Flying north

We're learning that the most affordable way to travel in Asia is with package deals. Ako Yamamoto, Blaine's WashPost colleague, found an affordable (relatively speaking) package for the ski resort, Tomamu: about $400 per person including flights, 2 nights hotel, 2 lift tickets, rental equipment, spa visits and some meals, plus another $200/day for dinners, child ski lessons, Arno's ski stuff, and other expenses for a family of four.

The lateness of the ski season undoubtedly trimmed the price - and the snow was very slushy - but it pushed us to try sthg new, so no complaints.

Our trip started at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, which mainly serves domestic flights and is only a 30-minute taxi ride from home (vs. 2 hrs to Narita airport). We went with Ako and her husband, Veli Kattoulas, and their two children, Anastasia, 6, and Alex, almost 3. Ana and Lucinda are natural giggle twins; Alex and Arno bonded on the airplane with their stuffed dogs.


It was a 1 hr 15 minute flight on "Air Do" (that is, Hokkai"do") to the city of Sapporo. This was an advertisement in the Sapporo airport; Hokkaido provides much of Japan's best produce and dairy products.


A short train from airport to Minami-Chitose, then 1 hr 15 min in this cool-looking train to the ski resort.


We arrived at our hotel - nothing remarkable - by 11 a.m.


Though tempted to nap, we rallied for lunch and enrolled Lucinda, Alex and Arno in ski lessons. Lucinda skied off with her instructor, who spoke a little English.


I maneuvered Arno into ski clothing for the first time and he hopped on the conveyor belt up the bunny hill. Ski lesson ensued - and he seemed to enjoy it.



But... three runs down the bunny hill and Arno was finished with skiing at age 3. Fortunately, most Japanese ski resorts (unlike American mountains) aren't intent on soaking tourists as much as humanly possible and they refunded the cost of lessons for Arno and Alex (who also didn't last long). I later learned that children under age 6 ski for free and adults can buy single-lift tickets for $3/ride - shockingly low prices!

I tried one expert run at the end of the day and took two spectacular falls, oh well. Then we transitioned to the real object of the children's affection: the enormous indoor pool and spa.


In this pool, the wave machine is turned on for 5 minutes every half hour. Lucinda, Anastasia and Alex loved it and we practically had to drag them out of the pool and into the spa bath.

Many Japanese ski resorts have natural hot-spring "onsen" baths; Tomamu's bath isn't an onsen but it was beautiful. After showering indoors, you bathe outside (men and women are in separate, private pools) with a lovely, lighted view of meadow and trees at night.

The second day of the ski trip was much like the first, though we signed all four children (Lucinda, Arno, Anastasia and Alex) to go with a teacher to a cabin to make ice cream. The grownups went skiing.