December is always a festive month for the entire family because we celebrate our Wedding Anniversary, Mom and Dad's Birthdays. For this year, we decided to give as a birthday gift a trip to Osaka, Japan instead of a material gift.
Memories Mom and Dad makes with Zeke are more precious than any material gift we can give.
I decided on Osaka because it was more child-friendly and Senior Citizen friendly, it was more laid back. Every day of the trip, we would leave at around lunch time and get back dinner time. Unlike all our past trips where Mac and I would try to cram a lot of tourist spots in our itinerary, this time we had a relaxed trip (well, not so relaxed because we battled with stomach aches, diarrhea, constipation and toddler tantrums, haha). But it was still fun and memorable.
We booked the trip during Cebu Pacific's independence day sale and got each ticket at 8,000 pesos already with baggage. Be careful though in booking with Cebu Pacific, upon checking in on our flight back from Osaka, I found out I didn't have baggage allowance which was weird but apparently in my haste to book the flights I only checked baggage allowance for the flight going to Osaka. Hassle, good thing all our baggage still fit the baggage allowance of mom and dad.
Next step was getting Japanese visas for everyone. Since I work in Ortigas, we applied in Reli Tours Megamall, an accredited travel agency for Japan Visas. Compared to the first few times we had to apply for visas, this time, the lines were so long, I guess Japan has become a famous destination among Pinoys already thus the lines. It was relatively easy to get Visas for everyone since we had previous US visas. Reli Tours also recommended we apply for multiple entry visas, I only stated yearly vacation as the reason why and we were already given visas valid for 5 years.
And then the trip itself! I booked an airbnb within the Nipponbashi Area so we are walking distance to DendenTown, Shinsaibashi, Dotonbori & Namba. We had a total of 8 days which we spent:
Day 1 - Arrival in Osaka airport at 9pm. Checked-in at our chosen Airbnb. Bought snacks from the 7-eleven at the ground floor of our building
Day 2 - Osaka Castle, Osaka Aquarium, Tempozan Ferris Wheel
Day 3 - Nara Deer Park, Shinsekai
Day 4 - Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, Monkey Park, Fushimi-Inari Taisha in Kyoto
Day 5 - Kobe Steakland, Mt. Rokko Snowpark
Day 6 - Universal Studios Osaka
Day 7 - Shopping Day in Shinshaibashi, Dotonbori, DendenTown, Kurumon Market
Day 8 - Shopping again in Bic Camera, Namba area flight back to Manila at night
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| Where to Mama? |
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| There's a priority lane for senior citizens and babies where you can check-in and avoid the lines |
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| Side view, Osaka Castle |
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| Fall/Autumn Season |
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| They had a time capsule. I wonder what's inside |
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| We survived the Tempozan Ferris Wheel |
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| When you see the moving crab |
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| Ichiran Ramen cannot be missed. Long lines in front. |
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| Walking to the Bamboo grove you will pass by this stream |
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| Kobe Beef |
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| You cannot go to Dotonbori without taking a picture of the landmark Glico Man |
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| Go to Bic Camera in Namba. Zeke met this robot that dances and talks to you |
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| Since our airbnb cannot keep luggages, we kept our luggage in this coin locker in Namba Subway |
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| Kurumon Market |
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| Hiked up for 20 minutes to feed the monkey |
