jetting off to japan

the bean and i have had a visit to japan on our bucket list forever.  the hub and i had talked about it maybe being their graduation trip in 2026, like how we took the old lady to europe when she graduated from high school.

and then my friend lilcee went over spring break and was gushing over how amazing it was and that because the yen had dropped to record lows, everything was so affordable.  we talked about doing a girls’ trip this summer and the hub was totally on board with the idea and then when we compared calendars…there were no dates that worked.  none.  WAAAAH.

i jokingly said to the hub that i should just take the bean myself, just the two of us - and he was like “that’s a great idea! you should book it!”

well - i mean, you don’t have to tell me twice.  i started browsing online for flights and hotels and then when i finally settled on dates and went to book the trip, we had a power outage in the area which knocked out my internet access.  i’d found the perfect flights and there were only two seats left in the premium economy class and i panicked and drove to the closest starbucks in the next city over to suck up their wifi and get those seats booked.

did i mention that this was all happening just over a month before we were set to take off?  yup.  we sure do love those last-minute trips.  this also meant that we were well inside the 60 days in advance that we would have needed to book a tokyo disney vacation package.  but somehow i managed to snag rooms at one of the disney hotels and then realized that we were going to have our first tokyo disney day on the very day that they were opening fantasy springs, a new land in tokyo disneysea.  this was both awesome and overwhelming because i knew that meant that it was going to be particularly busy in the parks while we were there.

and THEN on top of that i managed to talk the hub into letting me book a side trip to korea while we were there.  the flight to seoul from tokyo is only a couple of hours and i knew the bean would love the chance to visit their beloved BTS’ homeland.

speaking of the bean, they were over the freaking moon when i broke the news to them about the upcoming dream trip.  we were taking off literally the day after the last day of school, be in asia for almost two weeks, come home for two days and then take off again for new york (more on that later).  talk about a whirlwind start to summer vacation.

the days flew by, and we spent most of our time trying to figure out what our itinerary was going to be for the time we had.  based on advice i got from lilcee and social media posts and travel blogs, i figured our best bet was to book just one thing per day so that we weren’t overscheduled and still had lots of time to just explore the areas we were in.

you know how some people will pre-cook meals and leave them in the fridge or the freezer for their significant others to last them for however long they’re going to be gone?  well, i’m not one of those because the hub is perfectly happy to fend for himself - but i did do this to make sure that feeding the dogs would be simple:

and then i put these snackleboxes together for the plane so that the bean and i would have fun snacks without spending stupid cash on them at the airport shops.  don’t judge - you know you love junk food on planes too.

before we left the house, we gave these two lots of hugs and kisses that they mostly accepted without argument, although they had no idea what was going on.

lax is the worst, although it was pretty early and so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.  and i was excited to go through the international terminal.

confession:  i was a little nervous about going on this trip without this guy, who usually handles everything and doesn’t get lost like i always do.  and i already missed him - two weeks is a long time to be apart for us.

tom bradley international is fancy.  we strolled past a bunch of luxury stores after getting through security.

i was feeling kinda fancy though, because those premium economy tickets also gave us access to one of the airline lounges.  and since we had plenty of time before boarding, we pulled out the map that we’d been given at the counter and headed right over.

free breakfast!

bathroom selfie, because why not:

and then it was time to board the plane for our 10-hour flight.  i didn’t love being in the middle of the center aisle, but remember: we snagged the very last two seats available on this flight.

and i have to say - premium economy on japan airlines really is quite nice.  the seats were comfortable, wider than coach for sure, and there was a good amount of legroom plus little pull-out footrests.  plus they gave us a pretty sweet amenity kit that included all kinds of stuff including slippers, eye masks, a face mask (like the skincare type, not the covid kind), earplugs.

and we were served full hot meals!  this was the salmon teriyaki with mashed potatoes plus a fresh green salad, cold udon noodles, a smoked salmon and cucumber salad plus a little bowl of fresh fruit and then ice cream for dessert.

a few hours later, we got more food - pizza, more salad, and a cup of yogurt.

while i’d been dreading the long flight, i have to say that it really wasn’t bad at all.  and i’d ordered a flykitt for both of us - it’s a jet lag prevention system that involves taking customized natural supplements, sleeping several hours at specific times, wearing light filtering glasses.  i wanted to try and minimize our jet lag as much as possible so we could squeeze out every possible minute of time for enjoying our trip.  and we landed at 6:30pm, tokyo time.

after considering all of our options for getting to our hotel from the airport - train, limo bus, taxi, etc. - we ended up ordering an uber for the half-hour ride.  i knew the train was probably a lot cheaper and there was a station just a couple of blocks from the hotel, but we’d just landed in a completely new-to-us country and i decided to just make our arrival as easy as possible.  the car we were picked up in was the fanciest toyota minivan i’ve ever seen.

our home for the first few nights of our trip was the square hotel in ginza.  this area had been highly recommended by lilcee, so i knew it would be nice, quiet and safe.  checking in was quick and easy, and then we headed up to our room.

japanese hotels are really lovely - just like on the plane, the amenities were plentiful and free.  i loved the pajamas they provided for every guest even though i look like a total dork:

the bean was just happy to be there.

it had been a long day, and although it was still fairly early after we were all settled in (like 9pm), we decided to just stretch out, relax and take it easy for the evening.  

but yeah - YAY FOR JAPAN!!