My Day-9 and last day in Japan. It was our departure day to go back to America.

***

I woke up at 5 am naturally. My daughter was still sound asleep, so I waited in bed for a while.

When I went to kitchen, my friend was already there. She was cooking breakfast and lunch for us. I’m always amazed on how efficiently my friend do the house chores. She had already finished cleaning, washing clothes, and the half procedure of all the cooking.

She cooked vegetarian homemade croquette for our lunch box. It was my daughter’s request. Since she cooked them on our last visit, my daughter had missed them a lot. We love my friend’s homemade food a lot.

Out flight was scheduled to depart 5:05 pm at Narita. We were required to be at the airport 3 hours prior to the flight. Thus, we needed to leave my friends’ house around 11:30 am.

***

When parting from them at the airport, I did all my best on not to cry in front of them. It was not that hard for me because they are planning to visit us in this summer. We will spend more time together in 4 months. My daughter though, started crying right after we parted from them. She cried a lot while we were waiting for the flight. She cried even while we were in the long flight, missing and thinking of her dear friend.

***

I was surprised at the TSA security in Japan. All the workers were very polite and kind. My daughter and I were treated with their respect all the time.   

***

The return flight from Japan back to America was much easier for us to take than the outbound flight. It was a 9.5-hour flight; that was 3 hours shorter than the outbound one. It was a bigger airplane than the outbound one. The seating layout of economy class were 3, 4, 3 seats respectively. Our seats were at the last row, which had only two seats. It was great for us on not having any stranger next to us. As a matter of fact, the flight had many vacant seats. I could see most of the middle seats were vacant. The middle area was the same. Most passengers seemed to have two seats each, as most of the middle seats were remain acant. 

***

We arrived at Los Angeles airport. There we needed to do the custom procedure. Before we got to the custom counter, we needed to wait in a very long waiting line. The procedure itself was simple.

At the turn table to pick our luggage, I met one female worker. I naturally smiled at her and she greeted me politely. She asked me how many luggage I had. I said four. She seemed to be a supervisor at the area. She called on male worker and asked him to support us for the luggage. The male worker turned back to me with a friendly smile and told me “sure, with my pleasure!”

From there, everything happened like a miracle.

The male worker introduced himself as Charlie. He was Filipino. His Asian appearance made me feel relaxed. He was a tall and skinny young man, wearing a round pair of eye glasses.

Charlie grabbed a cart and brought it to us. Every time when I pointed my luggage and 3 boxes on the turn table, he quickly went there and grabbed it for me. Soon, our cart was filled with all 4 of my luggage and boxes.

He held the handle of our cart and asked me “shall we go?” From there, he escorted us all the way to the entrance of next terminal.

Everywhere before we passed by any other workers, Charlie cheerfully greeted them and told them he was escorting his important customers. Recognizing him as their coworker with Charlie’s airport uniform, all the workers greeted back to us nicely. They treated our luggage nicely too.

After we picked up our luggage, the next area was the luggage inspection area. The workers were checking all the luggage for all the passengers through an X-ray machine.

I was feeling nervous. Charlie noticed my nervousness and whispered to me “No worry! Everything goes well.”  He gave me a warm smile while he was putting my luggage on the turn table one by one.

Charlie was right. All my luggage went through without catching any workers’ attention. Again Charlie picked up my luggage from the turn table and put them back to the cart.

After the inspection, we now proceeded to another turn table. This turn table was to transfer our luggage to our next flight. Again Charlie did all the work for me.  

After the procedure of the inspection and transferring our luggage to the next flight, we now needed to go through the security check to enter to another terminal. Charlie went through the security check with us.

Right after we entered to another terminal, Charlie took a printed paper out from his pocket. It was a passenger’s name list of our flight. He pointed our names in the list and asked if he was right. When I answered yes, he now pulled out his cell phone and searched for the information of our next flight. He showed me the numbers of the gate and terminal of our next flight on his cell phone. Then, he gave me the instruction on how we could get there.

At parting, he gave my daughter and me a friendly smile and best luck on everything.

