Roses and thorns, Japan edition
Everyone wants to hear about Japan.
How do I say it.
ROSES
1. Kiddo time
2. DisneySea
3. Lucky Cat Train
4. Doing hard shit without help.
THORNS
1. The text I got at noon on the 16th asking where I was. As I had understood it that we were LEAVING on the 17th.
1.a. So I booked an airline I never take (American) in the D seat next to my companions in the rest of the center-section seats.
1.b. But lo, they thought I understood it was that we were LANDING on the 17th. And there I was in my weekly call with my boss trying not to let my face change.
2. Getting on the first plane and someone being in my window seat. Also, this was my window seat. Of all the ones to steal!
3. Landing (one day later) and none of us having Roaming on, and missing messages.
3.a. I was in Haneda, thinking, hmm, should I book a hotel here? Go shopping? Nah, I need to go see my people. And paid $100 for a cab to do it.
3.b. My texts after a certain point stopped going through. So I saw that the plan was to go to dinner but my text that hey I will be there in a half hour did not get through.
3.c. My cabbie dropped me somewhere and said your Airbnb is “over there.”
I had the address but no sign of family. Or the door. Finally turned on roaming. Only to find out they already went to dinner.
3.d. They said I could just leave my shit in the street and go meet them. Which … do you know where to find fat girl clothes in Tokyo? Me neither. Suitcase and Dawn stay together.
3.e. They keep trying to direct me to Airbnb. This goes on for three hours. I finally say FFS someone come get me. And I sat in the street.
3.f. They weren’t even in the Airbnb. So once they all got back, they found me.
3.g. Happily, they found me some foodz at 7-11. I am just sad I literally collapsed outside a fucking wine bar in the Little Paris of Tokyo and didn’t have the stones to go in with my big fuckin suitcase.
4. I already know they have noise machines and that I can’t handle brown noise.
That didn’t bother me.
What did was the walls were so thin, I could hear kiddo half the night. Not only that, I could hear kiddo above me AND on the monitors, which were turned up loud along with the noise machines.
So, I managed to fall asleep for a couple hours and then be UP THE FUCK ALL NIGHT afterward. Because once stirred, I cannot sleep again.
Two nights of that, I got a hotel. And took my ass to Tokyo Disneyland.
5. After I moved out, we were to meet at a temple the next morning. They texted early that kiddo was up all night and weren’t sure about arrival time.
I knew it was an hour cab ride but I figured I’d hear from them again.
Meanwhile, dumbass cut herself shaving and sat with her bloody leg up for an hour. When I finally got ready, I got a where you at text.
So I rushed to get a cab. Halfway into the $95 fare, they said they left … the temple.
I get to the Gotokuji Cat Temple, don’t understand what it is or why I’m there, and about fall over whilst trying to avoid someone on the sidewalk.
Now this brings me to ROSE 5.
I got some cold brew from a street vending machine and hopped on the first subway out.
This one turned out to be a blessing … as I caught the rare Lucky Cat Train.
I do think my fortune changed in that moment.
So, I turned it into a full day of taking the train around Tokyo. Went to Shijuku and got lost (not on purpose) in Tokyo Station.
That’s because I had trouble finding the line that — mercifully — connects to the Disney compound.
Enjoyed the mall at the Gateway station.
Went to the hotel, washed my ass and went to DisneySea.
ROSE 6:
Four days at Tokyo Disney was $150. One day at Epcot is $179.
Ears at Epcot are $35 to $50. Ears at Tokyo Disney, $11 to $12.
Popcorn at Epcot/MK — six bucks and one flavor.
Popcorn at Tokyo — 500 yen and flavors I have never seen before and will never see again.
ROSE 7:
Made a friend on the PBI.>DFW odyssey.
She got drunk on the plane.
I shotgunned two killer drinks during my 15-minute layover.
And it was the last good sleep I would have for a week.
The photobomb was my favorite.
So, when people ask, I don’t tell them all this.
I do talk about the cat train … the 7-11s, the Disney cheapness … the fact that Japan Airlines is better than Delta.
I’m not annoyed with/at anyone. Honestly I loved hanging with kiddo.
I still think about how, between the chaos of customs in Chicago (as we were all on the same flight on the same day, for a change) and the chaos of going through security to catch my next flight in 19 minutes, she reached up her little arms to hug me goodbye.
Matchy matchy, Cindy!
I enjoyed that hug more than any moment on the trip.
So, a bouquet of roses with a normal amount of thorns.
Not enough thorns to get me to stay away from Japan.
Shit, I’d still rather go back there than France, and that was my lifelong dream.
But dreams change. And so do we.
This all validates the fact that Kelly is still my travel soulmate. It also shows me that I have very good fambly that understands that I gotta do me.
When I wrote last week that I’m no one’s priority, I wasn’t kidding. Kelly felt that, too. If we don’t take care of us, who will?
Not only does a woman need a room of one’s own, but a key and a deadbolt too.
Thank the Lucky Cat that we have the means to procure each whenever we need them.
This all goes to show that Kelly remains my travel soulmate. But I’m grateful my fambly letting me do me.
I thought about Mom a lot. How she always cried for me when I had to do hard shit alone.
Like it’s not just that I would have never flown American.
I would never have done immigration and customs in a country where I know about 10 words.
Or taken illegal cabs alone.
And not so illegal ones.
Or bought/used a new currency. Or cleared customs at home. Or sat my happy ass in a sushi place and ordered food and wine.
Or booked a whole ass hotel while going stir crazy because I couldn’t leave someone else’s house without waking them up.
I know mom would have supported me. That I did what I had to do to be a pleasant human.
That I did things that scare me.
I would never have done any of it. Now I have. And I can’t wait to do it again.