Guys, we made it to Okinawa. That might not seem like a big feat, but we had a touch of user error in our travel day leaving the US. We spent two nights with Tristan and Lemac, hanging out in LA and seeing them. Our travel day we left for the airport on time, went through security and waited in the lounge for our flight. We then inadvertently went to gate 135 instead of gate 153, but even though they might seem like they are close together, they are the end of different branches. We managed to board one minute after they said final call. 

The flight was at 3pm and was uneventful. The kids got some sleep and the adults too. It is one you didn’t want to sleep too much on since it arrived at 6:45p. We got in a few minutes early, deplaned, and started through immigration. We were in a decent rush since we had an 8:15p connecting flight that was on a separate ticket, so if we missed it, they would not rebook us (we did have a backup plan for the next day, but the difference would be arriving in Okinawa at 10:30p or 5:20p the next day). We were confronted with an immigration line where a worker was actively running around changing the bollards to extend the line, being worked by a single immigration official. After a frustratingly long time, checking the time too frequently, a few more immigration lines opened. We made it to our gate with ~10 minutes to spare, just enough time to use a vending machine to get a drink and board our plane. 

After an uneventful flight, free of kid drama, we arrived in Naha and left the airport to be assaulted by 80F and 80%+ humidity. Roses legs then stopped working (turns out her legs generally don’t work if the sum of the temperature plus humidity is greater than 150). We Ubered to our airport hotel, and our travel day was finally over at ~11pm (plus 1 calendar day). 

Our first morning in Naha, I walked to 7/11 with Rose and got some snacks for breakfast, and then I walked to the car rental place and ended up with the second smallest car I have every rented (our clown car in South Korea still wins). 

We first went to to the Imperial Japanese Navy Headquarters tunnel system. I went in while Katy and the kids and went to the park next door. It turns out Okinawa does parks well and the longest slide was ~80 steps tall. 

We then drove to Team Labs Okinawa which is a digital interactive amusement park geared to kids about Archer/Rose’s age. It was super cool with the slide being one of the biggest hits. 

After a quick stop to buy some tea at a shop with a dubious parking spot that I managed to shimmy the rental car into without hitting anything, we headed to a mall for lunch. It also provided an opportunity to stop at Montbell and pick up a western sized long sleeve shirt to replace the only one that I brought that I left on our first plane.   

We eventually arrived at our resort shortly before 5pm. Rose had slept through lunch but was revived enough to head to the pool for a little evening pooling before bedtime. 

We had 5 nights booked at the Hyatt Seragaki, which is located about an hour from the airport on the west coast of Okinawa. Our goal was to relax and get used to the time zone switch before really being on the go. The previous day the kids did well. Rose decided that 530am was an appropriate time to make sure everyone else was up, and we were one of the first people in for breakfast when they opened at 7am. 

We then put sunscreen on and went to check out the pool and beach complex. There was some griping from the kids since they wanted to go to a playground, not the pool and beach, which speaks highly for the activities of the day before. Okinawa is hot and humid. I don’t think the humidity dipped below 79% the entire time, and the temps seemed to stay above 80F in the morning and evening. The “feels like” temperature was 107F some days. A good place to adjust to the 10 time zones change but not a good one to walk 100 yards. 

We spent ~$25USD to get the all-you-can-drink package from 10a-5p at the pool, and Katy and I each had 3 fancy drinks. We pooled hard, with a short pool break to check out the beach. Unfortunately, in Japan you can’t just freely snorkel at resorts, and they yell at you if you go outside the netted in beach zones. They have an indoor pool in additional to a normal pool and a saltwater pool. I was really wondering why they needed an indoor pool but at about 2pm I figured out why. We needed a sun break, and the indoor pool was the way to go. The resort had a ton of kids staying, and it seemed to really focus on families, it even had an air compressor when you got off the elevator by the pool to fill up your floaties (we managed to fit 2 in our packed luggage), a section of the lagoon pool with kid paddle boats (you powered the pedals with hand cranks, Archer and Rose could do it), and a kids’ pool with a ton of balls that you would normally find in a ball pit. 

After a solid day pooling we went to dinner at 530p and after sitting down, Rose promptly fell asleep (literally within 90s). She went hard, without a nap, and was pooped. Archer held it together through dinner, he ordered a kids meal, which was the fanciest kids meal I had ever seen. Katy and I splurged on the set menu ($60) and I spent an extra $10 to upgrade to a wagyu sirloin as the main, which melted in my mouth. Dinner was great.

