Tag: airport

Airports Used to Travel to Japan in 2022

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

The trip to Japan started from an airport!

This time I had two transits each way. The airports I used were Tallinn airport, Frankfurt airport, Tokyo Haneda airport as well as Kansai airport.

In this article, I will talk about those airports that I used.

Table of Contents

     1. Outward journey
          a. Tallinn airport
          b. Frankfurt airport
          c. Tokyo Haneda airport
     2. Homeoward airport
     ★Summary

1. Outward journey

a. Tallinn airport

At Tallinn airport, the flight checkin was 4.40 in the following morning, so I planned to go to Tallinn airport by the last bus and tram, bringing one 23kg suitcase and one empty suitcase. However, for multiple reasons, I changed this plan. After cleaning Collin’s cage and feeding him, I did the last check on the luggages, and headed to Tallinn airport by Bolt (Estonian Uber). It was 21.30 at that time.

Arriving at Tallinn airport, I found a space to charge my phone. To avoid a too sleepy situation the next day, I tried to close my eyes for 15 minutes, but there were escalators in front of me. It was too noisy to take a nap.

When my phone charged more than 90%, I changed the place. At Tallinn airport, there are two massage chairs. Though the level of comfort was not as good as it looked, it was still better than benches. (I didn’t turn on the massage function. I was just sitting there.)

“From this point it’s hell!”

I thought.

It was around 23.00, and the checkin was 4.40.

Too much time left.

However, I could sleep for around three hours in total. It was away from the escalators, and there were few people because of the middle night of a weekday (Thursday).

After I repeated sleeping for a few minutes and waking up a few times, it was 3.30 already. One more hour was left.

Since it was quite tiring, I was in a daze for a while, and then it turned to be the time to check in.

It seemed that many people would transit in Frankfurt. Though it slightly took time, it wasn’t as bad as the situation of post COVID in spring, 2022.

As I put most stuff in the suitcase, it was smoother to take out my stuff from the backpack at the security check unlike travelling to other European cities. It might be a little thing, and yet personally it made me satisfied. 😂

Nevertheless I was very hungry, since it was still too early to have breakfast, I just bought a cup of coffee. Then I got ready for myself, and was waiting for the flight.

Surprisingly time flew.

b. Frankfurt airport

I arrived at Frankfurt airport at 8 in the morning. I desperately wanted to go to the bathroom, and I was starving. 😂

It was a long path from the arrival gate to the next departure gate, but I didn’t get lost because the structure wasn’t complicated at Frankfurt airport.

There was a big bakery at Frankfurt airport, and I bought a breakfast there. Since I couldn’t find the price tags, I just bought a ham sandwich, which cost 7.50 EUR…😂

Later, 15 minutes before onboarding, one concern that I had became stronger…

I didn’t get a passport stamp…

I asked some airport staff members, but they said they didn’t know, and I felt like crying. However, another staff member told me that I didn’t need it for sure, so I went back to the boarding gate.

In fact, I didn’t have any problem when onboarding and entering Japan without a passport stamp.

This is completely irrelevant, but there were lots of Japanese Brazilians at Frankfurt airport.

c. Tokyo Haneda airport

From Frankfurt, I arrived at the third terminal of Tokyo Haneda airport.

Since it was the arrival of the international flight, there were some people who checked the passengers’ COVID information before going to the arrival gate after landing. I had to upload some documents beforehand on an app called MySOS. It said that if I had a blue screen, it’s all good. However, in real life, they asked me to show a QR code. At Tokyo Haneda airport, the Wifi connection sucked, so it unnecessarily took time.

After that, everything went smoothly as I’m Japanese.

Since I had to renew my driving licence in Japan, I got an entry stamp on my passport after passing the autogate.

Then, I had to move to the first terminal of Tokyo Haneda airport because the next flight to Kansai airport was run by Star Flyer.

At the third terminal, when going forward to the domestic flight connection, there was another sign, so I followed it. I took a free bus. I’m still not sure how often the bus comes, but after missing one bus, the next one came soon.

