Day 1 begins monotonously with the ever renovating Sydney Airport. The larger change this year was the every traveller’s harbour – McDonald, being moved further off toward the second concourse. A much posher but crowded space.

 

第一天，一樣從永遠在裝潢的雪梨機場，單調的開始。今年比較不一樣的是旅行者的港口，麥當勞，被搬到更靠第二大廳的地方。一個更高檔但很擁擠的空間。

 

The flight to Hong Kong was uneventful. Because of the tight transfer there was no time to hit the lounge in HK. The flight to Haneda was also went uneventfully. Actually, I did find out that Cathay can cook up decent flight meals (still not as good as EVA or China Airline, but it’s night and day compared to their usual fare). Why they don’t put in the effort on their other routes is beyond me.

 

到香港的飛程無可細說的。在香港的轉機時間很短，這次沒有空去貴賓室。飛到羽田的旅程沒也發生什麼。喔還是有的，我發現國泰其實是有能力做出還可吃的飛機餐（沒有長榮華航好，但跟國泰一般水準有日夜之差）。不懂為何飛其他航線時不使出同樣水準。

Arrival in Haneda was almost half an hour early. Now looking at checking in by 10:30 if things went smoothly.

 

飛機降落羽田比預期早了近半小時。看來順利的話10:30前可以入住。

 

I walked down the moving walkways at a brisk pace and breezed through customs. Haneda Airport was unexpectedly large, I had thought most international traffic went through Narita (though I suppose Narita does now have 3 terminals). If I had the time I would have liked to take a better look around.

 

On to business first. First and only item on the agenda was getting a data sim.

 

很快的走過電動步道，通過海關。羽田機場比預期的大，原本想大部分的國際班機是飛成田（不過成田有三個航廈就是）。如果有多餘的時間真想稍微逛一逛。

 

不過正事先辦。首先，也是唯一必做就是買網卡。

On previous trips I had gotten data sims beforehand, more reliable and time saving that way. Australia however had few sim options and the ones available was very costly for what few megabytes I needed to access google map and emails.

 

Haneda supposedly had plenty of options, from umobile to Japan Travel, Freetel and many more. Worse come to worse, there was always the option of getting one after getting into the city centre from BIC CAMERA.

 

過去旅行時我都是預先買好網卡，安心也省時間。但澳洲網卡選項不多，對於我這種只需幾mb看google地圖和信箱來說也太貴了。

 

羽田似乎有不少選項，從umobile到japan travel, freetel等等。就算真沒有的話也可以等進入市區後再到BIC CAMERA買。

I first checked the 7-11 on level 3 just outside the Keikyu station area. On the shelves were the umobile sims, but not the nano-size I needed.

 

No worries, the Air Lawson on level 1 was supposed to stock them too.

 

我首先到三樓京急車站外的7-11。架子上有umobile的sim卡，但沒有nano大小規格的。

 

沒關係，一樓的Air Lawson應該也有。

I got lost initially as there were two level 1 areas accessed by separate escalators. An area directly below Keikyu station area lead out to the taxi stands, the Air Lawson was in the area below the main area and leads out to the bus stands.

 

一開始迷路走錯了，一樓有兩個區域，分別用不同的手扶梯上下。在京急正下方的通往計程車站，而Air Lawson是在主區樓下通往巴士站的一樓。

 

Already annoyed by the wasted precious minutes, I stared blankly at Lawson’s empty shelves. They had no umobile left, or hardly any sim card. Only a few J Travel sims hung angled like rejected goods.

 

I would have even settled for a umobile 14 day since I was there for 8 days plus however many hours left till I get to the capsule hotel. Alas there were none.

 

浪費了時間有點心煩，我又無神的看著Lawson空蕩蕩的架子。沒有剩下任何umobile，連其他網卡基本上也所剩無幾。只有幾張賣不出去，歪歪掛著的J Travel網卡。

 

如果有umobile 14天的話我也可接受，畢竟這次要待8天+我今晚到膠囊旅館前的這一段時間。可嘆就是沒有。

 

I ran through the options.

 

1. Settle for a different sim card. Not desirable as the ones on the shelves were total data over a given period instead of quota per day with unlimited throttling. It’s not likely that I would use that much data, still, accidents were possible in this age of automatic updates and synchs.
2. Continue to the capsule hotel and get a card from BIC CAMERA next morning. Problem was this required waiting for BIC CAMERA to open and delay getting to Kusatsu.

 

我想了想可行的方案

1. 買別牌的網卡。這不太妥當，架子上的網卡是算流量總量的，不是每天給多少流量超過降速繼續無限使用。我不太可能用那麼多流量，但現在一堆自動更新，同位下載的，意外絕不是不可能。
2. 繼續到膠囊旅館，明天早上再去BIC CAMERA買。這的壞處是必須等BIC CAMERA開門，影響到草津的時間。

 

Or….

