On this glorious morning: we slept in. I scheduled us a sleep-in day, half-way through the trip because that is what you need half-way through a trip like ours. Okinawa is a tropical kind of place, so it would have been more practical to go out in the cooler morning and siesta away the afternoon, but … that is not what we did.
The in-laws had also arrived in Okinawa! They had flown in from Kuala Lumpur, so no real jet lag: maybe an hour or two time difference? We got together to make arrangements for the Hip Hop Bus the following day, and then headed out for our afternoon adventures.
Shuri Castle is listed as being on the monorail, so we bought monorail tickets and headed on our way. Got off at the Shuri Castle stop … consulted the google maps … wandered a bit … and oh. my. gosh. Okinawa is so humid and so hot, and the castle wasn’t particularly close to the monorail stop. We eventually found the castle walls, but then there was so. much. walking. to find the actual entrance.
And I am so glad we did! A month after we got home, the whole castle complex burned down.
Which happens all the time in Japan: the castle we saw was a rebuilt version from 1992, I think? But, still. It burnt down?? How crazy is that?
We toured the castle, it was nice and cool inside, and they had some nice museum-y displays. In one of the buildings on the grounds, we caught a show of traditional Okinawan dancing! Also, it was nice and air conditioned.
And I found some more Fanta!
Super tart. Did not finish.
We headed back to the hotel, and chilled for a bit before heading out for the evening (so much cooler once the sun goes down!!) on Kokusai Dori street.
Taco rice and blue seal ice cream
We introduced the in-laws to Don Quijote, which is where we left them for the evening. It was their first exposure and so they needed some time to take it all in.
For Okinawa, the best way to get around is to rent a car. Which … we did not do. Driving on the wrong side of the road in a place where I wouldn’t be able to read the road signs sounded all kinds of stressful, so we opted to make do with public transportation, tour buses, and taxis.
The airport is in Naha, so I found us a hotel in Naha. There is a monorail, but it’s pretty underwhelming compared to the trains we rode in Tokyo and Osaka. The monorail would have taken us from the airport to our hotel (I planned it that way!) but we opted for a taxi because managing our bags on public transportation didn’t sound like a fun time. It was just a 10 or 15 minute ride away, so the taxi fare wasn’t bad.
We took the monorail to Shuri Castle. Or … to close to Shuri Castle, anyway.
We mostly walked to Kokusai Dori street, but we tried out the monorail once. I think it was just one monorail hop from the hotel to Kokusai Dori, so it wasn’t a huge savings in steps for the youngish and healthyish.
We took the Hip Hop Bus to the Churaumi Aquarium and American Village.
And it was a day of taxis for the WWII sites and Okinawa World. There are city buses that will take you there (and our hotel was right across from the bus station!) and the Hip Hop Bus has a tour that goes to Okinawa World, but we wanted a specialized day of touring, so taxis it was! Split across 4 adults, the fares weren’t terrible (though I can’t quite remember what they were?)
Taxis in Okinawa: the drivers will tell you they speak no English. But then half way through the ride will start whipping out grammatically correct English sentences! So they are overly modest. If you stick to simple sentences (like even just the location name of where you want to go) then you should have no problem. (Now that I think about it, one of our taxi drivers really didn’t speak English. It was a lot of him typing stuff into his phone to translate into English, and us typing stuff into our phones to translate into Japanese. Technology is awesome!)
There is a taxi app I downloaded to call taxis, and we did use it to call our first taxi on our taxi day. But then we were able to pick up taxis at the taxi drop off area at the other stops. So it wasn’t necessary to have (the hotel could have called us a cab if we hadn’t been able to hail one on our own), but it gave me comfort that I could call a cab if I needed to and we wouldn’t get stranded 15 miles from our hotel.
So: Okinawa without a car is totally doable. If you are scared of foreign-driving: buses, taxis and monorails will get you on your way!
We took a bus with part of our group to the Osaka airport, where they all promptly went to the international wing, but the husband and I were flying domestically to Okinawa.
The flight was fine, the husband fit on the plane (always dicey on non-Amurrican flights, we were especially worried for an Asian domestic flight), and we started our adventures in Okinawa!
If you are an American looking for a place to stay in Naha, I recommend the Double Tree Hilton in Naha. American mattresses! (Japanese futon mattresses are fine by me, but hard on the husband.) Also the best hair dryer I had all trip. It was right across the street from the monorail. Walking distance to Kokusai Dori street. Quick taxi ride from the airport.
