Day 1. 8th May 2016. Sunday.

The morning dawned with somehow still a million things to do, even though we were up half the night packing . The struggle was to pack for 3 weeks in two suitcases. I wanted to get everything in suitcases weighing less than 23 kgs (baggage allowance on ANA is 2 pcs per passenger each pc weighing not more than 23 kgs) and not too much carry on luggage because this was the first trip I wasn't taking Zane’s stroller so I knew there would be instances where he would need to be carried if he fell asleep. The boys were super excited that it was finally time to go and kept getting in my way as I tried to remember to get everything important packed and ready. Somehow, as the time to leave for the airport approached, I suddenly realized I hadn’t packed the Japan Rail Passes! And then, for the life of me, I couldn’t remember where I had put them! A few panicked moments later, they were found, packed and driver had arrived to take us to the airport.

We were booked on the 1400 indigo flight 6E 438 to Mumbai arriving at 1510 Which gave us adequate time to transfer terminals for our 820pm flight on ANA NH 830 direct to Tokyo. I had been reading about Japan for a few months prior to the trip and the more I read, the more places I wanted to visit and the more I fell in love with the idea of Japan. I used the Lonely Planet, DK Eyewitness and Frommers guides as well as the tripadvisor and fodors forums to plan my itinerary. Initially, we had booked our flights on Singapore Airlines, flying into Tokyo and out Osaka for 2 weeks, and then I wanted to stay a week in Phuket before flying home. A month before we were scheduled to take the trip, my dear friend called about ANA airlines flying direct to Tokyo from Mumbai and offering introductory fares that were literally half of what I was paying for Singapore Airlines. So of course I jumped at the chance and booked the first available seats (after Golden Week to avoid the crowds), and extended our stay in Japan to 3 weeks. This enabled me to add a few more places that I was really keen on going to. The only problem if anything is the flights were to and fro from Tokyo which meant I had to rearrange our itinerary to somehow loop back to Tokyo, instead of the open jaw plan of flying out of Osaka.

The itinerary we finally arrived at was Tokyo (with Disney) for 5 nights, Kyoto for 3 nights, Hiroshima (with Miyagima) for 2 nights, Kanazawa for 3 nights, Takayama for 1 night, Matsumoto for 1 night, Lake Kawaguchiko for 2 nights and Tokyo airport hotel for 1 night before flying out. We also prepared for the trip by showing the boys videos of Japan and its culture and talking to them about what we would be seeing and doing. Here’s the bucket list we all came up with:

-          Eat Ramen

-          Ride a bullet train

-          Walk Kyoto’s bamboo forest

-          Dip in an Onsen

-          Watch a Japanese Matsuri

-          Orange Torii gates of Fushimi Inari (from Memoirs of a Geisha)

-          Stroll the woods in Kiso Valley

-          Disney!

-          See as many Japanese Castles as possible

-          Spot Kawaii stuff everywhere

-          See a Geisha/Maiko

-          Find Hachiko (the statue of the dog)

-          Walk across the Shibuya crossing where Tokyo Mater is chases by the ninja’s

-          See a Samurai House

-          Use all the buttons on a Japanese toilet

-          Zach wants to go to a cat café (or maybe we could do an owl café)

-          Vending machines

-          Stay in a ryokan

-          The deer in nara

-          Hiroshima

The flight from Goa to Mumbai was straight forward. I was hoping Zane would nap but he didn’t. He was probably too excited that the trip was underway. I gave them a snack inflight and when we landed, called the number Farhat had given me as I was supposed to pick up some yen from her office just to get us started. The guy took about 15 minutes to get to the domestic airport but that gave us time to get all of our bags together and enquire about the shuttle service to the international airport. We learned that was no longer functioning but that you could book a transport at the transfer desk. Finally, we just went to the prepaid taxi area and booked a cab to take us. The driver was a sweet old man who managed to secure our suitcases to the top of his car on the luggage rack with a rope. The boys watched fascinated as he worked to get them nice and secure and were amused that the suitcases would be riding on the top of the car. We gave the driver a small tip when we got to the international terminal 10 minutes later.

We still had a few hours to kill before the flight but the international airport is really nice and has been renovated recently. This is where I realized we both had forgotten to carry our priority passes (credit card issued, gives access to lounges in a lot of airports). We got to the ANA check in counters but they weren’t open yet, so took the boys for a bathroom break and gave them a snack. We were one of the first in line when the counters did open and check in was very quick. What killed us were the immigration lines. It took us just under an hour to inch our way through immigration and the whole time, Zane, who hadn’t napped decided this would be a good time to do so. In my arms. My shoulders almost died. He’s heavy. We got to the other side and picked up some chocolates from the duty free section, then went to grab a bite.

Flight took off on time and boys were super excited. They immediately settled in with earphones and remote in hand. Zach was watching movies and Zane was happy with the kiddie cartoon offerings. He particularly enjoyed the Curious George cartoons. The meals were decent enough although I preferred the kiddie meal to the meal I was served. I just ended up eating the boys leftovers. After the meal service I took the boys to the bathroom and then they promptly fell asleep (albeit it weird positions so I had to be awake to make sure they didn’t kick each other or fall off the seats altogether).

The woman next to me was Japanese and had a surgical mask on (we saw this a lot while in Japan, they are very conscious about germs and the spreading of germs) and when the lights dimmed, she put this nice white eye mask on and looked like a proper ghost. While the boys napped, I decided to use the restroom. There was a queue and as I was waiting in line, this guy comes barreling into the area clutching his mouth with one hand and wildly gesticulating with the other to the flight attendant standing next to me. She kept asking him – do you want tissue? I had to intervene and tell her for gods sakes he’s gonna blow hand him a puke bag already! She frantically rummaged in the seat in the front of her and gave it to him and he promptly put it to good use. Ah the joys of flying. She thanked me for translating (kind of). It was funny. There was more turbulence on this flight than I cared for. Not sure if it was because of the weather or what.

Pickings in new movie releases were slim as I had seen most of them so I ended up watching Joy and Revenant while the boys slept. Needless to say I didn’t get much sleep what with trying to make sure they didn’t fall off but soon enough we were approaching Tokyo. Once we got off the plane, we used the restrooms (the restrooms inside flights after 8 hours of flying are horrible, these were so much more clean), took the mandatory photo next to the welcome to japan poster, and then did the long walk leading to the arrivals area which was deserted and for the most part, it was just us making the long walk along people movers and small escalators which was pretty cool. The boys were thoroughly excited to finally be in Tokyo.

Steps walked: 6222 

Next: Day 2: Tokyo