Palm Springs day 3 – chill day

We woke up this morning to a note from arielle. It said that she wouldn’t accept payment from us for another night as her creator had told her loud and clear not to. Well, we weren’t going to argue with that! She also told us to help ourselves to any food in the kitchen.

We found pancake mix and made ourselves some toast with cream cheese and a side of pancakes.

We got ready to sunbathe and went down to the pool. The heat is really intense and still feels like someone blowing a hairdryer on you whenever the wind blows. We only lie for an hour but it’s always the longest hour in the world. I actually feel like my heart is slowing down and I need to jump in the pool to come back to life!

We went up to the room after an hour and chilled out, got showered etc. we quickly realised it felt insanely warm. We checked the air con to see it was at 85 degrees! Even though it was set to be at 60! No matter what we did it wouldn’t work. Arielle was out so we pulled the fan through to the living room and watch TV. The fan just seemed to be blowing hot air though.

For dinner we drove back to Carl’s cancer jr for some burgers. It was nice to feel the air con in the car haha!! We took the food back to the house and ate it whilst watching Django unchained.

Later on, arielle came back and tried to fix the air con. Nothing worked though. She apologised profusely and said she would get it fixed first thing in the morning.

After an hour or so sitting on the balcony, I went to bed.

Palm Springs Day 2 – Joshua tree

Today we went for breakfast at Denny’s. Well, I say breakfast but you know us, it was like 12! So, I had a chicken and avocado sandwich and scott had the Sriracha chicken sandwich. Both were much better than expected considering we were at Denny’s diner! Yum!

We lay by the pool in the afternoon. The temperature is still well over 100. I read online it gets 354 days of sun per year. I know where I’m retiring! (Lol retiring, like I’ll get to do that, cheers mr SCameron!)

We headed to Joshua tree national park at around 6:15pm. On the way we drove down the 62, there were lots of Joshua trees here. They are unusual, almost like cacti.

As we approached the national park, we were met by a horizon of what looked like moon rocks! Literally as if they’d fallen from space. They were huge and surrounded the Indian cove campground where we were heading.

We arrived at 7:15pm. We drove through the campground which is by far the nicest camp ground I’ve ever seen! Then we drove back to a parking spot in the desert so we could watch the sunset. There were signs around saying that tortoise lived there :).

After sunset, we drove back to the campground to park up. After sunset, the temperature was still 94 degrees! I took some time lapse photos of the stars as we sat in the total silence just staring at the blanket of stars. I’d never seen so many. I wished I had a telescope.

The campground had toilets and as I dreaded them, I have to say, they were cleaner than any Chinese toilet ever. They had countless loo rolls, a sink, soap, A SEAT! Amazing.

At 10pm, three hours later, we drove home. The roads were so dark as they had no street lights but thankfully I was driving and not blind McGrogan. 😂

We stopped in at a burger joint called carls jr. As we entered, there was a sign outside that stated “chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm may be present in foods or beverages sold here” :oops:! It made me wonder if this is the case at home and they don’t have to show it or what?! It’s the only food place I’ve seen it though. Quite scary! Regardless, we ate there! Doh! We took the food home and ate it in bed. I have to say, for cancer riddled food it was good! Just like Burger King.

We asked Ariel if we could stay another night and she said of course! She asked us for some information about where we had traveled and was really interested in Laos. We gave her lots of info on where to go. 🙂

Los Angeles > Palm Springs

Today I woke up super early at half six. I checked the details for our next air bnb place that Scott booked last night. It’s in Palm Springs (desert hot springs) and just under two hours east.

We packed our things and said goodbye to our hosts Deborah and Lamont. We were going to go to Denny’s for breakfast but it was quite far away. Instead, we drove to subway nearby. I had a six inch meatball marinara and scott had a foot long black forest ham. It was so good! Meatball one is a lot cheaper here too. The staff were so friendly and chatted to us about our trip. So nice to be back in the land of customer service!

Back in the car, we programmed the gps for Palm Springs. It was only 70 degrees at this point. I drove down the highway and witnessed so many near misses! There’s accidents everywhere, everyday in America and no wonder! Someone nearly swerved into me as they changed into my lane – where I was!!! Crazy ass drivers!

The views were amazing. Like something out the movies with the desert hills surrounding us. At one point we passed SO MANY WINDMILLS! Like, the most I have ever seen in one place at the one time.

