We've Arrived

We’re finally here!

After a furious bout of downsizing and packing, we loaded 4 pieces of luggage — and Einstein — into Seri’s parents’ van and headed to SFO. The check-in process went mostly well. We’d spent the previous night meticulously weighing and re-packing things to get everything under 30 kg (66 lb) so we wouldn’t be assessed additional baggage fees. The only hiccup was Einstein’s crate, which was larger than our airline (ANA) had anticipated. Although crates are treated like strollers and are not treated like standard luggage, it seems most dogs flying to Japan are tiny dogs, with tiny crates. Fortunately, the customer service agent was very accommodating and waived what would have most likely been a $200 fee for a 5th piece of luggage.

We took some photos, made sure everything was in order, and made our way through the security process. We had TSA Pre which made things easier, but I have a newfound respect for parents traveling with infants: having Einstein as well as all of our carry-on luggage was a bit more than I’m used to dealing with.

Just past the gate, we headed to the lounge. We had a little over an hour before pre-boarding (another advantage of having a dog on the flight, apparently) and wanted a quick break before the flight. Unfortunately, I’d screwed up and not realized the “pet relief” section of the terminal was before security, which meant we needed Einstein to try to go to the bathroom on pee pads in the lounge’s family bathroom. Since he’d never used them before, he was confused and didn’t comply. This is what I’m told authors call, “foreshadowing.” More on that – unfortunately – later.

Everything went smoothly once we boarded the plane. We were able to have Einstein at our feet for the duration of the flight, which made us feel better about being in the air for 10 hours. We watched a couple of movies, slept a bit, and although Einstein got restless a couple of times, we were able to get him to go back to bed shortly thereafter.

Once we landed at Narita, we immediately had to crate Einstein at the gate since Japan doesn’t regard emotional support animals. Fortunately, the process of going through immigration and customs went smoothly, due to Seri’s painstakingly thorough planning. We were even fast-tracked through immigration. We’re not sure if the agent wanted to get us out of there so as to not bother the other travelers (works for me!) or if it was a benefit of traveling with a pet, but we weren’t complaining.

Although we traveled with the 4 large pieces of luggage, we packed knowing we’d only keep one for our first week, and ship the other 3 up to Seri’s mom’s house in Hakodate. Japanese airports have various shipping company stalls, so we headed to one to both ship the luggage and pick up our WiFi hotspot we’d be using for the month.

There was a slight hiccup with the rental car: Budget thought we were arriving the day after we landed, so they weren’t expecting us when Seri called to ask them to pick us up. It was a small misunderstanding, though, and we were able to pick up our sweet blue Toyota Fielder wagon. This was also the first time Einstein was able to pee in ~14 hours. I felt bad.

In the car, we headed to our first hotel, the Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay. We had to make sure every hotel we stayed at allows dogs, and some accommodate them better than others. The Sheraton has its own wing dedicated to dogs, so it was a comforting first stop. It was also across the street from Tokyo Disneyland, so a number of guests had Mickey ears and other Disney paraphernalia.

Before we arrived, Seri also ordered a “buggy” for Einstein. It’s a stroller. For dogs. I was skeptical, but Seri assured me they’re not uncommon in Japan, and since Einstein has reached the ripe old age of 15, he slows down on longer walks. This would allow us to remain mobile and avoid couping him up in our hotel rooms as much as possible. The buggy was already in our room when we got there, which was nice to arrive to.

Unfortunately for Einstein, we had to leave soon after we settled into the hotel room to meet Seri’s cousin, Shogo, for dinner. He lives in Tokyo and works as a physical therapist. At dinner (tonkatsu), he told us about how demanding his previous job was, working from 8am to 11pm, 6 days per week. Recently, he joined a new company that has a more reasonable 8-5 schedule. Honestly, it was difficult to stay awake at this point, as we’d been up for close to 24 hours, with a 16-hour time difference to adjust to. It was time to get back to Einstein and go to bed.