My last trip to Tokyo I stayed a night in First Cabin at Haneda Airport. This round I travelled with a friend and we decided to try another alternative to save cost on lodging.
Our flight arrived at Haneda Airport International Terminal around 10.30pm (no flight delay). We could easily catch the train to the city or stay a night in a hotel but wanting to save cost we decided to stay a night in the airport.
After collected our luggage, we head over to the Tourist Information Center and bought our Tokyo subway ticket. You can't miss it when coming out from the immigration check point. The Tourist Information Center closed at 1am (correct me if I'm wrong or there's a change of time).
You save a lot using the discounted Tokyo Subway tickets. Remember to check which line can be use since it does not cover all the subway lines.
Went to check out the airport floor plan to find a place for dinner (or supper since it was after 11pm).
There're 3 fast food area that opens 24 hours.
After checking out all 3 restaurants, we decided to dine at Yoshinoya since the picture of unagi with rice looks pretty tempting.
The dinning area inside was full so we opted to sit outside. However, sitting outside considered as take out so we ordered from the 'Take Out" counter. Service was pretty quick and it was served in less than 5 minutes.
When we finally finished our meal it was after midnight and the airport was pretty quiet since the shops are all closed (except for the convenience store and the fast food area).
There's an observation deck where we went to check out the night view and enjoy the cool air (it was early May). We only stayed for a short while since it was pretty cold outside with winds blowing at us.
And when it was time to look for a place to sit we didn't have much of luck. As you can see, most of the seats were taken with passengers sleeping on them.
We decided to head down to Lawson to get some drinks...and hopefully we can find a seat somewhere.
We walked for several minutes when we finally found empty seat (but not together).
Had my first coffee drink from Lawson while waiting for the time to pass.
If you plan to charge your phone at the charging station, make sure to go there as soon as you arrive cause finding one is 'IMPOSSIBLE'. Every charging station I went were all occupied. There were other passengers waiting for their turn to charge their phone/laptop. Thankfully my friend bought a power bank for this trip.
It was after 3.30am when a group of people left and we finally have empty seats to ourselves! Tried taking a nap but not successful. My friend wasn't keen of sleeping since she was engrossed watching show on her mobile phone (thanks to free Wi-Fi).
Eventually I started walking....again.....just to pass the time. There's nothing to do in the airport but I did take few photos here and there...such as these statue which was on display in the airport.
And if you need to take a shower to freshen up you can do so here. However there's a fee of 1,030 yen for 30 minutes shower though.
I came to realized there's a locker and storage service while roaming around the airport. Pretty useful if you wish to store your bags while you go about without worrying about your luggage.
Time passes slowly (very) when there's nothing much to do...especially one is not able to sleep. And what do you do? Watch shows online and munching on snacks/food/breakfast while waiting.
The train starts around 5.30am but it was only after 6.30am when we head off to our next destination....while dragging our tired body and dark circles under our eyes.
Overall, it was quite an experience staying a night in the airport but for a light sleeper such as myself it can be quite tiring especially if you're awake for more than 24 hours. If I ever arrive late at night at Haneda airport I might take a trip to Natural Hot Spring Heiwajima Spa, another alternatives to hotel or sleeping in the airport.
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