I was really worried how it’d be to travel back to Tokyo from New York by myself with Keiji and Arisa. I hear some pretty bad stories from parents who travel with their young children. Although I traveled with the two of them once before, it was only a 4 hour flight and Arisa was only 3 months old and mostly slept the whole time. This time around she is very active and not content to be strapped in a seat for more than an hour let alone 13 hours. Fortunately, the the plane ride turned out a lot better than I was expecting. Since Keiji was born we started taking Japan Airlines whenever we’d go to Tokyo from NY. Prior to that we’d just take any airline that offered the best fare. I really have to say that JAL has been pretty consistent at providing good 
service when traveling with kids. Even on this last trip, the flight attendants were very accommodating and very friendly. And they always have a smile when you request something, even for an extra toy plane after your child keeps changing his mind on what toy he wants. Before our flight I kept calling the JAL reservations desk to make sure I got the bassinet seats (the maximum allowable in the bassinet is 10kg) and a car seat for Arisa, which they can provide free of charge (as long as your child has a seat on the plane) upon request on international flights. They say they can’t confirm anything until 2 days prior to your departure. But luckily there has never been a problem getting the car seat and the bassinet row. The flight to New York was much easier because my mom was with me, and also because we took a 6 pm departure. That meant the kids were able to get all their energy out while we waited at Narita Airport. It’s very convenient that there is a free play room space next to the departure gates. After we boarded and were in the air dinner was served and by the time it was all finished the kids were nearing their bedtime and dozed off. They were asleep nearly the entire plane ride until we landed in New York around 8 pm, which is around 6am in Tokyo. For our return flight the latest departure is 12 noon, which meant a whole lot of hours the kids would be awake and energetic. We did a lot of walking to the back of the plane, where there are some snacks, magazines and books. They had a basket with different kinds of senbe, and even ramune. We also did a lot of waking to the bathroom – each time one of us needed to go, I’d have to take everyone along. I am too paranoid to leave them alone in the seats. Except once, when Keiji had to go, I did leave Arisa in her seat since she was fast asleep. We could only go in one of the bathroom stalls – there is only one which has a diaper changing fold-out table (just basically a flat board that folds out over the toilet seat and has no belt for the baby and no padding) and it has a tiny bit more space than the other stalls so we managed to all fit inside there. Once Arisa fell asleep (by 9 pm NY time) I could relax a bit. But really it was only 4 more hours to go. They kids were both asleep when we landed so one of the flight attendants helped me off the plane and there was someone who met me at the gate to help me to the baggage claim area. The only thing that went wrong on this flight was due to the the girl who met me at the gate – she stupidly had my stroller (which was on the plane) sent to the baggage claim area so I had no stroller once we disembarked. Keiji eventually woke up and was able to walk and I just had to carry Arisa while the JAL rep carried our bags (I was grateful I managed to cut down on my hand-carry). She walked with us past immigration and up to the baggage claim. Once we got our bags it was out to the arrivals point to meet Daddy! It was a very happy reunion and a big relief to leave the airport.