***

We saw Charlie off walking back to his original workplace. My daughter and I looked at each other’s face for a while in awe. We both agreed he was an earth angel sent by our family spirits and angels.

I thought to myself. Wow!! I am well-protected and loved by my family spirits and angels. I really appreciate for their surprise gift.

The great thing about my family spirits and angels is that I don’t need to do anything to get their love. I don’t need to decorate myself, put a make up on my face, nor wear a luxurious clothes to be loved by them. I don’t need any of them to make myself pretty because they don’t care of my physical appearance. They see me in a spirit. All matters to them is to stay being myself. That is awesome.  

***

We finally arrived at our local airport. There my husband was waiting for us, with a big smile on his face. From there, he took care of our four luggage and drove us back to our sweet home.

We were so happy to be back home. Our own house is the best place to relax, right? We enjoyed taking a bath and having a sound sleep in our own house.

***

It was a great trip. We appreciate my parents and friends in Japan for their warm hospitality.

I appreciate that we could come back home safely after spending awesome days with my dear people in Japan.

Thank you, Thank you, and Thank you a million times to my parents and friends.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

My Day-8 in Japan.

***

I woke up at 6:30. Even though I had a good sleep, I woke up with dull headache. I also had pain in back of my eyes. My friend thought it might be due to hay fever.

***

My headache and pain in my eyes got worse and worse as time went by. I remember everybody whom I met in this trip in Japan was wearing a mask. I regretted for not protecting myself from pollen.

We were planning to leave for mountain area. Before our departure, my friend gave me a quick massage on my shoulders and legs to deal with my headache. She also gave me some homeopathy remedies as well as a cup of Ume-Sho-Bancha; one of Yakuzen.

Around 9:30 am, we departed. My friend’s husband stopped by at a pharmacy for me. I bought some medicine for hay fever and took the pill.  

According to them, it took more than one hour to get to our destination. I don’t remember about our driving journey at all, because I was sleeping. I woke up from time to time with my own snorting. I got embarrassed and apologized to them for my snoring.

We had lunch at a nice organic restaurant. They serve organic vegetables and fresh grains. I was too sick to eat anything. My daughter enjoyed their food and finished it all. We were all surprised as we knew my daughter normally does not eat much.   

***

Then we went to the workshop place. The customers can enjoy a various artworks of their preference. They offer the necessary tools and materials for pottery making, painting a woodwork, and glass etching, etc. Our daughters decided to paint a woodwork.

While they were enjoying painting and designing their artwork, I spent in a bathroom alone for a while. After I vomited several times, I started feeling better. By the time they finished their artwork, I finally regained my normal health condition.

In the evening they took us to a hot spring. It was so relaxing.

The only one wish for me was that we could enter to a hot spring with a swimsuit. I never felt comfortable entering to a bath all naked with strangers, even while I was living in Japan. On the other hand, here in America, since we enter to hot springs with wearing a swimsuit, everybody; men and women, can enjoy entering together. I miss America for the point.

Besides, there were so many rules in a Japanese bath house. After I had lived in America for 11 years, I almost forgot about them. People looked at me in a mean look for my accidentally not following their rules. I was told that the rules were the “common-sense-public-rule-as-a-Japanese”. I felt myself as an alien in my own birth country.

***

After the bath, we had dinner at a Japanese soba noodle restaurant. I enjoyed their soba very much. I enjoyed especially the soup with tororo-imo (Japanese mountain yam) as they are not available in America.

***

After we came back to my friends’ house, I completed the online checked-in procedure for our return flights to America. We were leaving back home tomorrow. After I finished the online check-in, it was already past 10 pm.

***

I wish I never got sick today. On my second thought though, I appreciate that I didn’t get sick for the rest of my days while in Japan. And, I appreciate my friend and her family to take good care of my daughter while I was sick.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

My Day-7 in Japan.

***

I woke up at 6:30 am. It was raining in the morning. My friend and her family took us to several stores for our final shopping.

***

In the afternoon we went to an ice skating link. I have experienced ice-skating before, but it was very first time for my daughter.

My friend’s husband taught my daughter on what to do. He stayed with her most of the time.

