We Go With Kids!

Author: Nancy Canter

  • Travel Tips: Traveling with Kids and Car Seats

    When traveling with kids car seats are a necessary evil – you have to keep your kids safe when coming and going, but they’re heavy and cumbersome and aren’t always the most pleasant thing to try and install after a long day of travel.

    Full disclosure: I am a bit of a car seat junkie and have always erred on the side of caution. My 8 year old can legally ride in the car without a car seat now, but he still rides in a high back car seat in our vehicles, and if given the choice, I always have him ride in a backless booster when carpooling or in grandparents’ vehicles. As a bone fide car seat junkie, however, I have now taken numerous taxi rides and plane trips with / without car seats and can share what has worked for us and what hasn’t.

    Will I need a car seat at my destination?

    The obvious first question is — do we need a car seat at our destination? There are many variables to consider:

    • Will you be doing a lot of travel by car? While a car seat may be critical for a trip to Los Angeles, it is less necessary and likely superfluous for a trip to New York City.
    • Can you rent/borrow a car seat? Most rental car companies give you the option of renting a car seat.  I have friends who have had awful experiences, but also friends who have had wonderful experiences. We rented a car seat once – for a 24 hour layover in Munich – and had a perfectly acceptable experience.  We also recently had neighbors who had family visiting from the UK and needed two car seats – happily, we were able to loan them our spare car seats during the duration of their trip.
    • Do you have alternative options? For a solo trip to LA where I needed a high back booster, I decided to just purchase a car seat and have it shipped to my mother. My brother installed it prior to picking us up from the airport and we happily left the car seat with them for future trips. This is an option to consider if you will be flying somewhere to visit family and plan on making frequent return trips.

    How will we get to/from the airport/train station?

    The second question we always have to answer is how we are getting to/from the airport or train station. When my son was 8 months old and we were flying to Orlando where we did not need a car seat, I opted to walk to/from the metro station with my son and metro to the airport in lieu of riding in a taxi cab with him unrestrained. I did the return walk to/from the metro station with him in a stroller on the trip home from the airport. Eighteen months later, when the same son was 2.5  years old and we were making a similar trip, I decided to just let him ride in the back of the taxi cab instead of making the trek to/from the airport via metro. Why? Because he was older and I felt safer riding in the backseat with him, versus a still relatively floppy infant who couldn’t be restrained at all. The fact that the airport is less than 5 miles from our house with a speed limit of no more than 40 miles per hour also informs that decision.  So, part of “how will we get to/from the airport/train station?” also involves “how much risk am I willing to take?” While legally, children in our state can ride unrestrained in a “for hire” vehicle, each parent needs to decide what they are comfortable with given their unique circumstances. Given the option, if we are bringing a car seat, I prefer to install the seat in the cab/uber because safety is almost the most important!

    What car seat do I need?

    Everyone’s favorite question when it comes to young kids – what gear do I need? The age/weight of your child dictates what gear you need and, of course, as the kids get older, the more options you have!

    Infant Car Seat:

    There is no replacement for the infant “bucket” car seat. We have owned two Chicco Keyfit 30’s and have been happy with them. Although it is one of the heavier bucket seats on the market, it didn’t really bother me much as both my kids outgrew them in terms of comfort well before we started seriously traveling with them by plane. Moreover, I loved the ease of the keyfit stroller caddy, which made it possible for me to transport sleeping babes to and from just about anywhere, providing me with a few precious additional minutes of peace and quiet!

    three weeks old and napping by the ocean in St. John’s Island, South Carolina while mom and dad enjoy a relaxing lunch

    The Convertible Car seat:

    The convertible car seat is the most difficult car seat to travel with, in large part because it’s so heavy and cumbersome and, during the age your child is in the convertible, there’s very little by way of “other” options. For both kids, we used the Britax Marathon and simply took them with us everywhere. We would install them using the LATCH mechanism on taxis/cabs, set them up in the airplane seat (if needed), and then install at our destination.

    rear-facing install on an airplane, prior to second birthday

    Although there are accessories you can purchase that are designed to alleviate the burden of hand carrying the car seat, we never used them. My husband simply tightened the car seat straps and carried them over his shoulder. If needed, he would double bag it in a black trash bag before checking it, but for the most part, we simply gate checked it and had no problems retrieving it on the other end of our trip. Both my sons loved the familiarity of having their same car seat on our trips and we never worried about the quality or condition of a rental company car seat.

    The Harness Booster:

    At some point, your child may outgrow the convertible car seat and you may decide that you’re not quite ready for your child to ride in a backless booster. I fell squarely in this camp and purchased a Graco Nautilus which is what my older son has been riding in for the past four years (since he was 4 years old)! The nice thing about these car seats is that they grow with the child. You can keep them in a five point restraint, then adjust to a high back booster + lap belt, before adjusting to a backless booster + lap belt. Unfortunately, the high back booster set up of this car seat is the opposite of built for travel as the back is not attached to the base (they simply click together), so there’s no way of carrying this car seat without it coming apart. I believe we took one trip with this car seat and quickly swore never again – it was large and cumbersome and extremely difficult to keep together. This was also definitely a car seat we had to check at the curb – there was no way we could have carried it with us to the gate without completely losing our minds.

    The Ride Safer Travel Vest:

    photo credit

    The “travel vest” was purchased immediately prior to a trip to NYC where we would be traveling by train – AMTRAK and Subway. I didn’t want to lug around a car seat with us, yet didn’t quite feel comfortable letting my 4 year old ride around in a taxi or friend’s car without some kind of restraint. A friend suggested the travel vest and it turned out to be a lifesaver! The seat comes in a little bag that is easy to carry and is extremely light and not-bulky. It can be tossed into a large carry on, or, you can even have your child wear it as a backpack.

    the ridesafer vest can easily be worn as a backpack

    Although it takes a few minutes to line the car seat belts into the appropriate buckles, we used this car seat on numerous trips where we didn’t plan to travel extensively in a vehicle, but wanted a safe option for car travel on the occasion we were in a vehicle. As an extra bonus, this car seat ended up being an easy solution for carpool and fitting three children across the backseat of my car, on the occasion when I needed to take a classmate of my older son somewhere, but my toddler’s convertible car seat prohibited me from squeezing in an extra backless booster.

    Note that this car seat comes in two different sizes and because it did end up being so useful for carpool, we purchased the bigger size to accommodate our son and his friends for carpool purposes in first and second grade – before they were old enough that I felt safe – both personally and legally – to allow them to ride without a car seat.

