Day 1 - Osaka - The Adventure Begins!

At a startlingly early, caffineless 4.30am, Adelaide and I were roused out of our sleep by our alarm clocks. We were packed and ready to go, but understandably slow at that time of the morning. I had had a hard time getting to sleep the previous night thanks to mulling over all the things I might've forgotten, and all the things we needed to do, but in truth we were pretty well prepared.

Dad kindly dropped me over at Adelaides at 10 to 5, where we said our goodbyes and headed out to the airport courteous of Jensen-Manfield Cab Co. We got a little confused at the QANTAS desk as the lady was a little unclear about our luggage - whether it had been checked to Cairns, or all the way through to Osaka. Despite being an hour / hour and a half early to the gate, I pointed out all the big planes and the differences between them (I'm sure Sophie's dad would be proud) to an interested Adelaide.

The first leg of our flight (QF798 to Cairns), was the usual 2 hour slog and we had a bit of a rough approach thanks to the thermals apparent with the hot day. Adelaide had highlighted to me that she hadn't gone to the loo before we landed, which made me think, and suddenly there was a keen urge to leave the plane. Of course, Murphy's Law, the gate we were booked at had another idle plane which had to be moved, adding another 20 minutes of agony.

We relieved the plane (and ourselves), and made our way out to collect our bags. The carousel eventually stopped running and we had under an hour to make our international connection (keeping in mind immigration, customs and so on), and so a flustered (and not irrationally stressed) Adelaide headed over to the International terminal to inquire at the Jetstar Desk. (Quote: "Word Vomited my stress onto the helpful lady at the service desk").

I gave Dad a call and he was as confused as we were. Shortly after which, Adelaide confirmed they'd been transferred automatically. A really great service if they'd been a bit clearer about it. We joined the line for customs and security and had a bit of anxious wait, watching the time tick down. Thankfully we made it with 15 minutes of snack-buying time remaining.

Our second leg, JQ15 to Kansai International, was on a Boeing 787, one of the newest in the fleet (see, Adelaide loved my facts). It was quieter, and had some more customer-oriented mod-cons (like more controllable humidity and a friendlier cabin pressure), and a new design of window shades which were electronic controlled and could be scaled down to black. When we were cruising they dimmed down all the windows and it cast an unusual blue hue in the cabin. (Adelaide was riveted).

While the 787 was all new and shiny, perhaps Jetstar should work on their inflight entertainment. As one of the disgruntled passengers sitting a few rows in front of us pointed out multiple times to the hostesses, it wasn't working on the side seats. They ended up restarting the system a handful of times and eventually gave up and everyone received free entertainment. Addy and I were quite thankful for it in the end, as we watched 'The Giver' and 'Avatar', as well as some educational David Attenbourough (seriously, ask Adelaide about aphids) and were still a little bored in between.

The visual approach into Osaka was a little disappointing because it was cold, but that was welcome once we were on the ground and headed into the terminal. Aside from immigration, we think that's the fastest we've managed to get through an Airport (the first check of the carousel and our bags were there).

Then came the fun of figuring out the train to Shin-Osaka station - with very few English signs. We managed to change a ticket machine to English and bought some JR tickets to Shin-Osaka. As we headed down to the platform we saw a train was already there, so we jumped on and were on our way. As the Ticket officer pointed out to us, however, it was an express train - not the train we'd paid for, so we had to fork out another thousand yen. Still, better than getting caught by a Translink officer.

Despite our infringment, we made it to the bustling Shin-Osaka station, and just a quick walk down the road to our hotel - Shin Osaka Station Hotel. The room is about 2m x 4m wide, with a bathroom that could easily be put into a camper-van, but it's cosy.

After a quick search for an ATM, we ended up getting dinner at a place around the corner - it remains nameless - but was amazing. For $10 AU (970 Yen), Adelaide ordered Japanese curry for 300 Yen, and I bought some Garlic Chicken for 670. It was cool because you ordered out the front on a vending-like machine, said Hi on your way to be seated, and the food came out in less than 2 minutes. We finished off with a dessert of vending machine hot chocolates (100 Yen ea).

Tomorrow we meet with Azumi for fun fun fun... and some exploring of Osaka. Till then!