Today was the day that we all feared. The one day that we wouldn't mind to skip. Probably the hardest day that I had to face since I've been here. The day of departure. No one was ready for the long day that we were about to embark on. We gathered of things and did a final check of all our bags to make sure nothing was left behind because we knew that once we left, there was no going back. We met up on the "square" (in front of the Hostel) to turn in our keys and other things we burrowed over the trip. By 10:30 to 11 am, we were gone on our journey back stateside.
We walked to the metro line that we used to get to school. Of
course, we were not going to school this time. We sat in the metro line getting
our last glimpse of what we have gotten so used to seeing. Lucky for us now, we
have our JR Passes so we did not have to take the long train to the Airport. We
were able to get on a train that was solely designed to travel to the Airport.
Even through it was much faster than the other train, it took us about
forty-five minutes to get there.
As we were checking in our baggage, I got a message for my
friends saying that they were sorry that they could not meet us one last time,
but wished us a safe flight. I started to get into mine feelings a little bit,
but I continued forward on my trip back to America. We made it to the gate
after experiences minor problems. Airline Security is never a walk in the park.
There at the gate, we enjoyed our last bowl of udon soup and what I call
"Real Ramen". Hoping that it would be enough to last me on these
twelve hour flight I was going to go on.
The twelve hour flight is worst going then it was coming. I
did what I did last time, but this time it just felt better. I slept the first
five hours to be woken up to the smell of our in-flight meal. I choose that,
since I was still in Japanese airspace, that I would eat the Japanese box
lunch. Once again, I was bombarded with the fishy smell. The one thing I will
not miss. As the flight continued, I watched more movies and ate more food and
before I knew it, we were pulling into LAX in California. If there was one
thing I was proud about, it was about having phone service again.
Now we were on the next leg on our trip. Trying to figure out
how to survive in LAX for over twelve hours without going insane would be a
challenge. I slept, I worked, I made calls, but still after all that was done I
still had like seven hours to endure. So I sucked it up, went over to a corner,
and cried. The time finally came when we were able to get on the plane for the
final stretch home. The only thing between me and Tennessee was a four hour
plane ride. Now this flight, even though it was shorter, was worse than the
flight from Tokyo. Probably due to the lack of entertainment and knowing that
once we touchdown, we're home. Whatever it was, I could not fall asleep for
more than five minutes. But at the end, I made it back to Nashville. After
grabbing our bags and saying our final farewell to friends, I walked out the
Airport into a congested parking lot with noise all over the place. I lifted my
head and thought to myself, "Welcome Home".
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