    Backless Boosters, the mifold, and the Bumble Bum:

    Although car seat safety guidelines vary by state, in our state, children who are 4 AND 40 pounds can legally ride in a backless booster. There was much rejoicing on our first trip with a backless booster because it not only meant we didn’t have to carry around a giant car seat, but also because it meant our son likely could carry his own booster! We have a basic Graco booster seat  that we reserve for travel and carpool purchases. It is cheap, relatively small, and does what it’s intended to do – lift up my kid so that the seat belt is properly positioned on his body.

    photo credit

    In addition to the regular booster, we also have a mifold, which does the opposite of the regular booster seat – it brings the seat belt down to the child so that it is properly positioned on their body. Although we have not traveled – yet – with the mifold, I have loved the flexibility it has provided us in terms of fitting a third child between two existing LATCH car seats. And, it’s an easy thing to have tucked away in the trunk in case the need arises.

    photo credit

    Another option to consider in the category of backless boosters is the BubbleBum:

    photo credit

    Although my family has not used the bubblebum, I know Catherine’s did on a recent trip to Iceland and aside from having to reinflate it a few times a day, it worked perfectly and was a good, lightweight option for her older two children.  Another family who recommends the BubbleBum used it for their six year old during their family gap year.

    The IMMI GO:

    A car seat that I have yet to try is the IMMI GO.

    photo credit

    I heard about the IMMI GO a few years ago when UBER FAMILY came out, but never had occasion to try it. A friend of mine, however, mentioned that it was actually available for purchase and so we purchased one just prior to our last vacation. Unfortunately, because it arrived just the day before our scheduled departure, I didn’t feel comfortable using it without getting a chance to try it out. My son was just barely within the weight range for it and so, I decided to save it for our next trip. Although I haven’t had a chance to test it out yet, I can safely say, I find its small size to be impressive and look forward to using it on our next trip!

    Per the website, the IMMI GO is:

    Designed and tested for children:

    Height: 31” – 52”

    Weight:  22 – 55lbs.

    Airline Seat Restraints:

    Children don’t legally need a special seat restraint when flying, but as a parent, I know I agonized about whether it was safe for my young children to fly without a restraint. For that reason, prior to age two, we frequently carried on our son’s convertible car seat and strapped it into his airline seat. However, that quickly became undesirable because it took up a lot of space width wise and also because when upset, my son would kick the back of the seat in front of him and there was nothing we could do about it given the extra “lift” the seat gave him. As a result, we ended up purchasing a CARES harness for flights.

    CARES Harness:

    The CARES harness is designed for airline travel. It slides over the top of the child’s seat and provides an extra restraint across your child’s chest. The airplane seat belt is slipped into loops on the harness, which goes across your child’s lap. Although not essential, I did find this extra restraint to be comforting to have on turbulent flights.

    strapped into his CARES harness and ready to go!
  • Japan With Kids (Part VII): What I Wish I Knew

    Japan With Kids (Part VII): What I Wish I Knew

    I have mixed feelings about our trip to Japan, in large part because of how surprisingly difficult it was to get information beforehand and how difficult it was to get around. We underestimated just how difficult “getting around” would be – from reading the subway maps/signs, to locating specific addresses, to finding restaurants that would accommodate us with our son. Having traveled to Asian countries before, I was surprised to find the lack of children in Tokyo and the hostility towards children, since most Asian countries are full of kids and tend to welcome kids with open arms.

    That said, some of the blame is likely entirely our fault as this was the first international trip we took with our son. Although we had traveled with him extensively throughout the United States prior to this trip, we likely over shot in terms of making this around-the-world trip our first International trip with kids. Nevertheless, I loved loved loved our time in Japan and can’t wait to go back. If I could do it differently, though, I would:

    • hire a local travel guide, or make more heavy use of the concierge at the hotel to identify restaurants
    • send my husband out to scope out restaurants before venturing out with our son. On a few occasions, my husband did go out and scope out locations while we were resting or napping in the afternoon and that helped significantly in terms of confirming locations and ensuring that they would allow children to dine
    • not underestimate how important it would be to make prior reservations for better dining establishments. Many of the better rated or better reviewed restaurants are small (think 4-8 tables) and turn over maybe twice during one meal, so it’s imperative that you have prior reservations if you plan to dine
    • spend more time in Kyoto. Although we never ran out of things to do in Tokyo, it was definitely too overwhelming a place to be with a little kid. In Kyoto, children seemed more welcome, and there was lots more we could have done/seen that would not have involved what seemed like endless walking on city streets
    trying to figure out the Japanese bus ticket machine

    In terms of getting around, we had a much easier time getting around in Tokyo once we got our bearings. We eventually figured out how to purchase train tickets and the stops were labeled in English so we were able to pinpoint, generally, where we wanted to go. Once we got to our general location, however, it was still sometimes overwhelming in terms of how much walking we had to do to actually locate our destination. The walking became a problem only because we had a 4 year old with us, BUT, to his credit, we easily put 4-7 miles on those legs every single day, and he managed and did it without any major issues.

    One of the nicest things about Japan was that everyone was extremely helpful and assisted in making sure that commuters got where they wanted to go. For example, our shuttle stop had an attendant with a loud speaker who would call over the bus and make sure that people who wanted to get back to the hotel got on the correct bus. This was an amazing perk and something that we saw quite a bit of throughout Tokyo.

    bus attendant

    If you have the opportunity to travel to Japan, I highly recommend it. A more off-the-beaten-path location like Okinawa or Kyoto is likely to be a better destination with kids, especially younger children. If you happen to be planning a trip in the Spring, aim for the cherry blossom season! Hopefully you get lucky like we did and hit them at peak bloom.

  • Japan Part VI: Tokyo With Kids! (what we ate)

    Japan Part VI: Tokyo With Kids! (what we ate)

    What we ate:

    Eating in Japan ended up being the biggest hurdle to overcome, which was completely unexpected given how much we love Japanese food and how good the quality of food in Japan is! It was difficult largely due to two factors: 1) difficulty in actually locating the intended restaurant (or, in some cases, determining whether a restaurant was even located on the premises) and 2) many restaurants, particularly in Tokyo, were openly hostile to the notion of dining with young children.

    The Japanese address system is extremely complicated and, as this website states, “anyone who can read Japanese may be able to identify any address within a 2 or 3 minute walk. The most detailed bilingual ones are not as good. Of course even a bilingual map as detailed as the Japanese ones would still be very hard for foreigners to use, because the signs are in Japanese only.”

