I'm finally doing it! I'm finally going to finish writing my Japan posts, heh, six months after the trip. It's crazy knowing that it all happened six months ago. That this time in October I was still recuperating from the trip. But it was all so incredible.
On October 1st Michael, Krista, and I took the 8:18 pm flight from the Salt Lake City airport to the Los Angeles airport. We then spent the night at a Holiday Inn Express, and on the next day took the 12:30 pm flight to Narita Airport.
I claimed the window seat. Gazing out the window on a flight is one of my favorite things to do, and we followed along the coast from LAX to Monterrey Bay. In between Ventura and Santa Barbara I spotted the little rock island my Grandpa Stufflebeam claims he helped build by driving a truck and dumping the rocks. He was a bit of a tall tale talker, so I didn't always know what to believe, but he was a truck driver all the way up to retirement, so I think there is truth to this story. Whenever I would drive by this island, connected by a pier/bridge along the 101, I would think of him.
We landed at Narita airport, Chiba prefecture near Tokyo, on October 3rd around 4:30 pm. We were hungry and tired, but excited, and our first mission was to get a bus ticket which would take us near our apartment in Tsurukawa. Thankfully we took the bus, because our first experience with the train system around 8 pm was a bit overwhelming. The humidity was shocking.
Getting the bus ticket to Tsurukawa was easy, much easier then I thought it would be. The bus counter is found right next to the exits. In hindsight I'm glad we got the bus tickets instead of taking the NEX to Shinjuku station. We would have been so confused, and not quite sure where to find the Odakyu line.
The silence on the bus was equally nice and disturbing. No one talked, at all, during the few hour bus ride. It was so quiet. But it was fun seeing the Tokyo highway system, and seeing Tokyo from a distance along the Ocean. I marveled at bridges, Ferris wheels, and the giant Skytree in the distance. It was nice seeing Japan turn from daylight, sunset, to night.
Heading home!
It's amazing how quickly six days pass.
Time moves too fast.
On Oct. 9th we woke up and cleaned the apartment, was at the Tsurukawa station around 9:30 am to take the slow local train all the way to Shinjuku, hopped on the NEX around 11:00, and flew from Narita to LAX at 4:25 pm. We landed around 9:30 am that same day, and our flight to Salt Lake was at 4:38 pm, still Oct. 9th. I was sad to leave Japan, but happy to be going home.
October 9th 2016 is officially the longest day of my life!
And I had hardly any sleep the couple night before, combined. Just couldn't sleep.
Manner Mode!
I spent a lot of time looking out the window thanks to manner mode.
That's not a bad thing.
Our last time passing through Shinjuku.
NEX really is the best way to travel to and from the airport.
I was so exhausted, but I didn't want to sleep.
I didn't want to blink.
I kept watching the outside, taking in each moment, and observing the landscape as it changed from one scene to the next.
Thanks to a strong tail wind I think the trip back was around 8 hours.
We had a 6-7 hour layover at LAX. I tried sleeping in those uncomfortable chairs at the airport, and was so tired I think I managed to drift off a few times.
I'm so thankful for the trip, but it's always nice to come home.
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