Day 1, or is it day 2

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I've had some pretty interesting trips before, like the time I had to jump start a helicopter just prior to going up in said helicopter - which made for some interesting thought processes however, I digress.

Frankly, there is no better argument for the existence of God than Him absolutely toying with your flight plans in a way that can only be explained by divine intervention.

The plan was to catch a daytime flight to Japan so we could arrive early, settle in and get our bearings. All good in theory!

First there was the late arrival of the connecting flight. Not by much, a 45 minute delay. this actually gave us a little extra time to make it from the domestic terminal to the international terminal so it appeared to be a blessing in disguise really. We had a little extra time to look through duty free and to leisurely stroll to the embarkation gate. we even stopped for a massage in one of the chairs near the gate to work out some of the kinks after getting up at 4:00am to catch the first leg of our journey.

Then the first call came out over the PA system. Engineers have been called in to look at the plane. No problems we think. Better safe than sorry. They will just tighten the loose nut and then we'll be on our way. Apparently the engineers thought differently and the delay is now going to be 2 hours.

We wander off to grab a bite to eat and get back just in time to find out that the delay had been extended by another hour and they were giving out food cards for people to use to get some lunch. Not to worry, we were able to use the voucher on a drink so Pamela was able to enjoy a champagne while we waited for the plane to be readied for our departure. A nice way to get the holiday officially under way I think.

God now angry that we are ignoring our punishment and enjoying ourselves. Quick fix, another hour delay and the announcement that the plane is now grounded and they will source another one. Not realising that we were ignoring our obligation to serve penance, He decides a further wait is in order. I've lost count of the delays now. I think we're going to arrive some time next week but I'm not sure.

We eventually make it on the replacement plane and appear ready to take off only to have the captain announce over the intercom that, despite having hours to organise it, the paperwork for swapping the plane has not been prepared and delivered and we won't be let into Japan without it. Add another 20 minutes and were good to go! He also took the time to explain that the problem with the engine was to do with it using 10x too much oil on the last leg it flew. As annoying as it was to be delayed so much, you have to be happy that they are so fastidious looking after the planes to make sure they are safe.

The short story is that, instead of arriving around 7:00pm we ended up landing around 1:30am. By the time we got through customs and on to the organised bus, took the 50 minute trip into Osaka, we ended up crawling into bed around 3:00am local time - almost 24 hours since we woke up on Wednesday morning to start the trip.

Despite all that, were in good spirits and looking forward to exploring Osaka in the morning and not letting a slight delay get in the way of our holiday.

I can tell you now that I fell to sleep very quickly and did not move until the alarm went off in the morning. Bed was very comfortable and, despite being quite small, was very quiet also.

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