We got all checked in, and walked down to Kokusai Dori street for some dinner. A&W burgers. I kid you not. They are everywhere in Okinawa!
Kokusai Dori is full of (much better) restaurants and shopping. Even has a Don Quijote!
I had been working on a hat for the sister, and finished it up that night!
Perfect match for my hair and glasses! But, alas, twas not for me.
We had the morning to ourselves in Kyoto, so I looked on the google maps and found us some options. Within walking distance: the Kyoto aquarium! And so off we went. On Health and Sports day? Which is a holiday. So all the locals were out and about too!
Kyoto aquarium
We started off with the Dolphin show, La La Fin Circus? Turns out, if you don’t understand the language, the dolphin show is less enjoyable. It was mostly just hoping it was finally time for something exciting to happen. There’s a lot of down time in dolphin shows, turns out. So: while I do love dolphin shows, I’d say you’d be ok to skip this one if you don’t understand Japanese.
The rest of the aquarium is pretty charming. I wouldn’t say this aquarium is a must-see, but if you’ve got a free morning and you’ve seen all the shrines and temples your brain can hold, it’s a nice change of pace.
White Peach Fanta and Apple Coke: oishi!
Lunch back at the hotel, with sodas we’d picked up on our adventures. Japan is all about seasonal flavors: if you are there in the fall, pick up some White Peach Fanta and Apple Coke. The best sodas we tried on our trip.
The afternoon was a visit to … a temple! Bet you didn’t see that coming! But this one: this one was surrounded by deer! And also houses the largest bronze Buddha in the world.
I don’t trust bitey things!
Outside the temple is Nara park, home to, oh, about a gazillion deer. Who all love to eat crackers that you can buy. Oh, and they know when someone buys crackers, they will swarm until you’ve given up the goods.
This guy knew I didn’t have any crackers
Also, this picture just cracks me up: I’m pretty sure someone in the group was doing something stupid:
But then, we were inside with the giant Buddha! Daibutsu, in the Todai-ji temple. It is something to behold.
This is one big Buddha (random man for scale)
This is definitely worth a stop. I know I said we were all templed out, but this one is on whole different scale. There are little windows in the top of the building that they open … once a year? And the Buddha peeks through them.
The Buddha shutters: that is where his eyes are!
Next stop, some absolutely stunning Japanese gardens. Our tour was supposed to do something else, but it happened to be closed for renovations or something … and so we went to these gardens instead. I’m actually glad whatever it was got cancelled, these gardens were beautiful and peaceful.
So zen
We had a farewell dinner with our group that evening at the hotel, and thus ended part one of our trip.
The day dawned bright and clear! It was a shame we couldn’t stick around Osaka for another day, but, alas, we had to get on the bus and head to Kyoto.
First up: another temple! The Kiyomizu temple, to be exact. Gorgeous temple with amazing grounds. And the water: there is a waterfall with three streams of water. Legend says you can pick one to drink from: long life, success at school, or success in love. We opted out of it because it seemed unsanitary, but after we passed by we saw that all the ladles come from a UV-light bathed bin, so they had that covered!
Next up was a tea ceremony, where we all watched a tea master prepare tea … and then we all had a chance to make some ourselves! The husband made a perfectly frothy cup of tea, while the rest of us looked on, sad at the state of affairs in our own cups.
At the shop attached to the tea ceremony stop, I picked up a book on furoshiki that the husband noticed. Katy had given us a demonstration on the bus and it. was. magical. I’m all about the origami, but furoshiki is a whole ‘nother level. It involves fabric, and you use folding and knots to turn it into a bag, or a bottle carrier, or a neat little book parcel, or gift wrap.
Lunch time took us to a street of shopping! Where I picked up some gorgeous furoshiki … scarves? Fabrics? And also a conbini lunch, where the guy behind the counter microwaved it for me! Seaweed-wrapped rice balls, half a medium-boiled egg, katsu, there was more in there that I can’t remember. It was all delicious, is what do I remember.
Next up, the Kitano Shrine, which was full of cows (bulls?) in red bibs. And that’s about all I can remember of that one …
Kitano shrine
And then the Golden Pavilion! That one is impossible to forget. It is intensely gold. We passed by some pot that it’s good luck if you can get a coin into. Which, the husband totally did! Guess I’ll keep him around.
