An End to Hotel Life in Tokyo

I still ride an elevator. I still have a magnetic key. And I still have black out curtains. But for the first time in two months, we call an apartment HOME!

We did not move in immediately. We had our last family slumber party in a pretty, pretty hotel in Tokyo. Let’s just say we rocked that place. You could not miss my American family with the three little boys. I have never felt so American in my life.

We noticed instantly that even in a packed hotel, the lobby was so much quieter than in an American hotel. The social culture here is more muted! Teens aren’t as mouthy. I did not eavesdrop husbands and wives airing their dirty laundry. Kids were not running amuck. Let’s just say in my two weeks in Tokyo I have yet to see some of this stuff.

Breakfast and dinner could have been an American free for all. You know what I mean. You know when you stay at certain American hotels that include breakfast and an evening manager’s reception? Oh, we typically stay in those hotels. Have you seen how people walk out of there with their shirts rolled into kangaroo pouches and they shove all kinds of fresh fruit, cereal boxes, and sodas in there? Yeah, the only people with marsupial qualities at the breakfast at our hotel here in Tokyo was The Farmer Family.

You know, if sodas weren’t five dollars here, and if free refills existed, we might have minded our manners. That, plus the fact I am a Diet Coke addict and guzzle it in dicey amounts. But the truth is that sodas were available all day long to us because Dr. Romance qualifies for the Executive Club Level. But dragging the tribe up there on more occasions than necessary was completely out of the question.

My kids tried. They tried very, very hard to be quiet. And yes, they know the finer points of dining by candlelight iPad screen. They tried to whisper. They tried many exotic foods we dished in front of them. But there is a ridiculous excitement about eating squid to my American boys. It takes great gusto to let everyone in a given radius know ITS SQUID.

I knew our tribe was famous when I asked a concierge I had never seen before for directions. Just one of my brood was with me. She studied me. “Ohhh. You have the three boys?!? You are moving to Tokyo, yes?!?”

I wanted to crawl under her desk.

I smiled bravely. “YES. I have the three, very loud American boys!”

She giggled politely and put her hand up. “No, it’s okay.

I knew this wasn’t all in my head. I knew people were ogling us. I insisted on silence from them as often as humanly possible for a mother of boys. But this is what happens when we tried to fly under the radar.

Okay, who puts buttons in an elevator UNDER THE RADAR?!? He isn’t even two yet.

Now, its not that I don’t love traveling with my peeps. That is simply not true. I LOVE IT. The little peeps love it, too. But I am aware that not everyone else loves us loving it. And the little peeps can get too comfortable.

As soon as our apartment was ready, it was so easy to walk away from hotel life. Finally, after staying in 16 cities over two months, and traveling 12 thousand miles by car and plane, apartment life is heavenly.