Travel Day(s) - flying into Osaka

H blogging here.

November 1st was our travel day.  We had our passports in hand, travel medical insurance covered, and I had 4 immunization shots two days beforehand. (NB: do not wait until the last moment to get immunized; very bad on my part).  I had a mild fever right after my shots, but thankfully I was fine on the day before because packing was not done yet.

On the day of our departure, we got to the airport and checked in.  The line was longer than we thought for 3 hours before boarding time.  The flight was full of people bound for different destinations.  It was obvious that some people were just laying over in Tokyo to go to Hong Kong or India.

So once we checked in our luggage and got our boarding passes, we did a very Chinese thing.  We went for dim sum with our family.  Because heaven forbid that an airline would properly feed you.  I guess this is all part of the trip experience, even if it is in Richmond.  The dim sum place opened up at 9:30am and we were there when they unlocked the doors.  After stuffing ourselves with dim sum.  We were dropped off at the airport.  We went through security without a hitch and were soon whisked away into the wild blue yonder with Japan Airlines.

Our flight was bound for Tokyo's Narita International Airport.  We had to fly through Tokyo because JAL no longer offers direct flights from Vancouver to Kansai International Airport, aka KIX.  One person told me that the landing fees were quite expensive for KIX and most airlines would avoid that airport if possible.  Also, the Kansai Airport is much further out of town than the smaller Osaka Airport.  So our itinerary had us fly into Tokyo's Narita International Airport, then catch a connecting JAL Express flight from Narita to Osaka's Itami Airport.

[Side note about Kansai International - the airport is built on a man-made island and sinks a meter or two every year because of the weight of the structure.]

Our flight was just under 10 hours from Vancouver to Tokyo.  I normally do not sleep well on planes, so I usually end up watching the movies or reading the paper to pass the time.  I watched two pretty good Japanese movies on the plane.  One was called The Taste of Fish about a successful worker from a trading company who discovers a new life helping out his girlfriend's father's business in the world's largest fish market, Tsukiji.  The other was Summit: A Chronicle of Stones to Serenity.  It was about a team of early 20th century cartographers from the Japanese army who set out to map and ascend to the top of Mount Tsurugidake.  Both were interesting films.  The Taste of Fish was light and comical.  Not surprising since the movie is based on a manga.  Summit was a very serious drama about how the explorers braved the elements to map an entire mountain range and attempt to climb to the top of the unclimbable Mount Tsurugidake.  I was on Japan Airlines, so I might as well watch the local cinema.

We landed about 20 minutes ahead of schedule in Tokyo.  We had to disembark and go through customs.  After customs, we went to collect our luggage from the carousel.  Once we got our luggage, we quickly found the domestic check-in to go to Osaka.  The lady at the desk offered us a couple of seats on an earlier flight. We were ecstatic about getting to Osaka earlier and took the offer.  However, the flight was to take off in 30 minutes.  We had to go back through security.  Unfortunately, they only had one line open for security for domestic flights.  Our 30 minutes soon whittled down to 10 minutes to take off by the time we got through security.  We rushed to our gate.  I don't know if you have had this experience, but my flights always seem to be parked at the furthest, or next to furthest, gates in the airport.  Most of the plane had boarded already, but thankfully there was a half-dozen of us rushing down the hall to get to the flight.  So we didn't feel so bad about being stragglers because there were so many of us.

Once on the plane, we took off for Osaka.  It was a short 1 hour flight and my flight fatigue was definitely starting to hit.  I think I managed a wink or two on this quick flight.  But it was up and down with one drink service.  It was sort of like the Vancouver to Calgary flight.

We arrived in Osaka on very blustery Monday evening.  We had left on a Sunday morning and lost a day after crossing the International Date Line.  It was really, really windy.  I was happy that I had two layers of clothes and three layers of jackets with me to bulk up. Even then, I was still feeling the chill.  Mind you, I do get the chill easily.   Did I say it was really windy?

Before leaving the airport, we remembered to get the Kansai Thru Pass from the info desk.  We wouldn't need it right away, but there aren't too many places that sell the pass.  After getting our passes, we exited the terminal and found our way to the elevated Osaka Airport Monorail Station.  We bought our ubiquitously tiny Japanese transit tickets and waited for the train. We were excited to be in Japan, but I was feeling a bit of the exhaustion.  However, I had my SLR camera out like the good photog I'm supposed to be.  I snapped photos of the platform and the signs.

 

The announcement for the next train was broadcast.  Then low and behold, a PINK monorail car glided into the station.  I was not expecting my first ride in Osaka to be a pink train, but it was all good.  I madly snapped shots of the train, but I had my 35mm fixed lens on and could not get a shot of the whole train as it entered the station.  Once on the train, we instantly soaked in the warmth.  I snapped a shot of the interior.  That instantly caught the attention of the locals.  They must have been thinking "Gaikakujin," or foreigner.  Perhaps it's the same thing we think when we see Japanese tourists in town.  I didn't really like the attention so I put my camera away.

 

We took the monorail about 4 stations to Senri-Chuo station.  We offloaded with our luggage in tow.  The connecting subway station was apparently across the street in the very bottom level of a shopping complex.  We were happily dragging our luggage along and making the easy descent down a series of escalators until there were no more escalators on the last section down to the subway mezzanine level.

