Fall Break

With a population of over 34 million people, Tokyo is the world's largest city. Having traveled to several other large cities, Tokyo stood out as the cleanest. In the mornings people would sweep the leaves off the patio before their shops opened up and pick up trash in the alleys. The subways and it's stations were nice and clean everywhere that we went. In fact, once after Hazel spit up on the subway, Brendan was worried about the mess it made and wanted to wipe it up with her blanket. The people were also very well groomed and clean. Usually on subways I feel kind of gross because there are so many people that are close to you, but we never had this experience on the Tokyo subway. The only time we saw people who looked homeless, was in the Imperial Palace Garden park.

In Japan, crime is also very low. In one travel book I read, it said that if you needed help finding a place to ask the police. They usually aren't fighting crime. One day Brendan left his backpack on the subway with our passports and laptop in it. Luckily we were in Tokyo, and he was able to get it back with everything in it.

The Japanese people are so kind and respectful. They bow when they greet you and are always smiling. Getting on the subway, everyone lines up to get on in an orderly manner.

We flew to Tokyo on Singapore Airlines, which was recently rated as the best airline in the world, and I would have to say it was my best flying experience. Even though we were in the economy section, we were treated like Kings and Queens. It was definitely a different experience than our flight on a Russian airline. We flew on a 747. It is a double decker plane with some nice suites on the top level with beds ($15,000.00 round trip). Hazel had her own little suite on the plane. She had a bassinet that she slept in. I was wondering how she would do on the flight because it was so long, but she was great. On the way back from Tokyo she slept from take off to about 30 minutes before landing.



We liked the uniforms they wore on the airline. The flight attendant gave us a piggy bank and a coloring book and crayons for Hazel. She said they were for Hazel if she wanted to color. I know Hazel looks big, but she definitely isn't into coloring yet.