Final Thoughts from the Plane...
January 29, 2006
In about 2 hours my flight is going to be landing back at home in San Francisco. I have already found out from the guy sitting
next to me that there’s a great place to go in Japantown to get a lot of the Japanese food finds that I tried this past week.
Probably not the really adorably-packaged ones. But it is fun to know that there will at least be some options available at home.
On another note, it still blows me away about what a great experience Japan was. I realized this even more when Dave put me
on the spot today at lunch (crazy to think that it was technically ‘today’ (1/29/06)…yet it’s only 9:30am on 1/29/06 right now)
and asked me where Japan ranked in the places I’ve traveled to. I didn’t hesitate for a second to say that it was definitely in the
top 5. And then I started thinking about it… I knew that my trip to Dubai was pretty incomparable. I was able to take
advantage of so many different components of what it had to offer. Africa was also incredible, but in a different way. There
wasn’t the luxury on that trip of being able to go off and explore on my own. Nor do I think it really would have been safe for
me to do so. We saw a lot and it opened my eyes to a lot…but we were also being led around virtually the whole time. While
Dubai and Japan were nothing at all alike, my way of traveling in both of these places was the same. I felt safe in both places at
all times. And because of that, I was able to take the bull by the horns and just do anything and everything I felt like doing.
When I started weighing all of the factors of what would make something an all-around excellent traveling experience, it is so
different than what it was, say, two years ago. Two years ago I never even really thought of going anywhere outside of Europe.
I just felt it was so beautiful and that I wouldn’t be able to find any place where the beauty compared. I now know that I was so
wrong. A place can also be beautiful for its people, its cultures, its religious foundations and, if you’re me, a place can be darn
beautiful for its food, energy and nightlife. A place is also beautiful for the things that you learned and accomplished by visiting
it. And that’s how I feel about Japan. While nobody taught me about the Japanese culture and traditions, I was able to learn
about them simply by observing and experiencing this wonderful country.
And now back to Dave’s question… This Japan trip wouldn’t be in my ‘Top 5’ of trips I’ve taken. It would be in the top 3, if not
one of the top 2. It gave me a whole new confidence to know that despite language barriers and communication difficulties, I will
be just fine in a few months when I go and venture out on my own. I know I’ll stumble from time to time along the way, but I
also know that I’ll make it through. And in return, I will come away more enlightened, more knowledgeable and more
interested in the people of the world that I have visited.
| Entering the gate that leads to Senso-ji Temple. |
| The garden near Senso-ji Temple topped with snow. |
