Japan

I always find the start of a holiday the hardest. The anticipation is always terrible. Early start in the am. Easy drive to Brisbane airport. Valet parking and check in all went smoothly. Jen and I feeling a little tired already. Mixture or lack of sleep and over excitement. Had overpriced hot drinks, coffee for jen and tea for me. Then waited for our first leg to Cairns.
Flight was quick to Cairns. Brought some duty free grog, for medicinal purposes, had something to eat, got some yen and then boarded our flight to Osaka. Will be leaving the tropical heat of Cairns for a nice cool 2 degrees in Osaka.

Plane ride was a bit of a drag as we were both getting tired and Jestar suck. Not impressed with them, however...
We are here. Customs was smooth and before we knew it we were through. Checked out where our hotel was, a few minute walk. Went outside and Boom! the cold hit us. Very brisk. Hotel Nikko is very nice. We were very hungry so we hit local store and brought some Japanese snacks and some alcohol. All very tasting and a good start to our Japan trip.


Now for a good nights sleep and tomorrow off to Kyoto.

Work finished for us both. A bit of last minute packing then on our way. Leaving Hervey Bay 1am to drive to Brisbane. Will drop car in at long term parking then catch our flight to Cairns then onto Osaka Japan. Staying at a hotel at airport then in the morning get sorted with travel passes, cash etc and onto Kyoto for our first port of call. Will be spending a week in Kyoto with a couple of day trips. The adventure starts.

We fly out to Japan January 11th for a 2 week trip. I will be celebrating my 50th birthday on the 18th and wanted to go somewhere special. Jens birthday is the 19th so it will be a double birthday celebration. I have been busy preparing details for the trip. Japan requires a lot more organising than other trips we have been on. We will be spending our time in the Kansai region. Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Himeji and Kobe will be the places we visit. No Tokyo. We will be based in Kyoto first then Osaka and making day trips to other towns. Have studied up on different sights and activities we will do. What we are both very excited about is the food. We love Japanese food and the culinary side of the trip is going to be a highlight. So now we will get through the xmas and new year period then we will be on our way.