As we arrived in Palm Springs I checked the temperature… 107 degrees! It actually rose by 37 degrees! The skies were clear and blue. I loved driving there. The big huge desert roads, like something out of the movies. I love it here.

We arrived at our apartment and were greeted by Ariel. She is a sprititualist/psychic. She was so welcoming and pretty much made her home, our home. She gave us a set of keys each, various brochures for things to do and told us to help ourselves to anything in the kitchen. We started with some water and scott had a coffee.

Then we got changed and headed down to the communal pool. Well, the heat was intense! I’ve never felt anything quite like it. Even in Cambodia! The breeze felt like a hairdryer. Eventually I had to give in and get in the water to cool down. So good!

After an hour and a half, we got changed and headed out for dinner. Scott found a Mexican place online called zapinos. We drove there which only took five minutes. The town is small and quiet and I love it here. Just hills, desert, sun and some shops.

I ordered a chicken enchilada and a cheese quesadilla, scott had a chicken enchilada and a shredded beef taco. The food came to $10 and was really nice.

After dinner we walked across the parking lot to k mart. Here we bought a huge bag of honey BBQ lays (MY FAVOURITE), a huge bag of flaming hot lays, 2 dairy milk and 2l cola. This came to $11.

My tummy was a bit sore so scott drove us back to the apartment. Back at the apartment I lay down and woke up at 10pm! Scott had fallen asleep too. We got up and sat outside on the balcony with the pipe. We came back into bed and ate lots of our snacks before falling asleep.

Los Angeles day 2 – Hollywood

Today we got up early for some breakfast at IHOP (international house of pancakes). When we arrived it was really busy but we managed to get a table in ten minutes. I had the split decision – two sausage, two bacon, two eggs, two toast and two pancakes. Scott had the same but hash brown instead of toast.

This was Scott’s first time at IHOP and he was impressed :). Next thing, a guy walks in and starts trying to talk to the table next to us. The man at the table asks him to let him eat his food. He apologises and walks over to the empty table next to us. He wails at the staff asking why people are waiting when there’s a table there? No one answers him so he plops himself down next to us. As we finished eating, he started talking to scott. He asked where we were going in California. The conversation lead to that we were going to Vegas. The man told us to avoid the casinos, as he lost $26,000. “Twenty six thousand?!” Scott said “I don’t even have $100 to lose, never mind 26,000!”. The man laughed and then pulled out two wads of cash in a brown bag. They were $100 notes and must have been at least $100,000. Mental. Since he wasn’t offering any up, I urged scott to leave, haha. We paid and went back to the car.

We headed back to the house and put some washing in the machine before heading back out again. Today we were going to visit Hollywood.

While we were driving, I was at the traffic lights and looked out the window to see a man dressed in a bandana, dancing in the street with some fantastic facial expressions. As quick as I’d seen him, he caught my eye and both of us burst into hysterical laughter, just as I drove away. This place is crazy! I can’t tell if the people just don’t care or if they are actually mad!

As we approached Hollywood, we drove down roads separated by rows of palm trees. This is exactly how I imagined it to be! We passed a hotel for pets and a pilates studio. As we arrived on Hollywood boulevard, the street was full of people dressed up as Mickey mouse, Samuel L Jackson, jack sparrow, halo, etc. I could see the walk of fame stars all over the pavement.

We parked in the Hollywood and highland shopping mall. It was $2 for 2 hours. We walked down Hollywood boulevard and enjoyed the free entertainment. At one point there was a crazy man with an amp and mic singing “splish splash I was taking a bath” 😂.

We walked down looking at all the stars, there were so many! After a good walk down the boulevard, we went back to the mall to the viewpoint of the Hollywood sign. It was really far away though and we wanted to get closer. So after another half hour or so here, we headed back to the car.

We decided to drive up mullholland drive. This was amazing and the views were really good.

We could see the sign again but we still weren’t satisfied. So I looked at a map to find the closest street to it. North beachfront drive. I put it in the GPS and off we went. As soon as we turned onto this street you could see it right in front of you! We just kept following this street until it eventually took us right below it! Then there was a small area to park up so you could take some photos. The views from up here were also amazing. It all felt a bit surreal standing under the Hollywood sign.

It was now 7pm so we decide to head back. As we drove home, police cars flew through a couple of junctions we were at. There are sirens all the time! We stopped in at Taco Bell and bought a nacho box to share (chicken nacho wrap, beef taco and beef burrito) and a small bowl of nachos. We took this back to the house and ate it in bed.

