BEST THIRD BIRTHDAY...EVER, AT TOKYO DISNEYSEA

On Tuesday we woke up ready to go to DisneySea for the day, but after we saw it was supposed to rain we decided to wait until Harper’s “actual” birthday the next day. And it worked out even better than we could have expected! We had the best weather that day and the crowds were super minimal (for Tokyo Disney anyways!)

As soon as we stepped on Disney “property” it was like none another. We were so fortunate because they had just put up the Christmas decorations a few days prior and neither Marcus or I had been to Disney during the Christmas season. I had heard that DisneySea was built after Disneyland Tokyo, and basically it was built without a budget. The two parks sit right next to each other but we headed out to DisneySea for the day since it’s truly one of a kind, and on any Disney Fanatics "bucket list." 

We headed right to the rides and took advantage of the rider swap, and I couldn’t believe it when instead of letting the second rider into the “FastPass” line, they literally took me to the front of the ride! It was as close to feeling like a Disney celebrity that we’ll probably ever get! We rode all our favorite rides, and while Marcus was on Tower of Terror (we joked that we had to come all the way to Tokyo just to ride the Tower of Terror again!) we saw the Rescuers’, Bernard and Bernice. There was a small crowd around them and Harper’s face just lit up! Bernice saw Harper first, and she bypassed everyone in line and came straight over to Harper. I wasn’t even ready with my camera because I thought we had another 5 min or so! Harper was freaking out, and giving them a million hugs and kisses on their noses. It was one of the cutest moments of MY life just watching her meet Disney characters for the first time.

We then went and got her her “Birthday sticker” and when they asked me to write it, I thought, I wrote that clear enough… Well the girl took it and wrote down “Hanpan” instead of “Harper.” We all got a good laugh and Harper go to be “Hanpan” for the day. We then headed to see Minnie Mouse in the hour long wait! Luckily, I stood in line and Marcus took Harper out to meet the monkey’s from the Jungle Book. They were pretty funny, and Harper came back full of stories about them. When it was our turn to meet Minnie, Harper ran up to her and took off her own Minnie ears and gave them to her. It was so sweet. We were instructed only ONE picture, and when we looked at what we got we couldn’t believe it when Harper had the BIGGEST smile we had ever seen her give. It was a birthday miracle, let me tell you!

We then took Harper to the Little Mermaid’s castle and rode rides in there and it was one of the prettiest rooms I’ve ever seen. It really did feel like we were “Under the Sea.” Even the soap was magical when Marcus used it he pulled up his hand and it was in the shape of Mickey Mouse.

Having only seen Minnie Mouse, I was worried about Harper not seeing Mickey. Every day they have a lottery system for a show at DisneySea where you put in your ticket and it’ll tell you if you won passes to see it or not-people wait in line for HOURS just to try to get in the standby line for the show. Most people don’t get chosen so I had very low expectations. As I put my ticket in to see if we had won, the worker had to help me because it was in Japanese! I had no idea I had won until he started jumping up and down and was excited for me! After that I literally felt like I HAD won the lottery-at least the Disney won anyways.

So Harper got to see, Minnie, again, Mickey, Daisy Duck, and Goofy. It was awesome, and she kept calling Mickey “Boy Minnie.” For the rest of the day we stopped at almost every food cart to try what they had, rode all our favorite rides, and even dragged Harper on a few that she was juuuust tall enough for. We tried to keep pushing until 10pm because we had Fast Passes for Marcus’ favorite, Toy Story Mania. So we went into the gift shop to get a special “Duffy Bear” which is Mickey’s bear and only sold in Tokyo Disney, for Elle. When we looked at the price tag we almost chocked! But we decided for Elle, it was worth it. So we got one and headed to the checkout and Harper said, where’s mine? Well it WAS her birthday, and she’s got those cute, big eyes just pleading. She had done so good that day that I looked at Marcus what to do and he had already turned around and went and got a second. So now we have TWO Mickey bears, haha. The things you’ll do for your kids at Disneyland…

After that Harper fell fast asleep on Toy Story Mania, and Marcus and I got to play by ourselves. We are SO competitive on that game and had big bets as to who’d win. Well, the scores flashed on the screen and wouldn’t you guess it-WE TIED! Whaaaat!? Almost impossible to do that I’m sure. Well, we decided there couldn’t be a better ending to the day!

That is, until we walked out and even though it was 60 degrees, it was SNOWING. Tokyo sure knows how to pull out ALL the stops! It was one of our top days we’ve ever had at Disneyland.

SENSOJI TEMPLE

Tuesday started out with food at Mister Donut drinking the craziest green melon soda (that is surprisingly so good), and ended with the biggest ice cream cone I’ve ever eaten!

