(Mis)Adventures in Japan: The Schedule & Day 1

Every year, we travel as a family during my mom's birthday month to celebrate her birthday. Either local or international travel yan, depende sa mood niya. For the past 2 years, puro international ang ganap. 2013 was celebrated in HongKong-Macau and 2014 was celebrated in Brunei.

For this year, we were suppose to go to Korea pero hindi na namin itinuloy dahil baka raw ang corporate planning ng office ng dad ko is at Korea. Pero buti na lang din at hindi dahil sa MERS-CoV. Mahirap na di ba?

Last February, we went to SMX Travel Expo to check on promo flights. We got a promo flight going to Japan via PAL. Actually, the price seems not to be a promo kasi mahal pa rin ang kuha namin compared sa mga Piso fare ng Cebu Pacific or promo flights ng AirAsia. We got it at around P16k each. Ang pampalubag loob na lang is you can earn miles from it, it includes meals and 2 check-in baggage (50lbs each). Hehe!

So there! Japan it is and medyo napaaga ngayon. Instead of August, July ang naging alis namin kasi summer sa Japan kapag August at baka di raw namin kayanin ang init.

As usual, ako ang in-charge sa schedule and everything. That's always my role. Siyempre, effort ako in preparing it. As much as possible gusto ko kasi sulitin yung stay namin. Our schedule is from July 1 to 8. Pero kulang pala yun days na yun. Di ko nga alam kung paano sisiksikin ang mga pupuntahan eh. Buti na lang at may mga nakuha kaming flyers from the travel expo, at least may guide ako.

So here is the schedule that I prepared:

 

Yan din yung schedule na sinubmit namin for our Japan VISA. We got the services of Discovery Tour Inc. to process our Japan VISA application. P800.00 lang per head ang binayad namin. Mura sila compared to other travel agencies which is libo mag-charge. Mabait sa amin ang Japan Embassy, they granted all of us a 5-year multiple entry VISA. Bongga di ba? Pwede pa ulit bumalik!!!

So you saw already the schedule that I prepared... And guess what? Isa lang ang tumama ang schedule dun. Yun ay yung pagdating namin sa airport for our departure. Hahaha! It's either late na kami nakakaalis or di na namin pinuntahan yung mga nakalista. Haaayyyssstttt...

Alam niyo ba, ako pa naman si Miss OC. So pag-sinabi ko na yan ang schedule, yan dapat ang schedule. Kaya na-stress ako sobra sa pilit na pagsunod sa schedule na yan. Kaya pati yung mga kasama ko, na-stress din. Hahaha!

Share ko conversation namin ng dad ko about the schedule:

Papa G: Anak, ini-stress mo naman masyado sarili mo dahil sa schedule natin. Pati tuloy kami na-sstress sa iyo...
Me: Kanino pa ba ako nagmana?
Papa G (aminado): Kaya nga. Nagdaan na ako sa ganyan. Di ka na dapat matulad sa akin. Ganyang ganyan ako nung kaidaran mo ako.
Mama G (singit sa usapan and referring to Papa G): Parang ngayon di siya parati nagmamadali...
Papa G: Kaya nga dapat di na ako gayahin eh. And remember, it's not the destination but it's the journey...

O di ba? May nalalaman pa si Papa G na it's not about the destination but the journey. Wala naman akong ibang pagmamanahan kung hindi siya. Hahaha!

So balik tayo...

Everything went smooth naman sa Centennial Airport except na sobrang init sa airport that time. As in nakakajabar! Anyway, we got our boarding passes...

We just patiently waited for our boarding time. Ang maganda sa amin, kami ang priority sa pila. Eh paano ba naman, buntis ako tapos may kasama kami infant and senior citizens. Hehehe.

Here are some of our pictures inside the airplane:

Ian, Chris, Papa G & Mama G

Christoff & Doc Padu

My brother, Paolo, and his fiance, Liezel

and of course,

Me

For this plane ride, medyo magiging memorable sa akin. Eh paano ba naman, sa sobrang katakawan ng bunso ko (Christoff), inupakan yung meal sa airplane plus uminom pa ng 1 tetra pack ng milk. Ang kinalabasan, nagsuka!!! Nagcause tuloy ako ng pila sa CR ng airplane plus nangamoy suka ako all throughout. I learned na my lesson here. Kaya nung pauwi kami, di ko na masyado pinakain. Hehe!

The flight going to Japan is smooth at first. Then nung malapit lapit na kami, medyo turbulent na. Umuulan ulan kasi that time sa Japan eh. Basta ma-clouds, nagiging turbulent ang flight. Pero praise God, we arrived safely at Kansai International Airport. In fairness ha, ang galing ng pilot namin kasi di namin ramdam yung pagland. Sobrang suabe...

At the airport, di naiwasan na magpapicture sa wall kung nasaan ang favorite Marvel character ng kambal...

Ian & Chris

At sige na nga, family picture na rin...

Doc Padu, Christoff, Ian, Me & Chris

Then in going to the immigration area, we rode a train. At dahil excited pa lahat magpapicture, di namin pinalagpas ang pagpicture picture sa loob ng train.

Mama G & Papa G with Ian & Chris

Me, Doc Padu (with his gay pose) and Christoff

Ok yung angle ko dito ano? Hindi halata ang aking preggy tummy... Hehehe!

At the immigration area, dun na nag-umpisa magkalintik lintik ang schedule namin. Eh paano ba naman, mala-Pantera sa haba ang pila tapos iilan lang ang immigration officers. Imagine, more than 2 hours ata kami doon. Nakakawala ng pasensya talaga. Parang wala kami sa Japan eh. Haaayyysssttt talaga...

Finally, nakalabas na kami sa immigration, kaya masaya na ulit...

Ian with Papa G

Ian with Mama G & Chris with Papa G

Then at the train station, pila ulit kami to get our Japan Rail Pass (JR Pass)...

With the JR pass, you can ride all JR trains for free for 7 days. We got the ordinary JR Pass which costs 29,110 Yen each.

So there, finally we boarded the train going to the apartment that we rented at Namba area...

Chris & Me

Ian, Doc Padu & Christoff

We arrived at the place that we rented past 11:00pm already. Kaya ayun, di na kami nakaikot sa Dotonbori. =(

So that's our adventures and misadventures during day 1... Wait na lang ulit sa susunod na kabanata...