Day 1+2: Away We Go

Steps day 1: 9494 (7,5km)

Steps day 2: 6461 (4,7km)

Hardly slept between the 28th and the 1st. No point really since we had to be up and going by 2am. So spent the evening alternating between packing, snacking and slumbering, until it was finally time to put on our backpacks and walk the first 3kms of our trip. A beautiful clear cold night, so we walked briskly to catch the airport bus from Aarhus city center at 3am.

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We landed in Billund airport around 5.30am, groggy and uncomfortably cold in that special way you get after a one hour of constantly interrupted sleep. By 6.30 we were off again, and at around 9 we landed in CDG – aka the most annoying airport in the world – where we proceeded to spend roughly half of our 5 hour layover in inefficient queuing systems, navigating non-existing signage and (for my part) getting lost in a labyrinth of luxury brand stores. It all worked out fine, but we were very thankful not to be on a tight schedule.

The plane ride to Osaka was long and hard on our lower backs, but luckily I slept most of the way, and Jonas – well he got slept on most of the way 😅

In an effort to minimize jet lag we had decided not to eat anything from when we left home at 1am on Wednesday and until breakfast time in Japan 28 hours later. It went surprisingly easy for both of us, the only downside being that breakfast meant “plane breakfast“ which is never pleasant. So after we got through customs, picked up our SIM cards and got some cash from an ATM we settled in the airport’s food court aka “Tasty street” for some おいしいらめん　(delicious ramen), gyoza and fried chicken 🍜

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My limited Japanese came in handy in navigating the train station and soon we were on our way into the city – passing by our “old neighborhood” from eight years ago, it felt like no time had passed.

Now we’re settled in to the highest tower of the APA Osaka hotel, which true to style is tiny but has all the necessary amenities, such as a tiny tub(!), state-of-the-art fire safety equipment and origami birds. God I love this place 😅

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