So we watched. And as soon as the eclipse started, we saw what we call a diamond ring as the moon covered the sun, and this flash of light came out of it. I had told my oldest son what was going to happen, and when he saw it, he screamed, “Diamond ring.” Then we all took off our glasses and watched the eclipse for about four minutes. It was incredible. It was just like I remembered it, but even more amazing than I remembered. I was so glad I got to watch it with my kids this time.
La: After the break, our listeners will be taking their kids to Japan for the first time. Welcome to Women Who Travel. Noreen Kahn lives in Coronado, California with her husband and two children, ages 15 and 10.
Noreen Kahn: This December, we had the pleasure of traveling to Japan. This trip was the first one my children have ever taken up. For some time now, they have really been wanting to go to Japan. Both of my children are big fans of Trump’s Pokemon, a cartoon they have both been watching and playing since they were about 5 years old.
La: Although Noreen wasn’t too sure about going to Japan in the cold weather, she’s more of a beach holiday person so in the end it was a small group and the kids were thrilled.
NK: Even though we had been talking about it for quite some time, we booked our tickets about 2 weeks before we actually planned to go. We boarded the plane with a to-do list, but as take-off drew closer, we realized there were so many places we needed to book, and there were so many things to do and places to go that we were like, “Let’s just take it as it comes, we’re going somewhere new, let’s have fun.” To be honest, we lacked planning and knew the weather would be cold, so we had a very low bar for what the experience would be like.
La: On the flight, Noreen was surprised to see her kids start showing off their homework: Her daughter actually went to the local library and pulled out a travel guidebook, while her son got lost in YouTube, researching places they wanted to go and eat during the trip.
NK: It was a long flight, so all we really had to do was organize what we were going to do each day. So I was super excited to let my kids take the lead on planning our family trip for the first time. My 15-year-old son is very quiet and reserved, so Japanese culture suited his personality really well. So we ended up eating out. The restaurant was very quiet, and I heard him make some kind of hand gesture to the waiter, interact with the waiter, and the waiter come back with a fork. I said, “What’s wrong? How did you get a fork?”
