Tokyo-Day 1

We made it! The trip has begun. Wednesday night, I packed, answered emails, wrote documents, bid on Olympics tickets, filled out paperwork to go to Uganda, and confirmed travel until 4:45 a.m. Slept an hour and got up at 5:45 a.m. Thursday morning, ran to the office and back, took the kids to camp with Teresa, then she dropped us off at the airport.

We're excited. There is a little sense of relief that the trip is finally here and almost no more has to be done to make it happen. On our layover in Chicago, we get some internet and win tickets on eBay to see Judo at the Olympics. That's two events now!

The monitor in the seat back on the flight to Tokyo tracking our journey. By the way, with perhaps a few exceptions, you can click on any picture to see it larger. Just click the back button after you have viewed it to return to the blog:

After fourteen hours on the plane, we spend another hour or so in customs, then exit to the lobby. We like that they are broadcasting sumo wrestling on the big screens:

We then have an eighty minute train ride on the Keisei line, through which Aaron has to stand the whole way, me some of the way. We arrive at Ueno station, hike underground to the Ginza line, and take that to the Asakusa station.

It's very humid here. We are completely beat by the time we finally find our ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn). After arriving in Tokyo at the airport at 3:40 p.m., it is now 8:00 p.m. It isn't long before Aaron is asleep, and I will be right behind him. We have a 4:00 a.m. wake-up call to get out and see the sights.