Arrival
Well, that was a trip. Kinda exhausted but so glad I'm actually alive and well. To be honest, I'm glad my constant worrying allowed for this great relief at the end. I'm okay and on Japanese soil once again.
My worry about being rejected on the plane was... yeah. Didn't happen. Also my luggage was 1 pound over what it should've been but the guy didn't seem to care. Luckily when I do buy stuff I have my dufflebag packed inside so that I can add my real carry-on luggage when I go home.
As for the flight, it wasn't as bad as I thought. In fact, I felt a lot more comfortable than when I rode with JAL my first time. I think it was because of the seat belts. In Delta, I managed to squeeze myself into my seat. Although it was uncomfortable for like 11 hours I felt safe and normal like every other passenger, aside from my gut having to sit on my food tray >_> Plus the people seemed really nice. The only downside is that my flight was a first connection flight to people going to Beijing and I think I sat next a family reunion. They kept talking real loud, handing out food over seats, and to make matters worse they didn't speak any English at all which was okay until they almost put their trash into the fresh drinks and constantly ticked off the stewardesses. I've never seen flight attendants drop any thing from their trays or have accidents until this flight but it honestly didn't seem like it was their fault, only the miscommunication with this family... I was so happy to get off. I liked Delta's flight, just not the passengers.
Traveling through customs and getting into the city was a lot easier than last time-- sorta. This time I was forced to talk to every station member for help because I really didn't know where to find the offices of the JR station and stuff. Luckily they all spoke good English, despite me speaking in Japanese, and directed me towards my train as well as getting a good deal for traveling here: a Suica card. Now I can just tap my card and pay for my train ticket like a breeze 2 years ago. I'm really happy about that.
Now the scary stuff. Well, despite my hour early arrival thanks to Delta, I managed to arrive in Shibuya at 7 PM. And it wasn't dark but as soon as I found my way outside the station it turned to night. And it was hot-- well, it's going to be hot no matter what :/ So I tried my best to make sense of the pictures and roads on the map they gave me to find this hotel but the first part was uphill and tiring and there literally were a TON of AM/PM shops that I couldn't tell which was the one on the map. So I think I reach the crucial AM/PM on the map but I still don't get what's happening. Thankfully a girl on her bike asked if I was okay and I just pointed to my map and said "I don't know if this AM/PM is the same one as this one..." and she proceeded to explain I went too far. Luckily I only walked past the street I needed to find by 3 streets so I could've easily turned back and found it. If she hadn't have helped me, I would've been lost and even more sweaty and even worse-- crying ;A;
I managed to find the correct street thanks to her advice: sorta. I still didn't find the right street until I looked up and saw my hotel's name. The thing is that... it looked really shitty. I mean super shitty. It looked like it was located in a dark alley where one could get raped. And even worse, I didn't know how to enter! Luckily they had a lot of English signs to help me out and I was able to get in somewhat pain-free. They told me something about my laundry and how it was free (but the detergent will cost me 30 yen lol) and other stuff but I really couldn't make sense because we went in and out of English and Japanese. As soon as I walked in I made sure they turned on my air conditioning and I proceeded to relax and explore my little home for two weeks. It's a lot smaller than I imagined. Also I feel like it's haunted now: whenever I get a weird feeling I think there's a bright flash of light in the corner of my eye and when I look it's gone but i get a shiver. God I hope it's not haunted :/
Anyway, I can't wait now to meet my friend from two years ago. I hope we can find each other painlessly and have a lot of fun. I'm just really happy that flight took away a lot of my self doubt and worrying. Now I can relax and have fun! Until of course, when class starts tomorrow :(
My worry about being rejected on the plane was... yeah. Didn't happen. Also my luggage was 1 pound over what it should've been but the guy didn't seem to care. Luckily when I do buy stuff I have my dufflebag packed inside so that I can add my real carry-on luggage when I go home.
As for the flight, it wasn't as bad as I thought. In fact, I felt a lot more comfortable than when I rode with JAL my first time. I think it was because of the seat belts. In Delta, I managed to squeeze myself into my seat. Although it was uncomfortable for like 11 hours I felt safe and normal like every other passenger, aside from my gut having to sit on my food tray >_> Plus the people seemed really nice. The only downside is that my flight was a first connection flight to people going to Beijing and I think I sat next a family reunion. They kept talking real loud, handing out food over seats, and to make matters worse they didn't speak any English at all which was okay until they almost put their trash into the fresh drinks and constantly ticked off the stewardesses. I've never seen flight attendants drop any thing from their trays or have accidents until this flight but it honestly didn't seem like it was their fault, only the miscommunication with this family... I was so happy to get off. I liked Delta's flight, just not the passengers.
Traveling through customs and getting into the city was a lot easier than last time-- sorta. This time I was forced to talk to every station member for help because I really didn't know where to find the offices of the JR station and stuff. Luckily they all spoke good English, despite me speaking in Japanese, and directed me towards my train as well as getting a good deal for traveling here: a Suica card. Now I can just tap my card and pay for my train ticket like a breeze 2 years ago. I'm really happy about that.
Now the scary stuff. Well, despite my hour early arrival thanks to Delta, I managed to arrive in Shibuya at 7 PM. And it wasn't dark but as soon as I found my way outside the station it turned to night. And it was hot-- well, it's going to be hot no matter what :/ So I tried my best to make sense of the pictures and roads on the map they gave me to find this hotel but the first part was uphill and tiring and there literally were a TON of AM/PM shops that I couldn't tell which was the one on the map. So I think I reach the crucial AM/PM on the map but I still don't get what's happening. Thankfully a girl on her bike asked if I was okay and I just pointed to my map and said "I don't know if this AM/PM is the same one as this one..." and she proceeded to explain I went too far. Luckily I only walked past the street I needed to find by 3 streets so I could've easily turned back and found it. If she hadn't have helped me, I would've been lost and even more sweaty and even worse-- crying ;A;
I managed to find the correct street thanks to her advice: sorta. I still didn't find the right street until I looked up and saw my hotel's name. The thing is that... it looked really shitty. I mean super shitty. It looked like it was located in a dark alley where one could get raped. And even worse, I didn't know how to enter! Luckily they had a lot of English signs to help me out and I was able to get in somewhat pain-free. They told me something about my laundry and how it was free (but the detergent will cost me 30 yen lol) and other stuff but I really couldn't make sense because we went in and out of English and Japanese. As soon as I walked in I made sure they turned on my air conditioning and I proceeded to relax and explore my little home for two weeks. It's a lot smaller than I imagined. Also I feel like it's haunted now: whenever I get a weird feeling I think there's a bright flash of light in the corner of my eye and when I look it's gone but i get a shiver. God I hope it's not haunted :/
Anyway, I can't wait now to meet my friend from two years ago. I hope we can find each other painlessly and have a lot of fun. I'm just really happy that flight took away a lot of my self doubt and worrying. Now I can relax and have fun! Until of course, when class starts tomorrow :(