Unforgettable trip Part1

Chapter 1

The day was pleasantly sunny. The plane has just landed at Tokyo-Narita Airport. The passengers calmly got off the plane and went to collect their luggage. Most of them were Japanese but there were a few foreigners. One of them was also a girl who seemed nervous about visiting a foreign country. When she managed to collect her luggage, she headed towards the ticket offices to buy a ticket for Next, which was going to the center of Tokyo. From there she could only buy another one for Shinkansen. She approached the information desk and hesitantly spoke in English to the person at the window, asking for a ticket to Tokyo. After a while, she received a ticket and went to the platform. While waiting for the train, she noticed that she attracted attention with her appearance. No wonder. The girl was 180 cm tall, slim, medium-length brown hair, and brown eyes. Compared to the rest of the inhabitants, she stood out from the crowd. Dressed casually in jeans, a sweatshirt and sneakers, she nervously tapped the ground with her foot. She didn't really like everyone staring at her like that. Fortunately, the train arrived and she quickly boarded and found her seat by the window. The trip took an hour to Tokyo and two to Kyoto. When the train finally arrived, the girl stretched standing, took her bags and headed for the exit. Once she was on the street, she looked around.

"At last" A smile appeared on her face when she whispered.

She took her little notebook from her pocket and started looking around at the street names. She slowly moved in the direction that seemed to be consistent with the instructions on the card. She didn't look around much. She was focused on finding a way to her goal. After a dozen or so minutes, she stood in front of a small hotel.

"It should be here" She said and went inside. She noticed a woman standing at the desk. She walked up to her, bowed and asked in Japanese.

"English?" The woman shook her head.

"Okay. Let's see how much I've learned" She muttered to herself and said in Japanese.

"Good morning, my name is Megi. I had a reservation here"

The woman nodded understandingly. She opened the notebook, found the name, came out from behind the desk and asked to follow her. After a while they found themselves in front of the room.

"Dozo" The woman said, opening the door. Megi thanked her and went inside. It was a small room with a window, a medium-sized wardrobe and a separate bathroom. There were also two large pillows lying on the ground with a low table between them. Without wasting any time, Megi put down the luggage, put some of it in the closet, and took some of it to the bathroom.

"Okay, it should be fine. Now it's time for a relaxing bath after a long journey"

She went to the bathroom, found out how to turn on the hot water and waited until the bathtub was filled. She quickly took off her clothes, tied her hair in a bun and entered the pleasantly warm water.

"God, it's so good" She muttered under her breath. "I've never felt so tired in my life as after this trip. But it was worth it. After all, I had been saving so much for this and waiting to come here. Well, here I am" She smiled to herself.

"The fun starts tomorrow" She said in an excited voice and hid completely under the water.

The sun was slowly setting as Megi spread the futon on the ground.

'There's nothing to wait for, I'm going to sleep. I couldn't close my eyes on the plane and I was too exhausted to eat anything' she thought. She lay down, covered herself with the blanket and fell asleep in the blink of an eye. This is what Megi's first day spent in a foreign country looked like.

It was seven in the morning when Megi opened her eyes. She looked at her phone and realized that she had slept really well. She stretched on the mattress and turned left and right. Lifting her legs up, she quickly got up from the 'bed'. She went to the bathroom to wash herself, found appropriate clothes to wear, took the most important things into her backpack and then left the room. At the reception, she told the woman when she would be back and went out. This time Megi took out the entire notebook, opened it to the appropriate page and headed towards the subway. On the way, she entered the store, chose a few rolls, some water and something sweet, and then headed towards the station. When she got there, she approached one of the station employees and asked in English.

"Excuse me, I would like to buy a ticket to Kinkaku-ji. Can you help me?"

"Of course" The man replied. He walked with her to the machine and showed how to buy a ticket.

'It's good that most Japanese people can speak English. It's not that I don't know Japanese, but let them make some effort too' she thought with a smile while waiting for the train. After 15 minutes she was there. It turned out that there were more foreigners there, which made the girl happy. She simply went to the place of her choice, happy that the weather was good.

'What would I do with the sightseeing if the weather sucks?' Megi thought. She found a bench, sat down, took out her food and started eating breakfast. When she ate, she looked up at the sky and spoke aloud.

"Konna tenki'ga suki desu!" People passing by looked at Megi as if she had fallen from the moon.

"Yup. I'm a crazy foreigner. Look how much you want. I don't care" she said happy. She sighed, got up from the bench and went to visit the first place planned in the notebook. It was a golden pavilion surrounded by water. There were plenty of photos. Megi wanted to see all the interesting places she had chosen earlier. However, what pleased her most was the sight of the cherry blossoms in bloom. This was the main purpose of her trip, so right after seeing the pavilion, she decided to find the nearest park full of beautiful cherry trees. She opened the notebook and found the right path.

"A bit far, but I hope it will be worth it" She stated as she passed a rather large crowd of Japanese people who had obviously finished their work.

"Oh, it's late, but the sun hasn't set yet, we have to hurry, she thought. After a while, she found a park. Seeing the cherry blossoms in bloom, she immediately lay down on the grass under a tree to admire the beautiful views. When she started to feel a little bit too cold, she got up from the grass and sat on a nearby bench. Many people came to admire the cherry blossoms, so it slowly started to get crowded.

"Maybe that's enough for today. After all, I still have over a week. There will be another opportunity to lie under the cherry trees"  Megi said to herself and moved towards the subway. The sun has set.