Vacation has Started

Good morning from Tokyo. Local time is now 6:15 am, but back home it is 1:15 pm. We arrived in Tokyo around 11:00 at night, and made our way through customs to the international flights. For some reason, international flights are unloaded outside customs. Our flight was long, and it was difficult to sleep on it. Upon debarking, I went to use the local restroom before deciding that I was too tired to try to figure out the pit-toilets that they have in the airport.

After figuring out where our departure gate was, we decided to rent a room at the international hotel for 6 hours. The price was $130, but having a good five-hour sleep and a shower made it worth it. The rooms were very nice--one of the nicest hotels I've stayed in--with all the latest devices and gadgets. Plus, we got to hang out in the lounge for a while afterwards while we ate breakfast. Thus, I sit here typing and eating my ramen bowl, which I had to get help to properly fix. I want to tip the front-desk person who helped me out so much, but a quick internet search showed that for the most part tips are not accepted, and can even be considered an insult.

With our rest, we should be feeling awake enough to explore when we arrive in Hanoi. It looks like someone from our tour will be there to pick us up.

The closest we got to Tokyo was looking at it through the airport hotel windows.