Tokyo Pre Move Trip - Part I

Grandma Sue flew in to Burbank from Milwaukee on Sunday the 5th to watch the girls while we were gone.  A big thanks to Grandma and Julie since we could not have done this without your help!  It was getting hard for us to think about leaving them for so long, but even before Grandma showed up, Annie started asking, "Can you guys go to Tokyo now so it can just be me, Grandma and Lizzy?"  She seemed excited for us to go so she could have Granny Sue's full attention.  It was so hard putting Lizzy down for her nap that day thinking that I wouldn't be there when she woke up and I wouldn't see her for 8 whole nights - the longest I had ever been away from Lizzy was only 1 night when Joe took the girls to Pasadena for a night. The first 24 hours without them were probably the hardest, much harder than I expected, but once we got into the swing of things our days were so busy and we were so exhausted by the end of each day that there wasn't a lot of time to dwell on missing them.

We ordered a car to pick us up at 1pm for a 3:45pm flight leaving out of Tom Bradley International Terminal and wondered if we didn't cut that a bit close for a Monday.  A big black Cadillac Escalade picked us up at the house and was there 15 minutes early.  The big car was great because we had 9 pieces of luggage with us since we were trying to take a lot now so we would could leave it and have it for when we arrived in early June.  We got to the airport in record time and were in the terminal before 1:30.

Harder than you would think to get 50 lbs in a bag

We made it through check in and security without incident and went to the Star Alliance business class lounge. The first class lounge was through a separate door, but they didn't let people like us look in there for fear of infecting it.  The lounge was not crowded and had some drinks, snacks, soup and pre-made sandwiches.  We were both a bit sad about just having left the girls, so we didn't eat much aside from 5 or 6 bags of chips.

We made the 8 minute walk to our gate and boarded the second level of the plane.  This was the first time either one of us had flown on an Airbus A380 and Joe was much more excited than I was.  He even got a new pair of jeans for the occassion, which is a big deal since he hasn't gone clothes shopping  in 11 years.  We were in seats 14 D and F, which were middle seats in the front cabin on the second floor.  It felt very private since there were only 8 other people in our part of the plane.

12 hours of comfort and quiet!

Pre-departure beverage and reading.  We love USA Today

Our flight out was amazing and the business class seats on Singapore were so wide that Joe and I could have sat side by side in one seat.  We kept wishing the girls were with us since we could have all sat in those two seats very comfortably.  Service was great and we both really liked the Singapore girls.  They did a great job and it felt like they actually cared if you had a nice flight.   The food was better than your average airline meal. We were able to pre order our meals online using their Book the Cook feature.  Joe had a filet which was decent and I had chicken which I didn't really like, but I selected the vegetarian option for my second meal and that was pretty good.

Beef filet.  Good, not great

Chicken and Pasta.  Not great

They also had delicious donuts, sandwiches, candy bars, fruit and other snacks that you could order at any time.  The on demand entertainment was pretty extensive, and we were excited to see that they had the first 2 seasons of Game of Thrones (nerd alert!). But seriously, if you haven't watched that show yet, it's great. Joe slept quite a bit on the way over and I spent quite a bit of time missing Annie and Elizabeth.

In flight entertainment

We arrived in Tokyo and a driver was waiting for us at the airport. We picked up our 5 huge checked bags and made the hour long drive into the city.  The ride cost $244.  It was 6:30pm Tokyo time but to us felt like 2:30am in Los Angeles.  We arrived at the Westin Tokyo around 8:00pm, quickly checked in, and went up to our corner room (2117) on the 21st floor.

Nighttime view from 2117

Since we are SPG Platinum Members, we received lounge access for our time here, which is always nice.  By the time we were settled in our room it was around 8pm and we fell asleep soon after. We got about 5 hours of sleep that first night, waking up around 2am Tokyo time.  We weren't too concerned about being on such an off schedule since it wouldn't be the worst thing for us to stay on LA time as much as possible to make for an easier return. Most of our scheduled activities were usually over by 5pm so it wasn't much of an issue.  After a very expensive, not very impressive, buffet breakfast in the lobby, we were all set to begin our house hunt!

Floor plans to look over before our house hunt

Good morning Tokyo! The view from our room. Sun rises VERY early in Tokyo, well before 5am