Andy and I just discussed this one on the plane. We
have only done two trips without one or both of our children that lasted more
than a night or two since they were born. First to Costa Rica, which ended
slightly early when our daughter needed an emergency appendectomy at 5 years
old. And a second was a long weekend get-away to Jackson Hole again when they
were quite young. But here we are the oldest has now graduated college and just
moved to San Diego and the youngest is a sophomore in college, so we decided it
was time.
So earlier this year we discussed what locations were still
on our bucket list. Japan was up there near the top for both of us, but
after an exhausting start to this year I knew this was a trip I didn't want to
plan the details for. I wanted most of that lift done for me. So we
went back to our company we used for Greece, Unforgettable Travel and we found their
Essence of Japan trip. At first, we were super excited as it was affordable,
but in the time, we took to make our decision the price increased
substantially. We learned they had been repricing all their trips due to
a rise in costs, but we went for it.
We managed to get our flights non-stop from SFO with miles
and even managed an upgrade on the way over with premier points. Meaning
we spend way too much on our United credit card. Unfortunately our flight
was delayed nearly 4 hours leaving San Francisco. Little did we know you cannot
fly a plane with a broken lavatory and that door to that lavatory must be able
to close properly and lock and it was not. The first door they brought did not
fit and when the second door arrived and worked then there was issue in the
cockpit requiring maintenance. Finally on our way they made up some time,
and we arrived 2.5 hours late.
We were met by a lovely lady who meets travelers for extra
cash and her only job was to hand over our train tickets and some other bits of
paperwork and get us to our car. We had read this was coming, but most
who don't speak English have a tablet and use translate functions to
communicate. As was with our driver informed us, we had a 40-minute drive
to our hotel. This is probably the trip of all our travels thus far we have not
researched substantially, so Andy was scrambling in the van to learn about
tipping because he had just pulled very large bills from the ATM. Thankfully we would learn this is a
non-tipping culture.
Our hotel is the Prince Park Tower Tokyo. Which is aptly
named for its location by Tokyo Tower.
Built in 1958 and inspired by the Eiffel Tower it does indeed have
antennas to broadcast tv and radio. We booked two nights additional to
our tour and Andy splurged and got us a Premium Club-level floor. I don't
want to know what it cost. He claims it was a good deal. But it
caused mass confusion at the beginning as he had canceled a "work"
reservation and booked this and for some reason it had now gone through and we
now had three reservations. The front desk was very confused and the
trainee who was shadowing got a learning experience. Before it was all
said and done, we had 4 people working on our reservations. After 20-25
minutes to get us checked in we were on our way with a "cake"
arriving at 8PM. Not sure if the cake is normal or it was an apology for
the long check-in.
The room is amazing with an incredible view and as we always
find in Asia incredible decor. And as friends have told us, they are also
incredibly stocked. Not just your normal toiletries, but I mean ALL your
toiletries. Razors, hairbrush, and so much more. As well as robes,
slippers. monogrammed towels. After checking it all out we headed to the
Club Lounge on the 32nd floor for drinks and a happy hour buffet which was plenty to make a dinner.
An amazing buffet including mini coq au vins, fish, shrimp, cheeses, fruit, canapes, and much more on top of a fully stocked bar, beers on top and by the bottle, and numerous wines to pick from. So far Andy's good deal was paying off.
Back to our room we enjoyed our cake looking out our glassed-in
balcony with coffee from our Nespresso machine. The cake was not just cake, but also fruit and macaroons. We put half in the fridge for tomorrow. A quick shower to wash
away the travel, melatonin on board, we climbed into bed with a goal of hitting
the gym in the morning. Fingers crossed we sleep through the night and
start the 16-hour time difference.
