I sailed on a last minute trip to Fukuoka, Japan…
“I sailed on a last minute trip to Japan and it was honestly one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life….”
I am moving back to the USA soon, and I’ve been living in Busan, South Korea, for over 2.5 years. I decided that I needed to take a quick trip to Japan since I had never been there before. I needed to eat authentic sushi from the motherland, or else I would regret not going to Japan for the rest of my life.
I planned to take the quick Queen Beetle Ferry(a ferry that sails from Busan to Fukuoka every day). So, I went online and researched what I should do. The best and easiest option I found was booking it on the Klook app. It was so easy, and I had no problems. Click here to book your queen beetle trip. I took this trip last month, and since it’s still fresh on my mind, I thought I’d write about it, like, in very vivid detail (like my crazy spiritual Buddha dreamed last night, but I’ll save that for another post.)
It was a beautiful sunny day on Tuesday, October 10, 2023. I was already packed and ready. Later that afternoon, I went to the Busan port, where I checked in. The process went really smoothly; I had no problems whatsoever. The people working there handling everything were very kind and organized. When it was time to board, I walked towards the pathway that led me to the Queen Beetle.
The Queen Beetle
The Queen Beetle features four 16-cylinder Rolls-Royce MTU Series 1163-M04 engines, and the trimaran can reach speeds of 37 knots. I really felt like a queen on this ship. I feel like I picked the best way to go to Japan. At least on my first trip there. Haha! I still get excited and a huge smile on my face thinking about how happy I felt that day sailing to Japan.
The trip is about 3 hours and 40 minutes long. I am not one to get on ships that often, so I’m not too familiar with seasickness. They were handing out Dramamine (an over-the-counter medication that can help alleviate symptoms of motion sickness when traveling by boat or in other situations where motion can lead to nausea). I didn’t think much of it, but it got cloudy later that day.
After I sat in my seat, I felt the engine turn on and start moving. I got up and ran to the back deck, where I found other foreigners taking photos and filming the beauty of the Busan port and coast. I also made a TikTok about it, click here if you’d like to see it. After we passed under the Busan Harbor Bridge, the water started getting rocky, and it was so windy from the time I got outside that as we kept getting further into the sea, it just got windier. The ship was rocking back and forth so much that I had to go inside fast.
One of the crew members told everyone to go inside and sit down. I couldn’t walk straight. The ship was literally rocking back and forth. It was really crazy. I was holding on to anything I could when returning to my seat. I started feeling like I should take that pill because I was afraid I was going to get seasick. I hadn’t really eaten much before, so I was also scared of taking the pill on an empty stomach. So I ordered some food from the mini food place they had inside. As soon as I got my food, I took a bite and realized I wouldn’t be able to finish it. I started getting queasy. I took the pill and quickly realized that I was sleepy. I ended up falling asleep, and the boat was still rocking back and forth the whole time. Then it started raining a bit.
“I couldn’t walk straight, the ship was literally rocking back and forth. It was really crazy, I was holding on to anything I could when I was walking back to my seat. ”
I got up later and took a few pics and videos of the ocean outside the window. I felt better, and time flew by with only 2 hours left. For the rest of the time, I listened to music and connected to my new data plan so I could have internet while I was in Japan.
I left Busan around 3:00PM and got to Fukuoka around 6:30. The timing wasn’t bad, but the waiting on the boat before we got off was a little annoying. Either way, it was a good trip, and I really enjoyed it, even though there were some scary times.
I’ll continue this blog with many parts, but I hope you read about what happens next after I get off the Queen Beetle… Until then, here’s a peek at the next blog…
Arriving in Fukuoka & eating genuine Sushi Nigiri
After leaving the Queen Beetle, I went outside and looked for the taxi line. So I got in line and waited for a taxi. I already had the address of my hotel pulled up in Japanese on Google Maps. I said hello in Japanese, “こんにちは”(Konnichiwa), and showed the address to my taxi driver, and he responded with, “はい “(Hai). Then I said thank you, “ありがとう” (Arigatou) and bowed my head gently. Then, I got in the taxi…