A couple of times I asked my daughter on which person she wanted to be her teacher; either my friend’s husband or me. She always chose him instead of me. I was a bit surprised of her choice. My daughter is shy and does not easily go to other people except for me. Her choosing my friend’s husband gave me a complex feeling; relaxed feeling that she fully trusted him and a bit loneliness that she didn’t choose me. All in all though, I was happy for my daughter to have a great time together with my friend’s husband. My daughter likes him very much. I appreciate him for his kindness to my daughter.

There was one thing that I was surprised. At the ice skating link, there was no coin locker. The customers left their shoes unattended in the changing room. Also they left their belongings in the bench unattended. Nobody seemed to worry about it, because they all know nobody would steal. After spending 11 years in America, the scenery was surprising to me. Here in America, people steal, so we’ve got to secure our belongings in a paid coin locker.

***   

For dinner we had sashimi; raw fish. I enjoyed sashimi very much, as I cannot have such a fresh fish at my current area in America.

***

In the night after our daughters went to bed, my friend offered me her homemade plum wine. While we were drinking the wine and chatting, we noticed it was already close to midnight. Same as other days in Japan, time went by so quickly. I had a good exercise in ice skating. I slept very well through the night. It was another great day.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

My Day-6 in Japan.

***

This morning, same as yesterday, I woke up at 6:30 am naturally without the help of an alarm clock. My daughter was sound asleep. I didn’t want to wake her up by my moving around, so I stayed in bed with her for a while.

By the time we got out from bed around 7 am, my friend was in the kitchen cooking breakfast. My friend’s daughter was already gone. She went for the dance practice at school.

***

My friend took us to the kids’ entertainment place where we could enjoy creative activities. There, we finger-painted on the surface of a plastic capsule. We also created some artworks with clay. It was fun to touch real clay which was cold and heavy.

***

By the time we came back to my friend’s home, her daughter was back home.

Around 2 pm we left for Nagoya station. Today we were heading for our last destination.

I was glad my friend’s daughter joined us to the trip to Nagoya. My daughter had been alone in the back seat until then. Now she had a company to sit together in the back seat. My friend’s daughter and my daughter seemed to have fun together. I heard their laughter all the way to our destination.

At the time of parting from them, I was planning to leave with a smile. I didn’t want to weep in front of them. When I was about to leave from my friend, she quickly grabbed my arm and pulled it toward her, and hugged me tightly. “Oh no, please don’t do that” I thought to myself. I am easily moved to tears. Her tight hug made me cry. But I was not the only one crying. My friend was crying too. Yep, she is also easily moved to tears. It was hard for me to leave. After we hugged each other for a while, I put a smile on my face and parted from her. My daughter was crying too. She had a great time with them.

My daughter and I kept on walking. After we took quite a few steps, I thought they already left. I turned back. They were still there, waving toward us. That scenery made me cry even more.

Both of I and my daughter ended up getting on Shinkansen, weeping…

***

After I wept for a while, I must have fallen asleep. I woke up by my daughter’s exciting voice. “Mom, look! I think that is Mount Fuji.” Thanks to my daughter, I didn’t miss watching Mt. Fuji.  I was touched by the scenery of Mt. Fuji. I felt like being embraced by warm energy. It must be Mt. Fuji emitting everybody its unconditional love.

***

We arrived at Shin-Yokohama station in the evening. At the ticket gate, my friend and her daughter were waiting for us, waiving to us. At the sight, I could not stop my tears falling down. Yes, I cried again. I am such a cry baby.

I was so happy to see them again. My daughter and her daughter were also very happy to see each other again and started playing together right away.

***

We had so much fun on our first night. I didn’t know how quickly time went by. When my friend’s husband suggested us to go to bed, it was already 11:43 pm. We didn’t know it was close to midnight.

Now we are with my friend and her family. We are now in the safe place with them. I knew she would heal our body and mind during our stay at her house. I was so relieved. I had a sound sleep at her house.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

My Day-5 in Japan.

We slept well in the guest room. The bed mattress was nice and firm. I woke up at 6:30 am naturally without the help of an alarm clock. My daughter woke up around the same time as me.

