Saturday, March 11, 2017
Free Foods and Drinks hr588
The bullet train ran through several long tunnels in the mountains and
carried me out of snow. In less than twenty minutes, I was in a
different, snow-free world where the sun was shining and the blue sky
spread. I put on my makeup and had rice balls that I’d gotten back at
the station. By then, my worry about this trip had dwindled away and I
began to feel thrilled. On the other hand, my poor partner who
accompanied me on this trip had been suffering from atopic eczema and
was sitting next to me nervously, as his body was itchy. We arrived at
Tokyo Station where we walked through an underground passage that was
busy and crowded with people and transferred to the local train. As this
line runs along Tokyo Bay, the ocean can be seen out of the train
window. It was so refreshing to see a stretch of the horizon over the
sea for me who live surrounded by mountains. I thought I finally got my
breath. The hotel I’d booked was close to the train station. I got in
there but wasn’t allowed to check in until 7 p.m. since I chose the
bargain rate for the room. I went straight ahead to the top floor lounge
to enjoy the afternoon tea for which I had collected points diligently
for two years to exchange to a fifty dollars off coupon. Although a
small usual disappointment was alongside, which there was a family with a
noisy child even in a luxury lounge like that, I was in seventh heaven
looking out the magnificent twilight view of Tokyo Bay. And it was
practically free because I paid only a fraction of money thanks to the
coupon. Then I moved to another lounge that was exclusively for the
hotel’s premium member. This bargain rate stay came with preferential
treatment at no extra cost as their off-season promotion and I was
entitled to use this lounge. It had a single-serve coffee machine and
expensive soft drinks. I had two cups of freshly dripped specialty
coffee, two cups of specialty tea and a bottled sparkling water along
with elegant cookies that the receptionist had brought to me. And
everything was free! I wondered why something complimentary was always
gone to my stomach easily and endlessly. As it was still too early for
my check-in time, I was headed for a shopping mall near the hotel. When I
was walking on the broad sidewalk beside a modern convention center and
looking ahead the twilight skyline of tall buildings, I somewhat missed
urban life. I stepped in the gigantic shopping mall and looked around
the grocery floor for something to eat in the hotel room. The floor had
ten times as large space as a grocery store of my town and had all kinds
of deli foods, salad and bread. I imagined how much fun it would be if I
shopped daily at a place like this. Adjacent to the mall was Costco. A
lot of kinds of free samples were being given out there, such as
beefsteak, salmon, sushi rolls, and croissant. I became full enough with
those. My partner took free samples and had them too, which was odd.
He’s usually a little lofty and conceited and doesn’t like to get free
samples. But this time, he willingly joined the line for a sample, took
it, swallowed, and eagerly repeated it over and over. I observed his
strange behavior thinking that he must have been so much hungry, or the
samples must have tasted so good, or his atopy must have been bad enough
to affect his brain. After our free sample jamboree, I dropped by the
food court of Costco. The place to eat was dirty and looked like a
visitors’ room of a prison. But considering the incredible size of the
hot dog and the cup of soda, they were virtually free because their
prices were incredibly low. I gobbled them and walked back to the hotel.
The first day of my trip ended this way, filled with freebies and
savings…
Labels:
afternoon tea,
bargain,
bay,
bullet train,
Costco,
coupon,
croissant,
food court,
free,
hotel,
Japan,
lounge,
mall,
sample,
sushi,
Tokyo Bay,
travel,
trip,
urban life