    As luck would have it, we do not read Japanese and had only a bilingual map that didn’t correspond with any of the signs which were all in Japanese. Frequently, we would arrive at what we *thought* was the address for a particular restaurant only to encounter a building with 5 or 6 signs in front – all in Japanese and no obvious signs that there was a restaurant on the premises. We were further limited by the fact that we had a 4 year old who wasn’t as keen on walking an extra mile to find *the* restaurant we had underlined in our tour book and that on occasion, when we did finally find the restaurant we wanted to dine at, we were informed at the door that children were not welcome (usually, this was done by the host pointing at our son, and shaking his head at us).

    There were two restaurants that really stood out in terms of experience:

    Izuei Main Restaurant

    Eel! Who doesn’t love eel? This is a large, popular restaurant both for locals and tourists with a few locations in Japan. They never batted an eye at having a child, and I love me some eel, so this was a perfect lunch spot during our day in Ueno.

    Yakitori in Ginza

    Our day in Ginza, we popped into this popular yaki tori restaurant and enjoyed sampling all the different offerings.

    One of the experiences my husband and I definitely wanted to have was to dine at an authentic izakaya, which wikipedia describes as “an informal Japanese gastropub.” Having been turned away by a number of restaurants due to having a young child with us, we reached out to our concierge at the hotel and explained the situation to us. A few hours later, we checked in with the concierge, and he informed us that he had located an izakaya that was willing to accommodate us and that we had a reservation for that evening! Although the name of the izakaya escapes me, we had a fabulous time that night. Upon arrival, it was inquired as to how much we were willing to spend on dinner (we basically said, whatever it costs and until we’re full), and then were presented with small plate, after small plate, after small plate.

    I highly recommend the experience and suggest that you seek out the assistance of your concierge if you are unable to find an izakaya on your own! Also, because izakayas are so small and people tend to spend a few hours snacking on small plates, reservations are absolutely imperative.

    hanging out at the izakaya

    Finally, no trip to Japan would be complete without:

    (1) Vending machine ramen!

    I was enamored with the idea of vending machine ramen but quickly learned that it’s not as exciting as it sounds nor is it very good/high quality. Basically, there’s a machine with the various options, you place your order and pay at the machine, grab a table, and someone brings you your ramen. I was expecting the ramen to pop out of the machine somehow, but alas, it was not meant to be! I wouldn’t waste another meal on vending machine ramen, but it was a fun experience, and I’m glad to have done it.

    (2) local McDonald’s offerings!

    Being that we were in Japan during prime cherry blossom season, it was no surprise that there were themed offerings at McDonald’s!

    Of course, we were left with no choice but to try both. The drink was some kind of sickeningly sweet soda, and the “burger” wasn’t terrible, although also sweeter than your usual American burger. We were all amused by the pink bun!

    Continue to Part VII – What I Wish I Knew

  • Japan Part V: Four Nights in Tokyo With Kids! (where we stayed and what we did)

    Japan Part V: Four Nights in Tokyo With Kids! (where we stayed and what we did)

    From Kyoto, we took the bullet train to Tokyo. My son, of course slept the whole time and has no recollection of the experience – such is traveling with a 4 year old! The cost of the trip was 17,600 Yen per person, or approximately $160 USD. My husband, who spent a summer in Switzerland in college, said the Japanese train system was much like Switzerland – clean as a whistle and punctual. The train ride was smooth, fast, and an hassle free way to travel from Kyoto to Tokyo for the last leg of our journey – 4 nights in Tokyo.

    Where we stayed:

    Hyatt Regency Tokyo (Shinjuku)

    Our 4 nights in Tokyo were spent at the Hyatt Regency Tokyo in Shinjuku. We booked our room using points and requested a slightly larger room than the standard offering. Imagine our surprise when we entered our room and found the nicest hotel room we have stayed in to date! We also received a lovely welcome treat from the hotel and were delighted to learn that our room came with access to the Regency Club, so we had free breakfast and drinks and hors d’oevres before dinner. As if that wasn’t enough, on clear mornings, we could see Mount Fuji from the club room!

    our remarkably spacious bathroom
    the desk/office area
    I loved the partition that separated the sitting area from the bedroom
    the welcome amenity we found awaiting us upon arrival; they refilled the fruit daily
    the pre-dinner spread in the Club one night during our stay

    The hotel also has other amenities we did not get a chance to take advantage of, namely, the pool and the spa. From these photos, however, I sure wish we had snuck in a trip to the pool. The following three photos are from the hotel’s website:

    The absolutely stunning lobby. Not visible in this photo, but there were small storefronts on the outer edges of the lobby, so you could purchase macarons on your way up to your room in the afternoon (and we did this on more than one occasion)!

    What we did:

    Our hotel was conveniently located in Shinjuku. Although many of the travel sites we read said it was a business area, it ended up being centrally located to quite a bit of shopping and entertainment.

    photo credit

    Kabukicho:

    Located just a few blocks away from the hotel was Kabukicho, the entertainment and red light district. Unfortunately for us, it was the first place we wandered to upon arrival in Tokyo and did not leave a great impression on us. We had a difficult time finding restaurants to dine in and were turned away from a number of restaurants when they spotted our son. We also tried to go to the massive arcade they had, but were told no kids after 6pm. In hindsight, I suppose we should have done better research and perhaps it was a blessing in disguise that they did not let us in because who knows what we would have found behind the doors, but it was a jarring experience and unpleasant introduction to Tokyo.

    Nevertheless, we ended up returning to Kabukicho a few times during our time in Tokyo and it was there that my son discovered video games!

    Shinjuku Skyscraper District

    Our hotel was located right in the Shinjuku Skyscraper District, and so we got to see first-hand the sheer number of people who flood into Tokyo every day to work. Our first morning there, I ventured out in search of a laundromat so that our clothes could finally get a good wash. While I was out, my husband and my son went to a park, so that my son could stretch his legs and get some energy out, and they also went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and took the elevator up to the observatory (admission free). The weather was not great, so reports on the view were less than stellar.

    It took me a while to figure out the machines, but I enjoyed the solitude

     

    Speaking of playgrounds, we absolutely loved the playgrounds in Tokyo. While there weren’t a lot of children in Tokyo, we did find at least two playgrounds with fantastic climbing equipment. My son, a  natural born climber, loved hiking up the equipment and it was a great opportunity for him to release some energy. Tokyo actually is very similar to San Francisco in that you see very little children in the city. One afternoon, while at the playground, we did see a crowd of school children who had obviously just gotten out of school; but we never saw kids in any of the shopping districts or areas that we were visiting – not even the parks where the cherry blossoms were. We definitely got the sense that the children typically lived outside the city center or played a more “back seat” type role in their parents lives than they do in the US, so that is definitely something to consider when planning a trip to Japan.

