When we deplaned, we saw a woman under the connecting flight counter with our names on it. We secretly hoped that because of our 8-hr layover, they'd treat us to a plush red velvet lounge to hang out in to kill time - only this was not so. She merely wanted to let us know that we can head directly to the departing gate to catch our next flight, which was not leaving for another 6 hours! So, we headed to the departing gate security screening. It was about 7:45am and the departing gates weren't even open yet. Security looked over our itinerary, scratched their heads and conversed amongst themselves in Japanese. They couldn't figure out where to tell us to go . . . until one of the last flight attendants from our flight walked up to help us. She spoke perfect English and told us that it would be best to enter the country and wait it out on the 4th floor food court. So we did.

Turned out the 4th floor was not only a fancy food court lined with plush cafes, but it was also a shopping mall with a few small eateries. We grazed on sushi, cream puffs, more sushi, sat around and watched the dizzy, bustling traffic of Nagoya International. I was tired in a half hour. I dropped my bags and planted my butt on the most uncomfortable solid wooden chair in the middle of the plaza. Nolen had a little more motivation so he continued to wander around the plaza. A few minutes later, he came back with a fat smile on his face and said, "Guess what they've got here?"

By this time I had already taken a minute nap with my eyes open.

Then he said, "What was it that we loved about Japan the last time we were here?"

I blinked my eyes but all that he was saying wasn't registering.

His next words almost didn't register either since at that point, all that was going to fix me was a few hours of sleep.

He said, "they've got communal baths right here in the airport! Let's go!"

We picked up our bags and not even a minute walk later, we walked up to the counter, got our lockers, checked in our bags, bid each other a happy bath and another 5 minutes later, we were soaking in a hot tub. The onsen (Japanese name for hot communal baths) separated men and women so we didn't see each other but it was alright with me because a good hot soak was all I needed between flights.

There wasn't much of a crowd at 9:30am so I snuck in my camera and got a few photos of the place. We soaked in the baths for a good hour and a half. The key was the hot soak (till you cant stand the heat anymore) then a cold plunge for 30 seconds, hot soak, cold plunge, hot soak, cold plunge, hot soak, cold plunge - till your fingers turned to prunes!

What a special homecoming treat, and such an unexpected and much needed surprise!