From [Tokyo] with Love: Diary 1

Welcome to the start of my travel diary! I'll be posting a couple each week so stay in the know by subscribing to email updates :)

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I hope you enjoy!

Sunday 10 December

{ 11:58am brisbane time }

Lift off has been successful after two delays to our flight. What a way to build anticipation and anxiousness. The second time they announced the delay they explained it as an engineering difficulty, and when we finally got on the plane an hour after the scheduled departure time (scheduled at 9:55) they announced that they needed to replace an engine part. AHHHHHHH.

Check in was fine and very speedy, which left us heaps of time (more than intended thanks to the delay) to enjoy the FREE FOOD at the Qantas business lounge 👌 It was very busy there, but plenty of food and we snagged a nice lounge seat.

Right now we’re cruising at an altitude of 10972m, at 876km/h with 7 hours and 58 minutes left until we land in Tokyo.

On the watch list: Dunkirk, Downton Abbey, Spider-Man and maybe Wonder Woman.

FINN WHITEHEAD IN DUNKIRK IS SO PRETTY WALKING AROUND THE BEACH I CANT HELP MYSELF. But I cannot imagine how scary it would have been in WWII though. It’s terrifying just watching it.

{ 2:16pm }

So far we’ve had lunch and hot drinks (four cheese ravioli and hot chocolate). I’ve finally finished watching Dunkirk, mini review coming later because it was an amazing film and harry styles' acting did not disappoint

There’s been a bit of turbulence (probably very light turbulence but I’m so scared every time) so I’m going to try to nap. 5 hours and 48 minutes remaining.

{ 17:25 }

Currently watching the Downton Abbey season 3 special and it’s taking ages, but I’m interested. Most people say it’s slow moving and a little boring but I actually find it really aesthetically pleasing to watch. The costumes, props and storyline are so true to the different eras it is set in. A-MAZING.

2 hours and 44 minutes remaining, three and a bit episodes of DA I have time to watch.

Let’s get cracking

{ 17:41 }

SPOILER ALERT: MATTHEW JUST DIED I AM DEVASTATED THEY JUST HAD A BABY WHYYY

{ 19:08 }

We’ve had a bit of turbulence this flight. Hopefully it won’t be too bad when we descend. It is actually pitch black outside the tiny window. Storm? I’ve watched another episode of Downton Abbey so now officially up to season 4 episode 2, and it’s made me want to cry twice. So sad for Mary but so happy she’s back to her usual self (speaking as if I know her personally ahahahahaha).

Now watching Spider-Man of course to see Tom Holland and there’s 1 hour 5 minutes remaining. Opppp turbulence

{ 23:46 Tokyo time }

We have successfully made it to the amazing hotel, but not without stress

So tired from today because I actually couldn’t nap on the plane :(

Since our flight was delayed our plan A of getting on the connecting hotel bus was out the window since the morning, so the train it was. We got to the train terminal and were told that the train we needed was leaving in 3 mins so we (actually papa) rushed to buy tickets and we literally squeezed through the closing doors of the train. After stressing whether it was the right train, which stations we were going to, it turned out to be the right train.

We travelled to the Shimbashi station. We stepped outside and felt a little chill, so I put my trusty grey coat on which was perfect. Onto the driverless monorail (which is so cool by the way, like a rollercoaster) and now here.

This hotel is amazing and I’m so grateful for the parents and for this trip. It’s only day one but I already feel so spoilt. THANK YOU.

The hotel is huge. Beautiful sparkly fairy lights outside, chandeliers at every step (literally, even in the room) and it just exudes luxury.

We have adjoining rooms so parents are sleeping in one hotel room and we (sister and me) basically have our own!

{ 00:02 }

For a super late dinner I had some Japanese chicken nuggets, and some juice and some mini sushi and some tea. Just had a shower to wash off the tiredness and off to bed right now...

Monday 11 December

{ 9:31 }

Yes it’s the day of disneysea

{ 12:47 }

Disneysea!!! So fun and exciting 🎉 Tonia and I actually got Disney ears this time because why not! Kinda expensive but totally worth it for the aesthetic selfies. Both of us look so on point today.

We had a super hectic morning and literally stressed everyone within 10 metres of us.

Breakfast was really nice and I had he best cup of tea in months. Probably because it was so hot and a great ratio of milk to tea. Since we didn’t have Disney tickets yet, there was so much anxiety from everyone. Do we buy them online? Will they work? Can we buy them from the hotel? On top of that, our bus leaves at 10am on the dot.

