Tokyo Olympics 2020

Posted by walkhikebike

We just spent the weekend in Tokyo. It was our 3rd time going to Tokyo. We had a lot of fun. It is not a cheap destination. The Olympic games are going to be there next summer. Soo cool!!!!!! I have never been to an official Olympic event, but when I was 8+ months pregnant I used to walk around the excitement of it all EVERY day. I worked in downtown Salt Lake City in 2002. The Austrian news set up camp right outside the door of my office building. In my early years, I even raced in a few ski races in Utah in the eighties. Alas, I was not destined to be an Olympic level skier, but I enjoyed the excitement the games brought.

If you want to go to the Tokyo Olympics, DO IT! It will be so awesome. We went to the city in 2014, 2018, and 2019. We are not Tokyo experts by any stretch, but the city is getting ready to host the games. If you are staying at a major hotel, you book an airport limousine (big bus) right after baggage claim and off you go. You get dropped off directly at the entrance. The subways there are crazy, but they take you everywhere. We paid about $5.50 per person for day passes. The subways are so big there though that we felt like we were on an underground mountain hike. (NO JOKE!) Some of the intricate underground passageways have stores with treats that will make your mouths water so be sure to pack your CA$H. (Insider Tip: Brioche cubes!!!)

Things to do in Tokyo if you go to the Olympics or just go cause Tokyo is awesome. 1. EAT 2. SHOP 3. WALK A LOT to see stuff 4. Wake up to see the sunrise in skyscraper land. (We did this on our first trip due to jet lag. It was awesome! 5. EAT 6. REPEAT We probably won’t be going since we will be heading back home to USA in summer 2020, but I know these games are going to be sooooo impressive. If you are planning on going to Tokyo as a mere tourist, I highly recommend a workout routine beforehand because it is exhausting. Try to be at your optimal fitness level. You may not be competing in the games, but you need to be your best YOU. It is so exciting.

What is jetlag like?

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I know everyone hates when the clock changes. What about when it changes dramatically from flying into the future or to the past? Last week, I flew from China to Europe. I had a longish layover and our flight to Europe left at midnight. We were arriving in the morning local time so it was going to likely be one awfully hard day. I took a Tylenol PM to help assist my sleep. (For the record, I take medication freakishly rarely so I was fine with that.) I have tailbone issues that act up about once a year or on long-haul flights and that would also take the edge off. I slept pretty well for about 7 hours but woke up with about 4-5 still to go. UGH!!! We exited the plane around 7 am. We went immediately to drop off our bags at our hotel and we were able to stay out until 8 pm. We probably fell asleep at 9 pm. By a miracle of keeping busy on local times, we managed to have 5 days on the ground with relatively good energy levels and sleeping on local time. It should be noted that I was with my teen and she slept even better than me. Upon return, we had flights that didn’t require waking up early to catch. I have done those aplenty in my day to save money and I really try to avoid it now. It is the worst! Our first leg back to China started in the day so I slept, then watched some movies and rotated between the 2. We had an awful layover of all day to get to our city. I guess I didn’t pay enough attention to that when booking. It was a hard day. The goal was to NOT fall asleep to accidentally miss the return flight to HOME. It was a relief when we sat in our seats and we were quickly out. We couldn’t screw it up once we were seated. After I got home, I was feeling pretty good. I ate dinner and I showered. I wasn’t even feeling tired. At 8:30, I started feeling tired. My husband told me to go to sleep. No, I want to stay up cause I won’t sleep all night if I do that. Well, I gave in a few minutes after he had that idea. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I was out for nearly 12 hours. Wow. That was awesome! I must be back on local time. I felt great that day. Night no. 2 I laid in bed until at least 3 am. NOTHING!!! Of course, immobile in the morning. Night no. 3 I told my children to take care of the dog’s night routine and I went to bed early. I was up from 12:30-3:00 am. Again, immobile in the morning. I went to the grocery store this morning feeling like a zombie. Luckily, my teen who had to hit the ground running back to the grind was fairing a lot better than me. What is the take away from this round of travel jet lag? We were extremely blessed to be able to go go go when precious travel time was tight, but the return is not without repercussions.

Do you dream of doing something?

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I just read on a travel website about a guy who dreams of seeing the ocean but has not done it. Why has he not done it? He is literally commenting on a travel website of a guy who has seen many different ocean vistas. The secret is that the guy even tells his readers how to travel. (On any budget) It may take a lot of reading though. I am not going to assume that everyone can overcome this hurdle; some people are caregivers and literally never get a break, or have disabilities, or fears. Last year, I really wanted to go horseback riding in a certain place. I didn’t want to prebook it and get my hopes dashed if we didn’t make it there with everything we had going on. I had it on my agenda and the stars aligned and it happened. I spent some of my youth on horses. Sometimes, I even decide it is time for me to have my own horse again, but then my husband reminds me that my oldest daughter has bad allergic reactions to them and I too have respiratory irritations from them. This week I sent the picture off for printing a big canvas of our ride. I am very excited to hang it on the wall. At the end of the comment, the commenter mused that it was time for him to implement a plan. I agree!!!!!

