Japan trip - Day 1

Hello everyone,

First I must apologize for taking so long to update this blog and give you some news, I’m already aware that some of you were worrying already (thank you for caring) and I was already planning on doing this earlier but couldn’t find the time to do so.

As usual I’m going to write a report on how I’ve been spending my time here not just for the blog’s sake but especially so that I can read about it and remember everything in detail years later.

Day One – Flight and Arrival
I went to work as usual on Thursday and left my workplace around 5pm. When I got home my husband was there already. We still had a lot of things to do: leave tags with information for the ones who’d come over and take care of our pets, clean the kitchen and make the beds with fresh sheets, wash some clothes and pack our suitcases. It was very stressful but eventually managed to finish it all on time. Both my brothers came by for dinner and we then left for my mom’s so we could pick her up.
So you must be wondering if all of my family took this trip..? No, the thing is in order to get regular priced tickets (they were so expensive this time round) we had to reserve a flight that left not from my own country but from nearby Vigo (Spain). So since the flight was scheduled for 7am my mother drove us there.

This is my mom. I look like as tired as I felt that day. That's the Vigo airport waiting hallway.

The airport in Vigo was still closed when we arrived; our flight was the first out of there that day. We said our thanks and goodbyes and proceeded for the gateway.

The flight was a bit tricky, we got the chance to probably ride in one of Air France’s smallest planes and there was turbulence so you can just add 2+2 but it was fast and we soon landed in Paris.
I’m not sure if you have heard about this but apparently Charles de Gaule is considered to be one of the airports people dislike the most and now I know why. We kind of got lost and ended up in another terminal and we asked about 8 people how to get back to the place we should have gotten to in the first place and got mix messages or vague ideas. The way the whole thing is designed when it comes to this sort of situation doesn’t even make any sense. We finally managed to go through. We still had to wait around 4 hours for out flight since it had been delayed for bad weather and it was a major drag. There was absolutely nothing to do and all the stores just sold the exact same thing. Just boring boring and then some more.
Finally in the plane I was very excited to check what movies were available (If you didn’t know, I don’t go to the movies very often so I just don’t sleep in the plane, I watch hours and hours of movies that are recent) but the monitor seemed to be turned off so I waited for a bit. After a while I realized that there had to be something wrong. Everyone else had the monitor working except for me and my husband and the two people in front of us. After asking countless times about it, finally, a technician came over. After checking everything they came to the conclusion that it wasn’t solvable and I nearly felt like crying. How terrible, I thought. So basically I slept more than I had ever slept in a plane and I ate and drank more than I ever did on a plane as well. It was a long flight.

We finally arrived and were given a 50euro discount ticket each for the inconvenience before leaving the plane as well as a ton of free magazines so we could keep ourselves entertained during the flight. We left and my father in law was waiting for us and we, very happily greeted each other. It was time to hit the road!

First shot after getting there and I already look ridiculous, welcome to the land where you can do just about anything (if you don't have anyone to insult that is - not my case haha) That was taken in the Osaka airport parking area.

The inside of the car showing you that the wheel is on the right side and not the left and also what mess it is to drive on the other side of the road as well. The first year i came here i constantly thought we were going to crash every 5min.

I have no idea why but I really like this photo I took of this soon to land plane.

This is something you also don't see in my country that often, a gigantic ferris wheel.

This one is dedicated to Lucy, see? ETC can mean something else XD haha <3 u

He then drove us; we stopped for a snack (mini ramen) and drink (coffee of course) and then got home. Its always such a happy feeling to see my family, I really do love them all very much.

Mini ramen, first meal here. Wasn't that good to be honest but considering it was a gas station i think its more than fine.

I don't think this is very interesting anymore but my brother will enjoy this I'm sure. Just to show that anywhere you go you can buy geeky, cutsey, fun stuff. I mean everywhere. If you have no control you'll have serious problems returning home with everything.

This one is also for my big brother. He wanted to know just how many options you have in a typical vending machine, this is pretty much it. The red button sections are hot beverages and the blue ones are the cold options. Also that's "dad".

Some gas stations have stalls outside where they cook stuff for you or sell random things... it looks as if they are having a constant festival. It's fun.

I'm a big fan of the vending machines. My favorite options are coffee cans for the winter and tea bottles for the summer. Among my favorites is Boss Rainbow. :D

That's where I'm typing from right now. It's a big neighborhood with a ton of the same buildings. If this was in my country we would assume that, by the looks of it, its a problem area where people with low income live but that's not the case at all. It's calm, friendly and pretty darn nice. Things can be so different from a place to another can't they?

Because we had a big day the next day we went clothes and bag shopping: My husband needed formal clothes and we also needed gift bags to put the souvenirs we got from Portugal in, you know… to make them look a bit nicer.

We then went to the local yakitori restaurant for dinner and we kind of were so excited that we ate till we couldn’t have a single bite more.

We got there pretty early because we were starving and also had to wake up very early the next day.

Even info and useful items are cute in Japan, it gets to a point when you don't even notice it anymore.

A pretty yummy salad (prepare for food photos every day because i adore food).

And then multiply this sort of thing by some dozens and you'll understand what we had for dinner. So much food it was ridiculous.

Finally, a place where i feel like Christmas is here! (the songs were old old olllld though haha).

Oh is food amazing in Japan if you go to the right places… :D~~

After that we headed back home where Mii-chan was waiting for us.

Poor mom can't even pick him up when standing anymore.

He is the biggest cat I have ever seen in person. He weighs over 11kgs and he is sitting in this photo after standing for 2minutes drinking water from that pot. His legs started failing a bit so he sat. He is THAT fat. o.o He has always been fat and he seems happy and healthy other than the obvious weight problem so... I dunno. I adore him, he's cute cute cute!

We exchanged gifts and stories and then went to sleep. We had plans for the next day and needed to try and make sure that the jet lag wouldn’t get in the way.

That's it for day 0 and 1. Hope you enjoy reading this. <3