magnets on my fridge: ENROUTE TO THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN

I booked the tickets for this Japan trip of ours a year ago.
I was lucky enough to score 3 roundtrip tickets for just 17K. Roughly, 6K each person.
This is really a steal because a round trip ticket for 1 that is booked the last minute could go as high as 25k.
Thank you once again, Cebu Pacific!

Except for a brief stop over in Nagoya on the way to the United States a couple of years back, it was our first time in this country.

For those who know me personally, you could attest that my stress reliever after a hard days work is to prepare for a trip.

It is also my instant "upper" whenever I am sad or feeling under the weather.

So, that being said, I had 12 months to prepare for this big adventure of ours.

And, by the time we were scheduled to leave, everything was all set down to the minute details.
The hubby was thrilled to bits how I could pronounce Japanese sounding places with ease and familiarity.

It was as if I have been to Japan already what with the details all nailed down in my travel journal.

We left around noon time for our 3:40 flight to Osaka.

Since we had plenty of time, we decided to have a very early dinner at the airport.

Burp! That was filling. Hope it lasts us until touchdown.

The airplane left on time.
And it was smooth and turbulence free. Hooray.

The little one even got "comfy" on the floor.

And, after almost four hours, we were already touching down on Kansai International Airport.

It wasn't that late really but the airport seemed deserted.
There were hardly any crowd at all.

We are not even five minutes in Japan and already, we were impressed by the kind of attention they give to passengers especially to my Mom who was on a wheelchair.

In lieu of an elevator in the Arrival Tube, their elevators could carry guests on wheelchair
with just a push of a button. Amazing!

We landed on Terminal 2 and we all had to transfer to Terminal 1 for immigration and to get our bags.
Ate Lyn was thrilled to bits when she realized that we had to ride a monorail in between Terminals.

Her exact words were " Wow, may LRT sa loob ng airport!"

When we arrived in Terminal 1, our bags were already out of the carousel and were already wating to be picked up.

All accounted for: Four bags and a baby!

And Oh, it was worth mentioning that the moment the doors of the plane were opened upon our arrival, Mom's own wheelchair and Rocco's stroller were already by the tube.

Now that is one for the books for us. We have traveled many times in both domestic and international destinations, but it is only here where this happened.

Very convenient especially for physically challenged seniors and babies.

This was already Terminal 1 but already, para pa ring walang tao at 9PM.
Most likely it was because it was orderly and HUGE!

We then proceeded to the office where we had to exchange our JR Pass Vouchers into the actual Japan Rail Pass.

Ginto ang presyo nito. Pero sulit din naman pala in the end.

I will tell you more about this Rail Pass in succeeding posts as this is one of the most essential thing you should have in your possession when traveling in Japan.

You have to buy it BEFORE you step foot in Japan and it was rather EXPENSIVE!

The Office was easy to locate and was just beside the Train Station going to the City.

Armed with our rail passes, we can literally go anywhere without worrying how to get tickets or tokens, etc.
So, off we went to our hotel in Shin-Osaka.

Easy to find as all signs are with English translations.

We noticed that it was a bit cold while we were standing on the Platforms.

Our train is approaching. It was on time.

First time!

We boarded the Airport train and even there, and we noticed immediately that there weren't much passengers too. Where have all the People gone? Hehehe.

Mommy and Ate Lyn were obviously tired but that did not stop them from
having their picture taken. Such camwhores. Hehe

The trip to the city was around an hour long.
It was almost ten in the evening already by the time we reached the Shin Osaka Train Station.

At around that time, we were already very hungry.
Unfortunately, most of the shops were already closed.
Good thing we found this store which turned out to be the counterpart of 7-11 and Mini Stop here in the Philippines.

So much for "authentic" Japanese fine dining the moment we step foot in Japan
like we planned. We had to settle for microwaved dinner. Boo!

Lucky for us, it was not so bad at all.

But let me tell you that food in Japan was very expensive.
For the pork-rice-veggies combo we ordered alone, we had to pay 500 yen which was roughly 250 pesos.

This is only the first day and already, we were broke! Huhuhu...

It was fine but it costs way too much. Dito sa atin, I wouldn't pay more than 100-120 bucks for this. Seriously.

Worst, a can of Soda amounts to 150 yen (Php 75.00 roughly). An order of extra rice would set you back for 130 yen (Php 65.00!).

Mukhang nabusog naman ang Barkadahan.

Kawawa naman ang Birthday boy. Nakasalampak sa sahig ang Birthday Dinner.

After eating, we had no difficulty in finding our Hotel for the next two days.
Because I have foreseen that we would be pooped at this time after the plane ride, I booked rooms in a hotel that is INSIDE the Train Station itself -REMM SHIN OSAKA.

Remm Shin Osaka.
Sleek, Shiny and Mid priced.

If the food was expensive, a night in a three star Hotel room is way too COSTLY!
As in, the cost of a night's stay in an average hotel there is the same if you book in Sofitel or Shangri-La for the night here in our country.

And, If I make mention, the rooms were VERY SMALL. Incredibly minute to be downright truthful about it.

Too bad I could not locate the pictures we took inside the room.
But I tell you, I could not even open our luggages without bumping into the bed or the door.

It was modern, beautiful and functional though, I must say.
But still very small. Hehehe