Golden Pavilion!
And then the last stop of the night. The worstest, unnecessariest, stop of our trip. Geisha-hunting at Gion corner. It had been a long day: we started the morning in Osaka, rode the bus to Kyoto, saw two temples and a shrine, learned to make tea, and had a quick shopping stop. It was dinner time, we were all tired, and here we were, stopping to hope we’d get a glimpse at some geisha.
We did not see any geisha.
We *might* have seen some on a bus that passed by, but they may also have been tourists playing dress-up for the day.
So that was a bust, and we headed to our hotel. Which was not terribly close to a train station, but did have a shuttle that would have taken us to one, had we desired. (Like for dinner: train stations = restaurants.)
But we were tired, so we picked up some conbini food and called it a night. Note: I made sure to get jerky and cashews … actual protein sources … for the husband.
So the hugely-slowed-down Hagibis arrived in Osaka. We had signed up for the optional tour to Hiroshima, but the bullet trains were down (because, hello, typhoon?!), so that was a no-go.
Which … the people on our tour just would NOT get. They were so complainy, and kept asking questions like, “Well, if the train is down, could we charter a bus?”
Now, the Japanese are not a fearful people. They are not known for backing down in the face of danger. But they are imminently practical. If there is a major typhoon with associated flooding happening? How ’bout you just all stay put till it passes?
Once Katy started using the word “hurricane” for all the Amurricans who didn’t understand what a typhoon was, they all seemed to get it. And then they flipped into the opposite direction, and were scared to leave Katy’s side. Ya can’t win with some people.
So in Osaka, the local trains, all running. Osaka was just … mild tropical stormy. Lots of rain, windy but not knock-people-over windy, and it was deemed safe enough by the local officials for the trains to keep running.
Katy offered to escort people to the train station, help them buy tickets, and take them around to see stuff.
Knowing that the people who needed such … attention … were the ones driving us bonkers, we opted to strike out on our own. We had our Suica cards, after all! So I found some covered markets: perfect for a rainy day! And off we went.
Unfortunately, the entrance to the covered markets: a few blocks from the train station. And so we walked with our new umbrella, got thoroughly soaked, and made it to the market!
Which was covered and dry! But also: all the shops were closed. Because, hello, typhoon? If the shop-keepers were coming in from out of town, it was likely their train lines were shut down.
And so we stopped in at a Don Quijote. Always a good time.
Discouraged that things seemed closed (and also a little worried, that if the locals weren’t out and about … should we be?) we headed back to our hotel.
Our hotel train station had a McDonald’s … so very probably it was a chicken nugget kind of night? Oh the fun of recording your trip 8 months late.
As a plus: the local trains in Osaka are super easy to navigate. I would love to go back someday! On a not-typhoon day.
We woke bright and early in Tokyo, and headed for the train station to ride the bullet train to Osaka.
On October 11, 2019.
Typhoon Hagibis made landfall on the eastern side of Japan – in the Tokyo area – on October 12.
I know it was a pre-planned guided tour, but we got really, really lucky with the timing of everything. (Had we been in Tokyo during the typhoon, we would have been safe and fed in our hotel: we just would not have been able to go do or see anything.)
So the bullet train!! Super fast, super smooth. Comfy, American-sized seats. Clean bathrooms. Would do again.
Traveling to Osaka on the bullet train!
Made it to Osaka, and had a quick stop at Kuromon market for lunch. Famous for takoyaki, deep-fried balls of dough with octopus. Probably like hushpuppies? But with more octopus? Do not know, did not try.
Instead we ate at Wendy’s first kitchen! A fusion of Wendy’s and … fast food Italian pasta?
Very sweet. Too much, even for me!
On a whim, I asked the husband to look up yarn stores nearby. Jackpot! The google tells me Masuzakiya is now permanently closed? Which is a shame, this place had gorgeous Japanese yarns. Like this beauty, made of linen, flax, and something that translates as “Japan paper.” No idea what I’m going to make with it, even still, but I had to have it! Still waiting for more of this stuff to show on up Ravelry so I can be inspired by others, but, no such luck. One day, this will be the perfect … something.
Next up: Osaka Castle, which is now a history museum. Take the elevator to top and work your way down. Great views of the city from the top of the castle.
