Day 1 - The Long Journey

Our journey started in Vilnius, Lithuania where we caught a Finnair flight to Helsinki, Finland on an ATR 72-500. It was the first time I'd ever flown on a propeller plane before so I didn't really know what to expect however, the short hop over the Baltic Sea was quite enjoyable with little turbulence and we also got the famous complimentary blueberry juice.

We had a couple of hours wait for our next flight with Japan Airlines. We wanted to fly with Japan Airlines as we had heard the fantastic customer service they offer and they also have the worlds best rated economy seats (since our flight was over 14 hours, this was quite important!).

We then boarded the flight to Haneda Airport, Tokyo. The staff greeted us very nicely and we made our way right to the back of the plane, we were about three rows from the back. An hour after take-off the flight attendants came around with our food. As we had ordered a vegetarian meal we were luckily served first however, after we had finished our meal we had to sit for quite a while with our trays until the flight attendants started clearing up. The meal was tasty and left us feeling full. It included a salad and bean starter, a vegetable curry with rice and a fruit salad for dessert.

Honestly the flight was tough. It was overnight, we were sat in economy and it was very long! Neither me or my wife could really get any sleep. We felt tired as the lights were dimmed but just couldn't sleep in a seated position. I tried to watch a film but my eyes kept trying to close but I just couldn't nod off, it was very uncomfortable. Although we did get some great views from the plane. As we were flying over the North Pole we got to see Greenland and some icebergs in the sea.

After around 14 hours we finally landed smoothly in Tokyo. I'd heard that the security and customs clearance can take hours but it wasn't too long in total. We then made our way to get a physical sim card, which was right at the other end of the airport. I'd previously read that the customer service at the sim card providers wasn't great and they didn't disappoint, they were terrible and so unhelpful! However after some time we managed to get our sim cards sorted and made our way to get a taxi. I'd looked at different options to get from Haneda Airport to our hotel in Shinjuku. There are cheaper options but as we'd travelled for so long and had our luggage with us we decided to just go for the taxi. After about a 30 minute taxi ride we pulled up right outside our hotel. We were staying at Hotel Amanek in Kabukicho. The hotel was good, the room was a little small but clean and good enough for our stay. The location wasn't the best though. Kabukicho is known as the red light district of Tokyo. There are a lot of clubs and bars that offer those kinds of 'services' and when walking back to our hotel at night you can tell that it is the party area of Shinjuku. We didn't feel too tired at this point despite not sleeping for around 30 hours. We decided to explore the area and find something to eat. We ended up in a small izakaya that was run by an elderly Japanese lady that didn't speak English but, despite the language barrier we managed to order some Yakitori. We also had Eihire (grilled ray fins) for the first time, they were quite tasty. After settling the bill we went for a wander around.

Shinjuku at night is a completely different place than in the day time. We were walking around wide eyed and open mouthed at all of the flashing lights, noises and delicious smells coming from the restaurants. I've never seen as many people in one place however, I never felt the need to push past anyone or get frustrated with the crowds. We also got to see the famous Godzilla head! Fatigue then started to set in so we made our way to our hotel for some well earned sleep.