Today we said our goodbyes to Japan and to be honest, it was harder than we thought. After weeks of adventures, we’ve grown seriously fond of this beautiful country.

From the buzz of Tokyo to quiet coastal walks in Hikari, Japan has been a dream. The kids have thrived, we’ve eaten our weight in noodles and convenience store snacks, and we’ve been blown away by the hospitality, efficiency, and warmth that met us at every turn. We’re leaving with a deep love for the place, and yep we’ll definitely be back.

This morning, we packed up, lugged the bags across Tokyo one last time, and made our way to Haneda Airport. We checked in smoothly and boarded our flight to Beijing, still soaking up our final glimpses of Japan from the sky.

Now here’s where things got a bit spicy and not the food, the visa situation.

We entered China using the 10 day visa-free transit, which you don’t apply for ahead of time. It’s handled at the airport after landing and that’s exactly where things got confusing. There was a fair bit of back and forth wrong forms and we were not the only ones confused at immigration, a few raised eyebrows, and one or two counters that didn’t quite know what to do with us, however, after a bit of explaining and waiting, we were through.

I’ll pop together a separate post soon breaking down how the whole process works, and what we wish we’d known beforehand so stay tuned if you’re planning to do the same.

Once we were out of the airport, we grabbed a taxi straight to our hotel in Beijing. It was a long travel day, so we kept things simple: a short stroll around the block, some takeaway to keep the kids happy, and then lights out.

Tomorrow’s all about easing into this new chapter at a slower pace no alarms, no big plans, just soaking in Beijing one step at a time.