Hostel Adventure!

Flew into Narita around 4:00PM, about half an hour early which resulted in half an hour of extra waiting. XP Went to one of the baggage delivery services (宅急便・たっきゅびん・takkyubin) at the airport that was highly suggested by a few friends and teachers. As long as you have a final destination, you can specify what day and what time of day you want your luggage to be delivered. Handai said that the bag has to be delivered after I've officially moved in (today) so it should come by sometime tomorrow morning. GREAT IDEA because I had one less giant bag to worry about.

After dropping off a suitcase, I took the limosine bus to Haneda airport where I would make my transfer flight to Kansai International. My Japanese was pretty rusty when I got there so the rest of that day was me being super retarded and asking staff where I should go for checking in, which train I need to take, how to buy a train ticket, etc.

My flight to Kansai was spent asleep but with amusement because I flew on a Boeing 777 from Tokyo to Osaka, a one hour flight, at night, with no more than 50 passengers. Once I flew in, me and my second largest suitcase and two carry on's made our way to the hostel located in the Chuo ward of Osaka city. After I bought tickets, the train ride was fairly smooth with only one transfer. The only hard part was lugging my bags up and down the stairs, a problem many travelers in Japan seem to wind up in. I arrived at Tamatsukuri Station and attempted to follow the directions word for word from the Guesthouse U-en website. However, it turned out I had mixed two different parts of the directions together because I got lost on the wrong side of Nagahori-dori and was looking for the hostel around the right landmark but the wrong location that was described on their website. Still attempting to adjust to the humidity and heat while pulling 65 pounds proved to be far too difficult (I know, I'm a wuss.) and ended up waving down a taxi for help. I was then literally taken about 5 more blocks down Nagahori-dori and we circled around the area till we finally found the place. Boy, some trip.

I arrived and probably looked like a damsel in distress upon walking in because the guy behind the counter immediately guessed it was me and expressed his relief thinking I must have died along the way or something considering I was rather late for my reservation. Being so tired I spoke with the staff mostly in English. Yoshi, the guy that showed me around the hostel and helped me throw my luggage up a bunk bed, didn't realize I could speak Japanese until one of the morning staff members, Emi, pointed it out after I had a conversation with her the next day.. he then started to pout because I guess he had a hard time explaining the place in English. orz But today we all had a great time just talking about traveling and stuff. I'm definitely hoping to hang out with them whenever I'm back in that area.

Here are some pictures from the hostel! After having stayed there, I'd highly recommend it for anyone who wants to go and travel in Osaka. Very English friendly (minus Yoshi, haha)