In the morning we ventured to Asakusa to visit the Sensoji Temple. We entered through a back way and Harper had a small Elsa doll she was clutching with the small pieces. We knew from the get-go she would lose a piece and about 10 min in Harper cries out, “It’s gone!” We asked her to say a quick prayer that we’d find it and started backtracking our steps, well one minute later we saw a small blue dress and found it. Harper was so excited and we were so happy that Heavenly Father answered the prayer of a small 3 year old.

We then walked around the shrine and had our “fortunes” read. When we got Harper’s it said something like, You have travelled a lot since a child and are fortunate to have seen many places. What!? Isn’t that the truth! Marcus and my own were pretty spot on too. We then took a million pictures around the shrine and I was in photography HEAVEN. Harper even got in on some of the picture taking too wanting to “take our picture.” Next thing we knew, people were stopping to take HER picture, of her taking OUR picture. Marcus and I couldn’t hold a straight face for anything.

Next we had a traditional ramen lunch and ventured out for the tall ice cream cone in Tokyo. The Japanese people eat ice cream EVERYWHERE so we were literally in heaven always having one in hand-and it was November! Well when we got to the place after getting lost a few times, we couldn’t believe when they made it 8 flavors tall! Now THIS is what we’re talking about. We felt right at home!

KONNICHIWA, JAPAN!

Flying to Tokyo, I was more nervous about the 11 hour nonstop flight than when we actually got to Japan! But we were so happy when Harper did so well on the flight. It was a true test to see just how “far” she could go. Or maybe that “we” could go with her-ha! 

Our first day we took it pretty easy with attending church and then walking through the Imperial Palace parks in downtown Kyoto. We stumbled upon this character dressed up, and as Harper went up to take her picture with him, she turned around and flashed us a “peace” sign. Apparently, she must have seen everyone else doing it because everyone started laughing and Marcus’ and I thought, “How did she know to do that!?” So right from the get-go we knew she was gonna adjust juuuuuust fine.

That night we went to Shibuya crossing and watched as THOUSANDS cross the intersection at any given red light. The light is about 5 minutes long because it takes so long for people to cross. We just couldn’t believe how. many. people. there are, everywhere! But everyone is SO nice. The Japanese people have a system and order to everything and are so respectful of one another. And are dressed to the nines! We felt pretty underdressed in our jeans and sweaters, everyone else was in dresses and suits-even the street workers!

Monday we headed down to Harajuku street for their crepes and the BIGGEST cotton candy we had ever seen! We had to take a ticket and wait to get our cotton candy because it was so busy, so when it was our turn we quickly ordered one with a few cake pops. I instantly regretted only buying one because Harper almost ate the entire thing by herself! We were sitting along the side and of the street and next thing I knew people were stopping, taking pictures of Harper eating that thing! She was quite a sight though! We followed up that with lunch at the Monster Cafe, and I was surprised when Harper wasn’t even afraid. She LOVED seeing everyone dressed up. Which was a good thing because later that night she was in for a surprise.

Our first shrine was the Meiji Shrine and it did not dissapoint. The grounds were beautiful and although we were a little early for the fall foliage, we’d heard that Kyoto was in full bloom. Harper was walking and there was the cutest little Japanese girl dressed in full attire and they gravitated to eachother. Next thing I knew, I was taking their picture and they started holding hands! I love the idea that “love has no boundaries.” Children only see kindness.

That night we went to the Robot Restaurant and we didn’t know what to expect. Suffering from some serious jet lag I was worried I wouldn’t be able to keep my eyes open but it was insane! It’s more a show than a dinner, and I was worried it might be a little “adultish” for Harper, but it’s the #1 rated thing to do in Japan, and TripAdvisor never lets me down, so we didn’t want to miss it! The crew was so nice about giving Harper and a few other kids noice cancelling ear phones (again, the Japanese think of everything!) and Harper literally, had the BEST time. The music, the dancing, the robots! Hello! It was awesome.

Almost, as awesome as our coconut, guava pancakes with strawberries and macadamia nuts we had for breakfast that morning at Egg’s N Things. We ended up eating there 3 times during our trip just for those pancakes!!

P.S. Our little Elle-belle stayed home with her Grandparents while we were there. We missed her, but according to them, she didn't miss us! Ha! They are all the best! 

OUR 5 FAVORITE TRAVEL PLANNING TIPS (AND THE WEBSITES WE USE!)

A few months ago I had the chance to answer a lot of questions about how we plan for our trips. It can be so frustrating to know where to start, or what the best tips and websites are to use. We're definitely not experts by any means, but we do know a thing or two about what's worked for us. So, here you go. Our 5 favorite travel planning tips:

1. Budget, Budget, Budget: When Marcus and I were first married, my brother-in-law asked what our goals were as a family. We decided that traveling was important to us and we were willing to sacrifice other things so we could. You should see the car my husband drives-ha! He’s the best. 

