In Tokyo

Getting to Japan took a long time. I'm used to flying to Morocco, the three hours to New York followed by a quick seven hours to Casablanca. But this was the opposite direction, a good fourteen hour flight from New York. We were on Japan Airlines, in a pretty comfortable seat with a baby bed for Sofia. Each seat had its own individual television that played movies, games, music, pretty much anything to keep you entertained for multiple hours. But we had to entertain Sofia, who was ready to sleep at the beginning of the flight despite several hours of blazing lights, before they finally turned the cabin lights off. She slept off and on, and I slept not at all, despite having risen at 3:30 that morning. She got pretty bored when not asleep; fortunately, we had a bit of space at our feet where she could play. Food was decent - teriyaki chicken for starters, a steamed roll with sweet bean paste for a snack, and one more snack-type thing before the plane landed.

It had been cold when we left New York - 26 degrees-- and Tokyo was in the 40s. We got through customs pretty quickly, changed money, rented a cell phone, and reserved a seat on a 7 pm limousine bus that stops at multiple hotels in the city. I was amazed at how efficient everything was, despite the airport being packed, the lines moved quickly. The bus ride into the city took another 90 minutes, and then we finally checked into our hotel - Grand Prince New Takanawa, near one of the train stations called Shinagawa Station. Since we left our house in Florida at 4:30 am American time on December 17th, it was now 27 hours later, 9 pm Tokyo time on December 18th. Fourteen hours ahead of the East Coast.

Our room was decent - a good deal on a very nice hotel that has only partially renovated its rooms, so you can stay in the 80s-style rooms for much less than the renovated wing. Flowered polyester curtains and a chandelier with little lamps on top didn't matter - it was still super clean and big by Japanese standards. After giving Sofia a bath, Nour returned with some gyudon - rice with some stringy beef on top from a ubiquitous chain restaurant-- we crashed almost immediately.

Since then, we've woken up each morning at around 3 am. We're usually starving, as is Sofia. We ate some leftover dinner and various snacks the first night; the second night Nour ventured out for 7-11 ramen noodles (better than the ones in the states I remember from college, but still very salty), and each night we've repeated the ritual, going back to sleep afterwards. The jet lag seems to be hitting Sofia the worst, as she is not very interested in eating during the day but wants to eat all night long. And when she gets tired at night, she totally melts down, which she doesn't do back in the States.

But on to the actual events of our trip so far...