OUR HONEYMOON! Part 1 of 4

Spolier alert: we went overseas!

It was my first really BIG trip out of the country, and even better: I didn't know where we were going until 3 days before. David & his family planned the whole 2 weeks and announced it to me at our rehearsal dinner! Boy, was I in for a treat.

At 6 months married, I find myself getting really nostalgic about where we were this time "last year" or even just a few months ago. I know it's not just me that agrees the

older we get, the faster time flies- right?

What I want to share are all the fun things we did, as well as how my husband and I kept up our health while traveling internationally (even dog bites...yup...)

Making memories on such a big trip is key, but so is managing it all!

I'm breaking it up into a 4 part segment, so be sure to lookout for all of them; it was quite a journey!

Follow along and consider this your full "traveling first aid kit" write up. I'm so thankful I had my essential oils and supplements to get/ keep us well so far away from the modern conveniences of home. Everything I recommend is in bold and hyperlinked in blue so you can click and read more about it!

First up,

T O K Y O, Japan!

Japan has always been on our bucket list.

David studied there in college at Sophia University for a bit and was pretty fluent in Japanese, which really came in handy. Even though our whole honeymoon was a surprise to me, I had a feeling Japan would be a destination.

Our flight from BNA-Narita totaled close to 15 hours, all things considered. We were fortunate enough to experience the lay-flat seats and incredible service from the super polite stewardesses on the way over.

We were so excited- a few days married, still living on the excitement of the wedding. We were also exhausted- the rush of emotions over the past couple of days, the joy of seeing our loved family and friends, feeling so incredibly special at our "I-Do BBQ," rehearsal dinner, and of course the big day.

Really, the flight was the first time we had a chance to get quiet and reflect on all that had happened and got to sit in pure gratitude for the sheer amount of love and support we have.

David and I also quickly became aware how spent our bodies and minds were. If you've ever planned a wedding, you know what an undertaking it can be. It goes without saying the amount of decisions to be made, the appointments to set, the checks to write... it takes a toll. (but it's all worth it, I promise!)

When we landed in Japan, the change in atmosphere instantly got us. Both of us found ourselves congested, sniffling, sneezing, watery eyes, to be totally honest...still exhausted but running on overwhelming excitement. Once we got checked in and settled into our hotel, we immediately got proactive.

We had too much to do, and too much to see to be under the weather!

It shouldn't come as a surprise that the first things we grabbed was our doTERRA essential oils and supplements. I would never leave town without them, much less the country. Here's the ones we applied/ took internally every 2 hours:

Breathe. This is a respiratory blend of Peppermint, Eucalyptus, Melaleuca, Lemon, and many more. Think of it like a major chest opener to help release congestion and that feeling of tightness. We dropped a few drops on our chests an within a matter of seconds, we felt out airways start to clear up.

Frankincense. Ah, the power house. "Dr. Frank" as well call it, helps boost cellular function, reduce inflammation, relaxes an overworked nervous system, and eases cardiovascular tension. We took 2 drops under our tongue every 2-3 hours.

Peppermint. This was our energy boost that we needed. Hungry, ready to explore Shinjuku, and on a hunt for legit ramen, we had no time to waste. We dropped 1 drop into our hands, rubbed them together, and cupped it over our face and inhaled deeply. Peppermint's invigorating properties stimulates your senses and gives you a pepp(ermint- pun intended) in your step in no time. We took this with us out on the town.

OnGuard. A powerful protective blend of Cinnamon, Clove, Orange, Eucalyptus, and Rosemary, OnGuard help fight bad bacteria. It also protects your body from getting any "worse" and from nasty germs we encounter daily. We dropped a few drops under our tongue, and rubbed drops on the bottoms of our feet.

We were feeling better, and ready to find some really great ramen. We're fans of it back home, but for sure it's got to be legit in Tokyo, right?!

Till this day, I'm not 100% sure what I ordered, but it was delicious!

After dinner, we decided to walk around a bit. See what night life was like, maybe meet some people and let David brush up on his Japanese, and get to know the culture. We lasted about another hour and a half before the jet lag caught up to us. Our feet were tired, our minds were running on fumes, and our bodies were begging for rest.

