A very abbreviated account of my holiday trip
I shall do this by day, for what I can remember. xD
Dec. 21
Got up, got dressed, stuffed last few items into carryon (checked bags sent ahead already) and hitched a ride with my wonderful neighbor to Nodagawa to catch the bus to Osaka.
Got to Osaka around 10:30am, did some last minute shopping, grabbed lunch, then hopped on the Hankyu line towards Osaka Airport, switching to the Monorail.
Got to Itami, checked in without problems, realized I had forgotten someone, so I ran to mostly-Ghibli merchandise store in terminal. Realized 2 minutes after leaving shop that I've dropped my passport. Panicked, did speedy backtrack to checkin counter, told lady, who remember what my passport cover looked like (Thanks Erin!) Luckily, because this is Japan, someone had picked it up and turned it in. YAY. This was setting an ominous tone to the day so far, though.
Got on plane, was shaken not stirred quite throughly (really scary at times, even though I know planes don't crash due to turbulence.) Flight got into Narita Airport around 20min late.
Discovered my layover was too close, and gate was closed by the time I could get to check in. This is where it went waaay down hill. She only had two more AA flights heading to the US that evening, and she REFUSED to book me on the LA-bound JAL flight that was leaving an hour later, due to my "budget ticket." There was nothing budget about my damn ticket. :| Was told my choices were to be routed through either O'Hare or DFW, and she made the choice for me in the end (the one I would have chosen anyway, so no issues there.)
You know it's bad when a TSA agent at DFW asks if you are doing a mileage run. I told him I'd have less luggage. :P
I was originally supposed to get into LAX at 9am on the 21st, I ended up getting in at 8pm. Sigh. At least the luggage was fine.
Dec. 22-23
Mostly lazed about, met up with a few friends. Don't remember all the details, but I was pretty jetlagged.
Dec. 24
Went to Aunt's house in Costa Mesa/Newport Beach for Xmas gettogether. T'was generally awesome, food was good, got some blurays and stuff I wanted, which was nice. :) Seeing my cousin (who flew in (barely) from Newark) was also awesome. :D Came home that night.
Dec. 25
Went on a proper Mo**an-Te**ord Christmas adventure! My parents, grandparents, and myself all packed up our pennies and drove south to Valley View Casino. FREE BUFFET TIME! :D Did okay on slots, had more fun walking around enjoying the ambiance. They serve Stone Brewery ales/lagers there, which is awesome. We went to Pala Casino for about an hour after we wrapped up at Valley View. Didn't really gamble much. They don't have free buffets for newbies. BOO.
Dec. 26
Don't remember what I did in the morning, but for the evening, a bunch of us got together and trekked to Brea to go to Bucca di Beppo! We had more people than I expected, so we finally got to sit at the vaunted Pope Table. 8D Also, wubear 's birthday was within their allowed range, so she got an awesome song and a nice desert. I felt like a whale afterwards. :P It was nice to have so many people together. :D I got to drive the Lincoln, so we STOOD OUT. ;) (Not the actual car, but this is it,: http://northeastclassiccars.com/vehicle_images%5C1979%20LincolnTowncar%20460%20V-8.jpg (but in this color: http://www.seriouswheels.com/pics-1970-1979/1978-Lincoln-Town-Coupe-yellow-le.jpg))
Dec. 27-30
Did a lot of stuff. Shopping, hanging out with friends, hanging out with family...it was great. Got myself a Kindle with my collection of Amazon GCs and some extra cash. xD
Dec. 31
My Mummy's birthday! We ordered her a big cake as a surprise, and when a bunch of my wonderful friends came over, we sprung it on her. After that, we ordered about 2.5 billion pizzas from Little Caesar's, then settled in to watch movies til about 10min before midnight. :D It was great! Got to drive Mummy's car (2008 Buick Lucerne) to Riverside to drop urchinmoppet off, making that a 3 out of 3 family cars driven (I had started with the 1991 Chevy Extend-cab truck.) xD Quite a size switch from my ittybitty Japanese cars. :P
Jan. 1
Slept in, did some shopping, then packed my bags.
Jan. 2
When I was SUPPOSED to leave back to Japan. Checked in fine, sat at the terminal for some 4 hours listening to excuses, then they put us rather abruptly on the plane, only to cancel the flight 20min later. Because my wonderful family waited, my brother and dad got my luggage while I rushed to rebook before the insane line built up too badly xD I had wanted to stay longer anyway, so I rescheduled for the 7th. Then we left and got Mexican food for dinner. My Dad commented that we went to Airportland, but all the rides were broken. :P
Jan. 3-6
As I expected to be in Japan by this point, I had no real plans. I went shopping a bit more and hung out with people, mostly. Relaxed. :D
Jan. 7
Returned to LAX, this time flight left without a hitch. Got to Narita, switched to my domestic, was reminded that like 1/4 of the flight is taxiing to the far side of Narita Airport, reached Osaka, was feeling really woozy by this point, managed to reach my Toyoko Inn at Osaka Station and melted.
Jan. 8
Woke up, went to Yodobashi Camera, spent too much money, then barely made my train home. Finally got to my apartment around 3pm.
