Konnichiwa, Little Lazy Friends!
I finally made it to Japan and I wanted to share what my experience was like flying to Japan! It’s been on my bucket list of places to visit and I’m so happy to cross it off of my list and scratch it off my Scratch Map.
I traveled with some awesome travel buddies, my boyfriend, his sister, and her baby, Jordan! My boyfriend, AJ visited Japan before and his sister lived in Japan for some time, making my first time traveling to Japan fun! It was also Baby Jordan’s first time flying and visiting Japan. You gotta go big on your first time, right? “Go big or go home.”
We booked our flight through Japan Airlines (JAL) and we’ll definitely be flying with them more frequently, especially since we signed up for JAL’s mileage program. It was amazing for a long-haul flight and also traveling with a 9-month-old baby.
JAL was our first and only choice because we were able to fly out of San Diego! Yeah, the plane ticket was a little more, but it saved us the time of driving/flying to LAX and having to find a place to stay for the night before our flight. That, for sure was not happening, despite the cheaper plane tickets.
Here’s what I loved about flying with JAL.
- They were very accommodating.
AJ and I booked our flights separately from his sister and baby, so we had different seats. When we checked in our luggage at the counter, they had already changed our seats together, without mentioning it. Our seats were specifically given because we had ordered a bassinet and it hung right in front of us. They also provided baby food in a cute pouch for Baby Jordan to eat. So cool!
We also had a blanket and neck pillow waiting for us at our seats.
- Free meals and snacks.
We ate dinner and breakfast. Dinner was pork kimchi with rice, salad, soba noodles, tuna, and fruit. And for dessert, ice cream! For breakfast, we had some sort of risotto dish, cheese, and crackers, Greek yogurt, and fruit.
Some Japanese snacks offered were chips, chocolates, rice crackers, and cookies, just to name a few. We also had self serve drinks like green tea, coffee, coke, and juices like kiwi, apple and orange.
I love to snack. I’m a snacker! If you’ve seen my Instagram or Snapchat, you already know.
The snacks were the “help yourself snacks“. It was also a good motivator to “exercise” to get up and eat. Remember, it’s important to get up and stretch your legs and get your blood circulating! Some people were also loitering in the area, waiting for the stewardess to refill the snacks. I was one of them. 🙂
- Entertainment
The movie selection was nice with recent movies like Fantastic Beasts, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and La La Land. They had Japanese movies too.
You could also play video games! I tried to play Street Fighter with the retractable remote and it was cool. I’m horrible in fighting games, so obviously I lost to a computer.
Just a thought, wouldn’t it be a cool idea if you could play Street Fighter and challenge other people on the plane?!
- Friendly stewardesses
The stewardesses in our section were so nice, especially with the baby. They loved him! Baby Jordan was super friendly and the stewardesses couldn’t resist holding him and playing with him. When Baby Jordan was having a rough time (he was teething and caught a cold/cough the day before the flight 🙁 ), the stewardesses checked in on him, and gave him apple juice with a hand-drawn lid that looked a little like Doraemon, and even a free toy!
- Cleanliness
Our seats were comfortable and clean. The lavatory was always kept stocked and clean. They also provided toothbrushes and toothpaste. Having a changing table too for the baby was convenient.
JAL made my first experience flying to Japan relaxing and exciting. I can’t wait for more trips to Japan!
What was your experience like flying to Japan or flying long-haul flights?
BONUS!
Check out the travel vlog from YouTube when we watched the cherry blossoms at night!
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