You gotta cover the Pitot tube.

Okay, now, now we're good.

So we're doing a road trip today.

I've got to drive, something like 5-7 hours.

Still kind of undetermined.

But that's a bit of a catch and that catch is that we are doing the entire road trip in this.

Honestly, look how I'm gonna have to crouch down for this.

This is Japan's cheapest car.

I think it's about 850,000 yen.

Which would usually be around eight grand.

But with the current exchange rate, it's closer to $5,000 for this little thing, it's called the Daihatsu Mira and it's so basic that it doesn't even have automatic locks.

Everything has to be done with a key I guess.

Let the adventure begin.

Mhm Sounds good.

Mhm Yeah.

So I'm actually borrowing this car.

I've been using it for the past couple of weeks to get between my house and the airfield for my training.

But this is definitely gonna be the furthest drive that I've done so far.

That reminds me we're gonna be taking back roads today.

No highways for three main reasons.

Number one, the back roads will give you a better view and we get to experience more of the area of Kyushu.

Number two, I'm not entirely confident that this car could survive an extended drive on a highway like 5 to 8 hours and number three, we're not in a rush at all.

My meeting is tomorrow at nine a.m. So we have plenty of time to relax and enjoy driving through the mountains and experiencing fusion.

This is a good little car though.

I'm gonna give it some love.

It's not my first time driving a K car.

Like if you've been with the channel for a while, you'll know that I rented a camper van last year and did a whole adventure.

But this one, even in the world of kei cars, this is like, it's like the K car of kei cars.

This thing only has about 50 horsepower 50 5 50.

I'm pretty sure I have more than 50 horsepower.

You know what?

I actually think that I recognize this area from my training today.

I definitely flew over this super, super narrow bridge.

Speaking of today's flight training, flight training is going really well by the way.

I am loving every single day of this.

Today was kind of the first bad day.

It wasn't even a bad day.

It's just we got up, we started our training and then the cloud ceiling descended upon us and created this cloud mountain us sandwich.

And when that happens, the flight instructor needs to take over and take us back because you cannot see out the front window.

That being said, I am truly and genuinely loving every single day of flight school so far.

Honestly, more than anything.

I just feel insanely grateful for the opportunity.

Anyway.

Anyway, that is all I'm gonna say on flight school for now.

I am still working on videos for the new.

It's up in the air channel If you're subscribed and won't miss those.

Mm hmm.

And suddenly the fog up here in the mountains has gotten so thick that I can barely see in front of myself.

It serves me right.

It serves me right for trying to do a road trip right before the rainy season heads here in Japan.

But still, this is why I love driving the mountain roads.

At this point I'm about an hour into the drive.

It's been mostly mountains the entire time and I'm starting to get just a little peckish.

I'm gonna try and see once we get out of the mountains, if I can't find a place to stop and at least grab some food.

Mm hmm.

So we seem to be driving through a little bit of I always say we it's us.

Obviously it's just us driving through a little bit of a town now.

I'm hoping that this means I'll be able to find food.

I'm kind of in the mood for some Ramen.

Maybe it's just me but different towns give different feelings.

And this little town village, whatever it feels like it would have ramen.

So that is what I'm in the mood for.

Because that's what it feels like this, whatever you wanna call it.

This is all about.

So I I have my eyes open for Robin.

Is that the romans Tanner?

I see Ramen.

I see Ramen.

Mhm.

That sign there.

This is that This is their holiday, their day off.

This is this is the day that this ramen shop is closed.

This close this close to Ramen right there.

Okay.

So I see a sign for Ramen up there.

I'm gonna try.

I'm gonna figures crossed.

Hopefully it's actually open and not an abandoned shop because there have been a large number of abandoned shops as well.

Oh my You've got to be kidding me.

You have absolutely got to be okay.

It's another holiday.

Yeah.

Oh, did we find one?

Is it open?

It's open?

No.

Okay.

All right.

Mm hmm, mm hmm.

I am just so full.

I most certainly ordered way more than I needed eyes, definitely bigger than my stomach today.

Mm hmm.

And that I hit my arm from now.

The oh, it's going so well.

It's going so beautifully.

We're doing great.

The goal is to make as much progress, make as much ground, make up as much ground as possible before it gets dark.

Because I've kind of taken the scenic road.

It's, I've been on the road for well over three hours and I've really, my only made about an hour of progress.

So I need to stop enjoying the sights and learning the area.

Let's get back on the road and see how much progress we can make before before I get too tired.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm hmm.

Yeah, I need to stretch out of it.

We are about halfway there, which feels hugely positive.

I've stopped at a hotel for the night.

One of the other benefits to the car being super tiny is that you can put it in the compact car spot, but the little cars go win the compact spot.

A few days ago I visited my buddy mitch who lived down the road in Kagoshima and when he saw the car, he was so excited.

He was like, how, how are you driving this car?

So I've never seen a car this bad before.

And so it doesn't even have like hubcaps or tire coverings of any kind and I'm pretty sure that I weigh more than this car.

Like if this car hit me at full speed, I would win.

Nor compared to what you usually drive around the country, you're big.

What are they called, camping cars and stuff like that kind of downgrade student life.

We got our boating license together here in Japan last fall and spent something like a week driving through the mountains in this giant camper van.

So it seems like you got a big kick out of me driving this tiny little K car.

This building looks super tiny from outside.

How how is it that big and what?

Okay.

Mm hmm.

Not too bad.

You've got a pizza.

That reminds me I brought my own snacks as good a time as any to open up.

I'm thirsty right now and I desperately want to drink.

I meant to bring these along this road trip snacks but got so focused on the drive that I totally forgot.

Usually I do this section, this is a sponsored section by the way by Tokyo treat and Sakura Co and usually I do, it is like a sponsored read where I just quickly go through but I desperately just want snacks but let me get the boxes open if you don't know what these are.

Tokyo trade and Sakura are both subscription snacks, boxes from Japan.

Okay, so these are the boxes, these guys are huge supporters of the channel so I'm always happy to give them love.

So the Tokyo treat box usually get about 20, the latest, most exclusive limited edition and seasonal flavored snacks available in Japan with You get 20 traditional authentic artisanal Japanese snacks and there's usually a piece of table ware in there as well and there's always a really good tea in there.

There we go, Oh we got Hokkaido, that is right, they always have a different theme and this month, Sakura Co is the taste of Hokkaido and the booklet obviously outlines everything that's in there.

The dietary and snacking snacking shibuya is the theme for the token, I just realized this but the books open up the opposite way that the japanese, the japanese way.

Both of how have I never noticed this should be a backstories and okay I really, I want a snack first and form a what in the world is okay alright this at this point we are literally just snacking.

I'm insanely thirsty and I was looking forward to drink and it is a caramel popcorn soda.

I have no idea what that is.

But but if I know reminds me of a couple of years back when I took the shamisen girls to Brisbane, We went to 7:11 and bought just the weirdest snacks that we could find the things that would surprise them.

I'm drop stuff.

That's how tired I am.

I'm going to go with this much channel sanda.

The roll off of Black Thunder Also.

Yes, I said roll off instead of spin off.

Mm hmm.

What is in here by the pajamas?

I still have at least two hours of driving to do and I'm meeting someone at 9:00 AM.

So realistically I should get some sleep.

But now at least I have snacks for the entire drive back which is going to be equally as long.

It tastes like a candy.

It really does taste like the caramel off of a popcorn off of a popular.

Mm hmm.

So I got to sleep around one, woke up at five.

That's that's four hours I'm awake.

My face isn't but I am I don't count that as a full night's sleep by the way.

And pro tip for nights when you can't get a full night's sleep, go to bed with the mentality of this being a nap.

Trust me, it makes it a lot easier to wake up in the morning and actually then take a nap or two throughout the day.

One of the reasons I'm leaving so early so that if I hit morning traffic, I can just Stop somewhere and take a 30, 40 minute nap.

But at least this way I get ahead of the traffic, waking up early in the morning does have its benefits.

You pretty much get the roads entirely to yourself.

You get the odd car here and then and because this car doesn't have a ton of power when I do get one of those cars more often than not, they get really impatient and which right past me, I'm doing my best.

All right, this, this little car, she's doing her best, but it's not even about the speed really.

It's about how thin these days it's a cake are.

You don't want to go fast in a k car, safety, safety is a thing, which again, is why we're on the backgrounds.

So, I'm going up a really steep hill right now and these cars are basically four seaters.

You're legally not allowed to put more than four people in the car.

And years ago, ideas, this exact same car and we had four people in it and we were trying to go up a rather steep hill and the engine just couldn't handle it.

We rolled to a very slow stop.

We managed to just just make it, but we thought like people are gonna have to get out and walk up the rest of the hill, my mouth while I was stopping to get some aerial shots.

This really nice older gentleman came up and he's like, what, what drone do you have there?

He's like, I've got the two, I really want the three and I was like, wait, wait, you, you fly drones and he's like, yep, 86, he's 86 years old and he flies drones And drives out to the river to walk his dog every morning.

And that is just the most amazing thing in the world to be 86 years old.

And he's standing there going, I really want the Maverick three, these little tiny moments that really make the road trip.

I decide any downside so far.

It would be the distinct lack of convenience stores, realistically you don't really expect convenience stores in the mountains of the countries that they do exist and it's not like there's zero, I don't really mind.

It's just, I wouldn't complain about having a coffee.

I've been driving through like a little town for the last five minutes and you would think that if I had any chance of finding a convenience store and some coffee, this, this would be it, but I'm still not seeing it actually.

You know what, I think there's a loss in behind me.

I'm going to turn around and lock the door.

I do this and lock it.

It's got a feature that stops you from locking your keys in the car so you literally need to get out and lock the door.

I'm almost at my destination and the first thing I'm doing when I get there is meeting someone for coffee.

All right, however small.

I feel like we've achieved something this morning.

There was a moment there where I genuinely didn't think that we were going to find coffee at all and we did and I'm so happy about it and now it's time to to go get coffee.

All right, we got one last leg to this ride.

Let's make it again.

So here's something super fun.

Every now and then on a mountain road you will get a stoplight for construction and that's what we had here a stoplight for construction.

Mhm.

The view from the mountain of coming into the food is just one of the most beautiful views and honestly it doesn't matter what angle you approach from Beppu just looks really good from the mountains from distance and we're in Beppu now by the way I should come to think of it.