    Shinjiku Gyoen Park

    Cherry blossom season begins in January in southern Japan in Okinawa and moves north, peaking in March/April in Kyoto and Tokyo. When we planned our trip, we hoped to hit the cherry blossom trees in peak bloom, but living in DC, we knew there was no guarantee, so we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.

    Happily for us, we hit the season in full throttle and basically chased the blooms from Kyoto to Tokyo. By the time we reached Tokyo, the cherry trees were in full bloom, and we were fortunate that our hotel was located within walking distance to the Shinjiku Green Park (admission 200 Yen, or ~$2). We absolutely loved walking around the gardens and visited at least twice during our stay.

    Hakuhinkan Toy Shop in Ginza

    We did quite a bit of people watching and window shopping in Tokyo, and Ginza did not disappoint. For a good portion of the afternoon, the main street is closed to traffic, so pedestrians can walk freely and the roads can accommodate the heavy foot traffic. One of our stops was the Hakuhinkan Toy Park in Ginza – a massive multi story toy shop. While there, we discovered and indoor motorized race track, which my son got a kick out of. The store was also fully stocked in Frozen dresses, and I was sad that I didn’t have the foresight to purchase a suitcase full of dresses to bring home! Based on the level of Frozen-insanity going on in the US at the time, I could have financed a good portion of our trip that way!

    Ueno Zoo

    After dragging our son through quite a number of department stores, we decided to spend a morning at the Ueno Zoo so he could stretch his legs and enjoy being a kid! The zoo was a perfectly fine way to spend a few hours, but it was nothing to write home about.

    Ueno Park

    A short walking distance from the zoo is Ueno Park, which we were delighted to discover was in full swing due to the annual cherry blossom festival. There are a number of museums and temples in the area, but we were happy to experience the park, which was hopping in activity. The pathways were lined with people and there was a street food festival going on as well. We spent a few hours just walking around and sampling the different food offerings, while also taking in some of the sights. Curiously, we were one of the very few tourists there – we saw some tourists, but others were there in large groups with pets, blankets, friends… It was clear that the Japanese enjoy spending time outdoors enjoying nature!

    My son had a blast the day we went to Ueno for the Zoo and Park. Getting a break from the constant walking, train riding, and window shopping was good for him, and it gave him an opportunity to just be a kid. He even took part in some of the food sampling and the Park also had carnival like rides for little kids. All in all, it was probably the most kid-friendly and kid-centric activity we did while in Tokyo!

    Asakusa’s Kappabashi

    a typical display of food offerings in a restaurant window

    One of the more random things we stumbled across in Tokyo was Kappabashi, Tokyo’s fake food mecca. Nearly every restaurant in Japan displays fake food, or sampuru, to provide a quick visual of what the restaurant has to offer. Until we stumbled across Kappabashi, we frequently wondered where the fake food came from and how one goes about acquiring the fake food displays for a restaurant.

    Our questions were quickly answered in Kappabashi, where we encountered blocks and blocks of shops containing every single imaginable kitchen/dining item you could imagine.

    fake burgers so good you can *almost* eat them
    we had to take a picture with the stock pot so large, you could cook a four year old in it!

     

    If you happen to find yourself in the area, definitely wander through and take a look. We ended up coming home with some items which we still use today!

    Continue to Part VI – What We Ate

  • Japan Part IV: Three Days / Two Nights in Kyoto With Kids!

    Japan Part IV: Three Days / Two Nights in Kyoto With Kids!

    We spent three days and two nights in Kyoto and looking back at the pictures now, it truly is one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been. Although the weather did not cooperate while we were there (it rained pretty much the entire time), we still hit many of the major sights and were extremely thankful that so many of the ancient temples and sites are still standing. Indeed, Kyoto was on the initial list of atomic bomb targets, but was scrapped from the list thanks to Henry Stimson, then US Secretary of War.

    Where we stayed:

    Westin Miyako Kyoto – For accommodations, we had a Japanese style room at the Westin Miyako Hotel, which is located about 1/2 mile from the major Kyoto business district. Since the Westin is on a hill, on the rare occasion when it wasn’t raining, we would walk downhill to the main business district, but take a taxi ride back up the hill.

    With only six Japanese style rooms on the property, we were thrilled that we were able to book one on points. The six rooms were set apart from the main property, near the gardens, and after checking in, we went in search of our room:

    the living room when we arrived
    the Japanese style bath with cedar tub and separate shower
    A close up of the cedar tub, which my son enjoyed bathing in!

    Turn down service as the Westin Kyoto is a lot more involved than just fluffing some pillows and making the bed. While we were out exploring, housekeeping came and made up our beds for the night. They tucked the small table and chairs away and replaced them with heavy futon and bedding. Having grown up sleeping on a true tatami mattress, I felt right at home. My son seemed to enjoy the novelty of it and slept very soundly both nights we were there.

    In addition to the Japanese style room, we also loved the breakfast buffet at the hotel. We ventured over to the main dining room our first morning there and quickly decided that it would be the perfect place to start our day. At the time, breakfast was ~$30USD per adult for the buffet, but we were happy to sample the different cuisine from the comfort of our hotel room.

    rice with assorted seasonings, seaweed soup, various fish/futomaki/pickles, tea

    Although my husband and I were thrilled to sample the traditional Japanese foods for breakfast, they also had a number of regular breakfast items. It was no trouble at all getting my son fed and, in fact, we saw numerous groups of families there with children ranging from infants to teen.

    The other nice thing about the Westin is that they have their own private trails behind the hotel. We took advantage of the trails the morning of our departure, to stretch our legs.

    Give a four year old a walking stick and some trails and he’s gold!

    As I mentioned earlier, the Westin is on the top of a hill, so at some point on the trails, you come across clearing where you can look down and see the commercial Kyoto district. The hotel had this handy guide to point things out.

    his own private torii gate adventure

    What we did:

    We didn’t let the rain deter us as we knew there was tons to see in Kyoto. After filling up on breakfast, we took a taxi ride from the hotel to our starting destination. Luckily, the taxis outside the Westin were familiar with the tourist spots, so we had no problems communicating where we wanted to be taken.

    Our first stop was the Arashiyama District, where we intended to catch at least two major sights: the bamboo grove and the Tenryuji Temple.

    Arashiyama Bamboo Grove – My husband said we were going to a bamboo forest and I wasn’t quite sure why. That is, until I saw the magnitude of the forest!

