Kansai Day 0: Osaka Arrival

Yeah! The bags were all packed! We have 2 huge luggage, 2 backpacks and 1 handcarry for all the winter jackets so that we wouldnt freeze our ass off if we lose our checked in luggage. There was plany of space left in the big luggage but we thought we could do with extra space for shopping. Haha.

Our flight was at 2pm and we intended to leave the house at 11am. We had wanted to bring the kids for a morning ride only to have heavy rain late into the night and wet roads in the early morning.

The boys still went ahead later the morning when the sun was up.

I opted out bcos I am a snowman. Lol. Lil Shauna is obviously not a fan of cycling. Duno what happened to our cycling genes; not passed down to her.

Then, things didnt move too smoothly. We left the house at the intended time, only to realise that one of the front wheels of our beloved American Tourist luggage was spoilt. On the way home to change into a different but smaller luggage, we realised that one of the back wheels of the other luaggage was also spoilt!!!! That is a total new luggage that we had never used before; must be the disintegration of rubber after prolong storage. Boo!

In the end, we had to quickly transfer and squeeze the stuff to the smaller luggage and still bring the luggage with the spoilt front wheel. There goes the hope for shopping. Zzzzzz. I supposed that is better than bringing 4 small luggage bags. Unfortunately, the troubles didnt end there.

We cleared the immigration smoothly and went in search of lunch.

Just when we were happily buying lunch and I recalled that we have forgotten to collect the wifi egg! Double boo! We had to frantically call Changi Recommend only to be told that there isnt any other way but to cancel the booking. We need the data plan to survive in Japan. Daddy Lim then had to quickly activate his data passport so that we could use data while in Japan based on his Singapore data bundle. Cold sweat. 

With 2 hurdles crossed, I crossed my fingers that it was finally the perfect start of our holidays! Please lah, enough headache already. 

May the angels protect us. Ehhh.. wrong angels. One of them too short somemore.

We had complimentary seats selection bcos we are traveling with kids. I took 2 window seats and the usual arrangement. 

The flight was very much survivable, other than the front seat passengers who reclined all the way, making it uncomfortable to watch movies. I "old flower" already, my poor eyes. Flying ettiquette 101, never fully recline the seat. Otherwise, the kids had their kids meal and there was a wide selection of movies. Woohoo! Zaky napped for a good hour towards the end of the flight and I had 30 mins of eye shut. Daddy Lim and Lil Shauna were the strong ones. 

Once we landed, it was to go for the Nankai express to Namba. The cold hit us the moment we stepped out of the airport but it was managable even with a light jacket. It felt like Perth!

The kids were busy trying to puff "smoke".

It wasnt as wintery cold as we thought it would be and I was worried that I had overpacked. 

Before we took the Nankai Express, we rushed to buy the Icoca cards, which are like MRT cards. Heng that they were still opened at 10pm. The Icoca cards are sold only in JR stations but usable on subways. Luckily the Icoca sales office was just right next to the Nankai express sales counter. 

The adults got the special edition Icoca cards. The kids only have the boring standard blue ones. Hoho.

The train was leaving in like 4 mins and that got us running to the platform. We were right on time and it was warm in the train. I read that it will take about 1 hr to reach Namba, which is the last stop and like 30 stops away. All the gadgets come out liao. 

It didnt take 1 hr, maybe it was express and didnt stop at all 30 stops. The hotel was 10 mins walk from the station and I made the kids wear their outer jackets instead so that we didnt have to lug them. Moreover, it was raining. T.T

Fortunately, it was really cold enough for the jackets and even more fortunately, I eventually decided to pack umbrellas. I had initially crossed them out from the packing list.

Daddy Lim was the scout leader alongside Google map. The rest of us simply followed blindly and made sure that we didnt poke somebody in the eye or step on water puddles. The latter was super hard and the kids and I ended up with wet shoes and toes. Our toes were freezing by the time we arrived at the hotel. Daddy Lim had semi water proof shoes that rescued his toes. So clever. 

We finally reached the hotel - Art Inn Namba safely and checked in. We were told that free bfast was provided. Sounds good! We arrived at our tiny room (budget hotel lah) to find a queen bed, a single bed and a mini bed. The mini bed is so small! See, Zaky barely fit into the bed. 

After dropping our luaggage, we attempted to look for dinner at Dontoburi, which is really nearby. It was still raining hard. Zzzzz. Bcos it was almost midnight, we didnt find anything interesting. 

Ended up, our 1st meal in Osaka was takeaway from the 7-11 but it wasnt at all sad. The triangle rices were seriously delicious. 

We had to turn in soon for an early morning the next day. It was after midnight when we finally did and it took me a long time to fall asleep. Yawn.

Mummy Lim