It was a sad day, but all good things must come to an end. I packed my bags, loaded up with local chocolates and souvenirs, and handed in my rental skis.
After saying goodbye to the wonderful staff at the fantastic Villa Nozawa, I set off for the bus station.
Wish I could have stayed another day - it would have been fun to see a cow and a crocodile come flying down the mountain!
The trip home was fairly uneventful. I stopped a while in Nagano, and picked up some chopstick sets to bring home while I waited for my train.
Once in Tokyo, I had to get the train back to Narita International Airport. This is where things got interesting.
I ended up missing the train I originally planned, and attempted to get the next one. Then managed to get lost on the station, and missed the next one too. Seriously - I swear there were more signs in English on my way in!
Having missed that train too, I was really starting to worry about missing my flight. I figured out that there was one more train I could catch, but it actually ran on a different railroad, so I had to rush to get to the right station.
Naturally, this train was not covered by my rail pass, so I had to figure out how to work the ticket machines in a hurry. It was tight, but I made it to the train just in time. The delay meant that I wasn't going to have a lot of time before checking in for my flight, either.
Once at the airport, I quickly looked at the duty free shops. I would have liked to have spent more time here, but I was really just looking for Royce chocolate. Back in Nozawa Onsen, I'd been told this is the best chocolate in Japan. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but it was pretty damn good.
I didn't manage to sleep in the flight home, but did manage to catch the sunrise. It looks pretty different when you're above the clouds!
All in all, I had a fantastic trip. Would definitely do it all again!