    These photos do not accurately portray just how surreal walking in a bamboo forest is. Luckily, the “trail” is paved so even though it was wet, we had no issues walking the path. It would easily be something a stroller could accommodate. There were still a fair amount of tourists, though, even in the abysmal weather, so I imagine this is a place that can become overwhelmingly crowded very quickly.

    Tenryuji Temple – Our walk in the bamboo forest conveniently let us out at the Tenryuji Temple. The temple is a UNESCO world heritage site and there were plenty of tourists, even in the bad weather.

    The cherry trees were just starting to bloom in Kyoto.
    I love Japanese architecture, especially doors!
    My four year old was a real champ, despite the pouring rain. It helped that we let him carry his own umbrella.

     

    side view of the temple (not a great shot as it was overcast and rainy)

    Much of the area surrounding the temple is pebble/gravel, so it could be difficult to maneuver a stroller. If necessary, I would prefer using a baby carrier to a stroller for that reason alone.

    Fushimi Inari Shrine – No trip to Kyoto is complete with a trip to the famous Fushimi Inari Shrine. We visited on our third day in Kyoto and the weather was decidedly nicer than the previous day.

    The first thing we encountered when we arrived on the main temple grounds was this water/bamboo/cup fountain. It wasn’t a hand washing station and it wasn’t a drinking fountain (but I saw quite a few people sip from the cup and then back wash it back into the basin).

    The instructive placard wasn’t much help in deciphering whether the spitting was appropriate or not. For the record, we did not spit.

    There were numerous stations around the temple where you could write a message and hang your message/wish/prayer.

     

    One of many shrine buildings, where we saw monks come and worship during our visit.

    The Fushimi Imari Shrine is probably most visited, however, for the famous torii gates. Behind the temples, there are two trails of parallel torii gates.

    the gates are donated by individuals and companies and names are inscribed accordingly
    This is what the start of the trails look like. Pick one (left or right) and start walking!

     

    As you get further up in the trails, the crowds get sparse and the density of the gates also diminishes. The path also starts off paved, but eventually you find yourself winding your way through actual trails.

    I would not recommend attempting to maneuver a stroller on these paths, and children who do not stay close should be watched closely, especially in the early part where there are dense crowds. After turning back, we went down to the commercial area near the shrine, where there were numerous tourist shops and street food vendors.

    What we ate:

    Our first night in Kyoto was a colossal fail. We walked down to the business district from the hotel and had a difficult time discerning restaurants from residences. We ended up dining at what could only be described as a Japanese truck stop before giving up and heading back to the hotel. The next day, my husband ventured out for a run through the business district while my son and I attempted to dry out our shoes. He located two restaurants, confirmed that they would both be open for dinner and later that night, we headed over to one of them.

    As you can see, the menus we were presented with weren’t exactly helpful. Luckily, I can read the numbers on the bottom of the menu, telling us how much the meals cost. We blindly ordered our food and just trusted that it would be fine – and it was. I don’t recall the name of the restaurant, but I can tell you were enjoyed it tremendously. The hosts were also fantastic – serving my young son his own bowl of noodles and tamago (the baked egg dish you see on the bottom right of the photo with the noodles).

    In addition to dining at the one restaurant in downtown Kyoto, we also dined at a restaurant in the Arashiyama district, after touring the bamboo forest and temple. We blindly chose a restaurant in the tourist area after a colossal fail on our part – based on a glowing recommendation in a tour book, we had walked over three miles in the rain and wind to find a restaurant nestled somewhere in the woods. We found the restaurant – but learned upon arrival that it was reservations only.

    The awful gloomy weather we dragged our young son through in search of the “reservations only” restaurant that we did not have reservations for. Oops.

    Luckily, the food at our randomly chosen restaurant was delicious and they even had instructions for eating the special tofu skin soup. I was thrilled, by that point, to get out of the rain and eat something warm, but the food was delicious. We typically stay away from restaurants in tourist locations when traveling, but Japan might be the exception.

    The Kyoto train station is massive and has dozens of eateries. On the day of our departure, we wanted to ensure plenty of time as we were taking a scheduled bullet train and didn’t want to miss it, but of course, that left us with extra time at the train station and right around lunch. Luckily, we didn’t have much difficulty figuring out what we wanted to eat – eel bowls! These were delicious! I’ll also say that we did not have a lot of trouble figuring out what to order or what the different restaurants served, as plastic food samples are a big thing and each storefront had 3D samples of what they were offering.

    plastic food offering a visual of what’s on the menu
    half eel / half egg-eel omelet
    I am a purist and stuck with the eel.

    How we got around:

    We arrived in Kyoto via train and from the main train station, we took the Westin Kyoto shuttle to the hotel and back. Finding the shuttle stop at the train station proved a bit difficult. I believe when we booked our rooms, the Westin website only said there was “shuttle service,” so upon arrival, we simply wandered to where most of the shuttles appeared to be picking up the guests. The Westin pick up location, however, was at a separate entrance than the one we had been waiting at — which we discovered only after waiting for 45+ minutes. The website has since been amended to state: The resort shuttle can be found at the Hachijo Exit and the shuttle runs every 20 minutes.

    We also traveled around Kyoto via taxi and had no trouble communicating with the taxi driver. I suppose they get enough tourists to know the words for the main destinations and we simply handed him money based on what was on the meter.

    We did continue to experience difficulty in purchasing train tickets, however. We never got proficient at purchasing train tickets during our time in Japan.

    We quickly learned to always use the customer service window where someone who spoke some English could help us. This included purchasing our Tokaido Shinkansen (the bullet train) tickets, which took us on to our last destination — Tokyo!

    The bullet train approaching!

    Continue to Part V – Four Nights in Tokyo (where we stayed and what we did)

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  • Japan Part III: The First 24 Hours in Osaka With Kids!

    Japan Part III: The First 24 Hours in Osaka With Kids!

    first glimpse of Japan from the air

    The First 24 Hours – Osaka

    I’ll be the first to admit that our time in Osaka started out rough. After finally clearing customs and making our way into a taxi, we were met with blank stares by the taxi driver who didn’t seem to understand “Westin” or “Westin hotel.” It wasn’t until I pulled out our hotel confirmation that he seemed to understand where we wanted to go. Although it seems silly in the age of smartphones and wifi-everywhere, I still print out hard copies of our entire travel itinerary when we travel and keep them in a binder for this very reason – to pull out when there’s a glitch or other issue with a reservation. Although 99% of the time I never need the hard copy, on the occasions where I have needed, it has been very handy. I’ve even had reservation representatives thank me for having hard copies with confirmations numbers that  they can take with them when trying to sort out an issue.