As we watched TV, the news reported a police chase near us! It was a pursuit on the highway for a man in a car with a woman and three children. He eventually fled and started running but they tasered him, he fell face first and they caught him! Eek!

We sat out in the garden for a bit before heading to bed.

Los Angeles day 1 – Venice beach and Santa Monica

So with no sleep, I got up at 9am and scott got up shortly after. We enjoyed our complimentary breakfast of cereal, English muffins and croissants downstairs. The weather was cloudy and almost drizzly but we decided to stick to our plans and go visit Venice beach and Santa Monica.

The drive took about an hour and we arrived to a barrage of PUBLIC PARKING signs all at different prices. We found one for $8 and parked there for the day. We only had $7 on us but the guy said it was okay :).

We walked along Venice beach. It’s another world! There were so so so many homeless people. Like so many. They have their sleeping bags set up and trolleys full of their belongings. They were their own community. We watched the skaters in the skate park and took photos of the wonderful art work.

A lot of people said hello to us and some just made weird noises. There are genuinely crazy people here. It’s hard to tell the difference between who genuinely does not care and who is mental. No one cares about what anyone thinks! I totally admired it though. It was such a cool place, with so much going on.

We walked the full length of the beach to the Santa Monica pier. They had fair rides here and various acts of entertainment. We watched a magician who swallowed a whole balloon! He also made someone’s money appear wedged inside an unopened lemon. Very cool!

As we walked back down the sun appeared. Scott and I played on the swings before making our way back the Venice beach. Here we watched a group of street dancers who were quite talented but their banter was a bit shit. They played a lot on race (they were black) and spent the show making fun of whites, Asians etc. They lined up members of the public to do a huge jump over them which looked impossible. They then insisted they collect donations before they do it as people always walk away. We literally had no money but as they walked round they received as much as $30 from some people. One of the volunteer men who was in the line, his wife gave $20. It was hard to watch when the dancers then insisted the two “rich white guys” (their assumption) pay them a big donation. The guys became very uncomfortable, one stating his wife had already given twenty. They wouldn’t let it drop and tried to make the crowd egg them on. I never made a sound. This became too uncomfortable and the two men left the line! The dancers then said nothing and just told the rest of the volunteers to leave and they never did the jump! Some nerve! I’d be so angry if I’d given them a donation. Part of me wonders if it’s just a big scam! You can’t pressure people for money like that!

We walked down the other side of Venice beach where scott found a place selling medical marijuana licences. I waited outside whilst scott sorted himself out. We then walked to a dispensary with two other American boys who had been in there too. I waited outside with one of the boys as his friend and scott went in to get their prescriptions. After twenty minutes they were back with little brown bags and a free gift of a glass pipe! What a strange place. We then met a girl from Texas called courtni. We all sat talking for a while before saying goodbye and heading back to the beach.

Scott and I got pizza and fries to share. We ate this sitting at the bleachers whilst watching everyone play basketball. I think I could live here.

We drove back to ingle wood but stopped in at Ralph’s grocery store on the way. Here scott got Cheetos and we bought some water.

Back at the house we sat out in the garden. Lamont put on the fire pit for us. Scott told him about his purchase and Lamont insisted he enjoy it by the fire as he too was also a medicinal user. We sat for an hour or so before heading up to the room to order food.

Unfortunately I fell asleep! I woke up at 12:30am, starving and to see scott also sleeping! I was so annoyed, haha. Thankfully, this time I managed to fall back asleep around 2am.

Tokyo > Los Angeles – still the 11th of June

With a rested head, we woke up a bit spritelier than we had felt the evening before. We packed our stuff and checked out of the hotel at 11am. We sat in the very nice lobby for an hour or so using the wifi. Our flight wasn’t until 7:15pm.

At 1pm we took the free shuttle bus to the airport. Here, we got a subway for brunch. They even have potato wedges in Japan subway, yum! The woman who served us was extremely rude and clearly hated her job. So we left her a tray to clean up for her rudeness.

During our wait in the airport, a pianist and violinist played throughout our wait. They were very good.

At 4pm, we checked in which thankfully went smoothly. Even though we moved flights we were still seated together, which was good. We headed to security and went through to departures. Our flight was delayed but by only ten minutes so that was fine.

