Airport Limousine Bus Stand
I check the arrival time of the airport limousine bus displayed on the electronic bulletin board and line up at the head of the queue at the bus stop.
“Perhaps it is because I am getting older, but I have been feeling quite tired lately after a slightly longer flight.”
I don’t know how much energy I have expended just sitting there, but my brain and body are craving something sweet.
“I should have bought some chocolate or candy somewhere.” As I was mumbling to myself, a foreign woman started to line up next to me.
In her right hand was a four-wheeled carry-on case, and she was carrying a toddler in her left arms and a larger backpack on her back.
‘It must be hard to travel with a small child….’ I thought to myself, as I pulled out my smartphone from my bag and went to check my e-mail, which had increased when I was in airplane mode, when suddenly I was approached by a voice.
Experienced deja vu earlier
“This is the bus, when do I pay the fare?”
“Just hand this ticket to the driver when you get off!“
“Where do I buy the ticket?”
I see. You came to the bus stop without buying a ticket first….
Airport limousine buses require us to purchase a ticket in advance in order to secure a seat, but apparently she was unaware of this.
At Haneda Airport, she has to go back to the airport lobby, which is a short distance away from the bus stop.
However, not many people use this method, but we can actually purchase tickets directly from the bus company staff near the boarding area.
I myself have used this method several times when I have no time to spare for the bus departure.
“You can buy tickets from the staff over there!” I told her, and the woman changed from her anxious expression. “Thank you!” and then she successfully purchased the ticket.
“I’m glad I had a little time to wait for the bus to arrive.” I was about to look at my phone again, when a couple of ladies around 40 to 50 years old started to get in line.
“Can we use PayPay?” Apparently, they had come without buying tickets in advance. It was an “experienced déjà vu earlier.“
They’re not old enough to talk to foreigners, so sure enough, one of them skipped ahead and asked me the same question as a few minutes before.
“You can buy tickets from the staff over there!” I explain like an information robot at a bus roundabout.
“Can I use PayPay?” “I don’t know…”.
Why do these ladies insist on PayPay? Isn’t it more important to get on the bus? I am not a staff member of the bus company, so there is no way I would know how to make a payment.
I watched the ladies who were PayPay believers buy their tickets with such imagination, and a few minutes later, the bus arrived.
Not a kind person to others
After getting on the bus and fastening my seatbelt, I looked ahead and saw the foreign woman I mentioned earlier in some distress.
Her suitcase had been checked in the trunk, but the larger backpack she had brought on board was too wide to fit into the bus’s net shelves.
When I asked her in her lousy English, she replied, “I only bought one ticket, so if I put her on my lap, I won’t be able to put my luggage on the bus.”
Indeed, airport limousine buses do not have space for luggage at the foot of the bus like bullet trains.
I think the bus driver could have understood this situation, but he turned a blind eye to it, probably because he found it difficult to explain in English. What a surprise.
I had no choice but to ask the less hospitable driver if it was OK to use the seat next to put her luggage and he said, “No problem!” He didn’t dare to step forward, but I was glad the driver could read the air.
I said, “It is not that crowded today, so there is no problem if you put your luggage on the seat next to you. Of course, they won’t charge you for the extra seat.“
I could no longer tell which of us was from the bus company.
“Thank you so much!” I returned to my seat and fastened the seatbelt on my seat, being thanked.
I am more tired because I did something I am not used to doing.
No sooner was I about to take my phone out of my pants pocket to check my email than I heard a voice beside me, “I’m sorry, I don’t know how to fasten this belt.”
I turn my head to the side and see the lady who just pulled out her seatbelt and is trying to insert it into the buckle, but is having trouble getting it in.
When I looked closer, I found that she was trying to force it into the buckle of the lady next to her.
Perhaps these madams mistook me, who happened to be waiting for the bus at the front of the line and was helping a foreigner who did not understand the language and was having a hard time, as an angel of the limousine bus or something.
I was a little fed up because I am not a person who is so kind to others, but I thought this must be some kind of a chance for me to help them, so I said, “This way, please.” and finished assisting with the setting.
I could have been called a professional butler on limousine bus.
I returned to my seat, opened my phone, and started to write a reply to an e-mail when I heard another voice from next door saying, “Excuse me?”
“You guys, that’s enough!” I turned my head to the side, suppressing the anger that welled up inside me, and she handed me a colorful amber sugar that looked like broken ice. It was a sugar candy popular in Kanazawa called “Wari-Gori” .
“Thank you for going out of your way!” I thanked her and immediately put it in my mouth, and my body and mind felt at ease.
I wrote the rest of the e-mail and sent it with a refreshed feeling, thinking, “I wonder if this is what a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is all about.”