    We had no set agenda in Osaka, nor did we have much of a plan. We knew that it was the second largest city in Japan and that it was more of the business/financial district than a tourist destination like Kyoto or Japan, so after unpacking and freshening up, we wandered outside on foot to explore. Admittedly, we elected not to get into a taxi because we had no set plan and also because we feared more language woes.

    Luckily, we stumbled across two things that really made our 24 hour stay in Osaka:

    The Tempozan Ferris Wheel:

    We spotted the large orange/red ferris wheel in the distance and, although I have a pathological fear of heights that precludes me from ferris wheels (including enclosed ones!), my husband and son enjoyed the ride.

    After the Ferris Wheel, we walked around the surrounding area, the Tempozan Harbor Village, where there were lots of shops and small businesses. We stopped for ice cream and then just continued to walk around the area. One interesting thing that we came across was the Umeda Sky building with walkable bridge. Although we did not elect to take the walk across the sky bridge, it is definitely something older children would enjoy.

    We did not go up the Umeda Sky building and walk across the bridge, but we did enjoy the replica building in the lobby!
    Plenty of fun things for kids, including massive ice cream sundaes, which of course we stopped for!

    After a few hours of wandering around on foot, both my son and I were tired and wanted to go back to the hotel to rest. Although my husband wanted to go out for dinner, my son and I elected to just go back to the hotel for the night. I don’t recall what we did for dinner that night, but I do remember that the thought of venturing out again and trying to find a place to eat was just too overwhelming.

    Osaka Central Fish Market & Endo Sushi:

    The next morning, I woke up early due jet lag and poked around online looking for things to do. We weren’t scheduled to depart for Kyoto by train until later that day, so we were looking for something interesting. I found that there was a Central fish market in Osaka that was a smaller scale version of the famous Tsukiji market in Tokyo.

    As it was already 4:45 am, I knew that we needed to get a move on things if we wanted to see the good stuff! I quickly got my husband on board, woke our son up, and we went to the front desk to request a cab.  Upon entering the cab, we  encountered the same issues we had experienced the day before – the taxi driver did not know where we wanted to go.  With the help of hotel reception (who thankfully spoke English!), we were soon on our way.

    Pulling up to the fish market was somewhat terrifying as it was still dark and there was no obvious sign of where we were. It looked like the cab driver was dropping us off in a commercial area with no apparent signs of life.

    I had no idea where we were going, but headed towards the one big building off in the distance. Upon entering the building, we quickly realized we had entered the right place.  We found ourselves in a huge room filled with all kinds of sealife in various stages – from living to flash frozen and ready for shipping!

    fisherman working on fileting their morning tuna catch
    chunks of flash frozen tuna, ready for sale/transport
    live king crab that we were invited to pet!
    sorting out the morning’s catch
    each of those white bins contains ice and some kind of seafood
    filleting a giant fish on the floor

    We were the only tourists there and  stuck out like sore thumbs. The fishermen were incredibly friendly and, although not a one spoke English, they were happy to see us and encouraged us to take photos.   At one stall, the fisherman even invited my son to pet the living King Crab that was trying to climb its way out of the ice box!

    If you find yourself in Osaka, this is a must see experience! Not only was it much more manageable than the Tsukiji fish market sounds, it was much more personal experience. The only difficulty will be trying to find out where you’re heading and, as this blog post from June 2016 suggests, the signage hasn’t improved since we were there in March of 2014!

    After finishing up at the fish market, we were starving as we had been up for a few hours and hadn’t eaten a thing. One of the websites that had recommended the Central Fish Market suggested a small place called Endo Sushi.  Although sushi sounded awful for breakfast (and still does), we were in Japan and I figured, hey, if they were selling it, it must be good!

    It was somewhat difficult to locate Endo Sushi (the website says after “entering the area of the Osaka Central Fish Market, please go towards the left side of the building”), but after wandering around the block a few times, we finally came across it. We were quickly seated and presented with a menu.

    It was still dark when we finally found Endo Sushi!

    Although the proprietor did not speak English and we got some curious looks, we had no trouble ordering one each of #1 and #2 – never under estimate the power of pointing your index finger!

    Our food came quickly and was outstanding; I also loved the novelty of the bowl of soy sauce, with the brush that we used to gently brush soy sauce onto our nigiri.

    help yourself soy sauce and fresh ginger

    Now, you may be wondering what kind of 4 year old eats sushi for breakfast? My answer?  I don’t know.  Endo Sushi is located in a strip mall, and I ducked into a small corner store just a few stores down that happened to have a variety of sweet and savory rolls (the bread kind, not the sushi kind).  I picked up a few rolls and brought them into Endo Sushi, where my son happily sat and munched while we enjoyed our sushi.  Nobody seemed to mind that he was there, and they even offered him some miso soup, which he was happy to devour along with his roll.

    By the time we finished eating, it was time to head back to the hotel, gather our things, and go to the train station. It was a relatively easy walk to the train station, where we purchased our tickets to Kyoto.  Figuring out what tickets we needed was a bit difficult given that the signs were all in Japanese.  The only things we could decipher were the names of the stops (Kyoto) and the prices in yen, but we had no idea whether there were different rates for children versus adults.  Luckily, each Japanese train station has two things that proved immensely helpful as we were traveling through the country: 1) a staffed window with a knowledgeable and friendly transit employee, ready to help, and 2) extraordinarily friendly Japanese passengers who were willing to stop and help us purchase our tickets when we were confused.  We took advantage of their friendliness and willingness to help whenever we could and that really made getting around Japan less stressful than it would have been without their assistance.

    Although our first 24 hours in Japan started out rough and was overwhelming, I wouldn’t hesitate to go back to Osaka.  It is a perfect starting point for a trip across the Island, and I highly recommend the Osaka Central Fish Market as the perfect first day in Japan adventure – since the Fish Market opens so early and you’ll likely be jet lagged, it’s a great thing to do when you’re awake, but most of the rest of the world is still sleeping. Moreover, the fishermen seemed to genuinely enjoy that we had our son with us and went out of their way to show up things – like the friendly king crab!

    Continue to Part IV – Three Days / Two Nights in Kyoto

  • Japan Part II: Packing and Getting to Japan with Kids (via Munich / Seoul)

    Japan Part II: Packing and Getting to Japan with Kids (via Munich / Seoul)

    Packing:

    After 4 years of cross country flights during college and 5 years of long distance relationship traveling, my husband and I long ago stopped checking luggage when traveling. For our trip to Japan, we meticulously calculated what we would need for two adults and one not-quite five year old and ended up with this:

    18,000 miles, 11 days, 2 adults, 1 child, 0 checked bags. Pack light or stay home.