Osaka castle with pre-typhoon clouds
This cracks me up, I was very serious about this shot
View from the top
Dinner stop was Dotonbori street, probably got some conbini food? More importantly, we stopped in Bic Camera for an umbrella. (In Japan, “camera” means … department store? As far as I can tell?) We had our eye on one umbrella, but after asking a helpful saleslady about what would be best for a typhoon, she redirected us to something a little sturdier.
Spoiler alert: It was not sturdy enough.
Last stop before the hotel was the Umeda Sky Building. Just a 5 minute photo stop, as the light was on its way out.
Umeda Sky Building
Our hotel was right next to the Shin-Osaka train station, the Courtyard by Marriott. Nice room in a good location, for our adventures the following day.
Somewhere along the way, it dawned on me that the husband was not jet-lagged. He was not eating enough! Not being an adventurous eater, we had stuck to McDonald’s (chicken nuggets taste the same everywhere, y’all) and conbini food. Which had consisted of very carb-heavy snacks, mostly.
I run on carbs. Give me a western breakfast of bacon and fruit, PLUS a bowl (or two?) of butter-sugar rice and I am good to go until I get some lunch onigiri (ahem, more rice) and gummy candies, followed by dinner onigiri and chocolate.
This is Not Husband Food. From here on out, we made sure McDonald’s or Wendy’s was on the menu. And conbini purchases started including jerky. And cashews. And … fried chicken patties in a paper sleeve? Japan, man. Something for everyone.
One does not go to Japan and skip Mt. Fuji if one has the chance to see Mt. Fuji! And so we booked the optional day tour with Gate 1, and got on the bus early in the morning.
So we went to Mt. Fuji! Fun fact: In October, there is no snow on the mountain. In all the photos I recall seeing, it is a snow-capped beauty! But: not in October. Because, ya know, it’s right after summer? When all the snow has melted? As happens in the summer.
The bus took us as far up the mountain as it could, to station 5. There are 10 stations, but vehicles only go up to the 5th: you take the rest of the path on foot. But only during July and August.
The view from the 5th station? Seriously underwhelming.
Mt Fuji, everyone
Mt Fuji gift shop, of course
Mt Fuji curry!
We are looking at Mt Fuji … the view behind us is prettier
Mt Fuji, 5th station.
If you want to see Mt. Fuji, but do not want to hike it, skip the Mt. Fuji stations. It’s a long drive for minimal payoff.
After driving half-way up the mountain, we headed back down again and ate lunch. I wish I could remember the name of the hotel we ate at, because it was an amazing buffet. It had stations from around the world, and it was awesome. I ate some French thing that involved cheese and poached eggs, I think? The husband loaded up on pizza and german potatoes. Then of course I had miso soup and two bowls of steamed rice. And the dessert spread! Even tried matcha ice cream, which I had been curious about, but not enough to actually buy a whole cone. Tasted like … ice cream? Some people really, really like it though, so don’t be afraid to give it a try.
Next up was the best part of the day: Lake Ashi and Mt. Hakone. If you want beautiful views of Mt. Fuji, then Lake Ashi is the way to go. Well, Lake Ashi and hope for clear weather? Which we had, but I understand it’s pretty hit or miss.
Lake cruise!
From the top of the mountain!
Quick snap of Mt Fuji on our way down in the cable car
Mt Hakone and Lake Ashi
There was some snafu that day, where some of the group was late to the bus at one point, which meant we didn’t get to the lake cruise on time, which meant we missed our original cable car time slot, which meant we didn’t get as much time at the top of the mountain as we would have liked. That’s the downside of guided tours, you can be at the mercy of the other tourists.
But it was gorgeous!! A quick ride on the lake took us to the cable car station (with a zoo?? I think we passed signs for a zoo?), where we rode up to the top of the mountain. It was incredibly windy, but breathtakingly beautiful. There was a small shrine at the very top, but we didn’t hike up to it because we didn’t have time. We needed to get back in line for the next cable car back down the mountain to get to the bus in time.
Oh, and here are some gems from the gift shop while we were waiting for our cruise:
Bland new!
I really wanted to try this, but I was soooo stuffed from the buffet
Lake Ashi gift shop finds
Then it was back on the bus for the drive back to our hotel. I had started a hat at the commencement of our trip, and finished it on the bus:
Hats. It’s what I do. Love how this one matches my glasses and perfectly contrasts the purple hair!
