Flying to Japan!

 A few years ago, I was talking with Maddie about how Mandy and I wanted to take a trip to Japan and South Korea. One thing lead to another, and July 2023 saw Mandy (my wife), Maddie (my bestie), Dan (her husband), and I flying to Tokyo!

We started out on this adventure at 3am on a Sunday morning to head to the airport. Luckily there was zero traffic, but I was also NOT awake. 

After one stop in Seattle, we had a 10 hour flight. Definitely not the worst 10 hour flight I've endured. Lots of good movies to choose from, and decent snacks and I made sure to drink water every time it was offered (keeping hydrated is going to be a theme on this trip). 

Haneda airport and customs was pretty easy to navigate, but we were so pooped by this point that we decided to get a taxi rather than try to navigate the subway for the first time with all of our luggage. It was a tight fit, but we managed to squeeze us and all of our luggage into a taxi. 

Our hotel is on the more west side of Tokyo, kind of out of the way so it's pretty quiet. Got a washer, kitchenette, and, most importantly, AIR CONDITIONING.

It's freaking hot. So, so hot. And humid. 

After getting settled in our hotel rooms, we went out and found some food. The place the lady at the desk suggested was closed so we wandered until we found something which turned out to be a delicious, cheap option. Very happy. 

Maddie and I shared a miso ramen set with fried rice and gyoza. 

Mandy just had an entire plate of gyoza and was quite content.

Dan got a soup-less ramen.

We meant to take more pictures, but we were so very tired and feeling a little floaty. 

So we stopped and got a pile of snacks for later at the convenience store. Choices were made. Some more successful than others. The grapefruit soda ended up being sparkling water (oops... better than a surprise wine cooler) and the chocolate potato chips were underwhelming. But the takoyaki crackers, noodle flavored chips, and waffle were super tasty.

And that was Sunday/Monday! Soon after, we crashed at the late hour of 7:45pm to get ready for our adventures the next day.