Summer

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Have you had all the summer fun you planned? Our summer has been over for a few weeks now due to back to school in early August. This summer, we flew to Las Vegas. We drove in the middle of the night to Southern Utah and then we had non-stop activities. I met up with some old friends and we had a lot of fun. We drove up to Boise, Idaho so my children could meet up with their friends. My 12-year-old had every minute planned on her social calendar. We stayed in downtown Boise for a week and it is a very fun small city. It was also sad because we were uprooted from there and we don’t really plan on moving back. Then, we headed back to Utah for some college tours and a small town fourth of July. When it came time to leave, I nearly caused us to miss our flight back to China. That would NOT have been good. All of my efforts to get to the airport early and then getting distracted by the airport shops at the last second nearly did us in. We were the last people to board and they had just started calling our family name. :0

Recovering from my jet lag took a long time, but then we left again a few weeks later. We went to Seoul, Korea for an awesome almost 2 days. Then, we went to Honolulu for more college stuff. I was on my own so I had some bike rides around Waikiki. It was good and bad. Being on a bike is so liberating. However, I do NOT like biking around cars. Also, I am fine with renting a bike, but a rented bike helmet on my head was just gross. Hawaii is beautiful. I wasn’t there for a normal vacay, but it is a great place to have a traditional dream vacation. We came back and it was time for school to begin. I love back to school time of year, but early August when it is still roasting feels weird.

Wearing our new college gear from the hometown in Dalian, China.

Namsan Park

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I recently spent 30 hours in Seoul. I expected to shop and see city sites, but I didn’t expect to need many more hours of free time for hiking. I didn’t know much of what I would see in Seoul beyond the bright lights and big city. It turns out our accommodations were up in the hills near Namsan Park. We woke up in a forest covered with mist. After foraging at the closest convenience store for some afforable breakfast options, we went into the park. It wasn’t just any park. It was beautiful place on a mountainside. There were people around, but it was peaceful. We really didn’t have much time to see it, but it was calling me to abandon my flight and hike all the trails. Seoul is a worthwhile destination.

I was so busy I only did one official hike.

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We went to Utah and I almost didn’t hike at all. Practically upon arrival, my daughter got her wisdom teeth removed and other stuff took over. Luckily, I booked tickets to do a hike so it happened. Why would you need to book a hike? Because instafame nearly devastated my childhood friends’ small community. They took action and now limit the people. The process was simple. $12 per person with a 150 per day limit. http://www.kanarrafalls.com It’s not a hike for all abilities as there is some challenging terrain, but I’m happy to report I saw no evidence of the instafame trash that came as a result of the need to regulate this paradise. IMG_20190703_182308_222

Your body is awesome!

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The internet has changed the world. It isn’t all great. More of us spent our childhoods cruising our neighborhoods on our bikes in the olden days USA. We even had a bike trailer with 2 seats and we would charge kids to give them rides around our neighborhood. We always made enough money to go blow it all at the store on…. CaNdY! One thing was sure was that anyone who could be on the cover of a magazine had to be really tall and unnatural to most people THIN. Enter the new age……. Body positivity is the new Vogue. (vogue.vogue.vogue.) Nike, the athletic brand of brands, just unveiled new mannequins to fit the new world. They are (gasp!) not stick thin or extremely chiseled. I think it is awesome. I have never been on the bigger side. I also have never been tall nor had abs of steel though. I once read that if I totally altered my diet, then my 300+ sit-ups a day would be visible. Um… NOPE. My diet is just fine. I’m not going to drink some chemical concoction to achieve that. The internet has a lot to dislike, but the fact that there is more inclusivity and representation nowadays is so cool. Instagram did that. There is garbage there, be SURE. BUT it is important to be positive about the 1 body YOU get.

moved

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We just moved. It involved no furniture, but it was a back breaking day from Hell. Since the move was from one rental to another, it didn’t involve much emotional stress. You don’t get too attached to renting afterall. The reason for moving was that my children had a lengthy commute to school. Although I have now spent portions of my life in various big cities around the globe, I consider myself a small town girl. I do not enjoy commuting long distances and they had what to me was an unacceptably long city commute. At one point, I changed jobs to have a shorter commute from what would be a dream commute to some city dwellers. It was many years ago in Salt Lake City. This is a city of 6 million and that is not big in China. It can get a lot bigger. I am able to bike to the beach regularly now. It has been super fun. It is going to get busy soon, but it’s very peaceful and beautiful right now.

Hike from yesteryear…..

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I have a newish phone. Since I am technologically inept, my husband set some stuff up for me and I now have access to some of his old photos. I either hadn’t seen them in a while or had never seen them ever. This child of mine has informed me that she won’t be doing any hiking with me this summer. When you have children and teenagers, in particular, you have to pick your battles. Since I am from the other side of Southern Utah, we rarely make it over to this territory. I really want to make a jaunt over there, but I probably won’t. I don’t like crowds and there is plenty for me to see at home. The Moab area has always received a lot of attention, but it used to be very dead in the offseason. With the advent of social media, there may be no more offseason.

Path to Delicate Arch, Utah 12/2013

Have you ever been lost?

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I am not talking about the kind we talk about in my church regularly. That is a whole other subject. Everyone has been lost in that way before at some point. I am talking about you don’t know where you are. LOST! Once upon a time, I was an ambitious intern. Well, not as ambitious as some of my fellow interns who got to work at the Supreme Court or caring for the Clintons’ cat (It was 1996.) or other places that they deemed cooler than our internships, but an intern nonetheless. I met a lifelong friend the moment I walked into my housing and with our “lesser than” internships, we had an AWESOME summer. My friend got asked to housesit for a week and she took the job only if they took me on too. That weekend morning, I arose and went for a walk. I love walking. I’m sure that is not obvious. I did not wake my friend to tell her I was leaving. It was before cell phones and constant connectivity. It was a beautiful Maryland summer morning. Everything was complete perfection. I was in a residential area with some of Washington DC’s chicest homes. I walked for a while then it started to get warm. I could have kept on going, but I had no provisions. I needed to turn back. The only problem is that I didn’t know the way OR the address where I was staying. Before panic sunk in too bad, I remembered I had seen a street sign with my beloved home state on my morning trek. I backtracked until I found the UTAH street sign and prayed to find my way back. I was sooo happy to get back to that house.