Arriving in Osaka

The ten hour flight from Honolulu to Osaka Kansai International airport was smooth sailing with Hawaiian Airlines on a comfortable Airbus 330. We decided to wear our best anti-coronavirus fashion outfits for the journey and were glad we did as there were a lot of sniffers, coughers and sneezers on the plane.

Kansai airport is a man made island airstrip which was interesting to land on over the ocean and through the mist on a cloudy late afternoon.

The minute we touched down we were greeted with such gracious courtesy and friendliness and one of the passport checking officials gave us numerous thumbs up and exclamations when he discovered we were there to hike the 88 Temples Henro.

After an expensive and relatively short taxi ride to the city of Osaka we checked into our hotel for the night and took a leisurely stroll down the side streets in the dark in search of food. 

The night air was crisp at 48 F/8 C, which is very chilly for an island girl but we had a lot of fun, finding the famous vending machines and 7 Eleven convenience store where we bought a few snacks.

We had removed our masks in the hotel room but noticed that many locals  were wearing masks all the time.

We are so happy to be here and plan to catch a 3 hour bus to Shikoku early tomorrow morning to the start at Temple 1.

Goodnight from our cozy room in the city of Osaka.