Travel With Phie

Japan: Day 0 / 1 

Day 0: Loads of Travel & Lost Days 

Today was an early morning to a late night full of loads of travel. I woke up in Denver and headed to the airport t 5:30AM. I arrived to DIA around 6AM and went straight to the security line. Got through security around 6:15am and headed to the gate to meet-up with Ashley and John (the first of many who would be joining on this adventure). 

I got to C gates at DIA and met up with Ashley and John in the bagel line. Although, a bit early for breakfast, I got a sesame bagel with strawberry cream cheese. We sat at the gate for around 30 minutes before boarding our first flight to Seattle. 

Funny enough out of coincidence John and I were sitting next to each to other on this part of the Journey. I slept almost the entire way which was huge for the program. We were a little delayed getting into Seattle due to a delay with the plane before us pulling out of the gate late. We got to the Seattle Airport around 11am and had 2 hours before boarding for our final flight to Tokyo. 

Here we met up with Laura (John’s sister) and our second to last joiner of the trip. We grabbed a quick lunch as we knew this would be our last meal before getting to Tokyo. I got a chicken sandwich, but joined the crew late due to a quick work meeting. It was an okay sandwich, but nice to get some real food in my system before getting on an 11 hour flight. We finished up lunch and went on our way to the gate to get ready to board our flight. We quickly boarded, said our see ya laters, and we’re on our way. 

The flight didn’t feel super long as I rotated between watching a show (High Potential), sleeping, and snacking/eating. I got lucky where I was able to sleep for a wild majority of the flight. Before I knew it we were making our final decent into the Tokyo area, yet it still had not hit that we were almost in Japan and this trip was finally on its way. 

We landed, reconnected with our group, started going through customs (and I forgot that I was supposed to fill out the online Visa, so scrabbled through it while standing in line), went through customs, and finally met up with the last member of our group, Nick (John’s best friend from High School). 

Day 1(ish): Night 1 in Tokyo

Once we had all reconnected, we found the line to buy train stations to Tokyo, got tickets, and headed into the City. Once we got off, we grabbed the subway to the station close to our Airbnb. Walked around a half mile and found our way to the Airbnb. The Airbnb was right above a little pub/bar and the elevator had a sign that said to ask the bartender for recommendations as he is able to converse in English and knows the area well. We got up to the Airbnb, dropped our bags and quickly changed before heading downstairs to ask the bartender for a dinner spot.

Bartender came in clutch and told us to go to the Soba place right down the street (Honoka).We decided to try it out and man am I glad we did. We truly started the trip off with great food. 

We were a little nervous to go in as we struggled to open the door because we thought it was a push/pull, but sadly it was a slide. Once we walked in, we could smell how good it was going to be. It was a small place with maybe only 15 spots or less for people to sit. It was truly a whole in the wall, where no one spoke English, but they did have a menu with helpful English to Japanese translations. This would be our token for the trip. 

We all ordered a variation of the hot Soba noodles and John, Nick, & I got a beer. We chatted, hung out, got to know each other and slurped down the delicious food. After dinner, we headed to 711 to get some late night snacks which varied greatly between each person. Ashley got sugar-free chocolate, Laura & John got some Mochi and mini-pancakes, Nick got well I don’t remember, and I got some Nutella biscuits. 

We than headed back towards the Airbnb, Laura & Ashley headed to bed, while John, Nick and I headed to the downstairs bar for a night cap. We ordered the local handmade Sake, which was amazing. It went down so smooth and since we got a free drink for booking the place above we decided to get a real drink as well. I got a Mojito, Nick a Negroni, and John a beer. The cocktails were just as good as the Sake. I was very happy with my decision. 

After our night cap, we headed back upstairs to get some rest before we continued on for the rest of the trip, but man what a great start to the trip. 

Goodnight!!