Before crawling into bed, we got our oils out again. Following the same routine as above, but incorporating 2 more this time:

Deep Blue/ Rub. We went through a whole tube of this by the end of our trip, but we were so thankful for the relief our muscles felt right before winding down for the day. We applied on our feet, lower back, and up and down our spines. It's jammed pack blend with a moisturizing base, Wintergreen, Camphor, Peppermint, Ylang Ylang, Helichrysum, Blue Tansy, Blue Chamomile, and Osmanthus.

Serenity. Just the name sounds amazing, right? Another powerful blend specifically designed for rest and sleep, Serenity uses Lavender, Cedarwood, Ho Wood, and Vetiver to lull your senses and body into peaceful rest. **It worked so well, that we slept 16 hours STRAIGHT.** Mind you, we went to bed at about 2pm Japan time, but to us it was like 6am.

David would agree that we woke up the next morning feeling a whole lot better than we did the day before (thanks, doTERRA!) and to a G O R G E O U S sunrise, at that.

Check out this incredible time-lapse of the morning.

Our first full Day 1 began as we met our guide in the hotel lobby. She, thankfully, knew the train system very well and helped us navigate to our first destination- The Meji Shrine in Shibuya. This sacred ground was filled with beautiful flowers, trees, and rituals. We learned a few, and even left our mark of well wishes for the spirits to (hopefully) grant us:

Next stop: Takeshita Street- full of merchandise from the truly imaginative to the truly odd, and everything in between. Cotton candy the size of a full-grown toddler, shoes of all sorts, interesting graphic t's, and a cat cafe!! Naturally, we had to check it out.

As cute and fluffy as they are, cats do not serve my allergies well. As you can some-what see in the picture, my eyes started watering up again, and on came the sneezes.

Fortunately, for allergies and any seasonal threats, we use TriEase.

The rest of our day was free time, so we spent the afternoon browsing around, doing some shopping, and trying new foods, and exploring the city in the daytime.

By full Day 2, we were both starting to get back to ourselves- health wise. We were getting our rest, adjusting to the time differences, and reaping allllllll the benefits from our oils. We were ready to soak in all the things the last day would bring us.

Both David and I thrive off adventure... mixed in with the traditional vows, we also wrote our own. Neither one of us was shocked to hear that we both wrote about our love of exploration and new experiences with each other. Our first "date" was hiking and splunkering in a cave, the second date was to a local theater production, and I told him I loved him for the first time at the top of and all-glass pyramid/ children playground at the Adventure Science Center. Fate? I think so. It's safe to say one of the most attractive things about each other is our sense of wonder.

It's for that reason, that it only seemed right that we committed our day to figuring out the train system and explore the most out of the 5,200 sq. miles of Tokyo. After all, the things we wanted to do consisted of getting on and off at several stops.

Our first location was Tokyo Dome City in Sudiobashi.

Sudiobashi is more of a quiet city than where we were staying (Shinjuku) and Tokyo Dome City is an "amusement park" of sorts. We were pumped to ride some rides but it was closed due to a rainy day.

Near it, however, is Sophia University where David studied Japanese for 40 days. I got to see the apartments he lived in, and glimpses of the campus, as well as the area he spend most of his time in. It was all really beautiful. These are some of my favorite shots in black and white.

As we walked around before getting back on the train, I noticed there are a lot of tucked away gardens off the main paths of most busy streets. Thankful for a husband who may know why, I asked.

"Prayer, worship to the spirits, and quiet time are big in Japanese culture. The city and government want to provide ample spaces no matter where you are, in case you need a moment to do one of those things."

Also, based on what I learned at the Meji Shrine, there is a special/ respectful way you are to come to worship. You are to bow, rise and clap 2x, bow again, and then speak your wishes into a coin and toss it in the provided bins in front of the shrine. You can see the illustration that explains this in the picture below. The space behind the fence is reserved for the spirits to live, and it is considered disrespectful to walk behind it.

As you can imagine, doing so much walking and site seeing can quickly drain your batteries. Something I also want to attribute to our overall health and energy throughout our honeymoon is taking the Lifelong Vitality Vitamins.. Home or away, we take them, along with PB Assist every single day.

