Japan, day four. Goodbye Disney, hello Shinjuku!

We awoke to the usual morning ruckus of a 1 and 4-year-old. As per our daily routine, they'd start nibbling on breakfast - what we'd usually purchase from a bakery the night before, roast some coffee and let the kids do what they do best - jump around on the beds, and mess the room.

One of their favourite things to do in the room - look out the windows. You can make out the volcano that's in Disneysea, and we can also see the sea and the Mickey train.

With some help from the mother (again, as always!), the kids were brought to the indoor playground so that the husband and I could pack in peace. After our usual 2 hours (truly, we need all that time), we vacated the room. 

A panaromic view from our balcony. On the night that we ran, the husband and I ran from the hotel all the way to across Disneysea which is directly in front across the centre block of land. 

The pretty fish tank at the hotel lobby that entertained the kids daily. My Mickey girl. 

Finally a decent picture of the kids, proof that we went to Disneyland, Tokyo!

Jake, with the Mickey windows

Happy family. So thankful that the mother went with us. Hope she had a decent time too!

We headed for lunch, then were faced with the ordeal of lugging all our luggages and 2 kids all around. For 5 of us, we had 3 huge luggages, 1 medium-sized one, and 1 small luggage. This does not include our own handcarry bags (backpacks/handbags etc). It was quite a feat - especially when the kids did not want to walk on their own; or we only had one pram to hold one child at a time. This was also a sneak to the adventure we'd encounter upon arrival in Shinjuku (more on that later).

After lunch, we had a semi-elaborate plan of watching the kids (Mom took one, we took the other), and fetching all our luggage from the hotel to the bus station (one train station away). We raced and caught the bus on time that brought us from Chiba to Shinjuku. The ride took about an hour+ and it was mildly trying with the kids bored and fussing on the bus. Cue embarrassed and harrassed parent(s) trying to shush the kid(s)! *groans.

It was dark by the time we reached Shinjuku at about 6pm. And that, as hinted above, marked the start of our family adventure trek in Shinjuku.

We were dropped off at a/the Shinjuku bus station. Where exactly, I don't know, but the husband had a map and he had asked the bus driver for general directions. The first thing that happened was Kate whining - she'd insisted on being in the pram (no) then insisting for a chance to "help with the luggage - I don't have a chance *whines" and we had barely taken 20 steps. So, imagine this.

One. The husband was navigating two big luggages with his backpack which was full of things. The mother was pushing Jake in the pram with her handcarry bag. I was carrying my sling bag and a tote bag that held all the kids' stuff; along with a crying toddler, a big luggage and a medium-sized luggage. (Because we hadn't that much stuff (yet), we'd managed to pack the small luggage into one of the big ones (great idea that I contributed, I must put on record because as it is we already had more than enough on our hands!)) So there Kate was, wailing, and in the end I conceded and let her wheel the medium-sized luggage. After she took no more than 10 steps, she'd insisted on being carried.

Two. We'd probably made about 20metres and crossed a mini road, when the husband put Kate on one of the big luggages and started to wheel her along. Mom continued with Jake-in-pram and I pulled both luggages (one big, one medium). This didn't work very long because Kate-on-luggage wasn't too feasible. Add on Jake who started to cry and insisted on joining in the action and insisted that I push him, not nainai.

Three. Mom pushed one big luggage, I put Kate in the pram and pushed her then carried Jake. At this time, we'd probably crossed about 3-4 blocks and the husband then (cue dramatic music that's a sign to more "fun" times ahead) approached a stranger (random pick. If this was lottery we'd have won top prize) to ask for directions. He was a young chap in his twenties, who did not know where our destination was. Not a problem because he then referred to his GPS map-on-phone (we did not purchase any local phone card so we did not have our own internet) to try to help. He then kindly offered to lead us to our destination - we were all grateful and let him lead. We started ploughing through the busy streets of Shinjuku.

Four. It was quite a walk and I was getting tired carrying Jake, so I did a few permutations of switching him between my left and right arms, placing him partially on the pram (the lid!) so that his weight was more manageable. Through all these, the husband was going strong with his two luggages, and mom with her one big luggage and one medium luggage - and it was at a point when we hit an upslope that I really saw the hilarity that I started to laugh. Oh, boy, it was probably 20+ degrees and I was sweating. We were quite a sight - with our barang in the middle of a Sunday evening amidst the locals. The mom joined in and truly, it was quite an epic moment. We were quite pathetic, really but it's such things that made up great travel stories (haha).

After this adventure for, I don't know - eternity, we came to the central of a great mall. I'd recognised this from my last trip to Tokyo and it was somewhere beeeeeg. There was Chanel, and buskers, and buses and plenty of people - and at this point, the husband and the chap had a discussion and he apologised that he did not know where we were going and advised that we take a cab instead (cue horror faces).

Five. We had to take two cabs and even that was not smooth-sailing because one of the taxi drivers did not know the way to our hotel (gasp). After some negotiations of broken English (him) and exasperated English (us), we split up into the cabs and headed off. I was worried that we'd get lost but, phew, we didn't.

I remembered to take a pic of K in the cab (she and I were in one) to document our adventure (!)

After what seemed like a really long night, we dumped our things in the hotel and headed out for dinner. We walked along the streets, found a quaint little noodle shop and had our dinner there. There was a 24-hour supermarket nearby and that pretty much ended our day after all that drama, so after dinner, we headed back to the hotel and crashed. Our first night in Shinjuku.