I wanted to tell you all about my experiences, and attempt to give you a fine picture, enough that you could also experience it with me. So here goes...
My first night in Japan was both utterly frightening and exciting. I was initially very enthusiastic about my little adventure. The plane ride from San Francisco to Haneda airport, Tokyo, was lighthearted and fun. I met a groovy gentlemen who shared his story; about how he fell in love with Japan, and now travels there frequently for a living. I slept, and drank and ate. I pondered all the wonderful things I would do and see, museums, food, sake, and of course, cherry blossom trees (sakura). It was so surreal, it didn't feel like anything was going on (with the exception that I was inside that I was inside an object floating some 30-35000 feet above ground level, all with a minute fear of crashing at the back of my mind). The fear of flight was so worth it. I wouldn't know how much until I landed, and immersed myself in the culture of Tokyo.
As I stepped off the plane, walking the length of a very large corridor and into the international flights terminal, it truly hit me. I'm in fucking Japan! This is an experience I'd honestly, never believed would happen. I mean, I'd hoped for travel someday, but at this point in my life, it came very unexpected (and who knew all I had to do was go online and book the trip; it's that easy!). After quite a bit of walking, I came to the security/customs check point. This portion was relatively quick and painless, though my checked bag took quite a bit longer to appear on the carousel, and so I fiddled with other matters while I waited.
I soon learned that smart phones are highly complex and that I'm a bit techno-challenged, as my phone kept the status up of 'roaming', no matter how many times I selected the proper network. To top it off, my boyfriend had notified me that many of the trains were shutting down for the night, and he was at least another hour out, causing my whole aura to change from bright happy yellows to shades of uncertainty.
I was alone. At the airport. In Tokyo. Did you know they speak Japanese there? Yeah, that's a thing. The tears were making their severe attempts to gush from my face, as panic overtook and commentary that I'd made a terrible mistake coming to a foreign country all by myself. Alas, I gritted my teeth together and told myself, 'you're not gonna let this break you.' So, I did what any American girl with a credit card would do...I got myself a taxi. And after much meandering and saying, 'taxi?' to several employees of the Haneda airport, I found myself in the back of a Tokyo cab.
This part deserves a little description. Firstly, I was directed to my cab and greeted with a formal, 'Konbanwa.' The driver, a quaint looking older Japanese man, put my large suitcase in the trunk and settled me in, opening and closing my door. The seats were covered in fitted white lace, and it was so clean. He moved to the front right side (ya know, cause they drive on the left side of the road, fun), and though I began to show him my hotel reservation as to steer him in the correct direction, he waved at me like, 'it's cool lady, I got this.' Turns out, he thought I was going back to the airport...I guess. Because that's where he took me. Yep. He drove me about ten feet to the front entrance. I can only imagine the look on my face, as I fumbled for words. It took me a minute to remember my Google Translate app; without this, I'm not so certain it would've been very easy to communicate, 'I just got off plane, don't want to go back on plane, want to go to hotel and go sleep sleep.'
I'll spare you too much detail of the next few hours after this, but I will say that my lovely significant other ran around for over an hour (perhaps more like 2 hours) to 4 different Sotetsu Fresa Inn's before he found me. Thanks honey. ;)
It felt nearly impossible to sleep, after fear, crying and the overwhelming realization that I was in a foreign land. I was up and ready to rock early the next morning. I was in Japan. Time for adventure.
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