We arrived in Tokyo Haneda airport at 5am and transferred to a domestic terminal for our connecting flight to Osaka. Both flights went very smoothly, although there was an apology over the loudspeaker for boarding being 2 minutes late 😉

Once in Osaka, our driver met us and took us to our accommodation in Kyoto. We arrived there at 11am but we could not check in before 2pm, so we left our bags with them and went exploring.

Our first stop was a Pokemon store! When in Japan…..then we walked some streets in search of something for lunch. We decided to try a local chain called Holly’s Cafe. Ordering involves pointing at pictures on the menu. The boys all had a small hot dog, Abi ordered a sandwich and Jess and I both ordered a toasted sandwich. What the picture did not make clear was that it was a toasted egg sandwich, and Jess does not eat eggs!

We then crossed the road and sat in a Starbucks for coffee – the culture here is not to walk and eat or drink, so it will really force us to slow down when we stop for a meal. We sat in the Starbucks with our drinks and just looked out the big glass windows, which had a temple on the other side.

After exploring the temple we headed for Nishiki Market. Sam had that and some other locations in Kyoto to visit based on recommendations from a friend who was here in October, but this city is so large and the sites are not all walking distance away.

Our wandering brought us back to the hotel right on 2pm, so we checked into our rooms and had a rest time. We have three rooms, unfortunately all on different levels, and the rooms are SMALL. Then at 4.30pm, Sam and Ross went to a supermarket and bought some cereal, milk and supplies so we can have a quick breakfast in our rooms before our busy days begin!

Tom was in charge of our dinner venue, and came up with some good options for dinner. The place we picked (an authentic Japanese noodle house) was not far from our hotel, but when we arrived there at 6pm there were no patrons, so that scared us off and we walked a few blocks to….a Shake Shack!! So we have now decided that is our new tradition when we arrive in a city (it was our first dinner in NYC last June).

Everyone ate well and we headed home for an early night – we have been on the go since Sunday, and have an early start tomorrow. I was asleep by 8.30pm, which is quite unheard of for me!

Five months after our last overseas trip, Isaac and Belle headed to Japan on 5/12 with a school music tour. Having paid their own way there, we saw this as a good opportunity to join them at the end of their trip and tack on some Jones exploring while we didn’t have to pay everyone’s way 😉

Sadly, Jarrod and Tim could not join us due to work and end-of-uni commitments, but we will still be a party of 8! We swapped them out for Tom and our niece, Jess.

Our flight left Sydney on Sunday night at 9.45pm, and it was a surprise that we all made it on board. Ross has been having back and other referred pain for the last week, and was having tests on Friday for kidney stones and appendicitis 😬😬 but he was cleared to fly, so off we go with many painkillers along for the journey…..