We checked out the guest room. We packed everything up and moved our luggage to my friend’s room.

Since we had sprinkling rain in the morning, we decided to do some shopping in the morning.

My friend’s condominium was located in a convenient community. They had a shopping mall right next to their building. There were a dollar store (100-en store), a grocery store, and a variety store. There, you can buy almost everything you need.

While we were in the stores, since I didn’t want to add extra items to carry to my next destination, I limited myself to buy items. There were a whole bunch of items that I wanted to buy. My daughter on the other hand, spontaneously put everything she wanted in a shopping basket. At the checkout, she proceeded to me with a basket full of items and asked me to buy them all for her. I couldn’t say no to her innocent cute smile. She was doing very well in this trip anyway. She deserved some type of award for that, right?

***

After we came back home, my friend’s daughter spent some time with my daughter. She is a teenager and interested in makeup. She decorated my daughter in a various ways. My daughter was decorated with makeup of light pink of an eyeshadow and a lipstick, along with a manicure. Her side hair was arranged to the two buns that looked like cat-ears. Her back hair was loosely curled by a hair curling iron. My daughter fully enjoyed being well taken care of by her. I really appreciate my friend’s daughter. She was very nice and kind to my daughter.  

***

After lunch the weather got better. The sprinkling rain of the morning completely stopped by noon. We went to the local zoo as a request by my daughter.

At the zoo we met many friendly animals. This is only my personal impression, but I felt the zoo between in Japan and in America is different. The zoo in Japan has more numbers of animals, and the animals are friendlier than in America. According to my friend, the keeper of the zoo in Japan focus on training their animals to be entertainers. I certainly could see their efforts. The seals looked like as if they were talking to us. One monkey was a real comedian. He would sing his original songs and stick his tongue to us. Whenever we laughed at him, the monkey laughed with us. The elephants came very close to us. They stayed right inside the fence as close as we could almost touch them.   

It was very kind of my friend to take us to the zoo. The most appreciating thing for me was that my daughter finally laughed out loud. It was her first moment she finally acted as true herself in this trip. She laughed a lot with us.

We took a ride of Ferris wheel and some other rides. We rented a paddling boat. It has been a while for me to ride a paddling boat. Last time was maybe when I was still in 20-s. It was so fun. We laughed a lot and sweat a lot. My eye glasses were constantly fogged due to sweat.  

***

When we finally went to bed, it was already past 11 pm. It was again a long day for us. I appreciate to my friend and her daughter. Thanks to them, we had a great fun together.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

My Day-4 in Japan.

I woke up at 4:44 am. A bunch of Number-4 energy. That means I am being supported by my family spirits and angels for sure.

My daughter could sleep a little longer than yesterday. Both of us are sleeping longer than yesterday, which was good for us.

***

My daughter’s lips got dry and chapped. It seemed that she has bitten off her under lip. It was definitely stressful for her to visit my parents. Since we don’t see them often, she got nervous being with them. My daughter does not speak fluent Japanese but she did her best to communicate with my parents in Japanese.

I feel sorry for my daughter to put her through such a tough situation. At the same time I am proud of her for doing her best to adjust to this unfamiliar people and place. Everything in this trip must be tough for such a young aged child.

I hope this trip will be beneficial for her. I hope she will remember this trip even after growing up as one of her memorable life events. As for me, this trip will definitely be one of my memorable life events. I will always remember about this trip in details.

***

In the morning we went for a walk to the seaside park. We enjoyed walking by the sea. It was a nice sunny day. The ocean surface was sparkling. The ocean shared its calm and soothing energy with us. We got refreshed thanks to the ocean energy.

***

After we came back to the hotel, we checked out the hotel at 11 am. We headed to my friend’s house in Nagoya by Shinkansen.

Since my mom gave me lots of gifts to us, we had more items than we arrived. My new suitcase was full. My daughter’s carry bag was also full. I needed to carry a tote bag on my shoulder and carry a backpack on my shoulder. With such a full of luggage and a small child, along with lots of stairs and walks, it was hard for us to get in and out from Shinkansen.

