Alone in Japan for the First Time

Last Sunday, I braved the Japanese roads and train system on my own for the very first time. I had dropped my husband off at the train station the night before so I was left to try and get on a flight to Hawaii by myself. Thankfully, I had several options. The first being a military Space Available flight out of Yokota and then 3 Delta flights that left Tokyo later that evening.

There is a military parking lot near the train station that I planned on parking in, however I'd never actually driven there. So, the night before I went upstairs and asked my neighbor if she would ride with me to the station so I would be comfortable doing it on my own the next day. It turned out that it's actually a fairly easy route. Of course, there was one road that has no lane markers and is about as wide as a single lane in the US. Naturally, this is a two lane road here in Japan. That by itself was a big concern for me, but luckily no one else was on it early the next morning, so I was fine.

For the "Space A" flight, I had to be in Yokota at 8:00 AM which was not much fun at all. The train I needed to take was leaving at 5:50, so I woke up at 4:30 to try and leave my house by 5:20. I nearly missed that first train because the DH decided he didn't like where I was keeping a document I needed to board the flight, so he put it somewhere else. I ran around for about 10 minutes looking for it! From the parking lot I literally ran to the train station dragging my suitcase behind me, and showed up 2 minutes before the train got there, dripping sweat. Originally, I was scheduled to arrive at the train station for Yokota at about 7:30, which should have given me about half an hour to make it to the base. However, after successfully navigating two train line switches, I got a little lost on the third one and missed my last train by literally 20 seconds. This made me arrive at my last station at 7:55, with only 5 minutes to make it to the air terminal. I got a cab to take me to base, and after having to walk over a pretty big bridge from one side of a highway to the other, and then to the terminal, I arrived at 5 minutes after 8. I was really afraid that I was too late and had missed it, but luckily, the roll call wasn't until 8:15, so I had actually made it with 10 minutes to spare! However, it all ended up being for no gain because there were only a few seats on the plane and I wasn't able to get on.

As I was getting ready to head out, I stopped a lady I had seen talking to her kids to ask where I could go to call a cab. She asked where I was going, and when I told her, just back to the train station, she offered to just drive me herself because apparently she lived very nearby. I was so thankful because it was only 8:30 and I was already exhausted! As she drove me to the train station, I learned that this lady, her husband, and two kids, had lived overseas for the past 12 years. They had been stationed in Italy for eight years, Portugal for two, and here in Japan for two. Funnily, she had also gone to the University of Texas (t.u.). If you've lived under a rock for most of your life, you might not realize that Texas and A&M are huge rivals, so this was really pretty amusing. But she was incredibly nice and I can't begin to thank her enough for her kindness.

After getting back to the train station, I had to decide whether to head back to base to stay for a few hours or just head straight to the airport. My flight wasn't until 9:00 that night, but it was also about two hours back to the train station near base, and from there would take me about 30 minutes or so to drag my suitcase back to my car and then drive home. Also, though I didn't technically need to be at the airport until 7:00 and it only took about two hours to get there by train, I wanted to leave plenty early to give myself enough time incase I got lost or accidentally took a wrong train. Ultimately, I just decided that rather than dragging my suitcase to and from my car again, and risking falling asleep and not waking up in time, I would just head straight to the airport where I could sit down and relax.

This meant that I got to spend 6 fun filled hours at the Narita airport before my flight. Luckily I had brought a movie with me that I could watch on my laptop, but I was really concerned about running out of battery power. It got to the point where I was willing to fight someone to the death for an electrical outlet. Some guy had been hogging one for several hours when I realized that my plug probably wouldn't work there anyways. After sitting in one of the chairs for about an hour, the airport security came over and questioned me because apparently a 5' 3" white girl in pink new balance running shoes who's reading a Candace Bushnell book looks pretty threatening. They asked me tons of questions like "where are you going and why?" "Why are you in Japan?" "How long have you been here?" "How long do you plan on staying?" They wanted to know my address and phone number, then asked to see my passport, etc. This took quite a while, but finally they decided that I had no intention of harming anyone and left. A little while later, they walked up to a guy that was sitting in front of me, asked him two questions and left. After a few minutes, we started talking and I found out that not only was he from Texas, he went to t.u. as well! I couldn't believe it. I had run into two Longhorns in one day!

As usual, all the flights leaving for Hawaii that night were pretty full, so I was worried that I might not make it there at all. So I was incredibly excited when they called my name over the intercom to come up to the ticket counter (well, some approximation of my name I guess. I seriously can't believe I managed to even hear that because it really didn't sound much like my name.) I was then able to check my bag and head back to the gate. I had paid for a business class standby ticket because that's usually the best way to get on a flight, but usually they just put me in coach. So I was absolutely floored when I finally got my ticket and they actually had me sitting in business class! I got to my seat and it was amazing!! It fully reclined and came with a full-sized pillow and blanket. Plus a little red Delta bag that was filled with an eye mask, ear plugs, socks, slippers, toothbrush and toothpaste, mints, face moisturizer, and chapstick. As soon as I sat down, someone came over to offer me some orange juice or champagne (which, of course, I took). I felt like royalty! I got my own personal tv screen with about 20 movies on demand that I could choose from at any time. The flight attendants came by every few minutes offering drinks and asking if there was anything we needed. We got hot towels and little bowls of nuts before dinner.

Dinner was a 5 course meal with cream of asparagus soup, a salad, an appetizer of shrimp and goat cheese, a filet steak, and then ice cream for dessert! It was without a doubt the best flight I've ever been on! I can never really sleep on planes, so I only dozed for a bit, but I was definitely more comfortable than I've ever been on a flight. Once I finally got to Hawaii, I told my husband that I am now accustomed to this method of travel and don't know that I can ever go back :)

On the whole, I'm really proud of how I handled all the traveling. Though I missed one train, I didn't end up lost in some random Japanese city, so that's a plus! All in all, it was a long, exhausting, and stressful day that ended really well! However, due to the time difference, I got to relive my Sunday once we landed in Hawaii! I'll tell you more about my second Sunday in part 2 later. Goodnight!