I finally worked so much that I got hit with an overtime restriction.
Suddenly told “take 4 days off starting tomorrow” — I found myself standing in front of the travel books section at the bookstore wondering what to do.
“Take the Seishun 18 ticket and go north!”
Chosen destination: a gyutan (beef tongue) restaurant in Sendai.
I’d really wanted to go somewhere warm — a southern island abroad — but it was too last-minute, and solo international travel still felt like one step too many. That plan was shelved.
Having just bought the DSLR, half the appeal was the chance to shoot — so I snapped away. Photos uploaded to the gallery.
<Outbound itinerary>
9:44 Kamata depart
↓
10:29 Akabane arrive
10:43 Akabane depart (delayed 9 min due to injury on tracks, departed 10:52)
↓
12:00 Utsunomiya arrive (slightly delayed)
(Lunch at Utsunomiya — gyoza at Minmin.)
13:12 Utsunomiya depart
↓
14:02 Kuroiso arrive
14:32 Kuroiso depart
↓
15:34 Koriyama arrive
15:37 Koriyama depart
↓
16:24 Fukushima arrive
16:32 Fukushima depart
↓
17:54 Sendai arrive
<Return itinerary>
Departure/arrival: 15:02 → 21:49
Total time: 6 hours 47 minutes (riding time: 6 hours 14 minutes)
Transfers: 4
Total fare: ¥5,780
Distance: 366.4 km
■ Sendai Track 5 depart
| JR Tohoku Line (Fukushima bound) 79.0km
| 15:02–16:23 [81 min]
◇ Fukushima [5 min wait]
| JR Tohoku Line (Kuroiso bound) 109.5km
| 16:28–18:32 [124 min]
◇ Kuroiso [6 min wait]
| JR Utsunomiya Line (Utsunomiya bound) 53.8km
| 18:38–19:27 [49 min]
◇ Utsunomiya [13 min wait]
| JR Utsunomiya Line Commuter Express (Ueno bound) 106.1km
| 19:40–21:12 [92 min]
◇ Ueno [9 min wait]
| JR Keihin-Tohoku Line (Kamata bound) 18.0km
| 21:21–21:49 [28 min]
■ Kamata
Yeah. Exhausted — and absolutely freezing.