When arriving at the first terminal of Tokyo Haneda airport, I still had a couple of hours, and yet I checked in, and went to the security check.

In case you think you will get hungry or you are already hungry, I recommend buying something before the security check at the first teminial of Tokyo Haneda airport. Around the boarding gates, there were only souvenir stores and vending machines (including light meals, drinks and ice cream). Onirigis (rice balls) In the vending machine with light meals were only tuna and mayonnaise or salmon. I highly regretted not buying anything at 7-eleven before the security check… (However, it was still not a big problem because I wasn’t starving.)

Around the boarding gates in the first terminal of Tokyo Haneda airport, there are some seats for using laptops or with plugs, so you don’t need to worry about waiting time even if you have a long waiting time.

Again, this is completely irrelevant, but there were lots of family passengers who seemed to have been to Disney resort, and it was Saturday (so it made sense).

2. Homeward journey

Let’s talk about a story on a homeward journey. I used Kansai airport.

I stayed at an accommodation in Rinku town, and headed to Kansai airport by train, departing at 6.00 in the morning. It was a little tiring, but I wanted to save money because it would cost 4,000 JPY by taxi to Kansai airport from Rinku town.

My first flight for the homeward journey was by ANA, and I had to go to Tokyo Haneda airport. Although it looked like a domestic flight, the staff members at Kansai airport let me go to the international flight check-in counter. I had two luggages to check in: one 20 kg suitcase and one 17 kg suitcase. I didn’t buy more than I expected. I could have bought more facial toner. 😂

On the outward journey, I had to take my luggages at Tokyo Haneda airport, so I expected to recheck in there, but they told me I didn’t need to do anything until I arrived in Tallinn.

Due to my experience at the first terminal of Tokyo Haneda airport, I bought some onigiri before the security check at Kansai airport.

However, Kansai airport’s domestic flights terminal was much more developed, and there was a convenience store and a cafe near the boarding gate.

I felt like I was an idiot. 😂

After that, I boarded the flight, realising the earliest next visit would be in two years.

★Summary

I know that the story about the homeward is shorter than the other because I was busier with travelling on the homeward than on the outward journey. Though I had plenty of time at Tokyo Haneda airport, since Lufthansa is often delayed, the flight from Tokyo Haneda airport was also delayed, and I walked fast to arrive at the boring gate at the boring time in Frankfurt airport. (Eventually, the flight from Frankfurt to Tallinn was delayed, too, though.)

Compared to Tokyo Narita or Haneda airports, there are smaller numbers of flights, but I still like Kansai airport. This is because I don’t have to move a lot on the ground, and it’s closest to my parents’ place and the base of my stay.

I think I will choose flights to and from Kansai airport next time too.

Aitäh! 🙂

Dublin Airport in 2022

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

In summer 2022 when my boyfriend and I were travelling, it was post COVID, and since the number of travellers increased (or got back to normal?), every airport in Europe was crazily crowded. (Tallinn airport wasn’t an exception, but it seemed to be better than Dublin airport or Manchester airport according to news.) Therefore I decided to write a post about how Dublin airport actually was.

Table of Contents

      1. Dublin airport at the end of June 2022
      2. From Dublin city centre to Dublin airport
      3. Ryanair’s visa check
      4. Security check at Dublin airport
      5. Security check isn’t the only one you would queue in Dublin airport
      ★Summary

1. Dublin airport at the end of June 2022

First of all, June is generally a vacation season in Europe. In Japan it’s the rainy season, so there may not be many tourists, but in Europe many people take longer vacation days from their annual leave between May and August to travel.

Ireland is one of the European countries where many people go, and of course people mainly go to Dublin, therefore Dublin airport gets very busy and crowded too. For this reason, the airport is more congested than any other season in general.

However, it was a post-COVID time.

According to my Dublin friend F, people forgot the rules for the cabin baggage, and some of them have actually brought big whole bottles of shampoo. Because of such passengers, it seemed to take time for security checks. But this is merely one of the assumptive reasons, and yet mine is:

People were not able to travel owing to COVID, as per which the security checkers were laid off, but then now it’s post COVID, and they need more employees at security checks.