Then it was back to the hotel, dinner from Lawson, and the husband promptly crashed again. I thought it odd that jet lag was hitting him so hard this many days later, I’m usually the jetlaggy one. But, eh, I supposed it was his turn.
Short on time? Guided tours are a great way to see as much as humanly possible, as quickly as humanly possible, and Gate 1 Travel is a pro at it. I can’t compare them to other tour companies, as they are the only ones we have ever used. One thing I LOVE is that all of their tour guides are local. Seeing Italy? Your Roman tour guide will be accommodating but slightly aloof. England? A tweed jacket every day, seat assignments on the bus, meal stops are quick and comprised of recommendations for pre-made sandwiches. Scotland? Northface jacket and hiking boots, a lot of trust that since the tour group is comprised of adults, people can take care of themselves. Ireland? So much cynicism and distrust of the government.
And in Japan: our Japanese tour guide was very possibly the politest person we have ever met. But also, passive-aggressive and a little rude if you actually knew what she meant. It was hilariously awesome.
But I digress! Our first day with the tour group was a full day of seeing all the things in Tokyo. ALL THE THINGS.
First stop was right next door to the hotel, Zojoji temple. One of the beautiful things on the grounds were the Jizo statues: each statue represents a child who has died. These statues are often adorned with red hats and bibs, and they are protectors of the children who have passed.
Buddhist cleansing station; Jizo statues.
Next stop was the imperial palace! Which you can’t get close to at all … so it makes for an odd choice for a tourist stop. Beautiful park and grounds, though. Complete with an ice cream shop! Very reminiscent of the DC mall, now that I think about it. (But no eating while walking in Japan! Also, no ice cream on the bus.)
The Imperial Palace is back there somewhere … but more importantly, check out the green traffic cone!
Turning around to look back at the city on the other side of the park.
Imperial Palace!
Then it was back to the bus to head to Asakusa, with the Sensoji temple and Nakamise street. This stop was way worth it! So much so, we made sure the in-laws checked it out later in our trip. The temple was beautiful, and there was a lot of great tourist-shopping on Nakamise street. We only had an hour, so we went with a Conbini lunch.
Sensoji Temple; and a quick lunch.
Next stop, Meiji Shrine!! This one is a serious shrine, massive and beautiful grounds. It was a little bit of a walk from the parking lot to the actual shrine. This one is also well worth it, and a great example of a Shinto shrine (vs. the Buddhist temples we had seen previously.)
Meiji Shrine
In Japan, people follow Buddhist AND Shinto traditions. Our tour guide, Katy, explained that the traditions are so blended, in fact, that the average Japanese person often doesn’t know where one begins and the other ends. She only really learned about the differences in her tour guide training. But quick summary: you get married in a Shinto shrine. Funerals are at Buddhist temples.
Our last stop of the day’s touring took us to another one of Japan’s sacred traditions: shopping! In stark contrast to Nakamise street, Ginza district is very up-scale shopping. We ducked into the Nissan concept store, and also the Sony concept store. Where we saw a $3000 robot dog. A seriously awesome $3000 robot dog. And people were coming in, with their $3000 robot dogs, for $3000 robot dog play dates. Japan, man. Something for everyone.
Very zoomy
I just wanna touch it …
Nissan concept store
For dinner, we stopped at a very. fancy. Lawson. And bought pretty much the same stuff we had been buying. Plus, an Olympics 2020 pin! Which … I guess now isn’t going to be a thing … does that make it worth more?
And then it was back to the hotel! Where the husband promptly crashed from exhaustion. Into his twin bed. At 7 pm.
Oh. you. guys. Our twin beds! So our first room at the hotel, I booked through hotels.com. It had a queen or king-sized bed, appropriate for two people. But while we were out and about in Akihabara, they moved our bags to our new room. With two twin beds. Because in Japan: it is more normal for traveling couples to have separate beds. So most hotels are set up that way! We had requested a double bed for all of our accommodations on our tour, but … they are only able to do that when there are rooms available. Which there were not at the Prince Tokyo Hotel.
And so … twin beds. (We had this happen to us before on a guided tour on our 10th anniversary and … it was the best sleep we got that trip. So … separate beds? Not the worst thing …)
So I probably wandered around the hotel, stocked up on snacks at Lawson, and played emoji blitz till I was ready to call it a day.
