The trip to Japan was an amazing joruney, even with 17 hours of it being on an airplane. It’s truly a first time experience that I will never forget.
My parents dropped me off at the Philadelphia airport at 4 a.m., but even then I was wide awake. I was running on adrenaline, caffeine, and sugar after pulling an all-nighter with my best friend Jamie. Around 4:15 a.m. I had my bags and papers checked by staff, went through security, grabbed some breakfast, and hopped on a 6:09 a.m. flight to San Francisco. This flight was nothing special, just incredibly boring. In fact, I felt like it went by slower than the 11 hour flight to Osaka (probably because I had made several trips to California in the past.)
Once in San Francisco, I made my way to the International terminal, making my last meal in the States the best nachos I had ever had at a classy Mexican restaurant. I figured comfort food was the best way to go, and I think I was right.
Sitting at the gate, I was surrounded by what I felt to be at least a hundred Japanese people. For once, I felt like a foreigner. It was both a strange and exhilarating sensation. Time passed by, and we boarded an hour before flight time. Once I got on the plane I could see why. This was THE BIGGEST plane I had ever seen! There were literally ten chairs in a row, divided into three sections with about four separate cabin areas. Of course, my seat was in the last section, but it didn’t matter. I soaked everything in, and my excitement couldn’t be stifled. The crew fed us very well. We had two large meals and three snack intervals. The food was actually pretty good for what it was worth. My final meal before landing was a turkey sandwich that was actually more like a cheesesteak, but tasted just fine to me.
My favorite part of the flight was probably the mini TV screens in the back of the chairs. I was able to watch an animated map of our flight as we made our way across the ocean and slowly crept closer to Japan. When Japan finally showed up on that screen, my heart jumped in my chest. I was really going to Japan. I had talked about it for months now, but it was finally real. The excitement I felt when we were preparing to land was unprecedented. I watched the country appear before my eyes with a childlike wonder, which carried me through Customs and baggage claim.
The Kansai International Airport was incredibly clean and organized. You couldn’t go anywhere without seeing a finely dressed staff member, always eager to help. When I stepped outside to buy my bus ticket (approximately $20 US for an hour and a half trip), I realized I had missed it by a couple of minutes (the Japanese are incredibly punctual), so I bought one for the next bus and sat down to wait. This is when I was able to get an internet connection. I realize now that I am glad I got on my laptop and sent some emails out since I couldn’t connect to the internet here at the hotel.
The bus trip was uneventful. I tried to stay awake to view the foreign Japanese scenery and cities as they flew by, but the caffeine and sugar were wearing off and I started to crash. I took a nap and woke up to the city of Nara. My attention revived itself and it took everything in me not to press myself to the glass like a little kid. When I got off at Kintetsu Nara station I realized one error I had made. I had not contacted my school to let them know when I would be arriving at the station, and I had no way to call them since I did not have a phone so there was no one to greet me. However, I was confident I could find the hotel on my own.
A Japanese policeman noticed I was holding a map in my hand and two suitcases and graciously offered to help me. Through the Japanese I knew and the little English he spoke, he was able to send me in the right direction. I stopped at a public map a few minutes later, trying to make sense of it by comparing it to the map in my hand. This is when two Japanese gentlemen stepped in to save the day. Apparently, I had passed the street. One of the men kindly guided me to the correct intersection, saw me across the street, and pointed down a brightly lit alleyway with shops and people to where I could see the bright green sign for the Ashibi Green Hotel. This simple kindness completely made my day.
I was able to communicate in Japanese to the man at the front desk that I had a reservation, showing him the letter from Nara they had sent with all of the details. I paid him in yen, took my key and a letter left by Nara’s International Division, and hurried up to my room on the third floor. The door was as tall as I was and the bathroom was little more than a closet, but it was perfect for a person my size. All I wanted was a shower, and that’s the first thing I did after I had set my bags aside.
It had to be the best shower of my life.
Once I was clean, I climbed into the yukata provided by the hotel and relaxed in the most comfortable bed I have ever come across. The letter from my school explained that someone would be by at 9:30 in the morning to pick me up. In the meantime, I flipped through some of the Japanese programs on TV, trying to make sense of them and failing. My body finally told me how tired it really was, and after failing to connect to the web, I decided it was time for bed. I woke up several times in the night, and I assumed this was because it was midafternoon in the States, but was able to go back to sleep each time. Now I sit here waiting for the sun to rise on my second day in Japan.
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| Hotel bathroom |
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| Before shower... |
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| After shower! |
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The sign says "Green Hotel Ashibi" |
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