March 18, 2009 Day 1: Getting There

This day consisted of living in airports and attempting to sleep on planes. Neither of which are particularly pleasurable.

Our day began in Atlanta, Georgia. We dropped the dog off at "Camp Woof" (which, by the way, if you ever need extended boarding in the Atlanta metro area, go here) Swung by and got a one-way rental car and headed to what I consider the most beautiful airport in the entire world, Birmingham-Shuttlesworth "International" Airport in Birmingham, Alabama. I'm not really sure what constitutes an airport being "international", but I think BHM could promptly benefit from an Olive Garden, a Chili's, a Bennigan's and a Panda Express to add to its international flare.
Ooo goodie! A regional jet!
Our mini-flight to another one of my favorite places, George Bush Intercontinental Airport, was delayed by about 4 hours. We would completely miss our connecting flight to Seattle and risked staying the night in Houston, Texas. Luckily we made it on the last flight from IAH-SEA and arrived without incident.

Lizzie picked us up from the airport and we spent the night at her apartment in Bothell. With her cat.

I'm a nightmare.

TAKE ME TO DAY 2!

March 19, 2009 Day 2: Still Not There

The next morning we ate our last REAL AMERICAN breakfast which consisted of: scrambled eggs, biscuits, waffles, bagels, maple syrup and coffee. Why we didn't order a double side of breakfast sausage has escaped me at the moment, but this was satisfying as is.

Our flight departed SEA at 2 pm local time. UA875 non stop to NRT. Neither of us had ever flown on a Triple 7 before and I must say the experience is... amazing. I took an Ambien 45 minutes prior to departure, hoping I'd be able to sleep on the plane.

Your vessel awaits you.

I didn't.

All the Ambien did was bring out my "silly" side. And by silly I mean, ridiculous nonstop blabbering while other passengers tried to sleep, filling out my customs form with the wrong information and coloring in a Tweety Bird coloring book.

Despite the latter, this was probably the greatest international flight I've ever been on. Flying over the Alps was cool, but the SEA - NRT route takes you over Alaska, the Bering Sea and just near the Arctic Circle.

The flight lasted 10 and a half hours, during which we were given the opportunity to watch movies on our personal video device. I chose the "In Flight Tracker" option and watched in awe for 9 of the 10.5 hours (this may have been the Ambien's doings).

omg so awesome

We would've landed on time but we were stuck in a holding pattern above Tokyo for almost an hour. We finally touched down at 4:30 p.m. Friday afternoon local time.

TAKE ME TO DAY 2, CONTINUED!

Day 2 Cont: The Longest Day of My Life

Although the passport stamp says we arrived on 20 March 2009, the dazed eyes and general disoriented look spoke to our bods still dealing with 19 March 2009. The day that never ended.

Narita Airport is exactly how you picture it in your mind. Do you see crisp, clean areas filled with natural sunlight and friendly, accommodating employees? Do you smell hoards of people who don't "understand" personal space and who think that "Line Forms Here" signs are just suggestions? (oops, sorry, that's Athens... I forgot). But all joking aside, the Narita airport is a breeze. Signs are in English, employees direct you exactly where to go and the whole process is refreshingly simple.

My advice for any one would be to take the limo buses into Tokyo. This goes against everything I believe in. I really dislike paying more for transportation when you could easily pay much less (please see Day 1's excursion to the Birmingham, AL airport versus Atlanta - saved us $400. per person). However, with your bags and your jet lag, it's just much easier to hop on a comfortable bus for the ~90 minute ride into the heart of the city. The limo bus ticket office is located on the 1st floor and will cost you 3000 yen per person (about $30). There are multiple buses going to different parts of the city and to different high end luxury hotels. Choose which one you need (everything is in English).

Rikki (a Tokyo native) was so kind to let us stay in her beautiful apartment in Roppongi. Actually, I'm not sure if it was technically Roppongi, but it was right off the Omote-Sando street. She advised us to take the limo bus to the ANA Intercontinental and that a cab would be waiting for us to take us back to her apartment. It happened. And the cab drivers in Japan wear white gloves.

Omote-Sando, they drive on the "WRONG SIDE" in Japan
To be perfectly honest, I don't remember much about this day/evening. Rikki whisked us away to some sushi restaurant in Roppongi - which of course was "the best sushi we've ever had". We got back and crashed at 11 pm. And woke up at 4 am.

