Excited… exhausted… and both kinds of sniffly…

That’s what I (Ken) am feeling as we arrive in Tokyo. In my head, I’m thrilled to finally be starting the trip after months (well, years) of preparation. But my body has other ideas. The last couple weeks have been a whirlwind of preparations, and the long days and late nights have caught up with me. Right when I expected to be bouncing down the jetway with anticipation, I instead have a cold that’s dragging me down. I’ll have to beat this in Tokyo so I can go on the world’s steepest roller coaster next week (more on that later).

While I have the bad kind of sniffles (from my cold), we also had the good kind as we said goodbye to my parents on Sunday. I didn’t think I would get emotional about the farewell, but once Mom started getting sniffly, we all pretty much jumped on board. Like the rest of our friends and family, they wished us an enjoyable trip and a safe return. We’re grateful for all the positive vibes sent our way.

And we’re here, in Tokyo, arguably the biggest city in the world. Time to get some sleep, in our, um, compact hotel room. It comes with nightshirts, though…!