Tokyo!!! Of all the places I've travelled to so far, this was probably the one I'd longed to go to for the longest time (work trip no count). I finally got my chance from 29 Oct - 6 Nov 2022 (9D8N, 8 full days on ground) and wouldn't hesitate to label it as one of my favourite trips so far. It was also a fitting final installation in a fruitful year of unexpectedly many travels haha.
Departing from tradition, I won't be covering this trip in one post. That would become a severely overworded thesis. So instead, there will be Parts centred around locations or significant events. From an initial scan through my photos, I think there will be around 10 Parts... so not sure if I can finish writing in 2022 xD But I think it's worth it. As I went along, it registered incrementally that this was a trip of good fate and there's more to it than the what I did and where I went.
For one, as much as I always wanted to go to Tokyo, I certainly didn't expect it to be within this year and just when Japan lifted its border restrictions. The idea was seeded back in Aug. I came back from Thailand (which was supposedly my last trip of the year lol) and told a friend that I was itching to go someplace again, since I still had 4 months left in the year with 8 days of leave to clear. She said why not consider Japan, since there were indications of reopening. I kept it at the back of my mind since it would take some ninja skills to get around Japan's border restrictions at that time.
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| Surprisingly, despite all the different experiences, it wasn't difficult to decide on this as the representative shot of the trip. It took the combined effort of good planning and lots of good luck for me to get this amazing view of Mount Fuji gracing the sunset skies over Tokyo. |
Literally a few days later, 秋宴~Utage~ was announced! Will talk more about that in its dedicated Part, but at that time, it felt like the universe was holding open the door towards Tokyo and looking pointedly at me. So amidst all the teasers that Japan would fully reopen by Oct, I booked my flights (incl $25 for multiflex coz I be risk-averse) and hotel a few days ahead of the official announcement. This ended up saving me a fair bit since rates rocketed on the announcement day (Scoot fares actually doubled so that $25 hedge was super worthwhile)! It's like the whole world was waiting to go to Japan and for me... I got in front of the pack just coz I happened to have reason to enter a little slipstream.
Feeling rather happy about this, I spent much more time and effort on planning my itinerary than usual, complete with food list! Also coz by then, all my younger selves were coming out to help shape the trip they were waiting for. But the best thing is that I never knew how good it would get, from the whole week's worth of amazing weather to all those impromptu meetups with new and existing friends.
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| A snapshot of my 8 full days of adventure! |
Must mention though, that there were a few plot twists along the way. Some of those did pose mild inconvenience at first but, speaking from my point of view specifically, everything turned out to be for the better. Brings me back to the thingy I felt about good fate and sometimes... I really wonder where my luck comes from.
Time to get into things! Next up, Part 2 in which I visit a place of childhood.
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