How to get from NRT to ANA Intercontinental Tokyo
 

Hello everyone,

This seems like a most basic question so I was hoping you experts would be able to help. I am travelling on Sunday to Tokyo with my family including three young kids. We get in at 5:00pm on AA from DFW. What is the fastest and most economical way to get to the ANA Intercon? I read on the hotel website that you can take a limosine bus? any experiences with this? or there is the Narita Express. How user friendly is this option? Lastly how is the jet lag coming from the US? Any strategies on how to manage it? Sorry for the NEWB questions first time to Japan.

Thank you!

Timelord.

Limousine bus takes you door-to-door. Probably easiest for you.
With a 5pm arrival, you could take the bus from Terminal 2 at 6:10pm (see timetable on the Friendly Limousine Bus website).

You don't mention how young the kids are but I assume pretty little. If that is the case, I agree that the limo-bus is your best bet. You will be traveling during rush hour so train stations will be chaotic. Let the bus take you straight to the hotel. Luggage goes in the hold under the coach and is loaded/unloaded by the driver. Well worth the cost. You buy tickets at a counter in the arrivals hall.

You don't say where you are coming from so it is difficult to guess how bad the jet lag will be. Assuming someplace in the US, it will be substantial but manageable. Try to encourage a nap during the flight but don't sleep the whole way so you arrive tired and ready to sleep. Then, after arrival, try to keep everyone up and active until a normal bedtime. They will want to collapse in bed immediately upon arrival. Go out for a meal or a walk around the neighborhood. Look at the lights, take some pictures, whatever, just don't go to bed until 9:00 pm or later.

You, and the kids, will undoubtedly wake up very early the first morning, perhaps before first light. Many use that early rising to go to the Tsukiji fish market for the early morning auctions but I think that is silly, especially with little ones. That first day, get out and into the sunlight as much as you can and again avoid the urge to nap. Go to bed at a normal time again and you should get adjusted to the local time pretty quickly. If the kids normally need an afternoon nap, try to limit it to an hour or so. They need to adjust to local time quickly.

Awesome thank you for the reply!

Thank you very much..this is very helpful..

I do this trip on average twice a month and for someone with children I would definitely take the bus - when you come out of baggage claim and clear customs there will be a large area that is well marked for the friendly limousine bus company. Just get in line and tell them (they understand English well) which hotel you are staying at and they will tell you the time the next bus leaves for that destination.

As for jet lag there are many strategies - and mine are from years of personal trial and error. For me, I sleep immediately when the flight takes off (I take a pill if not sleepy already) - I don't eat anything, just sleep. For me getting the body on the new time is critical - and that includes the stomach. I try and only sleep about six hours and then get up - when everyone else is sleeping lol - and then have some light food. I realize this will be challenging with kids - but good luck. Spending two weeks a month in Asia this is what works for me - the first day can be brutal but it gets better fasat after that. On the way back I try to not sleep at all (which is hard) - so you get back to the states exausted and ready to sleep - which coincides with the local time quite well as by the time I get home in NY it is about 8pm usually...

I agree with the advice to stay awake after arriving from the States. (If you're flying out of DFW, that's Central Time, the same as Minneapolis.) If arriving at 5:00PM, that means 2:00AM CST, so it will be hard to keep the kids (and yourself!) awake, but do your best. Fortunately, international flights these days have plenty of movies and games for all ages loaded into the in-flight entertainment systems, and if your children are old enough to read, you may want to load some books onto an iPad or other tablet.

Ideally, one should sleep no more than two hours on the flight over. Before pulling the shades down became nearly compulsory, I used to sit by a window and keep the shade up, creating the impression of an unusually long afternoon. I found it easier to adjust to the time difference that way, but I guess I'm outnumbered now.

I adjust easily to the time change when going TO Japan. I simply stay up till 10PM Japan Time, which is the equivalent of pulling an all-nighter, and then sleep for 8 hours, which puts me at 6:00AM Japan Time.

However, in 35 years of trans-Pacific travel, I have not found any way to prevent two or three days of brain fog after the trip back.