Friday, October 28, 2016

Click here to read our journal from the first half of this trip: Cambodia 

The alarm went off entirely too early, but we had to make sure we could get our luggage so we got ready and made our way down to a lobby already full of people looking to catch the 5:00AM bus back to the airport. At least there were free packaged sweet rolls and biscuits at the reception desk for a quick, simple breakfast. 

Enrish at the Handsome Hotel

The bus, after loading all the passengers, took off at 5:15AM and we arrived at the airport at 5:30AM. The bus driver was driving really fast and honking his horn at everyone. We got through to the luggage area, the pile of unclaimed luggage had grown immensely overnight but, unfortunately, ours wasn't in the mix. We got in line to talk to the person; twice people cut in front of us, which I'm getting tired of happening all the time in China. The guy behind the counter said he had no information about our bags and, if they weren't in the massive pile outside, then we'll have to file a missing property report. So we did. They said they would forward the luggage to Osaka if they found it. Sigh. At least we were given our new boarding passes without difficulty. We got some breakfast and boarded without issue.

Lost luggage at Shanghai airport

We arrived in Osaka around 12:30PM local time. We checked the luggage carousel hoping against hope that our luggage had somehow transferred. Alas, no duffle bags, so we proceeded to exit. Customs was so quick, friendly, and efficient. We exchanged some cash, then got on the train. Shane had sent us very clear directions on which trains we needed to take, it was very easy and simple. However, the photos he sent us to show us how to walk to his place from the train station never loaded so we didn't know where to go. Luckily I had Shane's address in conji printed out and we found a policeman who actually had a zoomed-in map of the area. He pointed out the building we were looking for on the map, we took a photo of it, and within 20 mins, we had made it to Shane's place...phew! Unfortunately, there was no way to let Shane know we were home and safe: no Internet access as we didn't have his WiFi password. I had the clever idea of turning on his Playstation, signing into one of our accounts, and messaging him in hopes it would buzz his phone.

Mat knew we were close to Shane's house because Shane would run to McDonalds very quickly between online gaming matches

Not too long after we arrive, Shane got home. Poor guy was stressed out that we got lost and he didn't have his PS4 messenger buzzing so never got our message. But we were here and safe. Shane took us to a family pub that translates roughly to Chicken Family. One orders food on an ipad and when the ticket prints through in the kitchen all the cooks yell out. It was entertaining and the food as delicious!

Family Chicken pub

We headed back to Shane's place, stopping at Circle K to grab some items. Shane had a theory about our flight being canceled - when he came home to the US, they canceled his flight due to the military exercises. The woman who told us the flight was canceled said it as due to air traffic so it is a possibility that it was due to the military. He had a theory about our luggage - the plane we were supposed to fly to Japan never left Shanghai and was scheduled to fly to Japan tonight landing at 9:20 PM. At 9:45PM, we called the luggage area at KIX to see if our luggage arrived from this flight. Unfortunately, the office was closed until the next morning so we will call then. I was bummed because our original plan was to spend the three days Shane was working hiking the Kumano Kodo from Tanabe to Katsura.  Now, not only have we lost a day in Japan, but we have no luggage with our hiking gear.  Maybe we'll just do from Tanabe to Hongu Taisha. Now time for bed. 

Relaxing with a cider at Shane's place

Main                                                               Next >>