We boarded he biggest plane ever at 18:45. After take off we enjoyed our inclusive menu. I started with a Singapore sling and scott had a cola. Then we had peanuts and put on a movie. The flight time was 9h and 20m. We left Japan at 19:25 on the 11th of June and arrived in Los Angeles at nearly 1pm on the 11th of June. Time travellers! Just as we came in to land scott and I woke up. Neither of us had slept well and I was struggling to open my eyes. Slightly panicked knowing I’d have to drive in an hour.

We headed straight for immigration where they had machines that take your fingerprints, photo and scan your passport without needing to see a person. Mine worked as I’d been in the U.S. Since 2008 but Scott’s didn’t work so we had to join the visitor queue! Thankfully it didn’t take too long and we were through quickly. We collected our case from the baggage belt and headed for customs. The line for customs was insane and not even organised. Everyone was just pushing through double doors and merging together. Finally at the front the woman just took out custom declaration and waved us through. 🙂 b

Outside, we waited at the shuttle stop for rental cars. After fifteen minutes a national bus arrived and people tried to pile on. Before we could get on, the driver told us we would have to wait for the next one. There was no queueing here either and simply a push to get on. It was then I noticed there were several bus stops for the shuttles but as this one was right outside the departure doors, everyone was waiting here! (About 50 people). I grabbed scott and dragged him down the road to the one before. Next thing, a national bus arrives – EMPTY! We get on with no hassle, no pushing and take a seat. The bus drives round the corner and opens its doors to the crazy mob all staring in confusion as to how we are on the bus 😂😂.

We finally arrive at the rental car office. I give him my details and he asks me to pay. He swipes my debit card which fails. I try to tell him it’s chip and pin and so won’t work that way. This goes back and forth for far too long until we realise we need cash instead. He says if we pay in cash we need to pay a $250 deposit. I try to argue with him but he said if they have my card details then if we steal the car they’re covered but if we only give cash they have no back up. Now this theory is flawed in many ways. One being I could just cancel my card after I leave?! Two being I don’t think $250 covers the cost of a car. But we had no choice. I went down to ATM downstairs to withdraw money. However… (Nothing goes smoothly for us remember, we are the travelling couple of doom)… The machine would only let me take out $200 at a time. That’s fine I say, I’ll just keep taking money out. No! The machine charges $4 per transaction! Plus my £1.50 bank fee and plus 3% of what I take out! This meant being charged nearly £20 just to take out $1000. I refused and went back to the desk to ask for another ATM. The nearest one was over a mile away, he assured us a taxi would cost no more than “10 bucks”. That’s not cheap! I’d probably be better using the bloody money grabbing ATM downstairs. We then tried the automated pay machines in the office (self service type things). I swiped my card and all my details appeared on screen (long card number.. Everything!). It even said “card approved” but when I hit pay now, it failed! We were getting distressed. We decided to use the free shuttle bus back to the airport to try their ATM. However the bus takes 30minutes there and similar back. By this point we were pissed off at our fate that maybe we aren’t meant to be in california! We were getting snappy with each other and had had enough. As we got on the bus, Scott then came up with the idea it might be cause we’ve moved country. I told him that I never told my bank ONCE that I’d left. I’ve been to 11 countries so far and not once been flagged for fraud. We had no choice but to try this theory so ran back off the bus and to the office. Here, we asked the man if we could use his computer for Internet. I transferred my money to Scotts bank and also notified my bank I was in USA. Scott went downstairs and managed to withdraw $400 until the ATM refused him any more. This was not enough. Scott went online and notified his bank too whilst I went down to the ATM to try again. It worked! I managed to get $400 too which was enough. We landed at 1pm and it was now 6pm.

We paid the man, got our keys and went to pick our car. However, there was only one car left – a Nissan note – which was fine for us. As we sat in the car looking at maps for our accommodation, scott insisted we pay extra for a GPS. Even if it’s just for one day. I gave in and agreed so we went back in. The policy is you pay for the full rental and if you return sooner you get refunded. So we did this which caused a bit of confusion with pricing. As our deposit was $233, the gps cost $195, he asked us for $100 and said when we return our deposit back will be $95. As scott handed over the $100 I halted this and questioned him about his maths. It eventually came out that the GPS is actually $195 without tax, tax being $44 or something ludicrous! I couldn’t be bothered arguing anymore and we have our documents stating what we have paid and what the difference is so I honestly can wait till las Vegas to have this argument.

