We are headed to Japan for spring break! Baba and I have been before but this is the twins first experience to the country. Most of the excitement was over the anticipated shopping and eating.
L planned to travel vlog the trip so I ended up not taking as many photos as I would have otherwise...so I've got nothing from the 11 hour plane ride, the first train ride, or the first day (yes, there was eating and shopping).
But for those wanting a quick recap: we thought Zipair was perfectly fine -- I think we paid a bit more for the extra leg room seats and they were decently comfortable. I brought along one of those blow up inflatable leg rests and it was such a hit once we tried it out that the twins and I fought over it for the rest of the trip. The ramen for purchase was tasty enough and the free wifi was actually decent too (not streaming videos, but I did internet browsing and some last minute work emailing/chatting). I think I might have even caught an hour or so of sleep.
Once we got into Narita, we stood in line for a LONG time for customs/immigration entry. I would say it was almost an hour. But then once we got through, we were very fast in getting our welcome suica cards, exchanging our Klook tickets for the Skyliner passes, and getting ourselves on the train to Ueno. In total, I think it took us less than 15 minutes to do all three -- might have cut it a little close though, we did have to run down the escalator to the departing train...no delays in Tokyo! Proud travel planning moment: after clearing customs and being deposited into Narita, I said "ok! Let me check the spreadsheet for what floor the suicas are on!" and L said "only you Mama would have this level of detailed planned on your spreadsheet!" I felt so seen! 😆
Our first hotel, Section L, is actually really nice! It isn't a big room certainly, but the clever use of space throughout made it feel not too crowded. And they even had a full kitchen if we wanted to make ramen or microwave some leftovers. Very convenient to Chiyoda line also! Barely a two minute walk to the subway.
We unpacked a little and decided to go in search of dinner. Well...blame the jet lag, but let's just say we ended up in a restaurant thinking the display curry looked good...and it turns out it is a beef tongue specialty shop. Like literally it serves nothing but beef tongue. I thought it tasted great! But the twins may have ended up with a dinner of edamame and rice...but it was tasty rice!
Then we tried to shop for some Onitsuka sneakers...but honestly the lines were SO long and the shoes also didn't look THAT great...so we ended up hitting up a Seria and a Loft instead. Walking through the Ameyoko alleys was a bit crazy! I guess it was a Friday night...
And with that, we called it a night. We lasted until about 9pm or so (well, Baba had skipped the shopping so he probably got an extra hour or two on us).
Successful first day!
No comments:
Post a Comment