Travel: Sydney to Osaka

Kate and I left home about 10.30pm the night before we were due to fly out and drove the 5 hours to Sydney. We stopped halfway for a little nap, but we were too excited to sleep. Our flight was due to depart just after 6am. We got there with plenty of time to spare, and so we tracked down some food and ate breakfast.

The first leg of our trip takes us to Cairns, where we disembark and switch to the International terminal for our flight to Osaka. We have a 4 hour stopover which is pretty boring, to be honest, but I have a little bit of a nap to catch up on the sleep I lost driving to Sydney. 

We finally board and Kate and I are so excited to be on our way to Japan.

The flight is very smooth and it feels like it goes quite quickly. The Dreamliner is a fantastic plane, quite comfortable and the food is decent enough. We watch the sun set on the first day of our trip and we know we are getting closer to our destination.

We arrive at Kansai Airport at 7.30pm and the first thing we do after we collect our baggage and make our way through customs, is go to go and get a data sim card. There’s a little outlet at the airport and we pick up a sim each, we put them in and we are ready to navigate to the hotel near Namba Station. We walk to the train station and we work out the ticketing machine much quicker than we thought we would. We get our tickets and hurry to the platform.

We catch the wrong train, but it’s ok, as it’s just a slower train as opposed to going to the wrong destination. We get to Namba Station and open up Google Maps to find our way to the hotel. Along the way, I am just walking in absolute awe. I can’t believe that I am actually here in Japan and seeing all these sights with my own two eyes. The colours and lights are amazing. I just want to drink in the atmosphere.

We are staying at Osaka Fujiya Hotel. I found the hotel on Booking.com. It’s small, but comfortable and it’s all we need for our first night here.

After we check in, we decide to head straight back out again and explore Dotonbori. I just have to keep pinching myself that we are here!

I had read about Okonomiyaki before I left and I knew I wanted to try them out. So after wandering around a bit, I decided to get some from Dotonbori Konamon Museum. There is a bit of a line up but it doesn’t take long to get them. Bearing in mind, I had no idea what Okonomiyaki actually was before I left for Japan. I found out pretty quickly after my first bite – squid. I was not expecting that and to be honest, I wasn’t a huge fan. There’s six in a box and I eat two before deciding that was enough for me!

Afterwards, Kate decides she would like some ramen noodles, so we find a little restaurant and order some. The shop is so small, but the food is dished up so quickly, the diners cycle through quite quickly.

And then we go back and sleep. Heavily, because we’re both exhausted.