TAKE ME TO DAY 3!

March 21, 2009 Day 3: Walking Around Tokyo

If I could speak candidly for a moment, I'll tell you that I've never experienced jet lag quite like the first few days in Tokyo. Even though we were thoroughly exhausted, we really only slept from 11 pm - 4 am the first few days. By 6 pm, we were ready to go back to bed for the night, but we forced ourselves to stay awake in a zombie-like trance.

Saturday, March 21 was our first full day in Japan. We finally got up around 7:45, had breakfast: thick slices of toasted white bread, single served drip coffee (you attach it to a mug and pour boiling water through) and delicious Japanese strawberries. We set out with a map of Tokyo in hand and literally started walking... or maybe it was more like wandering.

We first walked Omote-Sando, which is a beautiful tree-lined street with super high end stores. No neon signs here. Most stores don't open til 10 or even 11 a.m. but we did manage to find tasty goodies at one of the several million convenient stores in the area. We now have a fond love of "chocolate bread", which is a loaf of croissant-like bread with chocolate filling. 185 yen. I think. We also went into Kiddyland... and had a crepe at "Sweets One with Snoopy".

Again, this day is very foggy for me, sadly. If you walk straight up Omote-Sando, you'll be in the Harajuku district. One of my favorite stores in Harajuku was called "The Mighty Soxer". I got some cute socks here for 500 yen.

Ugh. This day is sounding way more BORING than it actually was, but I was seriously in a daze. We came across what seemed to be a high school volleyball tournament right near Meiji. We tried to ask, but the girls just shook their heads.

We strolled through Meiji Park and visited the temple. Definitely go here if you're in Tokyo. It's quiet, serene and interesting. Before you enter temples in Japan you have to wash your hands and mouth. Just follow what the Japanese are doing and you'll be fine.

We left Meiji and met up with Rikki for dinner in Roppongi Hills, which is like a large "mall" sort of thing. I believe it's a mixed-use space. After dinner Rikki took us to the Park Hyatt Hotel, which is where Lost In Translation was filmed. We went up to the 50 somethingth floor and had a drink and a $12 cup of coffee. In this household, we much prefer the Bill Murray of "Scrooged" and "What About Bob?" ... in fact, I hated Lost In Translation. But! This was a cool spot in Tokyo with a superb view of the city at night.

Return home. Sleep.








DAY 4, PLEASE!

March 22, 2009 Day 4: Rainy Tokyo

Sunday we woke up at our normal time of 4:45 a.m. We woke up again around 8, this time to rain. Cold, drizzly rain.

We managed to get to the Asakusa district for the historic temples and such. We kind of found ourselves smack dab in the middle of the Tokyo Marathon -oops - so lots of streets were roped off.

I went to Starbucks (U-S-A!) to get American ko-hi. There are coffee shops all over Japan, especially in the big cities. And thank GOD for that. This was a major concern before we embarked on our trip. So if you want "American" coffee, just ask for ko-hi (ko-hee).

We saw the pagoda's and the Buddhist temples. We saw a street vendor selling chocolate covered frozen bananas. We saw an advertisement that reminded us of our best friend we left at home. who does this look like?

That night we met up with Rikki and had dinner at a traditional izakaya. Shoes off, sitting in the floor (kind of?), lots of fried meats, seafood, jumbo garlic.

Rikki also introduced me to Uniqlo, which is kind of like the Gap and H&M combined. I actually think one is opening up in New York City, how about that? So I was determined to find this Uniqlo in Ginza (the 'flagship').

Ginza is nice. I guess we could have skipped it since my closet has met it's Louis Vuitton and Chanel quota of '0'. I'm sure this is an interesting place to stroll around in the dry daylight, but it was late and pouring. And we didn't have an umbrella. So we were left to hop around like the Frogger... from awning to awning. I think some of the Japanese girls felt bad for us. But we did find that Uniqlo and I ended up buying exactly 1 shirt.

P.S. Trying on clothing in Japan is stressful. I received a stern look when I went into the dressing room with my shoes still on my feet. So make sure to remove your shoes before you enter the dressing rooms.