Friday, 05 September 2014

And my journey begins TODAY! Armed with my Kanken and a relatively big blue backpack, I am ready to take on Japan! But of course, what’s an adventure without a little risk…. or getting into some kind of trouble?

I ran into my first problem even before leaving my home country. I had two flights to make that day. One was on Jetstar Asia to Kuala Lumpur, and the connecting flight was on Malaysian Airlines to Kansai International Airport, Osaka. Being an airline staff has its perks and drawbacks too.

Mistake #1: I overlooked the fact that it was Friday night, and Malaysians who worked in Singapore might wanna catch the last flight to KL that evening, so my chances of getting on the flight is close to zero. Unless there were no show.

Coincidentally, Mazlan was coming back from his long-ass trip and we promised to meet before I left. Got to greet the rest of the JQ7 crew from Melbourne at the arrival hall too. I had to think of my options, fast. To make matters worse, I can’t login to my staff travel portal to amend my booking, or to check if other flights were available for me to board. The only obstacle I had to cross was this flight from Singapore to KL, and it was proving to be rather impossible.

I had Seri on the line too, and the awesome girl helped me check out the flight availabilities. The earliest possible I could fly would probably be the next day. Which wasn’t a huge issue because I was at home ground, and could easily turn back.

I guess God prevented me from login into the portal for reasons He only knew at that time, because by His grace, there were 15 no shows on the flight, which means I could GET ON! Mazlan was jokingly telling me to miss my flight, so that we could meet up with Seri the next day. Don’t get me wrong, I love you both but… NOT A CHANCE, BABY!

And I’m off!

This was my first time on Malaysian Airlines and I loved the experience. No, I am not afraid to fly with MH after the two unfortunate incidents because let’s face it, it can happen to me on any flight I get on… even for work. Flew on an Airbus A330, a slightly different aircraft than what I’m normally used to. They had bigger galleys and impressively large toilets.

I spent the whole 6 hours catching up on Malay movies because what other airlines had Malay movies in their in-flight entertainment, while everyone was sleeping. The only thing I didn’t like about the whole thing is that there were too many announcements made, even if it was a night flight and everyone was sleeping. And the wake-up lights that came on for breakfast service came on so suddenly, I had quite a shock. Breakfast was so-so, because I had the omelette. The steward on my side hadn’t given a choice, even when I heard that there was rice.. But oh well.

It was nearly 7 in the morning when we landed in KIX. Disembarked, got my bags, purchased my train tickets and off I went to my hostel at J-Hoppers Osaka. Walking towards the station, I saw the walkway leading to the hotel we normally stay at when we’re here for work. Go that way? NOPE. Not this time! Unfortunately, check-in was after 3 pm, but they were really nice to hand me a blanket and let me sleep in the basement lounge while waiting for my bed to be ready.

J-Hoppers Osaka was very easy to find. I took a direct train from Kansai Airport Station (JR line) to JR Fukushima station. Turn left towards Mister Donut and turn left without going past the shop into a coloured street. At first, I didn’t know what they meant by that. But check out the road. It was literally coloured. The hostel is on the left of the street, two minutes walk down.