I’m currently sitting in a very small (but not unpleasant) hotel room in Osaka. It’s the farthest I’ve ever been away from home, the first time I’ve been in a non-English speaking country and the first time I’ve seen the sink drain the opposite way (I had to check).
The flight was unremarkable. Well actually, flying is pretty remarkable when you think about how big the plane is, but nothing of great note occurred. We had a brief stopover in the Gold Coast – the transit lounge seemed like a game of musical chairs with 200 people, 199 chairs and boarding calls providing the music.
Arriving at Kansi International Airport, Osaka, the first thing we noticed was the heat. Apparently Summer hasn’t decided to let Autumn begin just yet – we’re looking at +30 °C days for at least the next week. Of course lugging around suitcases and backpacks as we attempted to find a way from the airport to our hotel didn’t help matters. Stage one was a train to Namba, which was easy enough to manage (once we realised we should ditch the all stops local train and get on the express that pulled in on the next platform). On arriving there we had to get change to the subway, which, after about ten minutes of going up and down escalators and looking at maps with not a word of English on them, we managed to do.
It was only when we started to look for the hotel that I realised that despite so much careful planning, we’re really going to be out of comfort zone for the next few weeks. Street names don’t seem to exist that much in Japan, so most places provide a map showing their location in relation to other landmarks (7-Elevens, McDonald’s, etc). Turns out that’s not much use if you can’t find the 7-Eleven. We stood outside Shinsaibashi Station for a while, doing our best impression of lost Westerners, and eventually someone offered us some directions. Setting off down the street full of confidence, what was meant to have been a one minute walk from the station had turned into ten, and we still had no idea where we were. I tried asking a few people for further directions, but no one could shed any light on where this hotel might be. We started doubling back and by sheer luck I looked down a side street and saw “Hotel Villa Fontaine” – hurrah!
We seem to be staying on a bit of shopping strip, but we’ll explore further tomorrow. And hopefully be able to find our way back…