I don’t think airlines and airports increase the number of flights all at once, so I believe we cannot say it is because of the increase of the flight numbers.

In our case, perhaps because our flight was in the morning, the situation was much better than I was worried. However, I thought if it had been a flight in the afternoon, the situation might have been chaotic.

2. From Dublin city centre to Dublin airport

Our plane was planned to depart at 9.30 in the morning Usually, personally I go to the airport 2 hours before the departure, and yet I received an email from Ryanair that the passengers should be at the airport 2.5 hours, and 3.5 hours before the departure if the passengers have check in luggages.

I talked about this to my Japanese friend A’s husband in Dublin, he said he would have been at the airport at 6 am, i.e. 3.5 hours beforehand.

I wondered, and decided to be there at around 6.30 am.

From the accommodation in Dublin to Dublin airport I personally wanted to take the Dublin bus, but we decided to take a taxi the previous night. (I didn’t think about anything, but my boyfriend thought the taxi fee would be cheaper in the morning than when we saw.)

Then, when I was about to call a taxi, he asked me the price, I said “It says maximum 27 EUR.” and he said “Let’s take a bus…”

Man, it’s too late. 😂

If I had known the situation in the airport, I might have been able to change the plan, but the situation was unknown until we arrived there. Since I need to get a visa check at Ryanair and it’s too late to depart by taking a bus, I called a taxi.

As for the taxi, there will be a different article.

It took approximately 10 to 15 minutes by taxi from the centre to Dublin airport.

3. Ryanair’s visa check

When going back from Ireland to Estonia, of course I needed a visa check.

At Ryanair’s check in counter in Dublin airport, there was only one counter for the visa check. Another five or six counters were used for those who have check-in luggages. Even at past 6.30 am, the queue was already organised, and therefore the visa check-in counter was also used for check-in luggages. However, it was meant to be for a visa check, the Ryanair staff let me though prioritised.

Probably because this time we went to the check in counter together, the Ryanair staff gave me two boarding passes.









He looked a bit happy.

I’m happy too.

By the way, the paper that I printed out just in case was not necessary at all as they don’t give us a stamp anymore. There is no point in bringing the printed stuff.

4. Security check at Dublin airport

We were waiting for the security check for quite a while but less than one hour. It took more time than Tallinn airport, and yet we didn’t need to worry about our flight.

However, it took around one hour in total for the visa check and security check eventually.

5. Security check isn’t the only one you would queue in Dublin airport

At Dublin airport, the security check is not the only one you may queue for.

On arriving at Dublin airport, the airport staff asked us if we came for the departure, and then guided us to the specific lane. (The route to the checkin counter was the same as before though. It was a bit irritating that we had to be guided.)

In addition to this, cafes in Dublin airport also had long queues.

I craved coffee, and I was hungry, so I decided to buy something at a cafe near our flight’s gate. On Ryanair’s flight, you can get a cup of coffee (and maybe other non-alcoholic drinks) for 3 EUR, so the price was almost the same. It depends on you whether you buy at the airport or Ryanair’s plane.

★Summary

Eventually, when we arrived at the flight gate, we had enough time so we have no idea how crowded afterwards at the security check in Dublin airport it was. Maybe there was a longer queue. It could happen at that time. Therefore our decision to go to Dublin airport earlier was right.

We arrived in Tallinn at 3.30 pm, and we both were exhausted.

Before the trip, I had seen a post on Facebook thatTallinn airport was crazily crowded, but in real life it was not like that actually. However, I thought we should perhaps be more careful in other cities (especially popular cities in summer).

Being at the airport earlier is better than having a too tight schedule or being late.

Aitäh! 🙂

Airports, Flights Used for the Sweden/Ireland Trip (Ryanair, SAS)

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

When it comes to travelling, one of the (personal) fun is flights! I love the excitement when getting on a plane, and being at an airport. As a student, I often had rough sleep at airports (mostly in Europe) but I didn’t do that this time.

