The most respectful place

Morning

On the morning of Saturday 17th June, I wasn't sure how I was feeling.  I was excited to start this new adventure of travelling to a completely different country, whilst simultaneously feeling a bit sad at having to close my University chapter.  If I'm being honest, that whole week leading up to the flight was a bit of a blurr.  One minute I was saying goodbye to my Uni housemates, and within 24 hours I was on my way to Japan.  Safe to say I was a bit disorientated.  

However I took it in my stride and that day, we made our way to Heathrow airport for our flight to Paris and then to Tokyo.  Now, I knew that it would take us a while to get to Tokyo, after all it is the other side of the world, isn't it? But surprisingly, the flight wasn't as bad as I initially thought. 

Afternoon

The flight to Paris wasn't even 45 minutes, but the 12 hour journey after it was definitely a bit daunting.  I've travelled on long flights before but never one this long! My nerves were okay until we got to the gate, where, unsurprisingly, there were loads of Japanese people waiting for their flight home.  Up until this point it hadn't sunken in that I was going to Japan.  Sounds crazy, but it was one of those times where I was living each day as it came.  When it did sink in I got a bit emotional and was starting to panic about the flight (something that hasn't happened to me before).  However, as soon as I boarded the flight I realised that AirFrance is possibly one of the nicest airlines I've ever flown with.  From the service, to the food to the online entertainment, everything was impeccable. I mean, how can you complain with a freshly baked baguette for each person and free alcohol?! Admittedly, after a while I got a bit fed up with watching movies and TV series for 12 hours, but apart from that the flight was very easy!

Evening

As if my week wasn't confusing enough, travelling for 12 hours and with the time difference meant that we left on Saturday night and landed in Tokyo Sunday evening at 6:30. Plus, with a 9 hour time difference it's safe to say my body never adjusted to Japanese time.  I woke up when I needed to and went to sleep whenever I had the chance to.  However landing in Tokyo and seeing the crazy toilets (the ones with the buttons etc), I felt ready to embrace this new adventure.  Leaving the airport, we were told that somebody was going to meet us to take us to the hotel.  It didn't exactly work out that way.  Yes, somebody did meet us but they showed us to a monorail where we were expected to travel on our own to our hotel.  I was a bit confused, and a bit 'eh, what?' but the subway was so easy to navigate that we had no issue with finding our way around.  Plus, just walking around Tokyo that evening felt incredibly safe and it was obviously our first encounter with the Japanese public.  One word can describe them: respectful.  From offering guidance to our hotel to the way they treated their environment (no litter on the ground),  that evening was the start of a complete cultural experience, and gave us an insight into how Japan really was.  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are unsafe places in Japan like there is in any country, but as the blogs will soon map out, even in some of the dodgier areas did we feel completely at ease.  

Beckora x