 

I went back to the 7-11 upstairs, grabbed the umobile standard size sim and went to the counter. “Is the nano-sized sim of this one sold out?” I blurted out, then realized it was asked in a very counter intuitive way. “Nano sized, do you have nano-sized ones?”

 

或著說….

 

我回到樓上的7-11，拿了包umobile sim卡一般大小的到櫃檯。請問nano大小的賣完了嗎，我說完立刻意識到這是個很彆扭的問法。有nano大小的嗎，你們有沒有nano大小的。

 

“What kind?”

 

The staff was not sure what sized sim I was asking (I wonder how nano could be pronounced in Japanese). She did get enough hint that I was asking for one that’s not the one I was holding.

 

哪一種？

 

櫃檯人員不確定我在問哪一種（nano日文怎麼發啊）。但她大略可猜出我要的種類不是我拿的。

 

I typed out nano on the phone. She turned around, fished about in a drawer and produced a nano sized 7 day umobile sim pack.(7 day, 2376Y)

 

我在手機上輸入nano給她看。她轉過身，在抽屜內翻了翻找出一張nano大小的7天umobile網卡包。(7天, 2376Y)

 

Huray!

 

Despite the delay I got what I needed. I hopped on a Keikyu train for Shinagawa.

 

萬歲。

 

雖然有點耽擱但終於到手了。我跳上京急奔往品川。

 

 

Global Cabin Gotanda is two stop away from Shinagawa on the Yamanote line, all up just over 20 minutes from Haneda.

 

It was about 10:30 when I reached Gotanda, still plenty of buzz on the streets. The area felt like a typical station district. A very confusing station front with a bus loop, a pachinko of sort and lots of izakayas.

 

Global Cabin五反田在山手線上距離品川兩站，從羽田車程加起來20分鐘多一點。

 

抵達五反田時大概10點半，街上還有不少人氣。這地區感覺上跟一般的車站周遭沒什麼兩樣。站前有個容易令人混亂的巴士圓環，有家小鋼珠還有一堆居酒屋。

 

I almost missed Global Cabin as I had miscounted the intersections and had to double back a block. Note to self, stick to the main road where one can’t miss.

 

我算錯了交叉路口差點錯過Global Cabin了，結果必須折返回上一個街口。提醒自己，還是走不可能錯過的大路。

Global Cabin was chosen because I still wasn’t fully committed to the idea of a capsule. Felt too claustrophobic and nowhere to put luggages, going to the lockers or front desk was too much of a hassle and will have to open and organize things in public. Global Cabin offered a halfway solution between a capsule and a room, what is now usually called a cabin. Basically a capsule with extra space and privacy.

 

選Global Cabin是因為我還是對膠囊有點不放心。太小了，又沒地方放行李，若要去置物櫃或櫃檯放太麻煩了，要整理行李又必須在公共空間弄。Global Cabin是一個介於膠囊和房間的解決方案，在膠囊上多提供一些空間和隱私。

 

The most well known cabin chain in Japan is probably First Cabin. They offered two types of cabin, one with extra headroom (no capsule on top) and full cabin where it’s essentially a full room minus bath/toilets, oh and one gets a curtain instead of a door.

 

日本最有名客艙連鎖是First Cabin。他們的房型有兩種，一種是增加頭頂上空間（上方沒有膠囊），另一是完整的一等艙，基本上就是一個房間去掉衛浴，還有沒有門只有簾子。

 

Global Cabin offers their own take. The capsules are still stacked on top of each other, but they opened on opposite sides where each individual gets a small narrow “room”. Again, no doors, just curtains. One still get bothered by the neighbors climbing into their bed below or above, but otherwise gets entire isolated space and never sees each other. One the floor one could leave the luggages, and lock the valuables in the small safe provided when going to the bath or when asleep.

 

Global Cabin客艙有另一番的設計解讀。膠囊一樣是上下堆疊，但往反方向開，連結個人窄小的一個房間。一樣沒有門，只有簾子。當隔壁間的人爬入上面或是下面的膠囊時仍然會互相影響到，不然的話每個人擁有獨立的空間，更不會見到對方。地上可以放置行李，去洗澡或睡覺時貴重物可鎖在小保險庫內。

 

Global Cabin belonged to the Dormy Inn chain, probably the most premium business hotel chain (they get free soba/ramen at night), some level of quality was assured.

 

Global Cabin歸屬於Dormy Inn系列的分支，這系列差不多是最高級的連鎖商務了（晚上有免費蕎麥麵/拉麵），可確信有一定水準。

 

I checked in and was given a cabin number and an access card. The card granted access to the floor my cabin was on and also the public bath on the top floor. It gave some level of security from non-guests and men off the lady-only floors.

