Summer 2019 Osaka/Tokyo Family Trip: Day 1- Travel Day

 Good Morning from Osaka!  As some of you may know, we are currently on our Shimabukuro family trip... which is pretty funny since most of us don't have that last name anymore... While we were planning this trip last year, my family somehow convinced me that they should tag along, so what started out to be a Hanami trip turned into a 2 week tour to include my immediate family members from all over the world.  Here's the cast of characters...  Okasan (my mom, aka Grandma Helen),  my bother and his family (Darren, Lilly, S and H), my sister Denise, and my family (Paul, Akemi and me).  Yes, that makes 9 of us!  Me and mom live in Hawaii, though mom is on Oahu, and we're on the big island.  Darren lives in the mainland, and Denise lives in Italy.  The only cast member we're missing is my brother-in-law Guido.  We miss you Guido!

So prior to the trip, our family was super busy.  With me doing 2 jobs at work, Akemi and Paul getting ready for Taiko Festival, Akemi finishing up the school year, and them hosting Puna Hongwanji's Iron Chef Competition,  we definitely had to keep focus on trip planning since we were somewhat in charge.  Although we booked our flights last year, we still had some stuff to do prior to the trip, such as ordering our rail passes, booking the airb&b's and making reservations where we could.  Although it took a lot of work and coordination, we managed to get everything done before the trip.

So I left a day early to meet up with my brother and his family, who already arrived at mom's.  Meanwhile, Paul and Akemi were still in Hilo and had one more performance, had to pack, host Iron Chef, and get the house ready for our house sitter/dog watcher.  Even with their busy schedule, they made it to their flight! Phew!

 Meanwhile, back on Oahu, lucky my brother rented a big van,   We managed to fit 6 of us with 6 suitcases and all of our carry-ons.  Good Tetris work Darren!

We decided to pick up some lunch and snacks for the plane at Chun Wah Kam.  Since Air Asia doesn't feed us on the plane, we ordered up some manapua and other goodies for the flight.

We got to the airport early- the news reports said to plan on 3 hours for TSA and plus the last time we went on Air Asia, our check in took super long, so we made sure we had enough time this time.

Yay!  Reunite and ready to go!

I really should've taken a picture of the TSA line.  It was crazy long.. but I have to say it kept moving.  And for those of you that have TSA pre check... yeah, Air Asia doesn't offer that.  Sorry, but TSA- that's BS!  If I pay for TSA pre-check, I should be able to get it in any US airport.  OK, enough wingin on that.

So although we just ate a pretty big lunch, I guess my brother was still hungry.  No rules were going to stop him from eating his manapua...

All the cousins reunited!  I think its been a couple of years since they last saw each other.  I think they are now just as or taller than me.

Finally boarded the plane and look what Paul brought!  LOL!  Akemi didn't even know he snatched it from her room.

 

And shortly after take off... 

I didn't take a picture of mom cause she would've been mad!  But that didn't stop Akemi from getting her cousins!

After a 8+ hour flight, we finally arrived in Osaka!

We had to go through the longest line ever at immigration!  I think it took us over an hour.  By the time we finished, our bags were waiting for us.  Customs was fast- thank goodness... then we headed out to grab our pocket wifi's.  Look how many suitcases we had!

We were super stoked to be in Japan again!!  

Now, to get on the train and find Tom's House!