Onward to Aso

We've a long trip today from Hiroshima to Aso. We are heading down to one of the most southern islands of Japan, to see Mt Aso and do a gorge walk among other things. We head to the station to JR office to reserve seats for this trip and the next ports of call. Finally on train for the 4 to 5 hour journey. Stopping at Kumamoto to change to a regional train, we should be there around 3pm. Aso is the middle of nowhere so we've booked a car to get us to all the sites we wish to experience. Our accommodation, described as one of the better hotels in Aso, has it's own private onsen, a restaurant and positioned close to heaps of restaurants and convenient stores etc. Two hours into the train ride, PC says 'where's the folder? In your backpack says me. Nope, he says. Look in mine: look in my suitcase; drag large suitcase from hiding place at back of train, open (visualise exploding suitcase with smalls and other personals now all over floor and seats); stuff everything back in and........try not to panic.

The 'folder' has all our documents in it; itinerary, flights, hotel contact details, maps, pre-bought tickets to things such as the aquarium in Osaka, all the receipts thus far into the trip but MOST importantly, my international driver's licence. Without it, the hire car is not happening, meaning the entire effort to get to Aso just went out the window. You can hire a driver at $400 per day - but apart from that, we're pretty screwed. PC is now in a total state. Give Valium with small slug of scotch (our go to travel tip when things start to go awry) and pop him back in his seat while I phone the hotel to see if said folder is on the bed. Nope they advise, not there. We have no idea what happened to it and can only assume it is sitting on some train station seat somewhere. Ho Hum. Again.

Meanwhile, we arrive at our change over point, lug all the luggage out of the carriage (you now know why it's actually called 'luggage) and down to the regional line where we hop on to a little local puffing billy arrangement for an hour or so. Hop off. We then are told to exit the building and find the bus. The what? The bus she says again. What happened to the train to Aso says PC? Earthquake. What earthquake? We inquire. Arrrr, earthquake from 2017....no fix yet. Right oh, what time bus. Arrrr, 1 hour 40 mins. To get there we say? No, till bus comes.
You can go shopping over there she says. Right. Because we both love shopping and that's the first thing we'd think to do when stranded in the middle of nowhere with all this luggage. So we did as instructed and went straight to supermarket and bought a large bottle of scotch and two bottles of wine (for later at hotel, or for later where ever we ended up). Finally arrive by bus to Aso Station. So relieved. Grab a taxi, give directions, and find hotel is like 30 ks away. Driver was 90. No, I'm actually serious. He was 90. Everyone has a job in Japan. They work until they literally drop (and I'm soooo hoping his time is not up while transporting us to the hotel). He can't find it so rings his wife who offers suggestions. On arrival into the car park the meter says 20,000 Yen. By the time he actually parked the car (Ten 3 point turns) the meter says 25,000 Yen. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. We wouldn't let him help with the bags in case he broke something or carked it. So, here we are finally at our 'onsen' hotel.Read more