Well as you know, we've left Japan. We're back in the good 'ol US of A. And the trip back was quite nice with all our travel plans being made well in advance. On the way over, we were exhausted; we carried WAY too much luggage; we stayed in two temporary locations before finding an apt. It was planned, but the plan was not without its holes. This time, we were rather determined to make the transition at least 10 times more smooth.



We started by carefully checking the flight date and time and chose to fly with Korean Air. To get our tickets, we went through JTB. If you are ever in Japan to traveling through Japan, I highly recommend JTB. They know what they're talking about. And, they're really friendly. And it doesn't feel like a fake-customer service friendly. It feels genuine. Tickets reserved, we went about making other arrangements. We decided to leave Nagoya one day before our flight to the US. That way, we could spend a night in a hotel near the Tokyo airport and not have to worry about getting from Nagoya to Tokyo Narita for our flight on the same day. For this, we reserved a room at Crown Plaza. Next, we needed Shinkansen tickets to get from Nagoya to Tokyo to Narita (airport). Once again, we went to JTB. Not only did they get our tickets, but they also provided us with an appropriate map that showed us how to get from the station exit to the hotel shuttle stop. Again, very helpful.

That left arranging to turn off utilities and setting up the walk through with our landlord. Our rental agency set up dates and we just had to be there to pay. We were extremely fortunate to have a fair landlord. We had heard horrendous stories of tenants being charged exorbitant amounts (in the thousands) for this that and the other. We were worried because we had managed to dig a giant (very noticeable) hole in one part of the tatami floor in our living room. If you ever have tatami floor, don't put a desk chair down on it. Just friendly advice, as it will dig a hole in your floor too. Anyway, we managed to get out of the lease with a very reasonable price for the floor repair. Our landlord, his appraiser, and our rental agency representative all agreed to the terms. We signed on the dotted line and left.

The actual trip from Nagoya to Tokyo was easy enough. We were a bit disappointed because the weather was bad and we couldn't see Mt. Fuji from the Shinkansen window. However, we made it to the hotel just fine. The hotel was very nice. In fact, it had restaurants at the top where we could have paid 75 to 100 bucks a person. We didn't. But that's the kind of hotel it was, I guess. The next day, we made it to the airport with plenty of time and sat down for lunch inside the gate. I had udon, Christopher had tekkadon. We figured it was the last time we could eat authentic Japanese food so cheaply. And that's at airport prices.

The flight was good, as far as international flights go. Based on this flight, I would fly Korean Air again. The food was not bad, the service was prompt and efficient. Their guest baggie included a travel toothbrush and toothpaste. I thought that was nice.

Finally, we landed in LAX on the 18th of December. Since then, we've been hangin with all members of both families, settling in, and getting back into the swing.

I hope you've enjoyed the blog. Keep checking back, we may keep it up and add in stories and photos that didn't make it in the first round. Or, we may add new ones from stateside.

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