August 13th was supposed to be the day I fly out of Japan. I'll explain more as I blog here.
I started the morning early but getting ready to see some of my relatives. One of my cousins always makes the time to come see me whenever I land in Japan. She met me at the front of the hotel I was staying at, and took me to a nearby cafe for breakfast. There, I also met my aunt and uncle. My Japanese is extremely basic, but this was probably the first time I was able to converse with them without relying on Google Translate. Fortunately, they used simple Japanese, so I was able to understand enough to try and answer in my broken Japanese. The food was pretty good, and it was nice seeing them again. It was a short event, but till we meet again next time!
After breakfast, I headed back to the hotel. My friend and I finished packing items (fortunately he was able to hold onto some stuff for me since my luggage was full) and checked out. We made our way to a nearby pharmacy since I needed to pick up some supplements still. One thing I learned on this trip from my girlfriend is instead of looking for things at a pharmacy, try asking a sales clerk. They'll find your items extremely quickly. Apparently they're used to catering to foreigners, since Japanese supplements tend to be quite popular with them. After finding most of the items, we headed to Akihabara to check out another pharmacy. After getting all the items I needed, we headed to a nearby arcade. I got the chance to sit for a while and relax, while my friend played some games. After some time, it was time to head back to the hotel to collect our luggage and head to the airport.
Once we collected our luggage, we walked towards a subway that will take us to Tokyo Station. From there, we made our way through crowds (which wasn't the easiest to do pushing two luggage around). We eventually found the Narita Express platform, paid for tickets, and made our way through. I'm not sure how it occurred, but we somehow got the Green Car. Fortunately, it was only about $8 CAD more to ride the Green Car, though it didn't seem as special in comparison with the regular cars. The main difference were the seats are made out of leather instead of cloth. Either way, it was a comfortable ride to the airport. I think as well, it was the first time I didn't nap on the NEX, heading back.
Since I'm flying on standby, I wasn't able to check in right away. There were 13 seats left on the flight back to Calgary, while I was 12th on the priority list. I was told to come back in a few hours to see. My friend on the other hand, had a booked seat, so he headed off through security first. Kindly, he got me some more snacks that I had to get, across security, while I was waiting to see if I could get on. I pretty much found a seat and sat there for an hour and half, while reflecting on the trip thus far. When it was nearly time to go check on the status of the flight, I got back up and headed towards the check in counter. At this time, there must have been at least 25-30 other people flying on standby. As the appointed time came and gone, we were told to wait and see. I nervously checked the app every now and then; seeing that there was 13 seats left gave me some sort of relief.
Until one individual, who tried to go through the check in line (and was asked to wait outside the line), went back in the line with her two children in tow. Unlike the last time they tried, they were allowed to check in and head off to security. With a sinking gut feeling that they probably purchased some tickets, I opened the app and saw that there was only 11 seats left. Soon after, my name was called. With renewed optimism, I headed to the counter for the Customer Service Agent to tell me that the flight is now booked, but she'll (the CSA) will check me in as 1st priority for tomorrow's flight. There was nothing I could do, and granted tickets were super cheap, so I didn't expect much. I made my way out of the check in line and decided on what to do for the night.
I pretty much had two options: book a hotel in Narita (where the airport is located), and see what I could do at night there, or make my way back to Tokyo. My girlfriend booked me a hotel ahead of time (with free cancellation fortunately), so I headed back to Asakusa. I was feeling a bit anxious, for this was really my first time on my own in Japan. I decided to take the Sky Access train back to Asakusa, though it felt super crowded this time around in comparison to just over a week ago. As the crowded train started to thin, that was when my spirits started lifting: it'll be a great opportunity to explore, truly, on my own.
I made my way back to the hotel in Asakusa, carrying my two luggage up stairs (didn't want to take the elevator). After checking in, I dropped off my luggage and started to extract a pair of socks and underwear to wash. I didn't anticipate staying an extra day, so I had to do some laundry. I ate some onigiri that I had in my bag, for the flight, while thinking of what to do. With renewed vigor, I headed back out for dinner. The nice thing about Asakusa, like I mentioned before, it's not very touristy (besides near the temple). I went back to Yakiniku Like (first visited in 2023) and had my first and only yakiniku meal. After filling up on meat, I went to a 24 hour pharmacy (Seims) to purchase some items that I wasn't able to find earlier in the morning. With my stomach full, and pretty much all shopping done, I headed back to the hotel to retire for the night.
Despite feeling anxious about not being able to fly home, it was exciting to truly travel on my own. Yes, I'm relatively familiar with Asakusa and Tokyo, and it's not truly exploring a new place by myself, but it felt somewhat liberating. I remember being able to fall asleep rather quickly, after showering, due to all the events that took place during the day.
Hopefully, I thought (and in retrospect, I was able to fly back) that I would be able to fly back tomorrow on the 14th.
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