Dad went to the lobby to buy tickets 10 mins before our bus left, and the hotel personnel couldn’t understand that we needed two not four tickets. Eeeek.

We just left them and decided to risk the ticket line at disneysea.

Turned out to be the shortest line in history. No one waiting except for us.

Bought tickets successfully and went inside ready for fun.

We’ve been to an Aladdin theatre thing and a carousel so far. We have fast pass tickets to the Indiana Jones one and are currently standing in a 80 minute line for the journey to the centre of the earth ride. Dreaming about lunch.

Lunch:

We went for lunch at one of the two vegetarian options. It was an Italian themed cafeteria place, so we got some pasta, a pizza and a drink and I was so surprised at how good it was.

Indiana Jones ride

Chocolate churros

Fast pass for tower of terror and super windy weather

We actually won tickets to big band beat! The most exciting thing ever, otherwise we would have nothing to do for the hour.

Got popcorn

Watched show

Bought hot chocolate and we hid in an entrance way of a building because there were no spare seats and it was so cold.

Tower of terror

It became so crazy windy in the evening and we were absolutely freezing.

Train ride to Port Discovery

Water ride thing

Nemo

Worried about missing the bus

Caught the bus and back at warm home

Tuesday 12 December

{ 11:25 }

Today we’re at Disneyland!! Again standing in a 50 minute line for a ride... there’s so much to catch up on so I’ll probably catch up on the all of our Disney adventure on the airplane to Moscow.

I’ve been wanting to apply mascara for the whole morning now because we were so rushed again - another mishap - I didn’t bring the card key and the parents hotel room was locked from the inside, so papa ran back down to the reception for help.

Soon lunch! Depends whether our favourite ride (space mountain) has a long standby line!

Snow White ride

Haunted house ride

Peter Pan ride

Parade yay!

Rollacoaster mountain. The girls in front of us took probably 200 selfies while we were in the standby line for the ride. Later we found out that it was one of their birthday's so we eventually forgave them. They probably have a bunch of photos with us looking salty in the background.

Fast pass tickets for space mountain

Lunch

Rice curry for Tonia and a 'dark side' star wars themed calzone with sparkly stars on it for me! Such a nerd lol. It was actually really good. We sat for a little bit and had some much needed rest.

Star tours ride

Star tours again

Space mountain

Started to get windy

Loony tunes town and car ride, Roger Rabbit.

Took a bunch of aesthetic photos as one does when in Disneyland for 14 hours.

Really tired

Got popcorn

Got to watch a show for free (without winning a lottery ticket) even though it was super cold and it was outside. It legit is like a mini broadway musical, the production and quality of dancing and acting is so good.

Walked around

Pirates of the Caribbean ride

Pirates again

Bread cone and hot chocolate

Cold and tired

Winnie the Pooh line outside and cold. We saw so many cute babies it's an improbable number.

Dinner at Alice in Wonderland buffet restaurant. Steak, salad and corn soup, chocolate cake. Again super yum.

Sadly skipped light parade

Ran to the shops bc cold and shopped around for a few hours.

Watched fireworks, then light show, then bought souvenirs!

Back to the bus

The Disney bus worker said Merry Christmas to us and we thought it was the cutest thing in the whole world <3

Back to hotel super tired after 14 hours at Disney

Wednesday 13 December

Woke up relaxed. Relaxed breakfast. After two days of crazy rushes it was nice to go a little slower.

We got ready and off to the Yurikamome line to Shimbashi which is a street away from Ginza, the epic centre of shopping in Tokyo.

Just like I remember from February last year, we went to Abercrombie and Fitch, and the huge 12 storey uniqlo. After shopping there for a while tempers were a bit aggravated, but after figuring out a plan all was good again. Toni and I were so tired from two full days at Disneyland it was actually crazy.

Back to the hotel room for a lunch snack. Rest for a bit then off to the three huge shopping centres around the hotel. It was crazy windy again but the short walks were ok.

I finally found the Zara bag but it was so heavy, I’m still tossing up whether to buy it or not because it’s so big in real life. We went to the last centre that had the huge transformer in front. It was about 8pm when we had dinner at a buffet style restaurant which was really nice. We had a view of the transformer, and apparently he can move his eyebrows. After that, back to the hotel to pack and sleep.

// Thank you so much for reading <3 \\