We were up at four in the morning and met our airport transfer driver right at five. By the time we set off, the sky was already getting bright, and the moon still looked huge. The airport was crowded, but after checking in online and printing our boarding passes, we got our bags checked surprisingly quickly. We were through immigration before seven.
The flight to Naha Airport was short, only about an hour, so meal service started soon after takeoff. A flight attendant gave my daughter a small puzzle with a drawing surface on the back. The aircraft felt fairly old, and the entertainment screen was hard to see. My daughter kept complaining that it was too bright and she could not make out the picture. She did not fall asleep until just before landing.
After immigration, we had to walk all the way across the terminal to find the airport bus counter, only to discover that we had just missed the bus. The next one was not for another two hours, which was especially frustrating because it would have taken us straight to the hotel. After a quick discussion, my wife and I decided to take a taxi instead. Staff were guiding passengers at the taxi stand, though they seemed unsure whether our destination counted as a short ride or a medium-to-long one. We were staying at VESSEL HOTEL CAMPANA OKINAWA in American Village, and even the driver needed a little time to figure out exactly where it was.
There was no child safety seat in the taxi, so I had to hold my daughter the whole way. It was not ideal, but we did not really have another option. She kept saying she was uncomfortable, and there was not much we could do.
I noticed a PayPay sticker on the taxi door and thought I would try paying with PX Pay through it. That turned out not to work with a credit card, so I had to link a bank account on the spot. I managed to set it up in time and paid by PayPay when we arrived at the hotel (JPY 5,700).
Okinawa in summer somehow felt even brighter than Taiwan. The taxi windows were also clear, unlike the heavily tinted ones you often see back home, so everything along the road looked especially crisp and clean. The sea was strikingly clear.
The ride took close to an hour. We got lucky: the hotel staff told me that if I joined their membership program on the spot, we could check in early. So of course I signed up immediately.
In the afternoon we went to play in the sand at the beach near the hotel. Because the sun looked fierce, we first stopped by AEON Chatan to look for a sand toy set. That took longer than expected, and when we came back out, the sun was still just as intense.
One of the most convenient things about the hotel was that Sunset Beach was only a short walk away.
Watching our daughter walk into the water on her own and scoop up seawater was surprisingly moving for both of us.
After the beach, we stopped by the Lawson downstairs at the hotel and bought some Karaage-kun. My daughter absolutely loved it.
For dinner, we decided to go to A&W, the American fast-food chain you can only find in Okinawa in Japan. It was farther than I had expected, and by the time we got there we had pretty much walked out of American Village. A typhoon was approaching, and strong gusts kept sweeping through.
It was fine.
For reference, I am also including our flight and hotel booking details. China Airlines had notified us of an aircraft change in advance, so I do not think we actually flew on an Airbus A330-300 in the end.
Note: This article is translated from Traditional Chinese.