What we’ve come to realize is that every family spends their money differently. Whatever brings you joy as a family-do that! Whether it’s a new car, larger home, fun outdoor toys, it’s always important to budget. Sometimes you have to sacrifice in one area to do something else. So for our “travel budget” we set aside a certain % from every paycheck. Similar to how we pay our church tithing every month, this percentage is our “travel fund.” 

The more activities/excursions you can book before your trip, the less you’ll have to pay afterwards. Buying your tour tickets, train/bus tickets, and admittance tickets ahead of time will help you stick to a daily plan and help you budget what you’ll be doing that day. It’s so much easier to research and find good deals ahead of time; instead of when you’re in the moment and willing to pay anything to make life a little easier. And then kicking yourself for spending that much on something when you've gotten home!

Every day of our trips, we also have a food budget (in cash.) Not even kidding, in France we had to hit up McDonald’s because we had already eaten our “daily allowance.” Sigh. We take one big bill with us and break it throughout the day. This helps us when we’re out and about to not have to sort through money. Especially, when it’s foreign currency we aren’t familiar with. Once that day’s food allowance runs out, we’re done for the day. And it’s to McDonald’s we go. 

2. Let's Talk About Flights: When booking flights…our two favorite websites/apps to use are Kayak.com and Hopper. Are they perfect? No, but they are great at seeing the prices you’ll pay and they’ll give you an estimate as to wether that’s a “cheaper” travel day, or more expensive. This has saved us more than once when we’ve flown into another country and didn’t realize it was a national holiday for them. No wonder the flights were so expensive that day! I also love that it compares all of the different travel sites (think expedia, travelocity, hotels.com, etc.) and will show you which website offers the cheapest rate. We use Kayak for our car rentals and hotels too! And CostcoTravel, which at times can be even cheaper than other websites (that tip comes from Marcus, I was scared off by the high prices at first, but Marcus proved me wrong!)

3. Activities, what do do and see? When traveling to a new place it can be hard to know what to do so you can experience the most out of your trip. One of my favorite books for research is Lonely Planet. I love the insight on what to see, but the maps they contain are FANTASTIC! For transportation especially. Subways or Rail trains can be really complicated in a big city, especially when you’re not used to using them, but their maps are great at breaking down different stops and stations (and in English!). And you can easily take the book with you when seeing different landmarks and it’ll give you a short but brief explanation of what you’re seeing. 

But when it comes down to food and actual tour groups, we use TripAdvisor EVERY. TIME. Entering a new city, or new part of town, we can quickly access best food around us (or where to find the best ice cream!) no matter where we’re at, or what our food budget is. We’ve only been let down once, and I love to read other people’s reviews on restaurants, tour groups, hotels, etc. I appreciate real people and their reviews, not just the “critics.” Generally, I’ve always been pleasantly surprised and things are rated good, if not better, than most of the reviews. You can also research Top Things To Do in whichever city you’re traveling to and it’ll list the top things you should see, and then which tours are the highest rated for that activity. My best friend can attest that I’ve dragged her around to the “best restaurants” when we’re traveling. And TripAdvisor always comes through! 

4. What Next...TripIt, hello! You’ve budgeted, bought your flights, picked out some activities and tours, but what do you do with all those “confirmation emails?” TripIt! It’s an app and website where you can organize everything for your trip. You can forward your confirmation emails to their website and it’ll organize everything for you! And it’s FREE! You can upgrade, of course, but the free app lets you access your information even without Wifi connection. I’ll write down restaurant addresses, hotel information, flights, tours, notes about each place, etc. and it’ll keep all of your E-Ticket vouchers readily available too. It’s like having your own personal travel agent. And the great thing is, after your trip is done, it will store the information as a past trip. So you can easily share your itinerary and what you did with others who are going there too!

 5. The Lowdown: Last but not least, reach out to others who have been there. Everyone has a friend, of a friend, who has been there and talked about something fun they’ve done. You don’t have to reinvent the vacation wheel. If you’ve heard about a fun activity from someone or a great place they’ve been, make that your plan. What better resource then someone who’s actually been there! They’ll give you the best insider tips that never made it into their Instagram or Facebook pictures. Search hashtags for a particular city and you’ll see fun food to try or places to visit. Search Pinterest or Google for a place you’re interested in, and you’ll find blogs of people who have travelled there and blogged about their experiences. Don’t be afraid to ask people about their trips. Reach out to people on social media. They'll love to talk about the places they’ve been-and you’ll be interested to hear all about it too!  

A friend and I were just talking about how the anticipation of a trip, is just as much fun as the experience itself. The more planning you’ve done ahead of time, will allow you to enjoy your actual vacation time even more. You can PLAN on it. Ha!