Tokyo -> Kyoto

Not gonna lie today was a bit rough. Marty and I were talking and I think he summed it up how we were both feeling about today's travel well when he said that we had low expectations for traveling with an infant on the flight, but didn't have those same expectations for traveling in country with an infant. When we embarked on our travels this morning (after being up since 3 am haha), we took a train from our hotel to a JR Station. Before coming here, we purchased our JR Passes (passes that allow you to travel on most trains and shinkansens in Japan) and just needed to go to a JR line station to redeem them. When we got to the station with all our luggage- 2 carry ons, 1 back pack, 1 duffle, 1 travel crib, 1 stroller, 1 diaper bag, 1 Emi-we learned you had to go to a special station to redeem them. It wasn't a super big deal to head to Tokyo station, but we got confused and hopped on a train taking us away from the Tokyo stop instead of towards it. We realized this right as the train was about to take off, so Marty was able to get off the train but Emi and I were stuck on it. I could literally hear gasps and saw these nihonjin feeling so bad for these gaijin that were now separated in a foreign country. I felt calm ish haha and I know how trains in Japan work so I wasn't too worried about that. The only big problem was that we only got a phone plan for Marty while we're here in Japan...so I wasn't sure how we were going to meet up again.

As our train was taking off, I thought I saw Marty make a motion that meant to come back to the station. So I got off at the next stop, and came right back to where we were. When I got off, I couldn't see him anywhere. This is when I started to get a bit worried. I ended up turning my phone off airplane mode (accepting that we'd pay whatever fee was needed in return for some sanity) and calling him, but little did I know the calls weren't going through. I texted him, and found out that he had come after me, and after seeing I wasn't there he headed to Tokyo station. Thank goodness for phones! We ended up meeting in Tokyo station just fine.

Then the actual process of getting our JR Passes at the station was lengthy. We learned there's a very specific place to redeem your JR passes within Tokyo Station. We eventually found the place (remember that we're hauling so much crap haha) and got our passes. By this point, we were hungry and tired but we needed to keep pressing forward. We eventually made it on the shinkansen on our way to Kyoto. Still hungry and tired. After a couple hours on the shinkansen we made it to Kyoto and waited in the line for a taxi. That took more time. Still tired and hungry. Emi has not had a nap. It's dinner time by this point and we've been surviving on minimal food all day. Usually not a huge deal, but when you're tired (and nursing) and with a baby it becomes one. We walked a ways to Cocos curry and were so excited to eat when Emi starts losing it. Baby's being loud at certain restaurants in America, not a big deal. In Japan, big deal. haha. (It's a double edged sword because Marty and I can appreciate the culture well after living here for a while, but we also know the cultural expectations here and want to follow them.) We are not happy parents. haha. We made it through dinner by some miracle and headed back to the hotel.

What a day! Still so grateful to be here though.