The journey was OK - We flew KLM this time as we were flying into Osaka rather than Narita. We are spending these two weeks in the south of Japan, so it seemed more sense to fly into Osaka.
The journey was ..... Well as bad as it was the last two times...... Long and sleepless!!! KLM looked after us really well. The in flight movies were OK and managed to watch a couple of them. We both tried to sleep - but it was not happening for us.
Arriving at a different airport gave us some lovely new challenges. Osaka airport (Kansai International) is on a man made island, so it initially looked like we were going to land on water .... But we didn't. One of the first things we noticed was how warm it was - it's very warm here at the minute ... Touching about 18 ~20 degrees - and I brought a coat! Everything is signposted so we easily found the train station and bought our tickets for the 75 minute journey to Kyoto station.
We got the Haruka Icoca tickets ...... These come with pre paid cards for the subway and trains. Didn't think Scott would be too impressed with the Hello Kitty card, so I got him a different one - the Thunder and Wind Gods .... He's happy with that one!!
So far so good...... But then we need to get from Kyoto station to the apartment downtown. There is a subway stop about a 2 minute walk from the apartment so we jumped on that ..... However, we didn't take into account the amount of stairs we would have to climb up with our suitcases - where are the escalators when you need them??? At one point a young lady asked me if she could help..... I think my suitcase weighed more than her but she insisted on helping - lovely lady!
Scott found the apartment really easily and actually met Hiroshi san at the door. He took us into the apartment, showed us around, then left us to get on with it. I wanted to lie down a sleep - but it was only 1:30 so we needed to stay awake - unpacking, shower and
walk it is then!!!
The apartment is lovely and has everything we need. It's in the seventh floor so we get some good views of Kyoto and the surrounding hills.... I'll take a photo later.
It's located down a back alley way.... However, with the amount of cars that come down there, it's like we are staying on the A1.... Fortunately as we are so far up, we don't hear any of the noise.
We are right downtown and within spitting distance of a subway (the one with all the bloody steps!!!). We were eager to get out there and start to explore...... So shook off the jet lag and got out there.
We didn't stray too far - but Scott knew exactly where he was going ..... The bloke is like a bloodhound and an elephant .... Knows his way round and never forgets!!! It's been two years since we were last here, but he has remembered where everything is!!
We needed some supplies ..... In typical English fashion I really needed a nice cup of tea!!! So the hunt was on for a shop. Of course we are in Japan, so we are never more
than 2 minutes from a combini (local shop) and there is a Lawsons right by us, a 7 Eleven, a K and a Fresco .... Perfect!!
Shopping done - milk first and then some food..... Lovely fresh sushi for me and a big pot of noodles for him.
It was at that point that I started to get really REALLY tired - so back to the apartment. By now it's almost 7pm and I am dropping. We've now been up for 26 hours - lost a Thursday - gained 9 hours and flew half way round the world .... zzzzzzz's are definitely needed.
I finally passed out about 9pm but woke up at 2am and couldn't get back to sleep. Managed to drift off again about 3 and had another couple of hours. Scott was no better, however we both felt much fresher this morning. Now to start the holiday . . . . .
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