***

Our Shinkansen departed Kobe at 12:08 pm and arrived at Nagoya at 1:10 pm. We met my friend at the station. While she let us wait in her car, she went to the station to buy another Shinkansen tickets and reserve the seats for us. Since it was during spring break for students, she told me there was a long waiting line at the ticket counter.

By the time when we arrived at her condominium community, it was already past 3 pm.

We were planning to stay at her place for two nights. For the first night my friend reserved a guest room in her condominium community. Unfortunately though, she could not reserve it on the second night.

We first stopped by at the front office to check in for the guest room. The guest room was offered at the pretty reasonable fee. It was only 2,000 yen for one night. That being said, the guest room comes with one-page-long instructions to use the room. 

Within 5 minutes after we entered the guest room, my friend told me that we had to leave.

In that evening we were planning to attend her high school daughter’s dance performance presentation. The presentation would start at 6 pm, but my friend wanted to be there by 5:30 pm to get the good seats for us.

On the way we stopped by at a curry restaurant. It was my daughter’s request. She never ate at a Japanese curry restaurant before. The curry was delicious. My daughter could finish her plate quickly and ate even some from mine. It was rare for her to eat such a big amount. My daughter is a picky eater. Normally she eats very little amount on each meal. I was glad she could enjoy the meal.

We arrived at the performance venue right before 6 pm. I was exhausted and wanted to get the aisle seat in case I quickly needed to get away from the seat. Unfortunately however, the volunteered students urged us to sit in the middle of the row. I felt uncomfortable because I was feeling sick at that time. It would make me hard to leave the seat from the middle of the row in case of emergency.

Their dance performance was great. I could tell they practiced a lot for the presentation day. During the performance, the high school student audience cheered the performers, who were their classmates/friends. The entire temperature of the venue was raised higher and higher. I started having headache and almost lost my consciousness. However, since I was sitting in the middle of the row, I could not easily get out from the seat. My daughter was feeling sick too.    

At the end of the performance, there was some students’ speech. One of their speech was torturing long for us.

We left the venue around 9 pm. By the time when we finally went to sleep, it was past midnight.

Even though I had a good time with my friend and watching her daughter’s dance performance, I really shouldn’t have gone. I should have rested at the evening. Our fatigue level almost reached at our maximum level. What we needed the most was to rest.  

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

My Day-3 in Japan.

I woke up at 2:44 am. Same as yesterday’s morning, I could not go back to sleep anymore regardless of all my efforts. My eyes were swollen due to weeping of last night.

My daughter woke up at 6 am. At least she could sleep one hour longer than yesterday. Lucky her.

***

Last night I talked about my damaged suitcase. Both of my friend and my husband strongly suggested me to buy a new one. They wanted me to travel without any burden.

I called the hotel front desk. The young male receptionist answered my phone. He was kind and helpful to give me some idea on where I could buy a new suitcase. He also offered me to discard my damaged suitcase for free of charge.  

In the early morning, we took off to the discount store. The store was just 10 minutes walking away from our hotel. Besides, fortunately enough for me; the store opens 24/7. I could buy a new suitcase before 7 am. Since other luggage stores open at 11 am, this store saved my time.  

***

After my suitcase issue was solved, my next to-do-list item was to wash clothes. I went to the coin laundry and washed everything that we had worn so far in this trip.

***

When laundry was done, we took off to the kids’ museum where was located right next to the ocean. There, we enjoyed browsing around the cute attractions and riding a Ferris wheel.

***

Before lunch time, we took a train to go see my parents. We had a lunch at the Chinese restaurant. After lunch, we went back to my parents’ house and enjoyed conversation. After we had a dinner of my favorite rice burger, my dad started talking about their second house.

From 2011 to 2017, after a big fight with my mom, I had barely talked to my parents for the six years. During that time my mom got a severe sickness a couple of times. After such tough days they bought a room of an old people’s nursing facility, as their option in case they need somebody’s help. They said that is their last gift from them to their children; my brother and me. In case they get very sick and old, they can move to the facility.

They call their nursing facility as their second house. They already paid off in 2015. Since then, they have keep paying for the monthly management fee. So, they can stay at their second house anytime as they want.

