Happy B-Day to Melanie Kate my 14 yr. old.
Did I say can’t wait for tomorrow yesterday? What was I
thinking? This is going to be
one of the longest traveling days of my life and it is with
all four
kids. 14 hr’s on a plane with
small seats and every one of them is occupied. I had a window so it
was not that easy to just get up and stretch. Mental note - always
get an isle seat and win the lotto so we can fly first class from
now on too. KEEP DREAMING.
With some sleep and plenty of
aches and pains and smells, we made it to Tokyo. It was really good
to see Alice's brother. First we had to go ship the 6 suit cases via cargo
company. This was pretty cool. It cost like 18 bucks a case and they
will take them anywhere in Japan and they are very efficient. The
name of the company was BLACK CAT. We did not have the room in
Alice's brother’s van to take all the stuff and as we were going to stay in
Tokyo for the night we could not leave them anywhere. The courier
worked out real good.
We loaded up in the van and headed for
the CAPSULE HOTEL in the city. On the
way we stopped for our first
AUTHENTIC JAPANESE meal - noodles. We went to
this little noodle
shop on the street. They have
a neat way of paying in a lot of the restaurants, you purchase a
plastic ticket out of a vending machine. So money never changes
hands physically. They do not work for tips here so that is not even
considered. Once you have your ticket you give it to the cooks and
they get busy. If you have ever eaten RAMEN NOODLES, you would like
this place cause these were the real, made from scratch deal.
As I am allergic to MSG or MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, I felt I
should ask Alice's brother about it. It was a little late in the asking as
I already had my noodles in front of me and started to eat. Alice's brothers
face was one of concern. He said to me; Man your kidding. This is
where that stuff was invented. Now I was really concerned but only
time would tell if I had ingested any of the stomach wrenching
additive. The noodles came with different sauces and I had a curry
and onion. Everyone enjoyed their noodles and we were on our way to
the capsule hotel.
Oh wait one more stop in the city and we
went to the top of this 53 story building that was sort of like a
museum. The view was really pretty with all the city lights. The
only thing was that we were totally trashed from the plane ride and
didn’t have our hearts and minds into anything but getting some
rest.
So we headed to the CAPSULE HOTEL (like the one you
might have seen on the DISCOVERY CHANNEL - Alice has photos in her
blog of them HERE)
Each one of us got our own capsule and they separate the men
from the women. I must say, this place is definitely---definitely
designed for men more than women. We, the guys had it made. Nice
lounge with big TV (all in Japanese of course), snack machines, BIG
washing area. First you sit in front of a mirror on a little stool
and wash your self. Then you can go into the steaming hot pool. Next
you can go into the really cold pool or maybe the sauna room to
totally cleanse your pores. Alice's brother told us that this place is
really designed for late night business men or men that are too
plastered to go home. Anyway it was fun for the guys and just a
so-so thing for the girls.