Japan! Day 1 : LAX to NRT

The next several posts will chronicle our amazing family vacation to Japan. Each entry will be dated for the actual day of travel.

Sam was up bright and early, and ready in 5 minutes for the drive to Los Angeles, where we would board our lunchtime flight heading to Narita Airport, Japan. Yumi and Mama dropped us off with two cars to especially accommodate the luggage. Later, Yumi would drive our car to Mari's home near the airport, where it would be parked during our trip. I was anxious to see how the kids would do during the 10+ hour flight, and our eventual arrival to a foreign country where there would be quite a time difference. It went very smoothly on our American Airlines flight, the seating was nice, we sat behind the kids in window seats. There were individual screens for the kids to watch movies and play games. They also had their individual electronic devices to keep them entertained.

Once we arrived at Narita Airport, we were greeted with the hustle and bustle of the Japanese. We picked up our luggage, exchange some $ for yen, and bought shuttle bus tickets for a ride to our hotel, which would take another hour. By now it was late afternoon, Japan time. Experiencing the time difference going to Japan was as if we stayed up all night until 4 a.m. or so, so needless to say we were quite tired. Steve, Sam and Anna were able to catch a little cat nap on the bus.