 

我辦理入住後拿到我的客艙號碼和門禁卡。需要刷卡才能進入客艙所在的樓層還有頂樓的公共澡堂。這提供某程度的安全性，確保外面的人無法隨意進入，也不會有人亂跑入女性專屬樓層。

 

The cabin floor was cool, dim and quiet. The curtain door had a magnetic clip so it stuck to the door frame and required some effort to close and open with a snap. While the sound of opening and closing the curtain was going to be a little annoying, it gave an extra feeling of security, it took effort to go peeking around and anyone that tried to sneak into the cabin was not going to do it quietly.

 

客艙樓層很涼爽，昏暗又安靜。客艙的門簾有一個磁鐵扣會吸住門框，要拉開需要使上點勁，感覺上比較安全。不容易偷窺，且若有人想偷進入客艙的話一定會發出聲響。

 

 

On the bunk (I had chosen an upstairs bunk) was a basket containing towels.

 

在床上（選的是上舖）有一個裝了毛巾的提袋。

 

I quickly shoved my valuables into the safe (it’s big enough to stick the camera inside) and headed for the bath.

 

我匆忙把貴重物塞入保險箱（大小夠塞入相機）後去澡堂。

 

In addition to the rows of showers each floor had, Global Cabin also have a public bath on the top floor (men only). The bath had a Japanese traditional onsen decor, with plenty of wood, soft music and warm lightning. Next to the wooden sliding door and blue curtain was a few potted plants on a pebble stone bed. One could almost forget one was on the top floor of a concrete building.

 

除了每層樓有的一排淋浴間外，Global Cabin在頂樓還有一個澡堂（限男性）。澡堂走的是傳統日式的風格，有許多木頭，輕音樂和暖色燈光。木頭滑門和藍色門簾旁的碎石床上擺著盆栽。幾乎可忘記自己是在鋼筋水泥建築的頂樓。

 

 

The bath was large enough for maybe 6 or 7 people. Since it was late there was only one other person and he was gone by the time I finished showering.

 

大浴池大概夠6-7個人泡。現在夜色已深，澡堂裡只有另外一個人，在我淋浴完之前就離開了。

 

The bath is what’s promoted as ultra soft water, supposedly more gentle on the skin. Did not feel any different. Was very relaxing to have a hot bath after flying.

 

浴池用的水宣傳上是稱超軟水，說是對肌膚比較溫和。感覺不出差異。剛下飛機能泡個熱澡真是舒服。

 

After feeling very refreshed, I headed downstairs to have a stretch outside. Directly below Global Cabin was a Lawson (lobby is on the 2nd). I took a quick look and headed back upstairs.

 

感覺清醒多了，我下樓出去伸展一下。Global Cabin樓下就是Lawson（旅館櫃檯在二樓）。我稍微晃了下後回到樓上。

 

The lobby had a row of counter seats by the window with power sockets for charging. There was also a coffee machine offering free beverages, a fridge where bottled water was offered (one per guest, honor system) and to my surprise, free Dormy Inn brand instant ramen.

 

大廳窗戶旁有一排座位，還有插座可充電。有咖啡機提供免費咖啡，冰箱裡有礦泉水（一人一瓶，自我約束），還有另外的驚喜，有免費的Dormy Inn自己品牌的泡麵。

Not a fancy ramen, delicious all the same. A hot bowl of ramen with smooth Japanese coffee late at night, it was as luxurious as lobster at a five star hotel.

 

沒什麼料，但一樣很好吃。深夜裡熱騰騰的拉麵配上滑順的日本咖啡，跟五星級飯店的龍蝦一般奢侈的享受。

 

Things were quiet, broken by the occasional check-ins and people getting coffee. One, joined in with a late night ramen.

 

靜悄悄的寧靜，偶而被入住的房客和拿咖啡的人打破。有一位加入吃泡麵宵夜的一員。

 

After the meal I went back up to bed. The capsule space was more spacious than expected, high enough that I ran no risk at bumping my head when sitting up, and wider than a full roll to either side. There were two kinds of lightning, a spot light for reading and a general illumination emitted off two LED strips to either side of the backboard, angled so they would not shine directly into one’s eyes even when looking up the capsule.

 

吃完後我回到客艙準備睡覺。膠囊空間比想像的寬闊，高度夠坐著不用擔心撞到頭，寬度夠左右翻身滾一圈。有兩種照明，一個看書的檯燈和一個一般照明，頭板左右兩排LED燈，裝的角度斜斜的避免從膠囊底部往內看時刺到眼睛。

 

A flat TV mounted on a folded arm could be swung out and adjusted to comfortable position. Not much interesting on the late night shows.

 

平板電視架在一個可收放的支架上，可以調到舒適的位子。深夜節目沒什麼好看的。

 

I drifted off to sleep. The occasional closing and opening of curtains in the distance hardly bothering a weary traveller.

 

我漸漸進入夢鄉。偶爾傳來的開關門簾聲對疲憊的旅客並不足以構成干擾。