Today was the last day of my Tibet/Nepal trip.

It seems like an eternity ago that I was traveling through Tibet and camping at the base of Mount Everest.

My flight back home to Vancouver didn’t leave until 6pm tonight so I had some free time here in Osaka before I had to head to the airport.

I spent the morning catching up the last couple of blogs and downloading some shows for the flight tonight.

And then it was on to the last thing I wanted to do in Osaka before I left…

Maidreamin Lunch

Yup, I wanted to go to one of those cheesy maid cafes!

You know, the ones where these girls dress up in their silly maid outfits and serve you overpriced food with little smiley faces on them.

The whole concept is so utterly ridiculous that I just absolutely had to experience it.

Of course my brother Ben wasn’t into it but, hey, I’m a tourist here and, damn, I wanted to do this silly touristy thing on my last day in Japan.

We took the elevator up to the Maidreamin restaurant and walked into absurdity.

Sure enough, the two waitresses working the floor of this tiny restaurant were both clad in maid outfits.

Our waitress, Shampoo, went through the menu for a good 5 minutes explaining the rules and the food.

Although the menu had English on it, she explained it entirely in Japanese so I just sat there nodding my head the entire time.

Ben who understands Japanese had to be my translator.

First of all, there’s an entry fee of 880yen ($9) per hour just to be in the restaurant.

Then, everyone has to order food.

And, of course the food is ridiculously overpriced.

Meh, I didn’t care.   The ridiculousness of it all was the adventure I was after here.

I ordered the hamburger steak and Ben had the egg omelette.

My food had a little bear face on it and our waitress drew a smiley face on Ben’s omelette with ketchup.

Oh, and of course I had to have a dessert parfait with, you guessed it, a bear face on it.

Our meals also included a drink, a little souvenir, and a photo with the maid.

The maid also did a little performance dance on the stage at one point which I believe the lonely old guy sitting at the table next to us paid the 1400yen ($14) for.

In total our bill was a whopping 10400yen ($100) but, like I said, I wasn’t paying for the food, I was paying for the experience.

Goodbye Osaka!

After lunch it was back to Ben’s place to do a quick final pack before heading off to the airport.

We took the airport bus which takes about 1 hour to get there and costs 1800yen ($18).

At 4:30 Ben and I said our goodbyes as I went through the magical doors leading to my journey home.

My time here in Osaka, while somewhat short, was action packed and I got to do pretty much everything I wanted to do while I was here.

I had some great meals, saw some sights, and most importantly got to spend some quality time with my brother.

The security and immigration was so efficient here that I was actually through and at my gate within 20 minutes.

And then, at 6pm, we were going down the runaway and up into the air.

Time Travel

This day, April 30th, would end up being the longest day I’ve ever lived.

Let me explain…

By the time my flight took off at 6pm, the day was already 18 hours old.

Here’s the kicker though…

Because of time zones, I would actually be time traveling to the past and would actually be landing at 11am essentially starting the day over again.

Yup, despite a 9 hour flight I’d be landing 7 hours earlier than I had left.

I landed at 11am this morning, Vancouver time, and I had now experienced April 30th for more than 27 hours.

And it was only 11am!

In fact, I would only finally conk out asleep at 8pm so tack on another 9 hours to my day for a whopping total of 36 hours.

And that’s how April 30th was the longest day I’ve ever lived.

What’s next?

While the Tibet/Nepal trip has come to an end, my next adventure is already booked and planned.

At the end of August, my friend Nathan and I will be exploring the 5 Stans of Central Asia for a month.

We’re going to be visiting 5 new countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

The trip also purposely coincides with the 2026 World Nomad Games taking place in Bishkek, Kyrgystan so we’ll also be spending a week there watching their version of the Olympics.

It’s obviously going to be another epic trip and I can’t wait to cross these 5 countries off my list.

So, while this trip is over, there’s always another one around the corner.

Stay tuned and follow my Instagram to get updates on when I blog.

Until then, live life and get out there and explore…