Thursday 19 July 2012

Day 1 Japan Trip

Appologies if things dont look right on the page folks, my blog is on auto region and everything is in Japanese so I have no idea what I am clicking on.
Kansai (KIX) Airport

Been a massive day that started in a car then to a plane, then another plane, then a tram, then a bus, then a ferry and then a car.

First thing this morning at about 0300 my lovely wife Kim was kind enough to forfeit some sleep and drive me to the airport at Tullamarine in Melbourne. for a 0600 flight to the Gold Coast Airport in Queensland to meet with my connecting Kansai (Osaka Japan) airport flight, its seems I got out of Melbourne Airport in the nick of time with some sort of disruption causing cancellations and delays across the airport, this time round I opted for a business class flight as most airlines do not cater for a man of my carriage (no wise cracks please LOL), I was fortunate enough to have both seats free so I could spread myself out a bit and just enjoy some space as 9 hours would have been a killer crammed into a little middle row seat.
airport garden

I arrived in Kansai as the only person on the flight wearing shorts and crocs so a massive hit of heat as people got off the plane in 30+ temps wearing their winter woollies coming from Melbourne. I made my way through the airport up a few escalators and ended up at a tram stop, it seems you need to catch a tram thing to the main airport, I worked my way through immigration and customs and went on the hunt for the ferry that would take me from Kansai Airport to Kobe Airport, cant believe how many people spoke English as my bad Japanese was getting a few giggles before finishing conversations in English. I got my ferry ticket sorted and then had to organize a bus to get to the ferry terminal and then a 40 minute wait for the bus to the ferry. I can not speak highly enough of the folks working at the airport, as you can imagine a stranger in a strange place is daunting enough but then to not be able to speak the native tongue is a killer, the people were great and got me on my way with minimal fuss and made everything so simple.

high speed ferry
I got on my buss and then my ferry for a quick 30 minute trip across Osaka Harbour to Kobe airport ferry terminal where I met with Mr Kitagowa who was kind enough to pick me up and take me to my hotel that he had booked for me previously. I am staying at the ANA Crowne Plazza Hotel and first impressions were wow, then I got to my room and double wow, not only did I have a massive room with cracking views from the 23rd floor but they also have ashtrays inside.

Thats it for me today, I am shagged an going to bed while watching Toy Story in Japanese, its funnier than I remember it in English LOL
hotel room
view over Kobe to Osaka from hotel room

Kobe Station


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