My deepest apologies with how long it has taken for me to get started on my Japan blog posts. I basically came home and was straight in to starting Uni. It has been a pretty hectic few weeks, trying to wrap my head around my timetable and figuring out when to fit in work. But I couldn't sleep so I am going to try and and least get these posts started so I don't get too far behind.
Our flight was at 6am so we had to be at the airport at some ungodly hour. Yol stayed the night and drove us, such a babe.
Stopped over at Cairns which felt like dejavu considering I had been there so recently. Cairns is pretty spectacular from above.
Lani is a babe and let me borrow her make up suitcase which was just the right size for a carry on. Both my bags were leopard print and pretty, and my passport holder was Victoria's Secret, never felt so girly in my life!
Bye Cairns
No makeup flights are the best kind of flights. It felt so good to be able to wash my face whenever I felt like it. I love travelling, but I don't think I will ever get used to flying. We were so dry. And this dryness seemed to just stay with us the whole time we were in Japan.
After a day of being in the air we finally made it to Japan, and I couldn't have been happier. Everything was exciting me so much, magazines, signs, food packets, vending machines, everything! I was a little kid all over again. Turns out that I stuffed up with booking our hotel, or we stuffed up with what airport we arrived at. I booked to stay at 'Fine Garden Toyonaka Osaka International Airport' hotel. Which I had booked because it was really close to the airport. It was actually close to the other airport, which we didn't even know existed. Which basically meant after being in the air for over 10 hours we now had to spend an hour and a half on a bus not knowing where we were or where we were going.
I mean in the end it all worked out. The hotel we were staying at was not that far from the center of Osaka. Which makes me wonder why we flew in to an airport so far away. Did we fly to the wrong airport? But that was how our Japan adventure began so it was all pretty confusing.
Background Information: I watched a documentary on Love Hotels in Japan and Saya and I became a little obsessed with the idea. We decided that for our first night in Japan we would stay in one just to ensure that the culture shock was at an all time high. We were very impressed. Other then the fact that the bed was hard as a brick and we didn't even want to consider what the room looked like under a black light, this room was a pretty great way to spend our first night in Osaka.
There was a projector above the bed that turned the wall in to a projector screen which was pretty cool. A slot machine which we had no idea how to use. A massage chair that Saya went to town on. A vending machine filled with lube, condoms and lingerie. Just what we were looking for. And the best part was the bath, it was amazing! The lights in the spa changed colour and there was of course a tv in there in case you wanted to watch some Japanese game shows.
We had kind of just forgotten how hungry we were. We decided to order our first ramen off the room service menu as we were too comfy to leave our room. It was pretty dam good for approximately $6. (Instead of writing the yen cost of everything I am just going to write it's converted price to save you the trouble.) We also had our first beers. I don't know why but when I travel this seems to always be one of the first things I want to do, drink a beer. Which is strange because I am usually a red wine kind of girl.
Ignore our thumb like faces #nomakeup
After dinner it was time to get this baby up and running.
Friends who travel together, bath together. This was a lovely way to spend our first night in Japan.
Breakfast was included in our deal. Which by the way, cost us about $30 altogether for the night! We found it on Expedia by the way. To be honest I am still not entirely sure what was in our breakfast that morning. There was this fish, that seemed to be a recurring breakfast food. An egg, a bowl of rice, miso soup, a salad and some coffee. Such a great way to dive straight in to Japanese culture.
Side note: We smoked a lot in Japan. Most of the hotel rooms we stayed at were smoking rooms. So my apologies if some of the photos have gross ashtrays in them. I guess it kind of just adds to what our experience there was really like. Also another interesting thing about smoking in Japan is that you cannot smoke and walk. You can only smoke at the designated smoking areas. Which is completely fine because there is basically one on each street corner. In fact there are more ashtrays on the street then bins, but we will get to that later.
Embracing that yellow lighting. Really brings out my inner Simpson.
Spent our morning hauling ass to get to our next hotel. It was crisp and cold, just how I like it. Was so happy to be wearing winter clothes again.
When we got to the station near our hotel we had no idea what direction to go. Found out during this event that Saya cannot read a map. Which was a bad thing because I could read maps but I was too lazy to direct us, and Saya was always in charge of directions but she was pretty hopeless. So we worked pretty well as you can imagine. So we walked the wrong way for a while with all our luggage. Then we had to walk back and go the opposite way. And THEN Saya realised that this was also the wrong way. At this point I threw my hands up and was like "Nup, we are having a break".
We went to this group of vending machines and I decided I would get this nice looking can of miscellaneous mango drink. I put the money in and all the buttons lit up, in that moment I think my brain broke. I literally pressed the closest button to me. There was no thought in the process. The lights turned on and I just pressed the first button I could. So I ended up with some Wonda coffee.Which is coffee that is hot, in a can because Japan. I still can't get over this moment. Words can't describe how truly weird it was. Why did I just instantly press a button. It's like as if I had forgotten how to human for that brief moment in time.
Shoutout to this babe for making my first time in Japan an amazing experience. Every moment was made that much better just knowing that she was by my side. Get used to seeing those cheeks, there's gonna be a lot of them in the upcoming posts.
If anyone is travelling to Japan please buy me this candy in bulk. I mean seriously buy me at least 100 bags. By far the best lolly I have ever eaten in my life. Mango and yoghurt gummies. It was literally the first candy I had in Japan and it just blew my mind.
This is the start to my first day in Osaka. This was just an introduction post. I really need to get back to studying. I really don't want to fall behind. I put far too much effort getting in to uni as a mature age student to stuff it up now. Even if I am only doing a Bachelor of Arts. My goal is to transfer in second semester into Bachelor of International and Global Studies. Wish me luck. Will try and post the next post as soon as possible.
erica
Babes.
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