MOVING ON:
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| celebrating my maternal grandma's birthday before we leave (: yes, that is a mahjong tile. |
We spent a week in Tokyo and another in Honolulu. This is gonna be a sorta overview-slash-trip prep type post, I'll probably go more in-depth into the stuff we did/saw/bought/ate in later posts. But yeah, fun times ;D
I'd introduced my parents to the wonders of airbnb, and so we decided to book an apartment in Tokyo. We would be staying there as a group of 5, comprising my parents, aunt, grandma and I. Yep, the average age of people on this trip was waaay high. That meant that we needed an apartment building with a lift, or the space had to be on the first floor (my grandma's 80+). We also looked for one where essentials would be provided and there had to be 2 rooms. We also needed a place with a washer, because there was no way we could//would pack 2 weeks worth of clothing, including winter jackets. We found one that met our requirements, so we booked it and were set!
For those who want to book airbnb, feel free to use my "discount" personal referral code: atan65 to get $34 off! It's not exactly a lot, but it's still something!
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| mandatory passport shot featuring my airport breakfast ^^ |
Packing would also prove challenging, since the temperature in Tokyo was about 10 degrees (Celsius) and Honolulu was supposed to be about 25 degrees and above. So this is how I packed for 1 trip with 2 climates!
SOLUTION 1: A UNIQLO HEAT TECH NINJA BODYSUIT
Nope, no joke. Everyday, I wore out what essentially was a full length ninja bodysuit of warmth. Let us thank the Japanese technology gods for the wonders of heat tech clothing. My mum bought us 5 sets to share. Hers were a size bigger, but I didn't really care.
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| NINJAHHHHH |
Yup. Totally stealth assassin wear. The heat tech tights are actually really good at keeping your legs a good temperature, and the same goes for the top. I can't really say warm, as in hot/warm, but my legs felt... pleasantly cool the entire time, even at night. I was wearing another layer of normal tights over them, of course. I'm from Singapore, I can't do what the Japanese girls do and go out bare-legged, or with tights so thin they're sheer. I could definitely feel (and curse) the difference on days I didn't wear it.
SOLUTION 2: LAYER LIKE KUEH LAPIS (layered cake)
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| practice at home, heh heh... |
So this would be the type of outfit I wore the entire week, with the aforementioned ninja suit inside, and with the shorts substituted for by jeans/tights. Apart from the ninja suit, I also wore the thick knitted grey sweater almost every day. It's also from Uniqlo! ... Lotsa Uniqlo clothing because we visited Japan a while back and bought a tonne of winter stuff since we didn't bring enough. Anyhoo, I affectionately refer to this as my Doctor Who outfit, as I feel it's vaguely reminiscent of his style. It's probably also pretty blasphemous to Whovians all around the world, considering that I don't actually watch Doctor Who. Oops. Sorry /:
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| Day 1! And mummy's first ootd :'D |
I also added a men's beanie because I have a ginormous head and a tonne of hair and normal female ones just DO NOT FIT. Even this big one from my dad kept sliding up and exposing my ears to the cold! All the same, hassle aside, it kept my head fairly warm and headache-free whenever I could be bothered to wear it. The happy scarf is my mum's, from Desigual, along with her embroidered black coat.
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| happy waterfall of colours, courtesy of my mum |
As for my coat, I borrowed it from Joey! Thank God for friends who travel and have extras to lend you.My own coat is kinda old, and I was seriously doubting it's ability to keep me warm in those kinds of temperatures, so I got this from her literally DAYS before we were due to leave. I had ordered one online a few weeks before, but was informed scarcely a week before departure that it was out of stock and could only be delivered after another 2-3 WEEKS. -insert raging Andrea face here- So yes, borrowing! It's a really nice, warm coat from Stradivarius. A tad small after all the layering, but that was expected, since Joey's much tinier than me, hence the trial layering at home. Anyway, everything worked out for the best in the end, YAY.
Layering also meant that when I got to Hawaii, I could wear most of the things I brought, so not much wasted luggage space. YAY again!
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| egg chair adventures @ midnight |
Hawaii did turn out much colder than we expected, though, but I'll get into that in later posts. That's it for now, I guess. See you in my next post, all about Japaaaannnnnn <3
Signing off in a ninja suit with sunshine, sparkles and sakura petals,
Andrea <3
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