    In addition to those three items of luggage, my husband and my son each had a personal item, a backpack. The grey bag pictured in front was my personal item for the flights and we also had a separate camera bag, which we carried along with us.

    Although I was initially skeptical about not checking luggage when traveling with children, I have not only come around to it, but have concluded that it is the only way to travel when possible. Not only do you save yourself the extra hassle of juggling small, fussy children and the baggage claim wait time, but you also free up as much hand real estate as possible. When you only have two adults traveling, extra hands are key! When my oldest was a toddler, we frequently traveled only with enough diapers and wipes to get us to our destination and then purchased all disposable items and supplies on the other end. We co-slept and, when traveling for more than a few days, favored renting vacation homes through airbnb/homeaway/vrbo so that we would have easy access to laundry. But, I digress.

    When planning our trip to Japan, we took into consideration the weather and the most versatile clothing we could pack. Luckily, since it was Spring, we knew that light layers and one medium weight coat/rain jacket would be sufficient. We also knew that good walking shoes were a definite must. For clothing, we each packed 3-4 outfits/changes of clothes and planned to do laundry as we traveled. We are both fans of what we affectionately call “high tech underwear” – a combination of polyester/nylon/spandex that is lightweight, packs small, and most importantly, dries quickly so clothing can be washed and dried by ourselves in the hotel.  Examples include Rei Co-op Boxer Briefs and ExOfficio Women Briefs. To do our laundry in the hotel, we bring along single packs of Woolite detergent and we also travel with a travel clothesline so we can hang dry clothing in the hotel shower.  We also each own actual clothing in a similar quick dry material and typically bring one “dressier” outfit for fine dining.  If you know me, you also know that I do not travel anywhere without a pair of flip flops, so those are also always tucked into our luggage somewhere.

    With our clothes and personal items tucked into our luggage, our walking shoes on our feet, and our lightweight jackets on our backs, we set off for the first leg of our flight to Munich.

    Munich & Seoul:

    We called a taxi for our flight to Munich out of Dulles airport. Although a car seat is not legally required in for-hire car rides in Virginia, this was the first time I ever had my son ride in a taxi without a car seat since we would not be using one during our time in Japan. To make myself feel slightly better about the situation, my husband and I rode with my son in between us in the backseat and we made sure to buckle him up securely. Luckily, we arrived at the airport without incident and, having already checked in online and with no bags to check, made our way to the Lufthansa business class lounge, where we filled up with snacks and champagne (for the adults) before boarding the first leg of our flight to Munich. This was my son’s first time flying business class, but being only four, he did not seem to notice that this was a much different “staging” area that any of our previous flights. He did enjoy the free wifi and abundant snackage, however.

    a thumbs up for mom from the business class Lufthansa lounge at Dulles Airport

    Our flight to Munich was uneventful and upon clearing customs, we found our rental car company booth. Unlike in many airports in the US where you have to board a shuttle to get to your rental car lot, we were able to just walk across a courtyard from the main terminal to the rental car terminal, where we located Avis and checked out our car – a lovely Audi, equipped with our pre-reserved booster seat. As I waited with my son, however, we spotted numerous cigarette vending machines sprinkled throughout the airport – a quick and easy reminder that we weren’t in Kansas anymore!

    the cigarette vending machines were a major source of conversation
    all strapped in and ready to go!

     

    From the airport, we quickly checked into our hotel, before heading to downtown Munich to explore. We found a convenient parking spot at a parking garage in the Munich City Center and then just wandered around for a few hours, taking in the sights, before stopping for a light snack at the Augistiner Beer Hall of – you guessed it, sausage and beer.

    my son was completely non-plussed about being in a foreign country. he loves adventures and is always game for them and was just glad to be along for the ride

    After our snack, we continued walking and overall, it was a nice, enjoyable way to kill a few hours and stretch our legs after a long flight. We came across a number of relatively deserted courtyards where my son could run around and, although there were tons of tourists and others walking around, at no time did I worry about losing my son in the crowd. The service at the Augistiner was perfectly fine, the weather was lovely, and we decided to head back to the hotel just as it was getting dark. On the way back, we decided to take the Autobahn and loved that the speed limit adjusted down as the weather started sprinkling and then went back up when the showers stopped.

    Once back at the hotel, we decided to have dinner at the hotel restaurant, which offered up traditional German fare that was incredibly satisfying, as was the continental breakfast at the hotel the next morning, which we filled up on before heading to the airport for the next leg of our trip to Seoul. Overall, we enjoyed our time in Munich. It was a great spot to stretch our legs and break up the long trip to Japan. It is a great place to travel with children – clean, generally English speaking, easy to get around. Although the streets were crowded, using a stroller to maneuver around would not be a problem. If we had more time in Munich (and if my son was older), I would have liked to have visited Dachau, which is only 45 minutes or so from Munich. Given our short 24 hour layover and the fact that my son was not quite 5 at the time, we decided to save the visit for a future trip.

    The flight from Munich to Seoul was approximately 11 hours but, being in business class, we enjoyed the comfort of having enough space to stretch out, recline to sleep, and, of course, the ice cream sundaes for dessert. My son was such a rockstar traveler by that age that I basically let him watch whatever age appropriate movie he wanted to watch and took a nap myself – dozing in and out of consciousness throughout the duration of the flight.

    After deplaning in Seoul, we had a 3.5 hour layover to stretch our legs. Happily, we found an indoor play gym, which we took advantage of. I wish more airports had this type of space for families traveling with young children! I don’t believe I have ever seen a play structure in an airport, except for the Birmingham Airport, of all places. Hopefully, as airports continue to expand and modernize, play structures or kid zones will become a standard offering, along with breastfeeding rooms and family restrooms.

    Prior to having children, I always picked flights with the shortest layovers possible, in an effort to minimize time lost in transit. Although debatable, I am now partial to longer layovers with small children – I once chose a four hour layover in Seattle over a 2 hour layover during a solo trip with my then-18 month old from DC to Alaska! I prefer the long layover because it gives us time to stretch our legs, eat, and in the case of my 18 month old in Seattle, to take a quick 90 minute nap in his stroller. Our 3.5 hour layover in Seoul was the perfect opportunity to stretch and grab a quick snack before boarding the last leg of our trip – a 2 hour flight to Osaka.