The airlines that I used this time were Ryanair, the king of European LCC, and SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) that seems to be frequently used for travels in Northern Europe.

Also, since I travelled during the pandemic time, and there were some unusual processes and rules at the airports/airlines due to COVID, I will explain them (although I hope it won’t happen ever again).

Table of Contents

1. Airports
     a. Arbrlanda airport
     b. Landvetter airport

2. Ryanair
          i. From a Schengen country (Estonia) to an EU but not Schengen country (Ireland) (Updated: July, 2022)
     a. Do I need a visa check to fly from Estonia to Sweden?
          i. Ryanair’s visa check in (Updated: July 2022)
     b. Mask
     c. How to check in online in Ryanair when having purchased tickets for more than one person (Updated: July, 2022)

3. SAS
     a. Name display
     b. Mask
     c. Check-in

★Summary

1. Airports

a. Arlanda airport

When it comes to an airport in Stockholm, it should be Arlanda airport! It’s an international airport, where planes to many cities in foreign countries depart and arrive. It’s a pretty big airport, but not complicated.

When arriving at Arlanda airport and heading to the centre of Stockholm, basically you just need to follow the instructions displayed in the airport, but those are not shown for every step. At some point there was no guidance. I have used Arlanda a couple of times before, and yet I couldn’t remember the way to the bus stop. (I remember the way to the station.) So here’s how to find an aircoach to the centre of Stockholm.

In Terminal 5 at Arlanda airport, there is a yellow convenience store called Pressbyrån, and around there the display on the ceiling and on the floor is gone. However, I just decided to go forward and passed Pressbyrån. Then it was connected to Sky City and other Terminals. From somewhere there you can see the display guidance to the bus stop again, so just walk ahead.

Reference

At that time, I missed an aircoach to Stockholm just in front of me, but it is a capital city, so after only 15 minutes, another one came. So I didn’t wait that much. When going to the centre of Stockholm, it was bus stop 7, but I believe you should check before getting on it because there are buses to other directions from Arlanda airport. (The aircoach that I used is called Flygbussarna, and I will talk about this later separately.)

b. Landvetter airport

At Landvetter airport in Gothenburg, there is a digital display that shows the next three departures of Flygbussarna at the baggage reclaim area. So you don’t have to check your phone in how many minutes the bus will come, or remember the timetable (particularly for those who often make detailed plans).

Additionally, Landvetter airport didn’t look so big from the bus, but when you go inside, you may feel how big it actually is. When entering the inside of the airport, you will immediately see lots of check-n counters, and on the right facing the check-in counters, there are escalators to the security check and gates.

In the area of the security check, there is a bin box for an excess amount of liquidy stuff, and free 1L bags for a bunch of small liquid stuff. (At Tallinn airport it costs.) It was a super early morning, and there were not so many people, so the security check didn’t take time.

I reckon there were not so outstanding characteristics for this airport, and I’m not sure if you can have a rough sleep there.

2. Ryanair

Next, this is about the airlines that I used for this Sweden trip. The first one is Ryanair. When it comes to travelling in Europe, many people choose Ryanair. However, as a warning, some airports are specifically for Ryanair (or possibly for LCC), which are located somewhere unbelievable, so be careful when booking. Regarding Sweden, for sure Stockholm has. However, there shouldn’t be any problems between Tallinn and Stockholm because it should be connected (mainly) with Arlanda airport. Once, not from Tallinn, but I have used Stockholm Skavsta airport. It was ridiculously far from the centre, and the flight time was weird, so I had no choice but to stay at a nearby hostel/hotel as at Skavsta airport as you can’t have a rough sleep at Skavsta airport.

i. From a Schengen country (Estonia) to an EU but not Schengen country (Ireland) (Updated: July, 2022)

For the trip to Ireland in June, 2022, I used Ryanair again!