And that, my friends, was my trip in a nutshell. xD;
Dec. 21
Got up, got dressed, stuffed last few items into carryon (checked bags sent ahead already) and hitched a ride with my wonderful neighbor to Nodagawa to catch the bus to Osaka.
Got to Osaka around 10:30am, did some last minute shopping, grabbed lunch, then hopped on the Hankyu line towards Osaka Airport, switching to the Monorail.
Got to Itami, checked in without problems, realized I had forgotten someone, so I ran to mostly-Ghibli merchandise store in terminal. Realized 2 minutes after leaving shop that I've dropped my passport. Panicked, did speedy backtrack to checkin counter, told lady, who remember what my passport cover looked like (Thanks Erin!) Luckily, because this is Japan, someone had picked it up and turned it in. YAY. This was setting an ominous tone to the day so far, though.
Got on plane, was shaken not stirred quite throughly (really scary at times, even though I know planes don't crash due to turbulence.) Flight got into Narita Airport around 20min late.
Discovered my layover was too close, and gate was closed by the time I could get to check in. This is where it went waaay down hill. She only had two more AA flights heading to the US that evening, and she REFUSED to book me on the LA-bound JAL flight that was leaving an hour later, due to my "budget ticket." There was nothing budget about my damn ticket. :| Was told my choices were to be routed through either O'Hare or DFW, and she made the choice for me in the end (the one I would have chosen anyway, so no issues there.)
You know it's bad when a TSA agent at DFW asks if you are doing a mileage run. I told him I'd have less luggage. :P
I was originally supposed to get into LAX at 9am on the 21st, I ended up getting in at 8pm. Sigh. At least the luggage was fine.
Dec. 22-23
Mostly lazed about, met up with a few friends. Don't remember all the details, but I was pretty jetlagged.
Dec. 24
Went to Aunt's house in Costa Mesa/Newport Beach for Xmas gettogether. T'was generally awesome, food was good, got some blurays and stuff I wanted, which was nice. :) Seeing my cousin (who flew in (barely) from Newark) was also awesome. :D Came home that night.
Dec. 25
Went on a proper Mo**an-Te**ord Christmas adventure! My parents, grandparents, and myself all packed up our pennies and drove south to Valley View Casino. FREE BUFFET TIME! :D Did okay on slots, had more fun walking around enjoying the ambiance. They serve Stone Brewery ales/lagers there, which is awesome. We went to Pala Casino for about an hour after we wrapped up at Valley View. Didn't really gamble much. They don't have free buffets for newbies. BOO.
Dec. 26
Don't remember what I did in the morning, but for the evening, a bunch of us got together and trekked to Brea to go to Bucca di Beppo! We had more people than I expected, so we finally got to sit at the vaunted Pope Table. 8D Also, wubear 's birthday was within their allowed range, so she got an awesome song and a nice desert. I felt like a whale afterwards. :P It was nice to have so many people together. :D I got to drive the Lincoln, so we STOOD OUT. ;) (Not the actual car, but this is it,: http://northeastclassiccars.com/vehicle_images%5C1979%20LincolnTowncar%20460%20V-8.jpg (but in this color: http://www.seriouswheels.com/pics-1970-1979/1978-Lincoln-Town-Coupe-yellow-le.jpg))
Dec. 27-30
Did a lot of stuff. Shopping, hanging out with friends, hanging out with family...it was great. Got myself a Kindle with my collection of Amazon GCs and some extra cash. xD
Dec. 31
My Mummy's birthday! We ordered her a big cake as a surprise, and when a bunch of my wonderful friends came over, we sprung it on her. After that, we ordered about 2.5 billion pizzas from Little Caesar's, then settled in to watch movies til about 10min before midnight. :D It was great! Got to drive Mummy's car (2008 Buick Lucerne) to Riverside to drop urchinmoppet off, making that a 3 out of 3 family cars driven (I had started with the 1991 Chevy Extend-cab truck.) xD Quite a size switch from my ittybitty Japanese cars. :P
Jan. 1
Slept in, did some shopping, then packed my bags.
Jan. 2
When I was SUPPOSED to leave back to Japan. Checked in fine, sat at the terminal for some 4 hours listening to excuses, then they put us rather abruptly on the plane, only to cancel the flight 20min later. Because my wonderful family waited, my brother and dad got my luggage while I rushed to rebook before the insane line built up too badly xD I had wanted to stay longer anyway, so I rescheduled for the 7th. Then we left and got Mexican food for dinner. My Dad commented that we went to Airportland, but all the rides were broken. :P
Jan. 3-6
As I expected to be in Japan by this point, I had no real plans. I went shopping a bit more and hung out with people, mostly. Relaxed. :D
Jan. 7
Returned to LAX, this time flight left without a hitch. Got to Narita, switched to my domestic, was reminded that like 1/4 of the flight is taxiing to the far side of Narita Airport, reached Osaka, was feeling really woozy by this point, managed to reach my Toyoko Inn at Osaka Station and melted.
Jan. 8
Woke up, went to Yodobashi Camera, spent too much money, then barely made my train home. Finally got to my apartment around 3pm.
And that, my friends, was my trip in a nutshell. xD;