We ended up manually taking our ~20 kilo pieces of luggage down the stairs.  No wonder I always put out my back, alignment, and shoulders after a trip to Asia.  Where have all the escalators gone?  Thankfully from the mezzanine down to the platform, there was an elevator.  We definitely took advantage of that.

Senri-chuo is the northern terminus station for the Osaka Municipal Subway's Midosuji Line.  We were bound for Shinsaibashi Station in the middle of town and many stations away.  I don't really remember how long the ride to Shinsaibashi was.  It must have been a mix of the elation of being in Japan and the exhaustion of the long flight to Japan.

Once we got to Shinsaibashi Station, we ran into the same problem with stairs.  There just weren't obvious signs of where the closest elevators or escalators were.  So we ended up pulling our luggagge up the stairs step-by-painful-step.   Luckily, the very last ascent had an elevator available to take us to street level.

Before flying to Japan, we had taken a virtual walk of the area to figure out where our hotel was.  I remembered that we had a McDonald's nearby.  So we walked down the main stretch until we saw a McDonald's.  I thought we were right around the corner from the McD's.  Unfortunately, the McD's was actually a block further than our hotel.  So we had walked to far.  What I forgot was that Google Street showed that there was a Kate Spade New York store directly across from our hotel.  If I had remembered that, we probably wouldn't have done a loop around.  At least, the block wasn't too big.

Kansai - planning to get around

H continuing the blog here...

One of the hardest things about travelling in a foreign country is figuring out what the best way to get around is.  When I looked initially at the transportation maps for Osaka and the surrounding Kansai region, my eyes just boggled.  It looked like a tangle mess of coloured lines running in every direction, with a minor exception of a nice big circular loop line in Osaka.  Needless to say, we needed planning.

One of the things about most transit systems in Asia is that you pay per ride and you pay by distance.  So finding the cheapest ride is not necessarily the fastest ride.  Ideally, we needed to have as little transfers as possible, so finding direct routes is best.  The other major wrinkle is that there are at least 7 different train companies running in the region in and around Osaka.  So once you change from one company to another, you have to pay again.

N did a lot of calculations and recalculations about what combinations would give us the best bang for our buck.  She really poured over the different websites and entered different permutations in a spreadsheet.  She even had to go into the Japanese side of many websites to access trip fare calculators to see what a trip would cost.  I'm very thankful that she has more of a mind for math than I do.

One thing that a lot of people buy before heading to Japan is a JR Rail Pass.  However, we weren't planning to travel outside of the Kansai area and we weren't going to be riding the Shinkansen.  So the JR Rail Pass looked like a waste of money for us.  Especially since there are 6 other rail companies that criss-cross the region.

One thing that we decided to get is the Kansai Thru Pass (or Surutto Pass).  What is wonderful about this pass is that it gives you unlimited travel on 6 of the 7 major train companies in the Osaka area for the duration of the pass.  The pass covers almost all rail except JR Lines.  We had the option of a 2-day or 3-day pass.  The 2-day pass costs ¥3,800 and the 3-day pass costs ¥5,000.  The pass must be purchased at select locations.  If you're flying into Kansai, then it's best to buy it right at the airport.  The Kansai Thru Pass also gives you coupons to use at select locations, like a tourist attraction.  Sometimes you get a small discount or you get a small complimentary gift. These coupons are only good on the days that you are using the pass.

We were planning to be in the Kansai for well over 3 days, so we needed to figure out what else to do about transport on the other days.  We knew we would be spending a lot of time in Osaka itself.  So we looked into getting the Osaka Unlimited Pass.  The Osaka Unlimited Pass has a 1-day version (¥2,000) and a 2-day version (¥2,700). Between the 1-day and 2-day passes, there is more than just the difference in time that you must consider.  The 1-day pass gives you unlimited access to 6 of the 7 major train companies within Osaka's city limits and access to the bus.  The 2-day pass only allows you unlimited access to the Osaka Municipal Subway lines, the New Tram, and the city buses.  So you have to be careful that you know which pass you have before just trying to enter a station.  Just like the Kansai Thru Pass, you can get discounts, or even free admission, to some attractions.  Again, you can only get your discounts on the day(s) that you are using the pass.  Also, the discounts are different depending on whether you have the 1-day or 2-day pass.  The Osaka Unlimited Pass can be purchased at Kansai International Airport or at one of four Osaka Visitors Information Centers.

Confused yet?  I hope not.  The two passes were life-savers.  There was one more pass that we bought when in Kansai and that's the Kyoto City Bus Daypass.  For ¥500, you get unlimited travel on almost all Kyoto City Buses.  After 3 rides on a bus, the day pass will pay for itself.  When N looked at the attractions we wanted to see in Kyoto, she noticed that many of them were not close to the train lines.  However, the buses could bring you really close to the sites.  So for the two days we planned for in Kyoto, N decided that the Kyoto City Bus Daypass was the way to go.  We just had to buy it twice.  The easiest location to get this pass would be at Kyoto Station.  At the station, either purchase the pass at the info centre or at the bus loop's info kiosk.

All right.  With transportation all planned, we ready to head off on our little adventure in Kansai.