Ireland is registered as an EU country, but not as a Schengen country. When I lived in Ireland as an exchange student (from 2015 to 2016), I needed to print out a boarding pass, and get a visa check at a Ryanair check in counter at Dublin airport whenever I used Ryanair. This time I bought tickets for two people together, I also talk about checking in in such a case. (I added “Updated: July 2022” for the additional sections so you can find the updates easily.)

a. Do I need a visa check to fly from Estonia to Sweden?

When I was an exchange student in Ireland, I always needed a visa check, but where I currently live is a country in the Schengen area. In addition, it was the first time to travel abroad since 2019, so I completely forgot what kind of procedure I needed, and I had to check it.

There is an article on my website in Japanese, in which I wrote about my trip to Scotland in 2019, but since Brexit has been over, the situation is different. It cannot be any reference, and I felt like a travel beginner.

So, I contacted Ryanair.

If you need a visa check, you are required to get a stamp at a visa check counter at an airport, and for this it’s essential to print out the boarding pass. If not needed, I wanted to use Ryanair’s app (or the PDF file), so I contacted them. The descriptions below are replies from Ryanair.

1st contact: I recommend you to print it out just in case! → I’m not asking what to do for “just in case”.
2nd contact: If you see a QR code, you don’t need to print it out! → I see the barcode too.
3rd contact: No need to print it out! → I want to know the reason.

Yes, I asked the same question three times because this Ryanair’s page sounds like I would need it everywhere I use Ryanair.

So, I eventually asked a Ryanair crew at Tallinn airport, and she said I didn’t need it because my travels are within the Schengen area. Yes, that’s what I wanted to know! What I wanted to know was “if the travel is within the Schengen area”! In other words, if the travel is not within the Schengen area, I need a visa check!

You may be wondering why I didn’t print out the ticket just in case. This is because Ryanair’s free check in opens 24 hours prior to the flight departure, and I had to arrive at the airport before the printing shop opened.

Anyways, if you are a non EU/EEA passenger, but travel within the Schengen area, you don’t need a visa check!!!

Let’s keep this in mind. We may travel more often like before as almost no COVID restrictions are there these days as of June 2022 (although monkeypox is concerning us…)

i. Ryanair’s visa check in (Updated: July 2022)

In the trip to Ireland in June, 2022, one PDF included information for both of us with one boarding pass. My page didn’t have any barcode or QR code, instead there was “VISA CHECK”.

When I saw it I was like “Huh?” Not because of “VISA CHECK” description. When I lived in Ireland, after checking in online, the PDF file had a barcode. That’s why I needed to print it out, go to the check in counter at airports, and get a stamp on the printed boarding pass.

Then, when I went to Ryanair’s check in counter at Tallinn airport for the first time to go to Ireland since 2019, I showed the printed paper without any barcode as well as my passport, and they issued that wide boarding pass!!

Also later I found that I didn’t have to show the printed paper. It actually makes sense because at online check in I need to register my passport number, and there is no point to print the file out as they don’t put a stamp on it and even if they do, I still can’t use it as long as I don’t have any barcode or QR code. (I tested this without showing the paper, and it worked.)

When going to Dublin from Tallinn, the flight departure was at 3 in the afternoon. Only I went to the airport by myself to get the visa check done. And when I met my boyfriend at the security check gate, he saw my classic wide boarding pass, and asked me “Why do you have that boarding pass and I have only the file??”, having a little sad/disappointing face. 😂

My boyfriend’s boarding pass. Since he’s an EU citizen, he already had a barcode.

When leaving Ireland, we went to the airport together. I’m not sure whether it was because he was behind me, and yet the check in staff member issued two boarding passes.

The boarding pass issued at Tallinn airport had not Ryanair’s logo but Tallinn iarport’s logo.

He looked happy. 😂

I’m happy for you.

After this experience, I thought Ryanir’s service was partially improved.

For non-EU citizens! Don’t forget to get a visa check when travelling between a Schengen country and a non-Schngen but EU country. You can know if you need it in the PDF file you will get after online check in.

b. Mask

When I travelled to Sweden this time, throughout Europe each country had gradually lifted COVID restrictions, and yet some airlines had different regulations about COVID.

