Headed Home

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Geo: 35.67, 139.77

We decided to wake up at 7am to give ourselves plenty of time to wake up, do our mini errands and get to the airport. I'm glad we did. We ate the typical hostel fair of toast with jam, boiled eggs and tea. I was very sad there was no coffee. As much as I love my coffee, and as much as I was typically drinking back home (up to 3 cups a day), I never got withdrawals on this trip. I'd get 1-2 cups a day and usually not first thing in the morning like I would at home. I was too lazy to use the mug and instant coffee I brought, and I usually didn't have time in the morning anyway.

After checking out, we walked to our JR station. There were no issues with our two JR trains this morning, other than that it was commute time for the locals. So the trains were ridiculously crowded. We'd smash our way into the trains with our luggage and pack in body to body with everyone else. Unlike American public transportation, Japanese trains and buses are dead silent. Something our group didn't quite get used to. I'm sure our voices were a nuisance at times.

Our first errand at Tokyo Station was to return our Pasmo cards (used for subways and local Tokyo trains), and get refunds on the remaining balances. Then we had to head over to the JR office to exchange our Narita Express passes for reserved seats. Usually, the Express runs every half hour. The next train was in five minutes, and we couldn't make it to the platform in time. And for some reason there was no 9:30am train. So we were suddenly delayed an hour. We took care of one errand at the station instead of the airport like we had planned (returning the pocket WiFi to a post box) and decided to just exchange our yen when we land in San Francisco. We got snacks and coffee at a station cafe and then walked ourselves to the platform to wait.

My stomach was in knots when we arrived to the airport less than two hours before our flight left. If Japanese security were anything like American security, we'd be screwed on time. Then we got to the check in counter and our passports wouldn't scan properly. For some reason our flight wasn't showing up on their screens. I had a brief moment of dread that we would be stuck. Thankfully I DID print out a copy of our flight information ahead of time. It's one of those OCD quirks about me. I always carry paper copies of important reservations, hotel and transportation information. On longer international trips, I even type up an itinerary with descriptions and instructions. WiFi is fabulous when you have it and its working. But this was one of those times my print outs were very valuable. And I want to not depend on the internet in case unexpected complications arise. After five minutes, they found our flight reservations on the compute. 😊

Then it was off to security. I was shocked at our luck. There was NO LINE. I got through security fast but Chris got held up because of one of our bags. They stopped him, made him take off his shoes and then began to thoroughly inspect his shoes and bag. Then they pulled out a bottle of water and metal ninja stars I'd bought my brother as a souvenir. Holy hell, I forgot those were in there! Most of our carry-on luggage was breakable souvenirs and food we didn't want smashed in checked baggage. I'd completely forgotten I bought those. And the airport security staff were super nice about it! They had to confiscate them but they totally apologized over it first lol. I feel the mishap would have earned me a cavity search back in the States!

After that, we barely made it to our gate ten minutes before boarding. But that was still TEN minutes to SHOP. So we ran back down the terminal to a duty free shop to buy last minute souvenirs. I got my brother a new gift, and bought my coworkers some wasabi Kit Kats.

Our first flight was a shorter two hour one to Seoul, Korea. And I was very pleased that my seat had a personal TV screen- I watched The Good Dinosaur. By the time we made it through more security to our next gate, we had a little less than an hour to kill. Eric wanted an affogato of all things, and wouldn't you know it, our terminal had a Baskin Robbins that made regular Affogatos and Affogato Magicals. Ice cream and coffee are already a magical combination to me but yes, throw some chocolate on there while you're at it. Beth managed to find a Taco Bell- she'd been craving nachos for days. She ended up with French fries (not offered at Taco Bell back home) and chips. Chris and I bought French fries from a hamburger place. After that, it was time to board our last plane!

And now the rundown...

Things I love About Japan:
-the tinkling music that plays when a train arrives
-how incredibly polite everyone is
-how safe everywhere is
-how nicely the Japanese queue up for trains and buses
-their coffee is great enough to drink without sugar
-onsen and ryokan
-incredible train system
-vending machines everywhere for everything
-all the food is delicious, even 7-11
-English is everywhere (even if only for decoration), and it makes traveling easy
-Shinkansen (bullet trains)- travel long distance fast
-Takayama and Shibu (small rural towns)
-pocket WiFi
-the ingenious, neat and pretty packaging for all food items
-how adorable their desserts are. I often bought desserts based solely on cuteness

Favorite Foods:
-ramen
-chewy noodles
-THE BEEF
-mochi
-bento boxes
-sushi
-Japanese curry

Annoyances:
-restaurants closing down earlier than their stated times
-cover charges in even small restaurants
-weak cocktails

Quirks:
-squat toilets
-maid cafes
-in the States, sex sells. In Japan, cuteness sells. Even ordinary informational signs had cute cartoons

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