Airport Limousine – Osaka, Japan

Hey guys, sorry for the lapse in posting. I had a work trip earlier this week and it was quite a doozy. I’ll probably share a bit more in a future post…because I got to eat at one restaurant! Hahaha, it really was a crazy trip. Just wanted to do a funny post from Osaka.

Have you folks ridden in an Airport Limousine before? If you have, you know the word limousine is a bit misleading. You’re essentially riding in a bus, albeit a comfortable one. My first experience with airport limousines were in Korea, very nice buses, with plenty of room for your luggage, nice seats and wifi access! And don’t forget that lovely air conditioning. Anyway, for Osaka, when we got there, we used trains/subways to get to the apartment. At that point, we only had one suitcase and it was very light. No problem. Well, it totaled four transfers and I wasn’t exactly feeling up to that for the return trip. So I sprung for a taxi ride to Osaka Station where we would store our luggage in the lockers for the day as we browsed around the station/neighborhood. Then when we were ready, we would go to the airport limousine stop located by the station and be on our merry way.

As always, the service and line for this service was very orderly. These guys were pros! We were kind of far back in the line but waited as they loaded up the bus…

Can you tell what is wrong with this picture????

They called us on and as we got on…we noticed all the seats were taken. Huh?? I wasn’t sure what was going on but the bus driver was totally fine and started pointing at the seats on the right. I couldn’t believe my eyes. They had mini seats that could pull out from the right seats to form a row of seats in the aisle of the bus.

Here was my view for the 40 minutes ride to the airport. It was….awkward and uncomfortable. I couldn’t help but get mad because here I am paying the same price as everyone else and we get stuck in these baby seats? The ride was bumpy and the guys on each side of me had a serious case of sleepy lean-overs. Bah! If I knew this was how it goes, I would have waited for the next bus! Have you guys rode in airport limousines like this?? At least I have a funny story to look back on…makes me wonder if I should have just done those train transfers…haha.

 

8 responses to “Airport Limousine – Osaka, Japan

  1. vickinags

    oh no! I am planning a trip to Osaka and planning to use the airport limo both ways! I always use it in Tokyo, so much easier than trying to catch the NEX or other trains so thought I should do the same in Osaka.
    I wonder if it matters which stop you get on? Or the time. I guess I should try to get there early to get a real seat.

    • Jenny

      Oh shucks, sorry for the late response! For me, as you’re in line, you can totally watch as folks before you are loading in. They load them in from back to front so you can tell if it’s filling up. I would let folks go ahead of me in line now if I see the seats full…it’s just not something I looked for this time because I didn’t know!

  2. jalna

    That is amazing! I don’t think my butt could fit in one of those.

  3. Arlene

    Luckily, I’ve neverr had to use the mini-chair when riding the airport limo bus! I wonder if you just arrived during a busy period. I tend to take my time looking around the airport before I actually head out to catch the bus, so maybe my procrastination is working out in my favor? Funny thing, I almost missed my flight on my first trip to Japan by myself because I didn’t pay attention to the schedule and caught the last bus going to the airport! Whew!

    • Jenny

      I think you may be right Arlene, the line I was in was pretty long. Hopefully it was a fluke! I would have totally walked around more…but my feet were dying from so much walking the previous days…and I also got a special monthly visitor who was being a little frisky…

  4. kat

    they use those “middle” chairs even for tour buses. I cannot remember if they have seat belts but can only imagine how uncomfortable they must be.

    • Jenny

      So ours had seatbelts! But yes, so uncomfortable. I couldn’t lean on anything…so I had to stay upright between two men through the whole trip!

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