Day 1-Brisvegas to Osaka

After battling with an extraordinary number of cars trying to get into the international airport, Paul dropped Gabby and I off this morning for our ✈️ to Japan. Jetstar self check-in was chaotic to say the least and Gabby and I discovered a similar inability to scan our passports! Fortunately, we got there in the end. Our packs were the lightest I have ever travelled with, weighing in at just 8kg each (plus a couple of kg for our day bags).

Bottles of water, coffee and almond croissant (for one of us, not naming any names, Gabby) purchased and we settled in to wait for departure.

We left a bit late but ✈️ was uneventful and we arrived only a little later than expected. Getting through all the check-in points to exit the airport was relatively painless, in the end, although I was a bit worried my luggage had not followed us to Japan when Gabby's appeared almost immediately and mine just, didn't.... Until it did, and then all was right with the world.

Cash was then extracted from a dit-dat machine, rail pass was purchased with the cash we just extracted, train platform was identified. Slight panic then ensued when I realised I had left my day bag at the rail pass machine and had to dash out of the railway station area to reclaim bag (disconcerting the staff and getting a lesson on how to properly scan your pass to exit on the way!!). Bag was fortunately just were I had left it - thank goodness for Japanese honesty!!

Anyways, we then took a train one (quite long) stop to the mainland and navigated our way to our accommodation, Hotel Star Gate (no relation to the tv/movie franchise, disappointingly). We were given a premium suite on the 48th floor, just 5 down from the top,. It all looks a bit swish, with bathrobes and slippers and a plethora of free stuff in the bathroom. Very comfy beds and hopefully enough pillows for Gabby....

Tomorrow's challenge - work out how to use a Japanese bidet!! Oh, and the four different trains we have to use to get to Kyoto....Read more