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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

May 10th - I don't wanna leave!

It's our last day in Japan before we head back home to Korea!  We were sooo happy for the weather reporters reports to be wrong about the weather while we were in Kyoto!  It was supposed to rain the whole time we were there, but it ended up being beautiful and sunny all 4 days, until this morning!  Granted, a little drizzle of rain never hurt anyone!  It was actually really beautiful to see the cobblestone streets gently covered in sparkling water!

We spent the morning walking through our neighborhood near the hostel.  This was not the first car I saw dotting a million small stuffed animals in it's windshield!  To each his own, I guess!

Aaron and I had watched a documentary about GEISHA's before we came to Japan... so we knew that their life was much more difficult than we imagined!  They wake up early, every morning, to attend etiquette, dancing, and music classes so they can be perfect entertainers!  We saw these three GEISHA walking, single filed, with the oldest leading the way, to their class.

We knew there would be more coming, so we hung out here, next to the alleyway where they would walk to get to their class, and sure enough, 2 more came along a couple minutes later!  Can you believe they look like this at 8 in the morning!?

Me with some Japanese high school students!

One last couple picture in my favorite spot on the famous bridge in Gion!

We went to Kyoto station around 11:20am to buy our train ticket to Osaka to catch our flight home. We paid 2,960 yen ($36.54) for the Kansai Airport Express train, one of the most comfortable 2 hour and 45 minute train rides I've ever had!

We caught the 12:10pm train and jumped aboard!

Unfortunately though, we took it to the WRONG AIRPORT in Osaka!  BIG OOPS!!! Who knew there were 2 airports in the same city?! I used the Kansai airport last time I was in Osaka, so I figured we would be going there, but we were scheduled to fly out of Itami, Osaka airport, which is nowhere near Kansai airport!  We realized we were going to the wrong airport 5 minutes before we arrived there, and 45 minutes before our scheduled departure to Fukuoka!  I felt terrible, since it was my fault that we got on the wrong train, but Aaron was a good sport!  We ran up to the All Nippon Airways ticket counter at Kansai and I explained that we took the train to the wrong airport and asked if there were any flights leaving to Fukuoka?  The REALLY nice lady said, we have one in 10 minutes and asked if we wanted it!  "YYYYEEESSSS!!!"  She gladly switched our flights, free of charge, and had the pilot hold the plane while we ran to board it!  Thank you Jesus! 

We made it to Fukuoka with time to spare before our flight back to Busan!  Thank goodness!  We were exhausted by this point and were ready to get home! 

One our last flight... from Fukuoka to Busan via Asiana airways, I grabbed the inflight magazine and began to flip through it.  Low and behold my friend Jessica Perlaza was in one of the pictures!!!  I couldn't believe it!  So, I stashed it in my purse to show her the next time I see her and bid farewell to Japan!

In the past, I've kept maps and tickets from my travels, but then couldn't find them when I wanted to use them as a resource years later!  I know, miss organization misplace something?  It's true!  I do...  So, this time, I kept everything for this one shot, and then threw it all away! :)

I'm home now and will be starting back to work tomorrow!  Wish me luck... I'm definitely still in vacation mode! :)