My dad said I could go see their second house. By then it was already after 5 pm. Since my dad was too tired to go there with us, only my mom went there with us.

Their second house was located right next to the beach. It was a 5-storied building, looks like a hotel. Upon our entry, we were welcomed by two young female receptionists. They remembered my parents’ names and politely greeted by their names.

It was a new and clean building.

However, I felt low vibration there. It was surrounded by depressing feeling. I could smell the similar odor just like a hospital. It is a typical specific odor emitting from old people because of their lots of medicines. My mom whispered me that she hates this place. I can understand. I don’t think I can live there.

By the time we departed from the facility, the sun was set. It started getting dark.

We took a taxi to the local station. My mom saw us off from the taxi. We didn’t hug, but instead, I thanked her and gave her a big smile.

When my daughter and I climbed up the stairs to the station, I turned back to the taxi. The taxi was still there. Most likely my mom asked the taxi driver to stay there for a while to see us off until she could not see us.

OMG. Not again. I started weeping in the train. It was very sad to part from my parents. At least I was glad that I didn’t cry in front of them. I could show them nothing but my smile. I know for sure that my mom was crying after we left. And she was glad that she didn’t cry in front of me. We are alike in that point.  

I spent two days with my parents. Even though it was very short visit, I am glad that I could see them in person.

***

In these two days for going back and forth between my parents’ house and other destinations, we took a taxi many times. Six times on my own and nine times with my parents. Taxi is a convenient transportation method for a traveler. But I didn’t like the smell of cigarette inside the taxi. In some taxis, my daughter and I needed to stop breathing from nose as it was filled with strong cigarette odor.

***

After we came back to the hotel room, my throat hurt as if I smoked a cigarette. I gargled and even steam washed my throat, but the pain was still there. I could smell cigarette odor from all over my body including my hair, along with all the clothes. Even though I did the laundry this morning, I compelled myself to wash everything that we wore today. I washed even my bag to get rid of cigarette odor. I could not stand it.

Thus, I ended up doing laundry in late at night. And so, I could not order a hotel massage tonight neither. I really wanted to have a massage.

***

I woke up at the same time two mornings in a row. It was 2:44 am. These two days were the days that I visited my parents. It’s got to have some message to me.

I interpreted this number as this.

Number-2 energy reminded me of harmony and balance. It encouraged me to have a harmonious time with my parents. That was exactly what I wanted to have. I wanted to cherish our limited time to the most.

Number-4 energy reminded me of the support from my family spirits and angels. They made it double so that their support was even stronger than normal.  

***

Anyways, it was a long day again. But it was a great day with my parents. The sun set that we watched with my mom was gorgeous. It took my breath away. The beautiful scenery will stay in my soul forever.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

It was my Day-2 in Japan. I woke up at 2:44 am. Even though I was still exhausted, I could not go back to sleep. I didn’t want to wake my daughter up, so I didn’t turn on the light. I just lay down with my eyes closed doing nothing.   

My daughter woke up at 5 am. She tried to go back to sleep but her effort was in vain. Poor her; she was suffering from jet lag just like me.

We decided to enjoy our first morning. We went for a walk to the tourist spot where is located right next to the ocean. It was about 20 minutes walking one way. We stopped by a convenience store and bought some food for our simple breakfast.

We enjoyed our breakfast at the park with receiving nice ocean breeze. It was clear sunny morning. The rising sun was beautifully reflecting on the surface of ocean.

Around 9 am, we left for my parents’ house. I was glad we don’t have a habit of hugging in Japan. If I had hugged my parents, I would have cried just by hugging them. Instead, we exchanged our big smile each other.

***

My parents took us to the local barbecue restaurant. It was my daughter’s request. She loved eating at this restaurant on our last visit. My daughter doesn’t eat beef in America, but she could eat in Japan.   

The conversation with my parents was fun. The food was good. But one thing was bothering me. It was witnessing on how old my parents got.

It was painful for me to observe them walking very slowly in front of me. Since my dad lost his vision from diabetes, he now uses a white cane to walk. Since my mom got very ill and had surgeries a couple of times in these past three years, she walks very slowly.

