 km/h and travelling a total distance of 800km in just 4h.

After not sleeping at all the night before, I did another marathon sleep this night 4+8h, with an hour of reading Jordan Peterson in the middle. As Japan is still really hot, I had to turn the AC on as I wasn't able to fall asleep again. That did it...I woke up at 2.30pm...had "breakfast" (jam on toast) before going to training, in a shrine. Like churches in England, most bigger shrines here have communal facilities that are rented out. This one is in Matsudo, where my friend Rob is teaching.

I really don't look forward to carrying my bike (still in its bag) and all my luggage to the train station and then taking the commuter train back into Tokyo. Having luggage is already convenient, having this much luggage and a bike...annoying. Thankfully the walk to the station is only 7min and then the lift. I can go straight to Ueno (North Tokyo) from where I am and from there take the Hayabusa to Hokkaido.

does luggage come from lugging? 

All my gadgets are charged, even though there will be electricity on the train. I'm taking: electric toothbrush (sorry, can't live without), electric beard trimmer, phone and mobile WIFI box plus a 24,000 mAh Power Bank (enough to charge the phone 8x apparently). I'll be relying on phone/ Wifi for direction mainly, but will try to use it as little as possible, considering I'll be going clockwise round the island, staying mainly on the coastal roads, with a few exceptions to check out the mountains in central Hokkaido (thats the plan at least). So, I should be ok not needing directions often.

I'll be arriving in Hakodate around 2.30pm and my plan is to cycle straight to Assabu on the Western coast of Hokkaido. It's some 40Km of which all of it is through mountains but I'll only have about 4h before it gets dark to get food and find a camping spot.

I really wasn't sure what the road would look like as it said "highway" on google maps...but on closer inspection it doesn't;t look so bad. I know its going through the mountains but I did not fancy cycling on an actual (multi-lane) highway. What I'm seeing is not bad at all and its also a great indication what the rest of the roads I'll be taking on Hokkaido will look like (if the road signage/ labelling is anything to go by). I've pretty much picked my first camp spot too, just now (thanks Google). 

With so much already planned for tomorrow all there is to do is to get some rest now. I'll keep this blog updated now from my mobile from tomorrow.

"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move." Robert Louis Stevenson

I'm going to keep this in mind when travelling, having a plan and technology is great. But I do remember how my tech failed me badly in 2009 and I used a map and a compass to do my first 1000 miles Japan trip. Maybe there is a balance...