Ireland day 1317. Wednesday 07 May 2025- To Osaka

Today’s summary	Had a relatively relaxed morning packing and tidying the AirBnB then took the 84 bus and Canada Line Skytrain to the airport. 1330 flight to Osaka at the start of a 19 day trip to Japan. Because of the vagaries of the international dateline, although it’s a daytime flight, we arrive tomorrow. The plane left on time and, being a Dreamliner, was particularly comfortable. A good start to our Japan trip but sorry as ever to leave Vancouver
Today’s weather	Light rain in the morning in Vancouver but dried up by mid morning. Southerly breeze. Appx 17c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where we walked) (No GPX today)

Commentary

Well all good things have to come to an end, I suppose, and our stay in Vancouver this year has been especially good. It was great to spend nearly a week with the family, and of course to share in their successes in the run last Sunday.

Anyway, we’re not returning to Ireland just yet, as we are continuing our eastward travels and moving on to Osaka today, for a 19-day visit to Japan. We’re staying at a number of different locations during our trip, and travelling between them by train. It’s going to be quite exciting, as Val’s never been before and it’s almost ten years since I was last there.

First off, though, we had to pack our tings and tidy up our AirBnB. It was a slightly quirky accommodation, but it suited us perfectly and we ended up really liking it. We had plenty of time to get sorted, as our flight didn’t leave until 1:30pm. So once we were packed and had had breakfast (cheese scones, left by our hosts), we walked over to the no 84 bus stop (so conveniently just across the road, and there’s a bus every ten minutes). Half a dozen stops later we were at the Olympic Village interchange station where we hopped on a Canada Line Skytrain to the airport.

Of course we arrived early at the airport though to be almost four hours ahead of time, as we were today, was exceptional even by our standards. Anyway, the wait passed quickly, and we were able to use the time productively to catch up on some admin tasks. In my case, that of course meant dealing with tax (you can’t escape it, even when you are halfway round the world) and practising some Spanish.

Eventually, the flight was called and we boarded our Dreamliner (aka Boeing 787) for the 10h 55m journey across the Pacific. It’s just about an hour longer than the Transatlantic flight from London last week. I like the Dreamliners because they seem lighter and more airy than regular aircraft, and we have got good seats (even with a window!). We left just a few minutes late (“catering was delayed in security”) now are just settling back and looking forward to our in-flight lunch.

By the way, because we cross the international dateline, although this is a completely daytime flight, we actually arrive in Osaka tomorrow. So there will be another brief blog on Thursday evening (local time), before we retire to bed for our first night in Japan.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


All aboard the Skytrain at Olympic Village station	YVR – an airport, just like all the rest (the Skytrain station is at the left)

In Departures. So many unappealing shopping opportunities	The sun even came out to send us on our way.

Text here	Text here

If you look closely, you might just spot AC23 to Osaka