That's All Folks

Here it is, dear readers, the final day!

After checking out in the morning, I went back to pick up some goodies in Shibuya 109 for some friends. This does, again, mean that I was dragging my suitcase around with me in the middle of a shopping mall, but such is life when you're traveling on the cheap.

(There are....a number of storage lockers in Shibuya station SPECIFICALLY to prevent this, but I somehow could not find them, so public inconvenience it was.)

Booth outside a record store advertising a newly released album.

I hauled my suitcase up a hill to get lunch at an Indian place that Google maps thought was good--and it was! After that, it was time to head to the airport. Learning from my experience last time, I had booked a flight out of Haneda Airport, easily accessible by the Tokyo metro, not Narita, which is a full two-hour drive out of the city.

I am ENCHANTED by the organization of the metro stations. Each different colored line is for a different train line that uses the same station, preventing crowding and confusion.

Tokoyo Haneda was all decked out for the holiday season!

I bought a few last-minute souvenirs in the airport (including cantaloupe-flavored KitKats, which were TRULY strange), got dinner, and then boarded the plane.

I may have yelped quietly to myself when I saw the city all lit up.....

Someday I'll see you again!!!!

Eleven hours later, I landed in Toronto, where I had to go through an oddly intense security check before proceeding to my gate, which was the. farthest. gate. possible. from where I had landed. After a long flight like that I'm always a little loopy, but I was especially exhausted this trip. Maybe you didn't notice, but within the space of two weeks, I went from tropical Shenzhen to bitterly cold and dry Beijing, back down to the tropics for Hongkong, and back AGAIN to a cold winter in Japan, and then I'd gotten on a plane for eleven hours. My body was a mess.

Luckily, my four hour layover didn't feel that long, and the flight from Toronto to DC was less than two hours.

MOOOOOM, I'M HOOOOOOOME

My loving mother picked me up and took me home, where I then proceeded to be sick for like two weeks 😌 Everything that I shipped made it to the US not long after I did, and only a few of the weaker plastic items broke in transit, so I count that as a victory.




There it is friends; my time abroad  concluded! Truthfully speaking, if I had the choice to go back and do it again, I don't think that I would. The job situation was too miserable. However, I definitely don't regret going! I really believe I made the most of my opportunities, and I'm so grateful for the new friends, knowledge, and perspective I gained.

But, you may be asking, where is she now? It's been eight months since the events of this post. For about seven of those months, my baggage stayed packed in the cardboard IKEA boxes they were shipped in. Now, they've (mostly) been unpacked into my new apartment in Boston, Massachussetts! I moved in on June 1st, and I'm living off my savings until my job applications bear fruit (which should hopefully be next week!!!).

I hope you all re doing well, and I thank you for going on this journey with me! Peace ✌️❤️