The Arrival

If I should describe it, a 15-hour snooze period, where you neither wake up nor sleep would be more or less what happened during the flight. But surprisingly we had good food and a complete row to lay down, since the flight was almost empty. It was also very interesting looking at the window. Since we were flying in the same direction the sun sets, the sky was frozen in twilight for almost the whole flight.

We arrived in Japan! Now the time has come to see if I would be able to understand the people from the country I always longed to know. After following the signs, we arrived at baggage claim. Our bags – and backpack – arrived without problems and customs were pretty quick as well.

And then we found ourselves in an airport exactly on the other side of the world, at 21:45. At the information center we discovered where to change our money and that was also pretty quick and simple. You just fill out a form with the currency and amount and they give you the yens. Very efficient, very fast. And soon we would see that everywhere in Japan, services were impeccable and reliable.

Time to run to the train station! The last train heading for Tokyo (it normally takes 1h20min to arrive at the city by train) would leave soon. But unfortunately we arrived exactly one minute late and the station was already closed. The other option was the bus. A salty price of ¥3.100 each (roughly US$30,00) and a 2h bus ride straight for our hotel in Tokyo.

We arrived close to midnight in a rainy Shinjuku. Our hotel – Keio Plaza – was BIG. It was so big that it even had a whole floor of restaurants! After checking in, a Japanese porter, carrying our bags, showed us the way to our room. In the elevator we saw that the hotel had 46 floors. Our room was really big, even with the extra bed.

After some minutes of unpacking, and laughing in the bathroom (where we discovered the toilet that cleans your buttocks), my parents went straight to bed. I went out to explore.

It was midnight. It was raining. It was finally time. Time to explore.