In full transparency waking up for me this morning wasn't easy and it had nothing to do with jet lag. After sake, beer, and a Manhattan last night I was a little toasty. Luckily our first of only two stops on the itinerary for the day wasn't until 10:30 AM. After falling asleep (or passing out) right when we got back to the hotel last night we both woke up a little after 5 AM groggy and not as ready for the day as we would have liked. I finally was able to force myself to go to the gym at 7 AM and even that wasn't my most successful effort.

The trip began today. After all of the travel over the last two days and us dipping our toes into Tokyo last night, today was a full day of exploring the beautiful city of Tokyo. We went to bed last night at around 7 PM and were up this morning at almost 4 AM. It's the closest we've gotten to get on a new schedule in a while. Hopefully, it sticks. 

And so for the final time in 2017, we begin one last adventure. You might call it our grandest adventure of the year,  and I wouldn't blame you. This morning we woke up before the sun ever came out, I went for a run at 4:30 AM, while Jenn finished up her last minute packing and got ready. We spent most of this past weekend planning, packing, and preparing for today, and so we were ready. Our Uber picked us up at 5:45 AM and drove us for almost an hour and a half to LAX. 

It's been a long time since Jenn and I were in the big apple. We've talked about going back for many years, heck every once in a while we think about just packing up our stuff and moving out here. But after our trip to Chicago we decided that it was time to finally go back to the big apple and at the same time check off a bucket list item for me, the US Open. 

A little while back I wrote a post, Joel & Jenn's Travel Continues - Part 1 that talked about Jenn and I booking a trip to New York to watch two days of the US Open (1-day session, and 1-night session). Around the same time that we booked the US Open we booked a trip in January of 2018 to head back to Switzerland. 

Today's a big day. Not only is it the last day here in Cusco but it's also Jenn's 30th Birthday. The reason for the trip has finally come and I feel so honored to be here to celebrate it with her. We woke up at around 7 AM this morning with the lightest agenda of the trip. As Jenn relaxed in bed and basked in her birthday glow I went out to a rainy Cusco to grab her a birthday hot chocolate at Starbucks.