Japan - Day 13

Our final day in Japan. Boo hoo! We love it here and were so sad that we had to head home today.

We had a good sleep-in and then headed back to Rinku Town to do some more shopping with our remaining cash. Two pairs of Nikes (one each) and a pair of jeans later we headed back to the station to have lunch (and more chocolate balls) at Lotteria. We were horrified when we discovered that they're not available until 2pm, an hour and a half later. Humph! We cheered ourselves up by buying a couple of novels and headed back to the hotel.

Bicycyle parking at Rinku Town Station

We didn't have to leave for the airport until about 5:30, so we had organised a late check-out at the hotel. We spent the afternoon stocking up on snacks at the supermarket (Jetstar doesn't provide meals), relaxing, and trying to fit all our new purchases into our small suitcases.

After checking in at the insanely quiet Kansai Airport we busied ourself with spending the rest of our cash on more novels. They are much cheaper in Japan than in NZ. For those of you under the impression that Japan is expensive I can assure you that for us, with the exchange rate as it is at the moment, it wasn't. We found that most things were slightly cheaper than they are in NZ. All our meals were delightfully cheap compared with what we'd expect to pay at home. We got big rooms in decent hotels for just over $100 per night. With a rail pass the train was affordable. Considering we only paid $700 return each for our tickets thanks to a sale it turned out to be one of the cheapest trips we've ever been on.

Not long before it was time to board I had to rush to the bathroom to wash one of my feet. As well as getting coldsores on this trip I have also been suffering from my very first case of Athlete's foot. I never really knew exactly what it was before. Now I do. It's unbelievably gross, and very itchy. Luckily for me Shanon already had some cream for it with him as he regularly suffers from this disgusting condition. The exact term is missing from my dictionary and I didn't really fancy wandering into a Japanese pharmacy and informing them that I have fungus on my foot. Anyway, after not having had any trouble for a few days we'd packed the cream in Shanon's suitcase. I would live to regret this decision as once we were in the departure lounge the itching began with a vengence.