cherry blossoms and a bullet train.

me and my bubble tea.

          The next day, we took the subway to Kyoto. It was the first day of the entire trip where rain seemed to put a damper on the situation. We toughed it out anyways and spent our morning at an old Buddhist monastery and gardens.

            We got very lucky that our stay in Japan coincided perfectly with the peak in cherry blossom season. Cherry blossoms, as in the cherry blossoms that bloom in D.C. around this time of the year but not the imported kind, are beautiful and Kyoto is the place to see them. The gardens of this monastery were dotted with cherry blossoms, all over the place.

            After our visit to the temple, we made our way to the train station to investigate how we would get to Tokyo. It is amazing how much time on trips like this needs to be devoted to logistics. We ended up purchasing 4 tickets on an overnight bus to Tokyo for $50 a piece. I was a little bit hesitant about this but bit the bullet and told myself it would be an adventure and go for it!

            We grabbed lunch and made our way to a part of town, which was known for its cherry blossoms. It was gorgeous. As soon as you got off the subway, about a half hour ride from downtown Tokyo, and walked a couple blocks up, you were at an old abandoned train track with cherry blossoms lining either side. As we got there, the rain had just ended and a really awesome mist was hanging on the track and in the mountains above it.  

            We explored this area all afternoon and headed back to the train station that evening. Our train didn’t leave until midnight, so we planned on finding somewhere around the station to hang out for a few hours before we left.

            We had had a great afternoon and the impending bus trip hadn’t occurred to me since we had bought our tickets. That is, until we reached the train station again that night. It was then that I started to freak out. The idea of a crowded bus in the United States scares me to death. I hate cramped spaces for an extended period of time. Then to imagine being on a cramped bus in Japan, where I did not speak the language, scared me even more. We were in the process of buying coffee when I blurted out, “I can’t do this!” I am usually an easygoing person and I never want to be “that girl.” But, I was about to be “that girl.”

at the old monastery. 

            My roommate calmly turned towards me and said, “Ok…” while Nick and Leah just sort of stared at me, confused. “I can’t get on this bus.” “Ok. We’ll figure this out. Let’s pay for these coffees and then we’ll see what we can do,” said Alexis. I was just as shocked as she was about my outburst but I felt an immediate sense of relief come over me once it was out there. According to astrology, Pisces are the divas of the divas. Most times I refuse to believe that this would ever be the case with me, but it is times like this where there is no denying, I am a Pisces. 

            As we paid for our coffees, my mind started moving at a million miles a minute. It was 9 o’clock. Obviously, I could not expect Nick, Alexis, and Leah to stay back with me and figure out another way to get to Tokyo. But, how would I get there? I probably couldn’t leave that night. Where would I sleep? I knew there was a bullet train, the fastest trains in the world, which could get me to Tokyo in 2 hours. But could I still get tickets? First plan of action, go to the counter that sells bullet train tickets. There were two more bullet trains leaving that night. But, I would get to Tokyo around 1 in the morning with nowhere to stay. The first train left at 6:25 in the morning, arriving in Tokyo at 8:30, just a half an hour after my friends were scheduled to arrive at the same station. I bought the $160 ticket. Done.

            By this point, Nick and Leah were still in shock and Alexis was attempting to convince me to reconsider and come with them. Yet, in the back of her voice, I could feel that she sympathized and understood that I was not getting on that bus even if it meant I needed to stay in Kyoto for the rest of the trip.

walking along the train track!

            My next course of action was to see if the bus station would refund my bus ticket. I did not have high hopes for this happening but was pleasantly surprised when they did with no questions asked.

            Next was the trickiest part, where would I sleep? Hostelworld.com had become our new best friend on this trip but we were still in Japan and wifi was still as difficult to find as anything. I found a computer at a hotel across the street where you could pay 10 Japanese yen for 10 minutes of Internet. Done. Unfortunately, hostelworld.com does not allow you to make bookings the night of your stay. I wrote down the name of probably 5 hostels within walking distance of the train station, said a hail Mary, and told Nick, Leah, and Alexis I would meet them right off of the bullet train platform in Tokyo Station at 8:30 the next morning.

            I wandered out into the streets on Kyoto and found the first three hostels were completely booked. I started to get scared. It was cherry blossom season in Kyoto, everyone and their mother, and their grandmother, was there. It was getting late. Then, all of a sudden, I saw a group of nice, college-aged-looking students walk down an alley and thought I could follow them to a hostel. Luckily that is right where they led me and it turns out they were Semester at Sea students. My lucky day! It turns out their hostel was full. Yet, they insisted I stay with them, even if it meant pushing two of their beds together.

            It worked out perfectly. I woke up bright and early the next morning, caught my bullet train and was in Tokyo by 8:30. By the way, the bullet train was pretty freaking cool. Those things do go pretty darn fast. The only problem was who knew the bullet train platform was the longest thing ever and that Tokyo Station is one of the busiest stations in the world, so that within thirty seconds of arriving I had made up my mind that I would not find my friends. I stood right off of that platform for no more than a minute, made up my mind they were not going to find me in this mess and went to get a coffee. Then, just as I was walking away from paying for my coffee, I heard “Sara!” and saw the arm of my 5’11’’ roommate towering over the crowd. How that worked out, I do not know? But, it did.

            I feel like this is one of those “You had to be there” experiences. Even as I reread my telling of it right now, it does not do the story half a justice and, frankly, it makes me sound like a prissy SASer. But, I can only communicate so much of this entire journey to you through words that no matter how many pictures I show you or stories I tell or weird souvenirs I bring home will be lost in translation. I guess that is both the beauty and downfall of this journey.

the train station in kyoto.