ERICJAZ FOODIES: OUR JAPAN TRIP 2015 (PART ONE)

Early last year, Andrei came up to me and gave a letter that I thought would melt my heart!

It was a letter asking permission to go to Japan with his Tita Jojit!!! GRRRRR!!!!!

I discovered later on that my Ate Jit and Kuya Jon have been playfully discussing with Andrei that they will be taking a trip to the land of the rising sun. I lovingly learned too that my little lord did not even think of his Mommy and Daddy -- he just wanted to go to Japan with his Tita Jojit and Tito Jon to see JAWS in UNIVERSAL STUDIOS there. Yes. No separation anxiety there. He he he he he he!

The group did not push through that year because THE YAPPY BUNCH went to the US for summer vacation. They finalized that they will be taking the trip the summer of 2015 because my Mom wanted to treat her grandchildren as part of her 70th birthday wish. With that, they were going to invite Mati and my other niece Rocio along.

HUWEYT A MINIT KAPENG MAINIT!!! Now that doesn't seem right. If my little lords are all going we're going as well!!! I guess my eldest brother Kuya Jay and his wife Karen thought of the same thing because they wanted to come along too!

Wow! A GATDULA siblings trip! This should be fun!

As this was an impromptu trip, I wasn't able to save up for Japan as I normally would for our other travels. Be that as it may, I do have regular savings from my salary and I'm sure "borrowing" a small amount would never hurt. Besides, I told myself, it IS supposed to be my 30th (ahem) birthday. And instead of just spending on myself to commemorate the glorious event, it would be more fun to invest on family memories with THE YAPPY BUNCH.

Now as this is the first YAPPY BUNCH trip with my brothers and sister, you could just imagine how much I wanted to remember every single second of this travel. Once again I will be blogging an overview of our whole Japan tour (it'll be 4 parts baby YEAHHH!) and also write posts on tourist spots, our restaurant stops, and other interesting stuff you may want to know about this cool country.

Yes, there will be A LOT of posts on Japan. It will definitely be a series. I hope you guys won't block me for it. That is, if you haven't done it already. Tee hee...

Please don't.

So yes! I'm so happy for my bunsoy! Andrei's dream finally pushed through and we are going all going with him!!!!

OMG, watashitachi wa totemo kōfun shite imasu! ! ! ! !

That's Japanese for "OMG! We're so excited!!!"

See? Japan and ERICJAZ FOODIES are meant to be!

WE'RE GOING TO JAPAN!

This is the first time that the YAPPY BUNCH will be traveling with my brothers and sisters. You could say that the GATDULA SQUAD is complete here.

Minus our parents of course!

And we have boarded!

We booked a flight via Cebu Pacific as it was the most economical choice at that time.

Check out our experience with CEBU PACIFIC by clicking HERE!

Why is it that even if the Cebu Pacific girls are really simple looking, they still appear hot to me?

WHY???

And we have arrived!!!!

Our first official train ride!

Well actually this is the tram or shuttle ride from the plane, but STILL, it looked like a train!

Kuya Jay warned us not to act too "touristy" and taking a lot of pictures certainly makes it THAT obvious. So he tried to stop us like Godzilla. He he he he he!

We were not able to see a WELCOME TO JAPAN sign so we just went for WELCOME TO KANSAI! He he he he he!

We availed the JR PASS to get unlimited train rides around Japan.

The JR PASS includes unlimited rides with bullet trains so it's a very convenient and practical way to go around Japan. From Osaka, we will be going to Kyoto and Tokyo and when we made the computations, we would be able to save more riding trains rather than taking a plane.

Andrei is psyched! HE LOVES TRAINS!!!!

We finally arrived in Osaka at about 11:00pm and there was still quite a walk towards the hotel.

Everybody helped in carrying our tons of bags. Yep! Even Andrei!!

FINALLY!

Our first hotel in Osaka is the HOTEL RELIEF.

Looking at the logo you would think that it is affiliated with Robinson's Malls but really they're not.

HOTEL RELIEF was more like a boutique hotel with English speaking attendants.

If you are going to book for hotels in Japan don't forget to check if English is spoken there. You may download apps to translate but really, it would be SO much easier if you are able to communicate clearly with the hotel people.

When we booked HOTEL RELIEF, it was indicated that the attendants could speak english. But still, when we were making inquiries upon check-in, he still brought out some English phrases printed on a piece of paper.

Though the HOTEL RELIEF front desk officer was not as fluent as we hoped he would be, he was still very respectful and accommodating. He would really try his best to understand you and to give his best answer.

While waiting, Kuya Jay and Mati struck a pose!

HOTEL RELIEF may have small exteriors but really they have very relaxing quarters. It even has a common area complete with chairs and tables.

Our HOTEL RELIEF room!

Check out our stay in HOTEL RELIEF here!

Even if it was very late, we were still too excited to retire in our beds. Of course, what should tourists do the first time they get to Japan?

EAT RAMEN OF COURSE!

Oh and do the "Japan sign."

I had this very delicious bowl of curry udon as my first official meal in Japan in

Matsuya Daikokucho!

Words can't describe what I felt that time.

Even the Yubsker was happy. He was able to eat something other than noodles!

Blogpost coming soon!

HOTEL RELIEF conveniently has a FAMILY MART beside it. We were able to buy some snacks before going back to our room.

Believe me. The food that they sell in FAMILY MART in Japan is nothing like what they have in here.

BLOGPOST coming soon!

Yep! Even FAMILY MART will get its own blogpost! HA!

And then, it's finally time to sleep for the little lords.

GOOD NIGHT Japan!

The next day, we woke up extra early to go to UNIVERSAL STUDIOS!

We heard of such horrific stories about the lines and how it could get pretty congested inside the famous tourist attraction in Osaka.

We got to UNIVERSAL STUDIOS at about 8:00am and though there were lines already, we were able to get in easy peasy!

AND have a great picture by the UNIVERSAL STUDIOS globe!

Got our tickets! The kiddies were pretty excited!

When we entered UNIVERSAL STUDIOS the first attraction we went for was the JAWS RIDE!

I was so happy for Andrei! He's obsessed with the movie JAWS and it has been his dream to go to the JAWS ride.

ALSO, he's so excited to finally get a picture with hanging JAWS. The last time we went to UNIVERSAL STUDIOS in CALIFORNIA, JAWS was hidden away somewhere and all he got was this picture with a skeleton of a hammerhead shark from WATERWORLD! Ha ha ha ha ha!