Well, after quite a long day of train travelling, we're finally here, and the holiday can finally start.
We had our alarm set for 5:20, since we would gather in the lobby at 5:45 in order to leave for Miyazaki at 6:00. The trip was quite exhausting, but we made it.
Temperatures are a bit low, compared to home; on the way to Miyazaki, we spotted some snow in the area of Maibara, and the general temperature lies around 10-12 degrees.
But it's sunny, which makes quite a difference.
I have mixed feelings about flying with Austrian Airlines; we were fortunately able to get ourselves some Emergency Exit-seats, which is a blessing for taller people like me. Another plus was the ample supply of liquids available, and the steward assigned to our part of the plane came by regularly with water, juice and cola.
I believe I've never had so much orange juice in 11 hours. ;)
The cons are limited leg room for less fortunate Economy-travellers, the lack of a Personal Entertainment System and the mixed bag in terms of food quality; especially the breakfast wasn't something to write home about.
As for the fact that they didn't have Asahi for beer... well, the Austrian beer they did have, wasn't very spectacular either.
But the overall consensus is that Austrian is not too shabby, and I would fly with them again.
I wish I could say the same for our national airline, KLM.
Tomorrow, we plan on going to Miyokoyono; a rather new city, only 45 minutes by train from Miyazaki.
Never seen it before, but the same goes for Miyazaki, so we'll have a stroll around here first. We already know where to find the Red Light District though; in our search for some decent food earlier this evening, we took a wrong turn and ended up in the middle of a block full of soaplands, massage parlours, brothels and snackbars.
After leaving that behind us, we found a decent Chinese restaurant on the other side of the shopping arcade and had a good meal of Mapo Tofu with rice and a mug of beer.
Time for bed; it's 23:30 over here.
Cheers, K.