With our energy sustained, and our wonder growing, we hoped back on the train to our next stop.

We made our way to the Tokyo Skytree located in Oshiage and it was more grand than I could have imagined. As you can see in the picture below, it's so tall that it's second and third levels rise above the clouds.

As we waited for our turn to go to the top, we grabbed some Matcha ice-cream cones with a sesame bun. If there's one noticeable thing in Japan, its Matcha everything!

Once we got to the top, we realized just how dense Tokyo really is. There are school playgrounds and ball fields located on top of residential and commercial skyscrapers, cars going all which ways at any given time, and if you thought New York was heavily populated (8 mil), Tokyo packs over 13 million residents within it's city limits!

Here's just one look out the 360 degree tower- and yes, it is this populated as far as you can see in all directions, and my pretty sweet Japanese dress the hubs got me :)

As we said goodbye to such a cool experience, we took a second to reflect on our time in Japan over cocktails at 2,080 feet above Tokyo.

At this point, our bodies were realizing our palates were adapting to new flavors and foods. To help aid our digestion with this, we both used DigestZen. It's definitely a "top 10-er" in our house. We tried to use it after every meal- just in case!

I'm not sure about you, but when I thought of Japan before going, I thought "high tech/ video games/ Pokemon/"

Let me assure you, thats 100% true, and to see it live in action, we took a train ride over to Akihabara- aka, tech and game central. We bought a pretty fancy camera for a great deal, played some games, and got lunch at a maid cafe. About that maid cafe... it's exactly what you think it is. Women...dressed as maids...who act as cats...and serve you lunch... "When in Japan.." we said! (Definitely one of those memorable experiences. Not sure we'll ever forget)

We didn't want to let it go just yet, and David had a few more spots on the list...

We took the train to the Imperial Palace/ Garden in Chiyoda. We didn't actually get to see it because it was closed for renovations, but it sure did look spectacular from outside the gates.

One of the best things we saw/ learned, and laughed at so much we didn't get to snap a picture, is that with an international drivers license, you can play "Mario Cart" around the city. You rent the outfits and go carts and away you go! I found a google image to give you a visual:

The sun was setting, and we needed to find a dinner spot.

David remembered a hotel he had once visited with a really cool restaurant/ lounge on top from when he was there before. As soon as he said it, we stumbled upon it! And cool it was! The hotel alone was immaculate but this stain glass, open air patio type restaurant was really a neat spot. We never could figure out the name, so we just jokingly called it the "So Tired" restaurant (and it was in English, which made it really easy to remember).

We both ordered frozen beer, hot sticky buns, and once last go at well made ramen, clinked our glasses to the most spectacular start to a honeymoon, shed a tear or two Japan had come and now gone, and promised right then and there we would return in 2020 for the Olympics. Even now, we're counting down the days.

On the train ride back to the hotel, David realized it was about time for everyone to be getting off of work and wanted to make one last stop in Shibuya. He was right about work letting out- the train stations were packed!! As crowded as it was, it turned out to be a really neat experience...one of those "once in a lifetime" things being all squished with strangers but it not being odd to anyone but you and your husband. This was nothing to them... just the norm I guess.

(Thank goodness we also stocked up and used our OnGuard- see! It really comes in handy)

I wondered why he wanted to go to Shibuya.

Upon getting off the train, he quickly pulled me over to a window in the train station. There was a crowd gathered around all the windows and unless you shimmied your way through, you couldn't see.

"What is this crowd about?" I wondered.

And then, I saw it.

The world-famous Shibuya crossing.

THE busiest intersection in the world, with close to 1,000 people crossing at one time.

It was like a pulsing heartbeat, sending everyone in different directions at the speed of a light change.

I think we lucked out and got to see it all in action with the aid of umbrellas- it sets it off just what a sight it was.

I couldn't ask for a better way to wrap up our trip, and I think this clip embodies Tokyo beautifully- an artfully crafted neon city with practiced agility, moving at high speeds, polite and clean, graceful.

Until next time,

ありがとうございました 日本

(thank you, Japan)

-Nicki and David