Day 1: Karuizawa

 

We finally made it to Karuizawa around lunchtime. It felt like we'd been travelling for a long long time. I don't know how we managed to survive going to the States since we clocked the same number of hours trapped on an airplane!

The air was crisp and cool with a mist covering the top of the mountain. There was no snow this season on account of El Nino making it too warm for the snow to fall and even if it did it wouldn't hang around long enough to play in. We did have some man-made snow to muck around in and we were still hopeful for snow tomorrow.

  

We took the shuttle to the Karuizawa Prince Hotel East to put our bags at Concierge. Check-in time in Japan is at 3pm so we had quite a bit of time to kill. First, we hit the factory outlet, a stone's throw away from our hotel. There were lots of eating places and shops to blow our yen in, including Gap, Under Armor, Nike, adidas and LEGO.

We headed back to the hotel to check in for a much needed break but time was a ticking so we bundled the children in their snow gear and headed up to the slopes. the kids were SO excited but we all quickly realised how fast everything got sopping wet and that playing in snow is great but the clean up afterwards was just no fun.

Ski lessons tomorrow. Let's see how we fare after a good night's rest.

Japan Day 1: The Eagle has Landed!

Ready or not Japan, here we come!

After catching the 10pm flight and flying overnight to Tokyo's Haneda International airport, we're finally on Japanese soil at 530am local time. What a shock to the system since we all barely slept last night!

Once we made it through the snaking line at Customs and got our bags, the first order of business was to figure out how to take the train to Karuizawa. We also decided to use a luggage shipping service (we went through JAL's shipping service) to send one of our bags to Tokyo so we wouldn't have to lug so many through the train stations. After getting some information from the tourism counter right after you get out from Customs, we had to figure out how to buy monorail tickets to Tokyo Station. To get to our destination, we'd need to change trains on monorail then once more to Shinkansen. Though there was an English option available to the machines buying tickets required some intuition. Once we figured out what the symbols meant, it was easy!

We'd also gotten a pocket wifi from Changi Recommends before departure and arranged for a data SIM card by b-mobile to be sent to our first hotel. We were pleasantly surprised with free wifi on the monorail so we didn't have to dig around and figure out the pocket wifi just then.

I'd read about the awesome food selection in the train stations and we needed a bit so we stopped for a bit so the daddies could figure out where needed to go. There are bento box shops, juice bars, mini restaurants and stalls selling sweets and confectionaries you can give as gifts all over. The hardest thing to figure out was what to buy!

Another Birthday Cake

This kid is so loved. He gets another birthday cake from the Ngs at the airport while we wait to board the plane. Thank you Auntie Shirley, Uncle Lewis, Leroy and Leon!

Hello! Japan

After months of prepping, we are finally leaving for Japan tonight! The Pattiselannos are hitting Tokyo and Osaka for the next 10 days with our good friends the Ngs and the Norohnas!

The kids have been impatient to get started with our holiday and have been excited about playing in the snow, eating through Japan and going shopping!! The hallmarks of a great vacation. I've just been excited about having Lenard to ourselves for the next few days. 

It's our first time in Japan outside of Narita airport. I've always wanted to go but somehow the language barrier and the lack of travel company meant it would sit on the back burner for a long time. 

Well, now we're off and thrilled to be going with our friends.

Winter Is COMING!

We are super excited about our upcoming holiday to Japan in December. It's our first time and will be traveling with the Norohnas and the Ngs!

This trip is going to be a lot of firsts for our family. I haven't been to Tokyo or Osaka before and neither have the boys. It'll be their first time seeing snow when we go to Karuizawa and experiencing real cold. (Our trip to San Diego/LA 2 years back was mild compared to the weather in Japan!) The kids are loving the gear I've acquired through Carousell and can't wait!

I can't wait either!