So, today was one of those days, and in the interest of full disclosure, I will write about it, too. This really has been a fantastic trip, but when writing, I'm focusing on the good, which sometimes makes it sounds like everything is perfect. And even the best planning in the world can't solve the problem of just having "one of those days", and I don't claim to have done the best planning in the world! We made it to Japan, and all the way to Hiroshima, but it's been rather an icky day.
Anyway, the day began before sunrise. I had the alarm set for 4:45 in order to allow plenty of time to get to the airport early because when I checked in the for the flight, I discovered that the three of us weren't seated together for the 7-hour international flight. So the alarm went off and I jumped out of bed and got our stuff organized and mostly ready to go. Miriam was doing her hair, but Hans was still asleep as he doesn't have much to do to get ready in the mornings so I let him sleep. Then I put my watch on and discovered that it wasn't 5:05, but 3:05...I hadn't changed the alarm clock onto Singapore time before I set the alarm clock! Miriam's hair was a disaster from spending the afternoon before at the sprinkler park, so we had to finish combing it out and braiding it before we went back to bed. We had the light out for about 90 more minutes after that, but neither of us got much more sleep (Hans did succeed in sleeping through it all, at least).
We made it to the airport in plenty of time, but had a frustrating time checking in, and the seating situation didn't get solved until most of the plane was boarded. The flight was ok, a bit rough, honestly not too bad, just alot more turbulent than I'd prefer! Then we got to Tokyo, which had always been stressful because our flight to Hiroshima wasn't technically connecting, and I didn't know how difficult it would be to change planes and terminals. Customs/immigration went fine, although one of our suitcases was pretty much the last one onto the belt, which made me more tense. I already had a migraine that would not go away, on top of it all. We made it to the domestic terminal, and like all the other airports nowadays, everything is self-serve. The problem now was that the only confirmation number I had was alpha-numeric and it didn't go into the system they had set up to look up the reservation, nor did it like my credit card, and none of the other options worked either, so we had to go find some other desk to get our boarding passes. Finally got that taken care of, and I began looking for an ATM. I hadn't done that back at the international terminal when I should have because I didn't want to take the time, wanted to be able to relax about having the boarding passes in hand. And I never did find a cash machine, so I gave up and we got some dinner and were on time for our plane to Hiroshima.
We landed in Hiroshima around 7:45pm, and we're all already exhausted. Now I really need to find some cash, but the only ATM that accepts foreign cards is closed for the day. How and why does an ATM close, and if it does, why at 5pm? Only option was a currency exchange place, which would open in 10 minutes (at 8pm). The bus ticket machines don't take credit cards, and the airport is so far from the city (45+ minute bus ride) that a taxi would've cost more than $100, even if I could have found a driver who would take a credit card. Anyway, I had $40 US in my wallet yet, which I exchanged, and our 3 bus tickets cost something like $36 of that, and the driver waited while the machine spit out our tickets. Thankfully the hostel accepts credit cards.
Anyway, we got off the bus at 9pm, still have to get to the hostel, which is supposedly a 10 minute walk from the station. They have directions on their website which are decent, but they aren't great, and the walk is more than 10 minutes, closer to 30, at least from where we started them. I've come to suspect that our start point was not the same one as the directions'. Especially when it's after bedtime and you are dragging suitcases and trying to ignore the blisters which Miriam inexplicably got in Singapore after walking how many miles in those shoes? Oh, and I didn't have the address written in Japanese anywhere available. Finally found some hotel and went in and had the desk clerk write down the address for our hostel in Japanese, and we found a taxi to drive us the last bit. Turns out that was a good thing because I'm not sure we would've found it in the dark from the directions we had, and anyway, it was getting late and we would've had at least 10 more minutes to walk. And as it was we checked in only about 30 minutes before check-in closed for the night.
So finally get into the hostel room and trying to get the kids to bed because it's almost 10pm...pull out the retainer cases, which Miriam and I both wear overnight. I handed Miriam hers and then notice that my case doesn't rattle. Nothing inside it. That morning Miriam had gotten the bathroom stuff all organized for us, but she didn't put it in the suitcases, just stacked it up on the counter. The pile fell on the floor and she picked it up. Apparently she didn't notice the retainer had fallen out of the case, and it's tiny and clear and I didn't see it either, and now I'm without my retainer, which not only will be a pricey ordeal to replace, but since it prevents me from grinding my teeth at night, I may be in for more migraines for the foreseeable future.
So that's the day. Technically we arrived where we wanted to go, safe and sound, but it wasn't pleasnt and was incredibly stressful. Things will be better tomorrow!
So sorry.
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