Tokyo – Haneda Airport, Odaiba Land in Tokyo early afternoon, transfer to hotel – better known as the first hurdle  Transportation: Monorail (insert Simpsons song here); trains, feet  Hotel: The Conrad in the Shiodome area  Plans: If all goes well, and that’s a big if, we’ll get to the hotel and be able to make our Continue reading

…somewhere over the deep, dark, scary ocean… Fly to Tokyo all day and night  Flight: Delta Airlines Non-Stop to Tokyo Haneda airport in Comfort Plus  Hotel: the plane  Plans: random panic attacks  Scaredy Cat rating: Four paws. See above plans. As scared as I am of flying, I am even more horrified by the ocean Continue reading

Dallas to Los Angeles Flight: American Airlines Non-Stop to Ontario airport in Economy  Hotel: TownPlace Suites Los Angeles LAX/Hawthorne ~ Studio 2 Queen + Sofa Bed  Plans: Pull Rowan from his next to last day of school and fly to LA. Bonus – Dinner with the film crew!  Scaredy Cat rating: Two paws. There will Continue reading

Finding hotel rooms overseas on a budget with two opposite gender, mostly grown and mostly tall kids is a challenge. Keeping in mind that we would be spending 22 nights together in closer quarters than we’ve been in quite a while, I wanted to be strategic in which hotels and hotel rooms I booked. My Continue reading

In a nutshell, it’s not easy. Or quick.  It is nerve-wracking, tedious and slower than Rowan getting in the car to go to a restaurant he doesn’t like.   Spoiler alert – he doesn’t like any of them.  I estimate I have spent approximately one million hours planning this version of the trip. That is Continue reading

(Originally written May 10, 2023)  Just two weeks to go and no matter how much I prepared (and I have greatly overprepared), invariably in the final days before a trip I find myself in panic mode – ordering clothes that I planned to buy weeks ago with the added joy of rushed shipping; finally booking events Continue reading

I included the Joey air quotes here because itineraries rarely end up happening as they appear on paper. This might be better titled “The Attempt”. But you have to start somewhere. This is also as far as I have gotten so you will see that some days there are no plans. That will change I hope. Continue reading

(Originally written March 2023) According to my countdown clock, in just 32 short days, Rowan, Jackson & I will board a plane bound for LA, and ultimately, Japan and South Korea. It seems impossible. The road from Texas to Asia has been a long one. This trip was originally supposed to happen in the summer Continue reading