Travel Day 3

Slept fitfully, woke several times during the night. Humid and clammy. Woke at 4:15, packed, walked to the curb. Found a couple of geckos on the outside of the building. The girls try to catch them, but meet no success. There are glass panes mounted flush in the pavement, overgrown with fern on the inside. Perhaps they used to be floodlights for the outside of the building? More spoiled splendor.

The taxi didn't show up at 5. Called, he was still asleep apparently? Different guy showed up about ten minutes later, took us to the airport.

Huge line to check in, but we already had our boarding passes. Huge line to get through security as well. Get "pre checked" or something, didn't have to take off shoes, take stuff out of bags, etc. My steel toed shoes set off the scanner though, so I ended up taking them off anyway. Walked to the gate, one of the moving walkways was out of order. Everything in Guam feels run down and tired, kind of like Hawaii only more-so.

Eat nearly all of the last burrito. Anna buys a McDonalds breakfast with a drink. When the punch is gone, I refill the cup from the water fountain. It tastes like water from Camarillo (bad, mineral flavored). Board airplane, have the very front row in the coach section. Mother and girl next to me speak no English. Girl plays on DS most of the time. Anna plays DS too. Funny symmetry.

Arrive in Nagoya. Pass through Immigration, no problems, no questions. Pick up luggage. So many bags! How are we going to get them all to the apartment? Take everything through Customs, no problems, no questions. Manage to get everything to the transit hub. Have trouble taking cash out, but manage in the end. Muddle over the train options, finally go up to clerk and manage to get tickets to Nagoya Central Station. Children are free apparently?

Here's all the luggage... minus the two car seats, and the second back-pack. Also shown, inlaid speed bumps

Getting luggage to the train is a pain. Floors have multiple tiny speed-bump things which make it difficult to roll the tiny wheels properly. Finally make it into the right train. Train is fast, lots of beautiful houses along the way. Nearly all have lovely tiled roofs. Construction, odd giant structures, windmills. Three quarters of an hour later we're in Nagoya station.

Manage, via several short hops, to get everything to the taxi. Takes two taxis to fit all of us and our stuff. Find out that none of them speak English, and that I don't have an address, or phone number, of the place we're going. We get to the right location through pointing and combinations of "yes" and "no" in Japanese. From there it's a short thirty meters to the Freebell.

Once we're inside the Freebell, things get a lot easier. Nearly everyone here speaks English, the office is expecting us, and the staff are even kind enough to watch the girls while we corral the bags into the elevator. Now we're safe in the apartment, and everyone is taking naps.