Nicocosity

This post has been gathering dust for the past 3 years lol 😂 Anyhoo, sayang naman if hindi i-publish, let's revive the magic of the Japan trip 2020!

You can pretty much expect this post to be just full of photos, and random snippets, since for the 8th day of the trip we basically just transfer from Kyoto to Osaka 💁

But why the hell did you post these random AF photos, you asked? Well, my phone's camera became a bitch and decided not to function.

Just a backgrounder, I use a Samsung A30 (2019 version), and at this point I've only used this phone for less than a year, so yeah I'm pissed that I have a broken camera while I was vacationing in Japan- A very picturesque place to be at. 😓😓

Change the name to Nicole hahaha!

But then again, looking at the bright side my phone technically has 4 cameras, 3 of which are still functional, so I can still take photos like selfies and wide angle shots of Dotonbori ☝ Also, not to forget the fact that Ken brought a good camera with him assured me that a lot of good memories will still be captured 💪

Sungit naman nyaaarn.

After 2 hours of hauling heavy luggages, walking a kilometer, and 2 train transfers, we have finally arrived in Osaka! But going to the hostel was a bit of an ordeal given that the nearest train stations to &And hostel Hommachi doesn't have escalators, and the elevators are at the opposite side from where the hostel is, leaving us with no choice but to carry around 15 kilos of luggages upon climbing the stairs! 😥

Just the right size tbh

Enough to see if my outfit looks presentable

Magallanes, Makati hahaha

Werk werk werk

Our room in &And Hostel Hommachi is bigger than the one we had in Minamisenju, and we paid less! Our room in Osaka has its own shower room (FYI, just sa hower, no toilets!), ample space to place our luggage, its own mini fridge, a floor-length mirror, a television, and a huuuuge window! I would gladly spend the rest of the day just watching Japanese sitcoms while lying in the cozy bed!

Oh no, but no! We have to explore what Osaka has to offer! So off we gooo!

I want one in Black

We got ourselves the Osaka pass which enables it's bearer free access to many famous sites in Osaka like Osaka castle, and Umeda Building, but since the Osaka pass can only be used for 2 days we decided not to use it the moment we arrived in Osaka and instead use it for the next 2 full days we have. Given this, we decided to shop in Mitsui outlet instead 🤷🏻‍♀️

I didn't buy this haha

I miss this Sakura latté huhu

I find the other Starbucks merch quite expensive, that's why I got this one instead hahaha!

Hi Glico man!

After shopping for pasalubongs, we headed to Dohtonbori to check out some cool places to eat! There are loads of Takoyaki shops to choose from 🫰

That's basically it 😂 Just a full day of settling in to a new city.

Love Always,

Nicole

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Airport fashown 🤣

It feels so good to be traveling international again! I missed all the rituals traveling entails like buying things for the trip, packing clothes while having the nagging fear that you might exceed your luggage allocation, and waiting for your flight in the airport 🫰

This trip was originally planned for November, however due to the intense schedules and the very elusive booking of visa appointment, no joke it felt as if I'm trying to buy a KPOP concert ticket, it was that intense, we decided to move it to March with hopes that we'll see cherry blossoms 🌸 (SPOILER ALERT: we didn't see a single cherry blossom hahaha). Also originally it was supposed to be me and my college bestie, Zai, only but good thing we were able to persuade our friend, Trizia to come along!

The budolan

Fast forward to March 12 where we all arrived in the airport at 7 p.m. for a 1:55 a.m. flight- yup, I kid you not we were THAT early in the airport due to the recent horror stories with the Philippine Immigration. To give a quick background, there were a couple of horror stories about travellers getting off-loaded from their flights due to how looong the interrogation of immigration officers to every Filipino traveller heading out of the country. I mean, yeah it's understandable that they are just doing their job to stop human trafficking however is it even rational to ask for a copy of the traveller's yearbook? Like, really? Luckily we did not experience any hiccups, leaving us with a lot of time for dinner and doing whatever it is below 👇

Teresaaaa!

Upon landing in Korea at 7:00 a.m. Korea time (yep they are 1 hour advance) we were immediately greeted with the icy cold weather. I was sort of expecting it to be as cold as Tokyo in Feb with at least 9° Celsius and I actually loved that weather, but ooooh boy Seoul welcomed us with a chilling -2° Celsius hug!

Quintessential "I am here in Korea" photo.

I just want to sleep hahahahuhuhu.

Before we leave the airport we claimed our booked wifi device via Klook at the SK telecom booth in between exit 9 & 10 at the arrivals area. FYI, it's not enough that you have booked your device online, they require that you present a credit card just in case you damaged, lost, or unknowingly took the wifi device with you back home, they can charge you using the credit card details.

We took a train going to our hotel, and I think we spent only around 4,000 to 5,000 Korean Won compared to getting an airport bus which would have cost 10,000 upwards per person. But before boarding on a train to Seoul station, we first got our own T-Money Card via a Vending machine. The T-Money Card costs around 4,000 won, then once you have purchased it you can start topping up the value so you can use it to pay for train and bus rides- I'm not quite sure if it's as powerful as the Japan's Suica or Pasmo cards where you can use it to pay for almost everything 🤷🏻‍♀️

Our hotel, Hotel First Stay, is near Seoul's City Hall around 300m away from the subway station, and was surprisingly near Myeongdong (I actually realized this on our last day haha).

Since our hotel only allow guests to check-in at 4:00 p.m. and we arrived in the hotel at 11:00 a.m. we decided to eat something and wander around the area.

I don't feel hungry yet, so I had this bread with cream inside ... Average tasting, I give it a 5/10.

My instax run out of batteries but good thing I found these Lithium Duracell AA battery in a 7Eleven. So expensive at 5,000 won tho 🫣

Straight ahead you're already in Myeongdong 🫰

We ended up in Lotte Young Plaza after having our mini 7Eleven lunch. Their malls are pretty similar to those in Tokyo, they maximized each floor space with lots of brands and mini shops and made it really tall with 7-storeys! Unlike here in The Philippines, most stores are at max at 5 floors but takes a lot of space horizontally.