It's certainly different here (obviously). Even though I've been studying culture, customs and maps for the past year, I don't think anything could have truly prepared us for this experience.
Saint Petersburg, FL to Tokyo, JP
So we began our journey on Monday night at 11:30 pm, heading towards West Palm Beach Airport in our rental car for our 6:00 am flight. We were pumped up on Monster drinks, ready to start our incredible journey to the other side of the world! We about ten blocks from our house... and saw the police lights behind us. Sigh. Apparently the rental car didn't have automatic headlights. After a few minutes (and me yelling, "WE'RE GOING ON OUR HONEYMOON RIGHT NOW!!!"), we skated by with a warning and continued the four-hour trip to West Palm Beach.
We arrived at the airport and hopped on our three-hour flight to Dallas, and then after a four-hour layover, our 13-hour flight to Tokyo. The longest flight I had ever been on was about two hours, and I had no idea what to expect. My master plan was to use my time in captivity to catch up on some work and work ahead on my coursework. NOPE! No wifi or outlets were available. Double sigh. I guess I would just have to chat with Jeffrey for the next 13 hours... except he went to sleep! Grrr. I spent most of the flight sleeping for 2-3 hours at a time and watching a few movies. I was terrified at the thought of being up in the air for so long, but it was not bad at all. Nailed it!
WHERE ARE WE?!
You guessed it, it was definitely NOT that easy.
Totally worth it. As soon as we stepped inside Park Hotel Tokyo, it was another world. Hotel staff rushed to help us with the utmost level of friendliness, and the check-in process was seamless. And the room, OH MY GOODNESS the room! It had a bed. And I could sleep in a bed. Like really lay down and use a blanket and have a pillow and go to sleep. No uncomfortable armrest jabbing into my side, no turbulence to jolt me awake. Just pure... sleep... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz