Woke up early for my usual morning routine of showering, dressing, eating breakfast, then chatting with Mat on facebook while Shane & mom get ready. I packed up all my things. Our flight left just before 1PM so we had to get ready early in order to catch the train from Kyoto station to Kansai International Airport. It was amazing though: we took a taxi to the Kyoto train station and was waiting on the train platform when a maiko walks by!! All that geisha death walk last night not seeing a thing and now a gorgeous maiko is standing 20 yards away! We determined she came to send her wealthy client off on his airplane. Definitely got a picture! The train ride to the airport was bittersweet. Definitely always nice to see the countryside and excited to see my family but sad to leave a country that has stolen my heart. I would love to come back here and live for a year but I'm not sure how I would be able to work as a nurse with such a language barrier. I will have to figure out some cleaver way.
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| Maiko |
We made it to the airport with no problems. We did a little shopping in the duty free area. Mom tried to purchase a Japanese pearl necklace but couldn't get the credit card to go through. The plane ride from Osaka to Seoul, South Korea, was uneventful. Fortunately this time around we did not have to switch airports so we were able to check our luggage all the way to San Francisco. The plane ride from Seoul to San Francisco was also uneventful except, while flying back over Japan from South Korea, popping up out through the clouds, was Mt. Fuji, bathed in a sunset alpine glow! I couldn't believe my eyes! The two very Japanese things I was wishful to see but did not think would happen this trip was a maiko/geisha and Mt. Fuji. Turns out I get to see both on my last day of vacation! What amazing luck! And what a way to see Mt. Fuji, at 30,000ft in the air. Just incredible and a fantastic ending to a most extraordinary trip!
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| Mt. Fuji from the airplane |
We landed at the very crowded San Francisco airport. It was fun to see the California sights I know and love. The landing was a bit rough, felt like the plane was going too fast before turning and felt like it was going to tip over! But we all made it safe. Got our domestic connection flight to Portland despite being an hour late. The flight back home to Portland was a good one. Got to see Davis and the neighboring cities that I know. The best part was the perfect fly by of Mt. Shasta. I snapped a couple photos and pointed it out to my seat partner (the only flight I didn't sit next to mom). It turns out he is Japanese from the Mt. Fuji area and was coming to Portland for a month to work. I wrote down a couple of places he should visit while in town. We finally landed and found our husbands waiting for us. We grabbed our bags and headed home. We hung out for a couple hours at home, showing the guys all the goods we brought back. I thought the dogs would be excited to see me but instead they showed their displeasure with me by paying more attention to mom than me! It wasn't until the next day that they forgave me! It was an amazing trip, I couldn't of asked for more. I feel so lucky to have experienced a tiny piece of a beautiful and enchanting country. I will return again someday! Now for a day off then to start 10 hour clinical days at Kaiser Permanente for Med/Surg nursing school class! (I am so tired with clinicals that I started drinking coffee).
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| Mt. Shasta from the airplane |
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