An exercise in patience

Tiny cabin view to Detroit

Twenty-six hours of travel time, door-to-door. That's how long it took before we were walking through the door of the family-run ryokan we would be calling home for the next few days. Twenty-six hours is A LOT of sitting around and waiting for the twenty-six hours to be over. Can you imagine how relieving it is to finally shed our backpacks and crash?

Views from the airport

Cotton ball clouds

(Mario would like to interject some witty comment about long flights and contortionists at this time. I'll leave it up to your imagination.)

So far, navigating our way around Japan has been relatively easy, but it takes both of our strengths to do it well. I have the capability to plan out the trip ahead of time and know what lines and directions we need to take, while Mario is better at observation and split-second decisions, making him a more capable navigator under the pressures of Tokyo mass transportation. And we weren't even travelling during rush hour! Luckily, most everything of importance is listed in both Japanese and English, so signage is easy to follow, you just have to take a moment longer to find it.

Rainbow tunnel between terminals in Detroit

There's a monorail IN the airport!

Our ryokan is awesome - exactly what we thought it would be. A private bathroom with shower, a small tatami room with 2 futon to sleep, green tea and an endless supply of hot water downstairs, and incredibly willing, helpful and friendly staff. I can't wait to see what adventures tomorrow brings, but right now, clean and relaxed, that futon is looking pretty comfy after all the cramped airplanes sleeping. And I am no contortionist. 

Perfect Japanese farms

Our tatami room at the ryokan

Pre-Japan Ramen lunch

Funny moment of the day: It's not enough that we are spending 2 weeks in Japan, but while on layover in Detroit, we ate at a Japanese restaurant in the airport.