Okinawa Self Drive Trip Kids Friendly Itinerary Day 5

Day 5 of our 8 Day 7 Night Okinawa Self-drive Trip with Kids Itinerary via Taiwan

Check out of Marine Piazza hotel at 9 am

Ashibina Outlet Mall

2:30 pm return rental car at Toyota Rent a Car, Naha airport branch

16:40 hrs Depart for Taiwan via Peach Airlines

We only have half a day in Okinawa today and as we stay all the way to the North in Nago area which is some 2 hours away from NAHA airport, we need to check out of the hotel and leave early.

We managed to have breakfast and checked out of our hotel at 9 am according to plan.

The Okinawa Expressway was relatively empty and super easy to drive. Just 1 straight road. It took as less than 1.5 hours to reach NAHA area.

Ashibina Outlet Mall

Ashibina Outlet is located 10-15 minutes from NAHA airport so you can make this your last stop. Most car rental companies have an outlet near NAHA airport as well so you can pop by to return your rental cars before heading to the airport.

Most of them provide free shuttle services to the airport.

Looking really really grumpy

So Sticky Bean was still feeling under the weather and she very much slept most of the journey. We shopped at Ashibina Outlet Mall. GAP is one of the must-go with storewide 50%!

Mini play area at Sylvanian Families shop

At least she started playing, which is a good sign

If your child is an avid Sylvanian Families fan, you must pop into their shop as well. They have an astounding number of models there and the prices are lower than what we have in Singapore.

When we were there, they have a purchase with purchase promotion where we get to top up 500 yen for a sure win lucky dip. You get to win a house or a shop or 2 sets of characters. The actual value of these items was much higher than 500yen so it's definitely a steal.

More gashapon

Mrs. Keir's first catch from the UFO machine! YEAH!!!

Last ramen meal in Okinawa

Someon's feeling groggy again

I've set aside 3 hours at Ashibina Outlet and planned to leave by 2 pm to return the car. This timing was appropriate for us, even though we didn't have enough time to explore all the shops at Ashibina Outlet. Partly also cos Sticky Bean is still under the weather and requires to be carried all the time. Poor Mr. Keir....

NAHA airport and Ashibina Outlet is considered to be in the city area, traffic can get pretty congested. Even though it states that Ashibina outlet is some 10 minutes drive to Toyota Car Rental Airport branch, it took us almost 20 minutes to get there. The traffic was really heavy.

It was an interesting experience pumping petrol in Okinawa. It's self-automated as well where you're required to pick your options from the 'vending' machine, then insert the cash and it will dispense the amount of petrol based on how much you've paid. We're so noob, we ended up doing this 3 times to pump full tank as we only inserted 1000 yen each time.

Car return at Toyota Rental Car, Airport branch was a breeze. They have both English speaking staff who assisted with the paperwork and provided FREE shuttle to NAHA airport as well. As there are some scratches on our car door, someone opened their car door and scratch ours, we did an 'accident' report so we took 10 minutes to complete the return process.

Else in general, you will just park the car, return the car keys and wait for the FREE shuttle to the airport.

Kind of regretted not getting the box of Lululun mask which cost 1500yen at this LCC Souvenir shop

Being an LCC Terminal, it was so sparsely furnished, there's hardly any sitting areas at check-in. So we timed ourselves to reach there before 3 pm to catch our 4:40 pm flight and we're glad we did that.

There's a small souvenir shop for you to spend your remaining yen and grab your last minute souvenirs and an even smaller shop once you enter the boarding gate.

After clearing immigration, you will come across a row of vending machines selling snacks and drinks. You have to board a bus for a short distance to where the plane is for boarding.

Boarding the plane

And that very much marks the end of our 5 Day Okinawa Trip whilst we spend our next 4 days in Taiwan.

Tip #9: You must visit the GAP outlet. there's a 50% off storewide. GAP jackets for children cost like $20-$30. If like us, your child plays with Sylvanian Families, do pop by their shop. They have an awesome collection and is priced lower than what we got here.

Tip #10: You're required to pump petrol before returning the car. Throughout our trip, we only pumped petrol once, right before returning the car. Do keep the receipt as the staff at the car rental company would need the copy of the receipt when you return the car.

Mrs. Keir reflections

I was initially worried about the 2 hours drive from Nago to Naha as we're so used to driving in Singapore where each trip never last more than 45 minutes but we took merely 1 hr plus to reach Naha and the drive was pretty scenic and enjoyable. If given a chance to do this again, I may just do the same itinerary for today again!