We took the GPS and left. As we drove down the highway, we had Mexican guys waving as they passed us (probably due to scott having the Mexican radio station on) and witnessed fully blown Cowboys in their pick ups blasting country music. Welcome to murrica.

We arrived at the accommodation which we booked through Air bnb. We were greeted by Deborah who showed us our room, the gorgeous house and introduced us to two German girls who were also staying. The garden was huge and their outhouse was a cinema/entertainment room. This itself was probably bigger than our flat.

Now 8pm and starving, we drove to the nearest McDonald’s and ordered a feast, including 20 nuggets. As soon as I’d finished my meal I passed out in bed. Unfortunately, I woke up at 2:30am and never got back to sleep again. God damn you jet lag :(.

Tokyo – Los Angeles….well, not so much.

So today we got up at 7am to say a very sad farewell to neil as he left for work. We vowed we would be back soon to visit and thanked him for having us. Afterwards, marii took lillyana to hospital as she’s still not feeling well and had broken out in an awful rash the night before.

Scott and I had breakfast. Scott had toast with pork and onions while I had bananas and grapes. We played with the cats a while until two men arrived to fix the apartments sliding doors and windows. Neither of us understood a word the other said but we managed to make it work, haha. Marii’s mum came down five minutes into it which helped greatly as she told the men what to do.

Marii and lillyana arrived back from the hospital. The doctor said lily had hives so it wasn’t anything to worry about.

At 11:30 we said our goodbyes and as we left Mariis mum joined in the farewells. We had big hugs and lots of waving until we were out of sight. I felt so sad to leave. I’ve never been this unexcited about going to America!

We walked to the subway station where we made our way to Sendai station. After walking around a bit aimlessly for a while we eventually got our bearings and found the ticket office. We bought two tickets from Sendai to Tokyo Narita. It was split into two journeys from Sendai to Tokyo, then Tokyo to Narita by Narita express. It was 25,200yen in total which was much cheaper than our initial journey!

Two hours on the bullet train and one hour on the express, we arrived in Narita airport at 16:30. This is when it all went downhill….

First of all when we tried to check in the airline woman asked us for our outward ticket. I asked her what the heck she was talking about and she said we needed proof of leaving USA. We argued for ages saying we hadn’t needed this anywhere else and it doesn’t state it when booking. That I’d travelled so many times to America and never been asked this. We argued this was an immigration issue and not an airline issue and none of their business. This went on for so long we eventually gave in and booked a flight out of USA. But not before I had to log into my online banking and move money I don’t even have into my account. The whole process took about an hour.

Once this was sorted she scanned our passports and said scott didn’t have an esta. We actually realised this on the train coming (forgot because I have mine) but I honestly thought it would be fine or I could get it once we had checked in. But no, they check it at the desk! We said that he had one before on his passport but it had expired and could they not just check us in and we would buy one but they wouldn’t let us. So, we went on the website and it was under maintenance. They phoned the embassy who said it would be back online at 17:30 (our flight was 19:15). By 18:00 the site was still down and they said we had fifteen minutes to obtain a visa or we could not board. By 18:20 the site was still down so we tried a third party site, paid the EXPENSIVE fee and received email confirmation. They said they couldn’t accept this til it appeared on the airlines system. Of course, it didn’t appear. They wouldn’t allow us to board so of course by now I was in tears. Scott insisted I go as I was allowed to board but there was no way I could leave him. I’d have just cried the whole way there, with a whole plane of Merrycans giving me the eyeball and swirling their finger at their ear. They left us waiting until 19:10 but thankfully after a lot of stern words and more tears, moved us to tomorrow’s flight. Also, at 19:05 the esta site came back online, meaning if it had worked less than an hour before we would be on the flight.

We have now been charged twice for an esta and forced to book a flight we will need to change or cancel! Waste of money and effort. So frustrating!!!!!

Totally deflated and in and out of tears we were moved to the seating area to spend the night. I sat for 2 hours on the slowest wifi alerting the car rental company, our accommodation, etc. Finally we walked to McDonald’s (who told us to hurry up as they were closing). They’re very lucky I had ran out of angry energy. I got two hamburgers, a fries and chicken nuggets…..I NEEDED IT! Trust me.

We forced down our food before walking around the totally empty airport looking for stuff to do. Everything was closing except a newsagents where we bought some ice cream. It took us so long to walk back to our seats the ice cream was almost melted. I licked my milky cream cone and tried to avoid thinking about the horrible night ahead and the fact I should be on a plane right now.

