Hey, the last day is here and we are not ready to leave. Fortunately we don’t have to rush around getting out of here since we don’t leave the hotel until 2:45 (and have the room until 2). Our plane leaves at 5:45pm. We haven’t packed yet, but didn’t really unpack much when we got to the hotel so it shouldn’t be too difficult (assuming everything new fits in our bags). So we are leisurely packing and hanging out and watching TV and having tea and pastries. It’s another beautiful day. Usually on the last day (or last couple of days) we get sort of antsy to get home and are basically done. Not this time! I’m not ready to go back to the grind yet and not done exploring Japan, but I’m sure we will be back. Osaka seems like a great location to stay. It is not as big as Tokyo (which I’ve heard can get really hectic) but it is nicely located to get to Kyoto and Nara and neighboring places easily, not to mention having interesting places itself. It is also supposed to the THE place for food, unfortunately we have a hard time with that, what with me being sort of picky and Sean being low-fat vegetarian, and with both of us hating to spend a fortune on food and with the language-barrier. Well, food isn’t at the top of our list anyway (heck, for Sean just getting a nice tofu meal or any vegetarian meal other than mixed vegetables/baked potato or pasta with tons of cheese or cream sauce or Indian food is a treat). And we were lucky that we got to experience a good japanese meal with Peter in Kyoto. We will remember Omen’s as a place to go if we go back (now if we can remember what we ordered…).
Since Holland America decided to provide us transportation to the airport (I have no idea why, but we aren’t going to push it!), we don’t have to worry about getting there. That is a big relief. We had the airport shuttle mostly figured out, but it seemed like it might be a little confusing/difficult. Again let me reiterate that there are big advantages to booking the air (and thus the airport transfers), thru the cruise line. It’s not a big deal in the U.S. or places that you know, but makes a difference in foreign places. We’d checked it out and planned beforehand for this trip but if you are not sure or can’t figure it out, it’s better to rely on the cruise line and save yourself the hassle. And as I mentioned before, if you didn’t get the air thru the cruise line, they were charging $100 per person for airport transportation in Osaka unless you had figured it out on your own. That is a rip-off, but that’s the way they did it so best to be forewarned.
After packing, we walked over to the Osaka station to get some pictures of the station and the charts on the walls for later reference. We ended up getting a later start than we’d planned so we checked out at 2pm, checked our bags and walked over for about a ½ hour until we were to meet the HAL representative at 2:30 in the hotel lobby. She was there shortly after we got back at about 2:20 (everyone is VERY punctual in Japan) and after we had our potty-breaks (mine took forever, there is ALWAYS a line in women’s restrooms), we went out to the car and driver that was waiting for us (our bags were already loaded) and headed out.
We were surprised at how long we drove to get to the airport! It was across town from the hotel, but still it was a long, long drive. And we were on highways most of the time and not in heavy traffic. I guess the distances are deceptive. It didn’t seem that it was that far on the map. It looked like it was only a little further than the dock where the ship docked and we got to the Osaka station from the dock by subway, even with several stops and a transfer, faster than to the airport from the hotel. Or maybe it just seemed a lot longer since we were just sitting in the car waiting to get to the airport. Well, it didn’t matter since we had plenty of time and it was a nice drive. It took about an hour I’d guess.
When we got to the airport, we were met by another HAL representative who took us to the baggage check-in counter and then to the machines where you get your ticket for the airport tax (2,650 yen or about $22) which you pay for only in yen or by credit card (I’m not sure if you could pay by credit card at the machines or if you had to go somewhere else – we had the yen to pay for it). The HAL representative showed us where to start the process of getting to the gate and said goodbye. Then thru several checkpoints (they really ran you thru the mill, first time in Japan that people were sort of rude). They were real sticklers for the rules. Usually Sean and I go up together at passport checks and all (since we are together). They didn’t like that one bit and had us come up separately which necessitated passing tickets and all back and forth since we had our things together (I usually keep track of all our passports, tickets, etc). Finally we got thru with all that and had a little time to browse before getting on the shuttle to go to the gates. I found a duty-free store and bought a nice bottle of sake to have later to remember our trip. We found the smoking section and I had a couple cigarettes and Sean and I had a cup of coffee (about $3.50 each, gasp!) and ate some snacks we’d brought with us. Then it was time to go to the gate.