    Continue to Part II: The First 24 Hours in Japan

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  • Japan Part I: Why Japan? & the Logistics of Preparing for a Round-The-World With Kids!

    Japan Part I: Why Japan? & the Logistics of Preparing for a Round-The-World With Kids!

    Why Japan?

    In the fall of 2013, my husband and I decided to take our then four year old on a big trip before he started kindergarten in the fall of 2014. We decided on Japan as our destination based on 3 simple factors: we both love traveling to Asia (and our son had never been); we were planning on traveling in the spring of 2014, so it was possible we would be in Japan during prime cherry blossoms season; our miles and points made it possible to have an amazing vacation at very little expense to us.

    Preparing for a Round-The-World trip

    Flights

    Early on, my husband hatched the idea of taking a Round-The-World (R-T-W) trip. A R-T-W ticket allows travelers to travel around the world at a relatively low price. Airlines actually offer this product with set itineraries that you can customize based on your interests. My husband wanted to create our own RTW ticket, however, so he looked at a number of options based on available flights and our miles and priced out the following itinerary:

    Outgoing: Dulles –> Munich –> Seoul –> Osaka

    Returning: Tokyo –> Newark –> National Airport

    We were incredibly fortunate to have sufficient miles to travel in business class (360,000 total) and for only $242.10 out of pocket! Without miles, the airline tickets would have cost $19,299.60 in economy or $45,298.60 in business class.  In other words, there is no way we could have afforded this trip without some serious examining of the award structure and creative use of airline miles. Luckily, we are aggressive planners when it comes to maximizing our credit card miles and points balances, so we had sufficient Chase Ultimate Rewards points to transfer the necessary miles to our United account at a 1:1 ratio.

    The nature of our itinerary required us to book through the reservations hotline, because we wanted to fit in a 24-hour stop over in Munich and also wanted an open jaw (where we fly into one destination and return from another), flying into Osaka, but departing Japan via Tokyo. In 2016, United changed the rules regarding award flights and no longer allows stopovers in different award zones.  If we were booking our flight today, we would not be able to have an overnight in Europe, but presumably, would be able to schedule one in Seoul.

    Accommodations:

    Having secured our flights, we next had to decide how many days we wanted to spend in various locations. We knew that we had only one night in Munich, but there were approximately eight days we needed to divide up in Japan. We decided to spend one night in Osaka, which we read is more of a business district than a true tourist destination, two nights in Kyoto, and the balance of our nights in Tokyo.

    As a Starwood Preferred Guest gold member, I always check Starwood hotels first, as we earn extra points on our spend, which we use to offset the cost of future stays.  For our one night in Munich, I decided to book near the airport so that we would have plenty of time to have breakfast and then head over to the airport.  I called the main Starwood reservations hotline and was informed that for 8,500 Starpoints or 149.68 EURO ($175.44 USD), I could have a king bed, high floor room at the Sheraton Munich Airport.  Although the hotel no longer appears to be operating as a Sheraton, this review of the Sheraton Munich Hotel is an accurate and thorough description of the property at the time of our stay in March 2014.

    For our one night in Osaka, I called the Osaka Westin, where I booked a double room for 16,200 Yen.  Unfortunately, I  failed to specify (or they did not ask?) that there would be two adults staying in the room and when checking in, we were informed there would be a slight charge for the additional adult (no extra charge for the under-5 year old).  At that point, I was so tired from traveling and ready to drop my bags that I did not bother to investigate this charge any further and just paid the ~$30 USD so that we could complete the check in process and get settled into our room.

    From Osaka, we were planning on spending two nights in Kyoto, so I called the Westin Miyako Kyoto and was told that a standard room was 12,000 SPG points per night, but we could upgrade to a Japanese style room for an additional 4,000 SPG points per night. I happily booked the upgraded room at 16,000 SPG points per night – this option was not available via the spg.com website, so if the option you are interested in online is not there, definitely call.  As of the writing on this post, one night in a Japanese style room costs 22,572 Yen ($205.55 USD).

    Finally, I looked into options in Tokyo, where we would be spending four nights, but was unable to locate any options for more than single accommodations.  My husband ended up transferring Chase ultimate rewards points into his Hyatt account and booking us a suite at the Hyatt Regency in Tokyo to finish up our trip.

    Getting Around:

    We had every intention of relying on the amazing train and subway system in Japan to get around, and we had no plans for getting around in Munich, originally, other than taking a cab into the main shopping/dining area from our hotel. Just three days prior to departure, I started looking further into getting around in Munich and realized that it was ~61 USD each way to take a cab from the hotel to downtown area.  A quick peek at the Avis website later, I secured a car rental for $75 USD for the 24 hours we were planning on spending in Munich, plus an additional $11 for a booster seat for my son.  I was initially very concerned, reading the reviews online, that the car company would try to charge us for every dent or scratch, including prior existing ones. For protection, I booked the rental car on our Chase Sapphire Preferred card, which offers primary collision coverage and also took 1,001 photos of the car upon arrival. Luckily, the check out and check in process was seamless, and we had no problems (including the rental booster), so I was thrilled that we had the flexibility of having our own vehicle, while saving some money in the process.

    Language & Currency:

    I had never been to Munich before, but my husband reassured me we would not have any trouble communicating during our 24 hour layover. This proved correct – everyone from the rental car company, the hotel concierge, the restaurant host/esses ALL spoke English.

    We clearly failed to prepare for the language barrier in Japan, however, as we experienced numerous “Lost in Translation” moments during our time in Japan. We encountered extreme difficulty in getting around Japan – from our cab driver at the Osaka airport who did not understand what we meant by “Westin Hotel” to having to rely on kind strangers to help us purchase tickets at the rail – we definitely did not adequately prepare. I would not recommend traveling blind with children, like we did, as having a child with you when you have no idea what you’re doing or where you are going in a foreign country is troubling, to say the least. If you do not have friends/family to help you get around in Japan, I strongly encourage you to engage a local tour guide. Tours by Locals is highly recommended by friends who have used this in other parts of Asia, but I have no first-hand experience.

    Regarding currency, I never worry about obtaining local currency in advance of a foreign trip (although that may change after our Zimbabwe experience!) and had no problems getting cash out of the ATM at the airport or anywhere else around town. Our Chase Sapphire Preferred card also offers no foreign transaction fee, as does our Starwood Preferred Guest American Card.  I charge everything that I can on those cards when we travel, reserving my cash for only places where credit card is not accepted or cash just makes sense.

    Continue to Part II – Packing and Getting to Japan