We had one last go of luck and checked nearby hotels. There was one called Narita gateway for £28 which included free shuttle bus to and from the airport. Our flight being 24 hours away, the thought of getting no sleep, being disrupted at 7am by passengers arriving, having to sit all day until 5pm….. We gave in! We booked it and ran off to the shuttle stop at 10pm. By half ten we were checked in (upgraded for free too) and in a lovely one bedroom suite! We changed into the provided kimono robes, drank green tea and watched the news…still in disbelief about the nights events.

Scott had a bath and I’m now in bed, eyes closing, writing this, hoping tomorrow will please just go smoothly. Fingers crossed. For some reason we just weren’t meant to be on that flight. Maybe time will tell why, maybe we will never know….

Japan day 7 – sushi time

Neil went back to work today but marii was off with lillyana. We spent most of the day in the house together until marii had to go out at 3pm to visit her old ballet teacher.

During this time scott and I took a walk to the shops. It was nice to get outside in the fresh air together. We picked up some fruit, snacks and food for breakfast. We managed to get by with the tiny amount of Japanese we had learned. Konichiwa, hai and arigatou seem to be good for most things. Haha.

We walked back to the house and tidied up dishes and vacuumed. We watched some TV until neil got back from work. At 7:15pm we all headed out for dinner to a sushi place. Scott and I were very nervous about eating raw fish but I swore I’d try anything!

We were lead to a cute little booth with a TV screen. The TV screen featured an extensive menu where you pick what you want and it comes flying down a slide and stops by magnets at your table! It was so much fun!

We started with raw salmon which neil though would be funny to film us trying it. The taste was okay, the texture strange but it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever had! Next we had tuna mayonnaise haha, which of course was lovely! Then scott had popcorn chicken – I mean come on! My next choice was tempura prawn which I’d always wanted to make myself try. I knew it tasted good but I always get a sicky nauseous feeling when I try things I don’t like the thought of. I think I’d keep forcing myself to eat them though as I know one day I’d like them. Next I ordered mini hamburger pattys on rice sushi in a Demi glacé sauce, wow!!! So good! We ordered another tuna mayonnaise and tried a katsu don. I tried a flamed raw salmon with cheese which was not bad. We had a strange sweet egg one which I liked but scott wasn’t a fan. Finally neil made us try the most famous one of raw tuna. I preferred this to the salmon texture but still found it hard to swallow! On the conveyer belt we kept seeing cheesecake flying by but opted to stick to the ice cream we had in the freezer. The total meal for four of us was 2700yen (£13) crazy!!! It was amazing food too.

We headed back home and enjoyed our Hagen Daz 🙂 before bed.

Japan day 6 – family dinner

We woke up quite late again due to our night out! We had breakfast and I did some washing and vacuumed the house. Neil and marii were at cirque du soleil and would be back at 3pm.

Neil and marii had taken lillyana to the hospital in the morning as she had a fever. They gave her some medicine. She seemed in good spirits though and continued to play.

In the afternoon, Neil took us to the mausoleum of samurai Lord date masamune. It was very peaceful here.

We headed back to the car at half four and drove back home. We chilled for an hour or so before getting ready for dinner with Mariis parents.

We walked to the restaurant around the corner. The style of dining is called Yakiniku (BBQ). Mariis dad ordered a lot of dishes!!! So much food! You placed cuts of beef on the BBQ and cooked it to your taste. Even the salad was delicious! Mariis mum also ordered scott the biggest beer ever! 😂

After dinner, marii and I stopped into the toilets. They had the obvious robot toilets, but also had mouthwash, floss and cotton buds!

Mariis parents paid for our meal. We were so grateful for this! Such lovely people.

Back at the house, Mariis parents brought us upstairs (the parents stay upstairs) to meet their two cats and two dogs. They have two chihuahuas, a Scottish fold cat and a Maine coon cat. The cats were absolutely beautiful! The Maine coon was absolutely huge! The two chihuahuas were so excited and jumped all over me, even both fighting to lie on my lap! Haha.

We said goodnight and then walked back downstairs to Neil’s. We facetimed Kimberley, graham, aidan and molly. I can’t believe how big the kids are getting its crazy! Can’t wait to get a big squeeze!!!

We watched a movie called grandmas boy and ate snacks. Lily fell asleep next to us on the couch. We’ve decided to stay until Wednesday instead of going back to Tokyo early. Much prefer to be here!