As mentioned in my first post, two of my friends are flying over to join me for the last 9days! Today is the day of their arrival! I followed their flight the last hour or so after I got back to the hotel room and had taken a bath :-). Flighttracker said they were getting in early (11min) and so I left to be there in time. It's weird picking up others at an airport I, myself had just arrived at not too long ago, yet it also felt as if I was there for a lot longer. And I imagined this was what it would feel like if I lived abroad and friends came to visit. I got to the airport just as they were landing with signs in hand (the ones I made a few days before and have carried with me from hotel to hotel) and texted them to tell me when they had their bags.
Anyways, after half an hour or so, Dennis' bag arrived, but Ritchies hadn't. And for a second I thought, maybe his bag didn't make it but they had a 4+ hour layover so the tought went as quick as it came. So another ten minutes or so passed and the amount of people around me picking others up started to get smaller and smaller. Eventually Dennis texted me that they were the only two left at the belt and the belt had stopped, meaning there's no more bags coming. Dennis kept me posted on all events on the other side. Turned out Ritchies bag was left behind in Shanghai and he had to fill in a bunch of papers and answer a bunch of questions. By now, I was the only one left at arrivals and announcements were made they would soon close the terminal (as the last flight had arrived). No sign of the boys yet though.
They came out about half an hour after that and so I stood there with signs in hand, finally welcoming them to JAPAN!
We grabbed an Uber to hotel since it got quite late and chatted in our room for a few hours with drinks in hand (the last of the free minibar drinks and I bought a bottle of gin and a bottle of ginger ale earlier that day). And we went to sleep late, around 2am.
First day in Japan and we are going back home! Whaaat?? Haha, we went to Huis Ten Bosch, which is where they built replica's of Huis Ten Bosch, the Domtower, Amsterdam, windmills and a few other iconic Dutch sights/buildings. It was my 2nd visit. My first time was 10years ago and after my visit to Huis Ten Bosch, Dennis flew to Japan as well and we went to Tokyo, Osaka, Nara and Kyto but seeing the pictures from Huis Ten Bosch he wanted to go as well and so that dream could finally be realized! Before catching the train we went on a little shoppingspree for Ritchie and they were surprised at how cheap things were.
We then headed to a Japanese bakery to buy to go brunch and went to the platform. The Huis Ten Bosch train was different from the one I went on ten years ago. It was now completely orange! We took our seats, me and Dennis in one row and Ritchie behind us and Ritchie asked me what the pedal on the side was for and I hadn't thought about it but when he asked me, I remebered from last time that it was to turn the seats and so we all sat together 😁!
It was about a two hour trip to Huis Ten Bosch and once we got there, my memories came back from ten years ago (check out the 2015 post about my first experiences there). For Dennis and Ritchie it was all new so they took pictures and videos, which was also good for me cause I didn't have to (nor did I want to, I had the same pictures from ten years ago haha). We stayed in the same hotel as I did back then, checked in, freshened up and left for the park. We had to use the main entrance the first time, but could then use a private exit to get back to the hotel!
We had a fun day in Huis Ten Bosch! Had a drink on Amsterdam square (we did miss our 'bitterballen' and Dutch 'gezelligheid'), crossed Dutch bridges, and watched the tulips, windmills and waterways. Some things did change though, a lot of Nijntje (Miffy in English) shopping was added and a lot of new attractions that weren't there before. Also a 3 storey high carousel, it was just a single storey when I was here last. Luckily some things remained the same :-)!
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