The hotels in Japan all seem to come with Pajamas! Yukata, I suppose, but these are like extra long, button-up sleep shirts with 3/4 length sleeves. (Maybe they are full-length sleeves on a non-monkey armed person? Unsure.)
I of course had to try them out! And also there are slippers! They fit size 8 lady feet! They do not fit size 13 man feet.
Also: bidets. I had to work up the courage to try it, but, you guys? I think they are really on to something. They don’t understand how to sell a ticket online because they have been perfecting the bathroom experience.
Also: the hair dryer was incredibly underwhelming. I thought I had come to the land of my hair people (I have twice as much hair as your average human … and each strand is twice as thick … drying my hair is exhausting …) and so I was super excited about the hair dryer sitch. Alas, hotel hair dryers in Japan leave just as much to be desired as the ones in the US.
Breakfast at the Tokyo Prince Hotel? Awesome spread. Western food! Eastern food! Something for everyone at the buffet. So I did what any Asianish-American lady would do: served myself up a bowl of piping hot steamed rice, snagged some butter from the Western toast station, and added some sugar (meant for coffee, I’m sure) from our table. Breakfast butter-sugar rice! (Ok, so probably that has an actual name? I just know it as ‘how I like to eat rice at breakfast.’) Also I loaded up on bacon and fresh fruit. (Tip: fruit is really expensive in Japan. If you have a hotel breakfast buffet, take advantage!)
Y’all, I ate butter-sugar rice every morning we had a breakfast buffet. So good. Also a complete abomination? But so good.
Probably we stopped in the hotel basement Lawson (I LOVED that the hotel had its own Lawson!!) for some bottled water and snacks.
Before we headed out, we swapped out the husband’s sim card for a Japanese one. We had ordered it beforehand and had it shipped to us, just to make things easier. So we had internet and maps and access to google translate everywhere we went! Pretty awesome! And a world of difference from our 5th anniversary trip to Italy where we rented a blackberry so we’d have access to email. EMAIL. No internet. JUST OUR EMAIL. 10 years ago. The world is such a different place, in just 10 years!
Our hotel was a bit of a walk (15 minutes?) to the Hamamatsucho train station, but we had our maps, the weather was perfect, so off we went!
At the station, we struggled with the ticket machine for a bit. From his research, the husband knew we wanted Suica cards, and that we’d start out with $20 on them and add more as we needed it. The menus weren’t super intuitive, but we eventually figured it out and got our cards. (We later learned from another couple on our trip that you can order Suica cards ahead of time and have them shipped to you in the US. Probably for a nice up-charge, but, no fighting with machines!)
So we found the right train, hopped on board, and a few stops later we were in Akihabara. Nerd capital of the world, so, yeah, of course that’s where we started.
First stop was the Mandarake Complex, 8 floors of anime collectibles. Each floor was small, but crowded with … so much. Some of it I recognized, some of it I didn’t. Totoro, that fried egg with a butt, vintage video games, comics, just all completely unnecessary but oh-so-fun stuff! We stopped at a wall of capsule vending machines and found the perfect souvenir. Seriously, this little guy still goes with me everywhere I go.
What did we get?? Sleepy yarn cat!
Next up was Yodobashi Camera. So spacious! Floors and floors of department store goods, not just cameras. Also books, stationery, beauty products, refrigerators, phones, watches … if you want it, they have it.
Lunch at McDonald’s, nothing to write home about there …
And an owl cafe! Not sure why it’s called a ‘cafe’ (they do have a vending machine for drinks?) but they delivered on the owl front!
Owl Cafe!!
We rounded out Akihabara with a stop at Don Quijote. If Yodobashi Camera is spacious and classy, Don Quijote is … brash and cluttered? But you have to stop in, it’s like nothing else. The aisles are mazes, the store is floor after floor stacked on top of each other, you never know what you’ll find. It is claustrophobic, but also amazing! Snacks, toiletries, clothes, halloween costumes, toys, they got it!
We snagged some adorable toothbrush covers, they are open-mouthed cats that eat your toothbrush head when it’s packed away in your bag. But also, they eat the bottom of your toothbrush and stand it straight up on the hotel bathroom counter to dry. They are adorable and genius.
My fitbit history tells me that took us over 10 thousand steps, so we likely called it a day and headed back to the hotel to meet our tour group and for our Gate 1 welcome dinner!
