Day One

Perhaps one of the big highlights of this trip is that the first leg in Tokyo will be spent with the whole Hart family, including Grandma (Joan)! (but excluding Loki and Baby Girl sadly).

I’m just glad my grandma gets to use the visa she was going to use for our Chinese wedding. And props to it being her first time overseas, you’re obviously never too old for adventure. I really want this first leg to be all about the people I’m with instead of the sites I’m seeing.

The Flight To Tokyo

On the first day of our eight week trip, we had the exciting first step of crossing the pacific ocean. While sailors 200 years ago would scoff at this undertaking, we set forth eagerly, with faith in science to propel large metal tanks into the air that would hopefully land somewhat upright, on land, in the vicinity of Tokyo.

Even with modern science, this still takes twelve hours. Alongside a serious timezone change, the plan was to sleep early as much as possible, but then stay up, and hopefully that sleep propels us to stay up till 6AM PST time, which is a sensible Tokyo bedtime of 10PM.

The Hotel

One of the boons of travelling with my family (apart from the obvious value of being family itself) is getting all the fancies! Rolling into the Conrad Tokyo, it became obvious Lu and I were slightly out of niceness depth. No shorts or sweats here that’s for sure. But the luxurious rooms and endless artistic touches definitely make for a memorable stay.

Food Day One

While we had got some 85 Degrees for breakfast and plane snack, the real highlight was the Japan Airlines en transit meal. While there were two options, Lu and I decided to double up on the tastier looking one rather than try both. Chicken and eggplant served as part of a bento that also included hot miso soup, chicken meatball nuggets, soba, a salad, and ice cream to top it off. Suffice to say, it did a good job of knocking us out so we could get our planned early sleep in on the plane.

We were then pleasantly surprised by a second meal, which turned out to be quite necessary as we were famished by all the sitting we’d been doing. The second meal was almost breakfast-y in nature; a simple mushroom rice, served with a yogurt, and a cheese and cracker combo. This is also when I revved up the coffee, in hopes that staying up would work out.

Finally, for dinner we ended up out of tired necessity at one of the hotel restaurants. The hotel obviously caters to a western clientele, and the only open spot was their western restaurant, offering burgers, sandwiches, and Italian. My grandma definitely found it funny that for her first meal in Japan she was eating a hamburger. While the choice was disappointing, the quality was still top notch. The spinach and ricotta ravioli I had was perfectly cooked, proving the Japanese panache for Italian food. Lu had a very simple grilled salmon.

Lu’s Clues

Lu’s Clues is where Lu breaks it down! This session brought to you by half asleep Lu.

It was a nerve wracking build up to this trip. Once on the plane, it was clear however that things were gonna be amazing. We were all the way in the back, but it was perfect because we got to sit next to each other.

Plane highlight: built-in footrest in the chair! I’m so fucking sleepy. Period. Good Night. Period. I am falling asleep… I am putting my ear plugs in…