We got on the plane and got settled in. They showed 2 movies on the plane. We had intended to watch "Babe – A Pig in the City" but fell asleep. I woke up during the middle and started watching and it was REALLY sad. After about 10 minutes I had to switch to nice music on my headset and close my eyes to avoid watching it. Fortunately I went back to sleep so we both got a lot of sleep which helped when we got home. We woke up in time for "Enemy of the State" which was a really good movie and got us all energized and ready to get going in Los Angeles. In LA we got our bags and went thru customs they just waved us thru although they were busy going thru this other guy’s luggage who had a bunch of weird shaped stuff that he brought as carry-on. He had been really obnoxious too – they were large, long pieces, it looked like digeridoos – australian long wooden instruments and when he got on the plane (late, of course), he was trying to stuff them into the overhead compartments that were full and taking other people’s stuff out and everyone was getting annoyed until the flight attendant finally came and took them and stashed them someplace else. And he was really tall and sitting right in front of Sean who couldn’t see over his head for the movie, except fortunately he went to the space next to the lavatories and fell asleep on the floor. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy… <smile>
Then we went to get our next flight and guess what, it was delayed at least an hour and a half due to weather. Since we only had 45 minutes layover in Chicago and we were catching the last flight into Fort Wayne, that pretty much blew getting home that night. After much hassle at the desks (stand in one line, oops, wrong line go stand in another line), I called our travel agent (who I couldn’t get ahold of) and CSA, our travel insurance company to find out what I needed to do (actually the person I got was not as much help as they should have been, they said just get a hotel room and keep receipts and we didn’t have to call them or anything, just fill in a claim form when actually, upon reading their contract, we were REQUIRED to officially notify them before making any arrangements or our coverage could be affected and I’m not sure they even noted in our records that I had called) and the O’hare Hilton in Chicago to make hotel reservations for that evening since I figured with the weather, it would be wise to have reservations so we didn'’ end up sleeping on the floor at the airport which I have done on more than one occasion.
Finally all arrangements were taken care of and (of course) they announced that they had received clearance to take off immediately and the plane was now boarding. I didn’t even get a cigarette and was in a pretty bad mood. We were about ½ hour late and I didn’t think we could make our connecting flight, but didn’t know what to do about the hotel reservation since we would arrive after the deadline for cancelling a reservation and not having to pay for the room. Well, we figured we’d never make it anyway with bad weather there and were resigned to staying overnight. But somehow the pilot made up most of the time (they had a good tailwind I guess and were not delayed in landing at O’hare) and we got there with about ½ hour to make our connection and we flew into Concourse B (which is the same concourse the next plane was leaving from) instead of the usual Concourse C (which involves a really long trek to get to the next plane).
So we both took off running to the plane and I stopped to call the Hilton to cancel our reservations when we got close to the next gate and looked like we’d make it and Sean went ahead to tell them I was coming. Hilton was being weird about whether or not we’d have to pay for the extra night (I’d called the 800 number) and wanted me to call the O’hare Hilton direct but I told them I had to go catch the plane and for them to tell O’hare Hilton that we were cancelling our reservation and that I would call them when we got home and sort it out. I made it to the plane during final boarding call (Sean said they had paged me but I didn’t hear it). Actually, more people got on several minutes later so I guess I wasn’t as late as I’d thought (and as they were acting). At this point I was DONE! I still hadn’t gotten a cigarette, I was frazzled and tired and I just sat there until luckily, I fell asleep.
So we get to Fort Wayne and our luggage isn’t there (surprise, surprise) so we have to fill out a bunch of paperwork and then finally we get into Erica’s car and go home. Sean had to drive out with Erica to her house to pick up our car still and I had to call the Hilton and find out what was going on (it turns out they didn’t charge us, thank goodness). And at long last, we got to bed. We left at 5:45pm on Thursday and got home at 9:15pm Thursday. Of course, we crossed the international date line at some point, and what a looong evening that was!