Our third full day in Okinawa we headed to a local playground for a bit after breakfast. It was another good one, albeit not as spectacular as the first one. We stopped at 7/11 and grabbed an ice cream and then headed back to the resort for some more pooling. After a good day at the pool the kids hung out with a babysitter who spoke really good English while Katy and I first drove to a “Okinawa souvenir” store that focused more on things made in Okinawa (including treats) than Chinese trinkets to explore it without kiddos expressing their opinions. We then dropped our car off and wandered to where I thought we were going to eat dinner, but they were full, so we ended up at a place nearby that had a specialty of agu pork tajine (cooked at your table) that you then cook risotto (translation) style rice in the broth of the tajine, it was super yummy (Katy had a selection of other dishes). We then got a drink in the lobby bar and went back to a room with two sleeping kiddos (Rose only made it to 5:26p per report from the babysitter).

Our fourth day, we packed up after breakfast and headed to the Okinawa aquarium, about an hour farther north to see their whale shark. Katy and Archer are doing a good job transitioning to the time zone. I also did a good job transitioning, but I cheat and use 3 days of hydrocortisone to mimic normal cortisol levels while my body adjusts its natural production to Japan time, not Colorado time. Rose on the other hand is taking a little longer to get on the program, coupled with her FOMO and not wanting to take a nap. The aquarium was crowded when arrived there at 930a, we had read that it got busy later in the day, but I was surprised to see it so crowded already that early. We walked through, towards the whale shark tank, and Rose eventually gave up, just wanting to be held. At the whale shark tank there is a cafe, and Katy navigated the touch screen display to get a ticket for a table to eat next to the glass tank. It is a number system, and when your number is called you have 10 minutes to get to the counter.  We then finished the rest of the indoor aquarium and decided to join the throng of people shuffling outside in the 90F heat towards the dolphin show. I busted out portable fans and gave them to my flushed kiddos, and it didn’t really improve their mood… The dolphin show featured bottlenose dolphins along with false killer whale dolphins that have rather impressive teeth. Rose was a big fan and afterwards she wanted to see it again, even though she had some sweat dripping off her nose. 

We went to re-enter the inside zone of the aquarium when our number finally came up (you could track the restaurant queue online) and discovered that they were holding people outside, before they even reached the area where you buy tickets. It was even move of a zoo than earlier. Katy pulled some magic (Katy says: I some them our cafe number and asked politely), and we were able to skip the line and re-enter and weave our way back to the restaurant. The kids got some ice cream for lunch (there was some pizza involved too), and Katy and I got some blue seafood curry. They had melon flavored Coke and melon Fanta, which was a hit. We had an amazing seat right next to the tank and it was a good 45 minutes in the air conditioning.

We then headed back and were hoping that Rose would fall asleep in the car, but that wasn’t in the cards. We got back and did some afternoon pooling, followed by some dinner in the cocktail hour from 5-7p that they had at the hotel. 

Our last full day in Okinawa we did some morning pooling. We then went to Okinawa Cave, which is a cave ~20 minutes away. It was half natural cave and half them adding lights. The kids really liked it. They also had 3 hidden treasure chests, which Archer found and got a postcard as a prize. We then went to a place near the Marine base that is conveyer belt sushi. I have to admit that instead of food just going around in a circle this is more high tech. You order on your touch screen and then your food gets magically zoomed to you. This place didn’t have the highest quality sushi, but it was the cheapest I have ever had. Archer ate 5 orders of 2 piece sushi, he learned to push the buttons and order another set when he was ready. The craziest thing is that an order of 2 piece sushi cost 100Y, which is $0.63. Archer had an ice cream for dessert, soda, 10 pieces of salmon sushi, and his portion of the bill was <$6. We had a ton of fun (Rose ate a piece of hamachi and salmon sushi and 1.5 orders of udon noodles).

It was a semi rainy day, but the rain was not Colorado rain. It would just loose from the sky, then it would stop. We went to the beach (we had only spent 30 minutes at the beach before this) and the pool. Boy, did it rain. It was actually fun to be in the water while it was raining. Archer finally worked up the gumption to try the hand paddle boats, and he loved it. Rose was a fan, but she preferred to jump out of them and put imaginary babies in to take them to preschool in the boats. We ended the day eating at the cocktail hour and going to the lobby to play a family game. We had a great stay.

Now, I did leave out that we left Okinawa just in time. Typhoon Dolphin (likely will be a category 4 typhoon when it hits landfall) is scheduled to make landfall on the 7th, and we left the 5th. Flights were already being cancelled on the 6th. The resort was already cancelling some things on the 6th. The last 2 days the resort wasn’t crowded because people were cancelling their trips, so there weren’t new guests replacing the old ones. We got to the airport a little earlier than we thought we needed to (just based on driving time). It turns out the day before a “very large” (this is a technical term) typhoon the airport is a jammed zoo. It took us over an hour to check our bags, but we had time and got to our gate 15 minutes before boarding. Our flight was a tad delayed, but we were manage to escape before the typhoon hit.