In case of Ryanair, wearing a mask was required, but any mask was basically fine. I used UNIQLO’s cloth mask that my mum sent me during the pandemic, and it was acceptable in Ryanair.

Reference

c. How to check in online in Ryanair when having purchased tickets for more than one person (Updated: July, 2022)

This time I bought the tickets for two with my Ryanair account, but I found that I could not check in first, send the online check in link to my boyfriend, and let him check individually. (I contacted the Ryanair support and asked.)

So I asked him to send me necessary information by showing the screenshot of the check in page on Ryanair’s website. Then I completed checking in for both of us, and got a boarding pass.

Again, be careful, you cannot check in online separately when buying tickets with someone together.

3. SAS

In this trip, I had four flights, and three of them were run by Ryanair, but when I went back to Estonia, I used SAS. I have also used SAS before, and I think it was also a trip to Sweden…

a. Name display

This time I booked a seat in SAS on an online travel agency called Mytrip (because they offered the cheapest price), but the name display was strange, and I contacted SAS as I didn’t want to get rejected for the flight.

Then, they said I needed to contact the travel agency as my booking was done through them, so I contacted Mytrip. They said the name display was fine (that the title and my first name had no space between them).

However, I was still concerned, so I contacted SAS again. I explained the whole process of this, and they said there was no need to change as it was shown like that due to the system. I thought about why I was worried a lot, and at the same time, these ping-pong contacts were pretty annoying. I wished they had written such information somewhere on their website.

b. Mask

SAS also required us to wear a mask.

On the second day in Stockholm, which was Saturday, a wonder popped up in my mind in the afternoon; do I need a mask? So I googled, and found that SAS did not accept a cloth mask! You may wonder why I didn’t research before travelling, and yet I didn’t have such “capacity” to do in my head.

I quickly searched if there was any pharmacy around the hostel. Even in Estonia I had never bought paper or surgical masks, so I was worried if the supermarket that I found had paper masks, but it turned out that there was a pharmacy in the same building.

Just in case, I went to both the supermarket and the pharmacy, and yet the price was the same, so I decided to buy at the pharmacy as they sold black masks that looked better (more fashionable) than the blue ordinary surgical masks.

This is an extra story and it’s about a case of LOT Polish airline, but at Landvetter airport in Gothenburg, I was waiting for my flight in front of a gate which was open for passengers to LOT Polish’s flight. When the gate was about to close, two people who looked like a couple were running towards the gate, but since they didn’t have paper masks, they were rejected to onboard.

However, they were lucky.

Coincidentally a man who went through the gate one step earlier had a bunch of paper masks, and noticed them, and gave them a few.

I learnt we had to be careful when the situation in the whole world is remarkably different than usual.

c. Check-in

Lastly, this is also related COVID. I kind of remembered how to check in for SAS. I like rectangular classic shaped boarding passes which I could get from the self-check-in machine at an airport, but this time SAS required passengers to submit some COVID-related documents beforehand.

Some people seemed to be able to upload documents in advance, but this method was not applied for those who have lived in Estonia, and I had to go to a check-in counter in the airport.

In fact, when I went to Arlanda airport, all SAS’s check-in counters were for check-in luggages by themselves, and no staff were there.

So I asked an SAS lady who was guiding business-class passengers, and explained, but she also looked like “what is that?”, so she let me go to the lane for the business passengers.

Then, at a business counter, I explained what the SAS support told me before coming to the airport, and showed my COVID certificate. Then the staff issued me a boarding pass, and I could go forward.

I was so concerned….

★Summary

To conclude, this article was about a compilation of the information on the airports and airlines that I used for this Sweden trip.

I guess maybe some day this article will be in vain because of the time with COVID. In 2022, since I’m using Dublin airport, Frankfurt airport, Tokyo Haneda airport as well as Kansai airport (as of June 2022), I might write some articles about those airports too. But as for the airports in Japan (or even Frankfurt airport), the article/s might be published in 2023.

Aitäh! 🙂