Day 20. 27th May 2016. Friday.

We had a not so good night's sleep in the airport hotel . The mattress and pillows were hard and the room was small and claustrophobic. It felt really dated and in need of refurbishment as well. Oh well, it was just for the one night. The hotel included breakfast, so I told Godwin to let me and the boys sleep in, and he and grandma went down. Then it was time to pack and get ourselves to the lobby, which was a circus. There were hundreds of people with large suitcases, I think part of a Chinese tour company, but it was chaos. There were shuttles to different terminals at different times and we had booked the 8am shuttle for our flight on ANA direct to Mumbai at 1120.

We managed to get the kids and the cases to the front of the hotel and were quickly counted and assigned a shuttle. Then Godwin realised we hadn't technically checked out. So I had to make my way through the hordes back to the reception to let them we had checked out and hand over the key cards to them. Then, I had make my way back through the hordes to the front again. Luckily they were still there and I hadn't been left behind. Everyone was seated and off we went.

Check in was smooth, everything was do it yourself including weighing and putting your bags in. We shopped for a bit at the duty free, mostly getting rid of the extra yen, buying souvenirs, I bought a pair of Birkenstocks I had been eyeing because there was room in my carryon to put them in. The girl at the shop was like are you sure you don't want the box because you can't return them if you don't have a box. I was like I have no idea when I'll ever be in Tokyo again, so yes, you can keep the box, lol. Also took the boys to their last McDonald's breakfast, which was actually pretty good. Then, it was time for the flight back to Mumbai. The flight was in the day and so the boys were rested and enjoyed the in flight entertainment. They both did nap for a bit but otherwise, it was a smooth flight, landing at Mumbai airport at 1745. Once we had cleared customs and got all our bags, we took a taxi to the domestic terminal for our Go Air flight to Mumbai departing at 955pm.

There was more than adequate time to make the connection, so we weren't in much of a rush. The security lines at the domestic airport were insane though. And for some reason, they kept scanning Godwins bag over and over again because of some camera equipment. He did finally manage to get everything through, and we made our way to the airport cafe to get some food before boarding the flight, which was on time. Zach met a classmate who was returning from a trip to Kashmir. The driver was waiting for us outside, once we got to Goa, and just after midnight, we were back home again.

Final thoughts: it was an amazing trip and it's a fascinating country
and I'm so glad the travel gods were good to us. No one got sick or
lost. We didn't miss any flights or trains. Nothing untoward happened
which is a blessing because no matter how much you plan, you can never
really predict how a trip will turn out! This trip definitely met and
surpassed all expectation. This was also the only trip the boys didn't
fall sick. At all. They always tend to catch a cold or cough on long
haul flights except this time. So that was great! I didn't use anything
from the pharmacy I travel with . Could be because the Japanese are
clean to like a fault. Manic about disinfecting everything all the time.
Most of them wear surgical masks.

Language: yes, they don't
speak any English. At all. Once you get over that, with a few Japanese
words and phrases and lots of sign language, you can get by. People were
extremely kind and helpful. They would bend over backward to help and
were very respectful and gentle. I loved the sound of the language and
the way they speak with a smile and so chirpy. Everything ended in
gozaimasu. I would stand looking in amazement as attendants at the theme
parks would give instructions in a long stream of happy sounding
Japanese, nodding and smiling at them wondering what the hell was
said.

Queuing: they queue for everything. Everything. Toilets,
convenience stores, everything. Very quietly and patiently. They queue
for hours for rides at the parks. Never saw an angry Japanese the whole
time we were there. Must be the zen thing.

Weather: was
brilliant. Not too hot or cold. Did rain incessantly one time in Kyoto
so we had to buy a few umbrellas but other than that it was great. Most
people say weather wise, spring or fall is the time to go.

Japan
is hard to describe. I loved the quirkiness, the obsession with video
game parlours and toys and anime and manga. The whole country is like a
weird mixture of the past and the future. Like tall glass towers with
glow signs and 300km bullet trains that were precise to the minute
interspersed with women walking in traditional clothes lighting incense
at shrines and monks in buses wearing clogs.

Expenses: yes, it's
an expensive country to travel to but not more than any European
country, I would say. If you plan ahead, it helps with costs.
Accommodation can be booked 3-6 months ahead for good deals and  the
Japan rail pass bought before entering Japan really saves a ton. Also, I
watched flights to Tokyo for 6 months before landing on a really sweet
deal thanks to Farhat on Ana direct to Tokyo. It was perfect. Flights
were so cheap that a couple weeks before we left she also decided to
come! Finally, visa fees to Japan are only ₹1000/- and they refund the
fees if they reject your visa! Compare that to ₹8000/- odd to the UK.
Non-refundable! .

Driving: cars are expensive to rent but it
made sense to my itinerary in the mountains where trains don't run. I
couldn't do what we did traveling in buses with all those suitcases. Gas
and toll is also expensive but we had to fill up half a tank only once.
You need an international driving permit. Another great thing about
Japan is their luggage forwarding facilities they call Takuhaibin. You
pay per suitcase to have it sent overnight to the next hotel. We did
this everytime as I couldn't imagine juggling kids and bags on trains
and buses.

Food: was great! They don't use much spice and I
loved it. I'm home for two days and find everything spicy.we didn't
use many sit-down restaurants but there are great places to get cheap
food you point at and pay at the door. Japan is positively clinical
about cleanliness and there were no tummy issues. The only problem if
anything was you never could tell what you were eating! This could be a
problem for some people I guess but we went by taste. If it tasted good
it was good to eat! Most of our hotels had breakfast which was quite a
spread, so lunch was usually sandwiches on the go and dinner was
experimenting with the donburi, sushi, tempura, noodles, tonkatsu,
onigiri, hot pot, skewers, sticky rice.

Itinerary: I've read
about Japan, watched videos about it, read novels based there and
literally immersed myself in Japanese culture for months and months.
Therefore, it was so damn hard to pick where to go and how many days to
stay. I tweaked and changed it a million times. Finally, I was happy
with where we went and what we saw but would love to return to explore
more in depth. Do what we missed.

So all of that along with the
beauty of the country and the energy of the cities hopefully tells you
why I found Japan to be not simply awesome but also captivating. I
definitely will return one day.

This was my bucket list:

- Eat Ramen
- Ride a bullet train (Shinkansen)
- Walk Kyoto's bamboo forest
- Dip in an onsen (hot spring bath)
- See Mt Fuji
- Check out the Robot Restaurant
- Watch a Japanese Matsuri (festivals) parade
- The orange Torii gates in Fushimi Inari Shrine (from Memoirs of a Geisha)
- Stroll in a Japanese Garden
- Stroll in the woods (Kiso valley)
- Some Disney!
- See as many Japanese castles as possible
- Spot Kawaii (cute) stuff all over the country
- Spot a Geisha (Zach thinks I should dress up as one)
- Find the statue of Hachiko the dog (the boys want to do this)
- Walk across the Shibuya crossing where Tokyo Mater is chased by the Ninja's
- Visit a Ninja temple
- See a Samurai house
- Use all the buttons on a Japanese toilet
- Zach wants to go to a cat cafe but I'm not so sure about that! Maybe an owl cafe.
- Vending machines!
- Stay in a ryokan (japanese inn)
- The deer at Nara park
- Hiroshima

Ticked
all the boxes except the robot restaurant (didn't have time, adults
only and in a red light district that I didn't want to walk to alone
while Godwin went out for his night photography) and the kiso valley
(road closed when we tried to drive there) but other than that, all
good!

If you read all that, you have stamina! This is the last
update. So, until next time, thanks for
hanging out with us.