tavie.com

Dryblog - Saturday, July 19th, 11:00 am
Waiting to board the flight to Tokyo. The airport's wireless network keeps cutting out. I've reduced the font to a barely-legible miniscule 6-point so that I can blog in relative privacy. But now that I'm sitting here, laptop booted up, I find myself with little to say. I feel frumpy; using the restroom before going through security, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror (something I've been trying to avoid for awhile now.) I have my hair down in braids, the easier to lean my head back and sleep without an interfering ponytail lump digging into my scalp. My freshly-washed hair looks frizzy, dry, underconditioned. My eyes are even more raccoon-y than usual.

The flight will take 13 hours, 45 minutes. After deplaning ("a fancy word for... get off the plane now"), I'll wait on the long line through immigration, and exchange my currency, and then do the part I'm dreading: find the office to get my rail pass, make them help me reserve a seat on the Shinkansen to Nagaoka, ask them to help me findthe Narita Express to Tokyo to get ON the Shink, and hope I don't forget a step or take too long to make the train, or get confused and break down in the middle of the airport.

Meh. This is why Mom gave me a bottle of Valium to take with me. Not that I plan on taking it. I've traveled alone many times; I enjoy it, I prefer it. But this time I feel exhausted, weighed down, frizzy and uncertain.

We'll see. First things first. First I have to board the plane and make it through the flight. My tool will be Nyquil.

7.20 - 3:52 pm local time (2:52 am NYC)
I am absurdly proud of myself. I'm typing this on the Narita Express (N'EX) train from Narita airport heading for Tokyo Station. Miraculously, I got through immigration, found my bags (a quick heart-stopping moment when I realized I was waiting at the wrong carousel, and, upon reaching the right carousel, found "Baggage Pick-up Closed" glaring at me from the electronic screen - but my taxi-yellow suitcase was waiting for me at the Baggage Desk) - made it through customs, got my currency exchanged, found the JR Rail office, traded my voucher for a rail pass, got reservations for both this train and the Shink from Tokyo Station to Kirstenland - all on little sleep and with two messy pigtails flapping around my skull. Not too shabby, Miss T. Not too shabby.

Wet blog (local time: 8:26 pm)

I made it! I made it! I madezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Why are you in Tavie's head? 7:24 AM | shower me with attention