***

After lunch, my parents wanted to go back home to relax. My daughter and I left for the aquarium.

Once I became alone with my daughter at the beach next to the local station, I couldn’t hold my tears anymore. I started weeping. I was sad to see my old parents. My daughter kept on gently stroking on my back. After I shared my feeling with my daughter, I started calming down a bit.

***

We went to the aquarium. We had a great time on seeing a dolphin show, a penguin walking, and many fun sea creatures.

***

By evening we went back to my parents’ house. From there, my parents took us to a sushi restaurant. My parents instantly noticed my swollen eyes. They both looked into my eyes once, but they didn’t ask me anything. They probably knew that I wept. They were thoughtful enough not to ask me about that. I appreciate them for that.

After the dinner, we went back to our hotel. It was already past 9 pm.

Since my daughter could not eat anything at the sushi restaurant, she was hungry. We went to a convenience store and bought some food for her.   

I was planning to receive a massage therapy at the hotel. The hotel offers a massage therapy with a reasonable fee. The greatest thing is that the massage therapist is a female hotel worker and that we can receive a massage in our hotel room.

However, after my daughter had a late dinner and we took a bath, it was already past 11 pm. I gave up having a massage and went to sleep.

It was a long day. Although I got emotional, I had a great time with my parents all in all. It was a great day.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

After the long flight, we finally arrived at Kansai Airport in Japan. It was not our final destination yet. From there, we took the limousine bus for one hour. From the limousine bus stop to our hotel, we walked about 10 minutes.

The 10 minutes’ walking was tough. Since the street surface was not smooth, I could feel the suitcase’s wheels were rubbed and worn out as I walked. After we passed the half way, I felt my suitcase got much heavier than the beginning. I needed to pull it with my full strength. By the time we arrived at the hotel, my suitcase wheels were completely damaged.

I regretted my decision of walking. Before the trip, my parents strongly suggested me to take a taxi from the limousine bus stop to the hotel. I really should have listened to their advice. If I had taken a taxi, my suitcase wheels would have been still fine.

***

When we arrived at the hotel, it was already past 9 pm.

After I put my luggage in the hotel room, I went down to the front desk. I borrowed a screw driver from them and unscrewed the wheeled parts. The inside of the suitcase was also damaged, with some cracks and holes. My suitcase was unfixable.

***

After we organized our items and took a nice long bath, it was already midnight. Even though we were so exhausted, I was glad we made it safely.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

It was a long day as I expected.

My daughter and I departed to Japan. We woke up at 1:30 am and left the house at 2:30 am.

Right before we left our house, I threw some more items in my suitcase. I worried for overweighing my suitcase as it should not exceed 50 pounds. At the airline check-in counter though, I found out I didn’t need to worry. My suitcase weighed exactly 50.00 pounds. It was magically just right.

The flight connection is always hard for me.

Last time when we went to Japan, I chose San Francisco airport to connect the flight. I had a hard time to find my next flight’ information of the gate and the terminal.

This time I chose Los Angeles airport to connect to the next flight. It was still not easy at all. I could not find the monitor that showed the next flight’s information. I asked around the people. One security guard was kind enough that he escorted us to the closest gate, instead of just saying by words. He was very helpful.  

So, here was my route for the next flight.

After we got off the airplane, we took the shuttle bus to the closest terminal. It was Terminal 5. From there, we needed to take another shuttle bus to Terminal 4. We walked to the gate 41 of Terminal 4. There, you will see a sign showing to direction to Tom Bradley International Terminal. My next flight’s gate was TB135. We needed to walk a long way to get there.

We took Japan Airline. All the cabin attendants were Japanese. I felt relaxed as I could speak in my own language. At the entrance, one flight attendant greeted me by saying “Okaeri-nasai-mase”. It means “welcome back”. I almost cried. I was moved by the warm welcoming phrase.

The international flight from America to Japan is a long one. It takes 12 hours and 30 minutes. While in the airplane, I got very sick. I needed to go to the bathroom and vomited frequently.

My daughter didn’t get sick, but she could not sleep at all during the long flight.   

It was a very, VERY long flight for us.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