Currently, I'm writing this physically in my journal (to be transcribed later) on the plane ride back from Japan, trying to convince myself I'm excited to go home. I'm not. Not to be dramatic (even though I am being dramatic), but I feel like this trip genuinely changed something in my brain.
I've always wanted to travel, but I don't think I realized how much seeing a completely different culture would affect me. Coming into this trip, I was pretty set on moving back to New York after being home for the summer.
But somewhere during these ten days I started thinking...What if I didn't? Not forever. Just...what if I lived somewhere else first?
This trip made me realize how much of the world I haven't seen yet. And honestly, the idea of starting over in different places sounds way more exciting than scary right now.
Maybe that's just the post-vacation talking. Ask me again in a week.
One thing I'm really happy I did was leave my laptop at home. I brought my camera instead. I wasn't trying to make content every second. I wasn't checking emails. I just took photographs and videos whenever something made me stop and think, wait...this is really cool. (full video is posted here on youtube, but here are some screenshots to enjoy while reading)
TOKYO:
Tokyo was our first stop, and literally the minute we landed we dropped our bags off and started exploring.
I kept waiting for the jet lag to hit me, but it never really did. We were constantly doing something, and I think the adrenaline alone kept me functioning. I also don't think I've ever walked this much in my life. By the end of every day my feet were completely done.
The entire city felt so cinematic. Everywhere you looked there was this balance between old and new. One minute you're surrounded by skyscrapers, and the next you're walking past centuries-old temples. One thing I noticed almost immediately was how much Japan values preserving its culture.
Then at night, the city completely transforms. The lights come on, the streets fill up, and somehow it feels even more alive than it did during the day. It reminded me of New York in a lot of ways, but the energy was completely different.
MOUNT FUJI:
We got a little unlucky because it was cloudy, so Mount Fuji was only visible for about five minutes. Literally. I spent the rest of the day looking at every cloud hoping it'd move, but it didn't. Still worth it though.
We took a ski lift up the mountain, walked around for a bit, and ended the day with a boat ride on the lake, which honestly was probably my favorite part anyway. (Honestly, I think we enjoyed it so much because it was a chance for us to not walk as much…which was very needed
SHINKANSEN:
I don't know why taking the bullet train was so exciting to me. It was cool to get to see the flashes of the country.
OSAKA:
We went to Dotonbori while it was lightly raining, which somehow made it even prettier. The lanterns reflecting on the water. The giant signs everywhere. So much good food. And somehow we always had room.
KYOTO:
Kyoto, my favorite city, personally. I’ve genuinely never been to quite a city. It had such a perfect balance of beauty and culture to modernity/technology.
It felt completely different from Tokyo. Way slower. Way quieter. I felt way more relaxed there.
We visited a bunch of temples, walked through Nishiki Market (where I ate...a lot), and went to the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest.
The bamboo forest is one of those places that's hard to capture with photos.
I don't really know how to end this. I just know that I'm sitting on this plane feeling weirdly emotional about leaving a place I'd never even been two weeks ago.
I think that's the coolest part about traveling. You show up somewhere completely unfamiliar, and then somehow it starts to feel normal. You find your favorite coffee shop. You recognize streets. You know which train to take.
And then, just when it starts feeling like you could actually live there...you leave.
Japan definitely made me want to see more of the world. So hopefully this is the first of a lot more travel posts (it definitely is because my next trip to France is in a few weeks).
TRIP STATS:
matchas consumed: 23
steps walked: 197,281
photos taken: 2,109
yen spent: i don't want to know.
