Blondies Good Bad and Ugly

Since summer began I’ve been counting down the days like a child during Christmas season. Marking em off until I left for a month to study abroad in Japan. I finished the spring semester strong, worked at a summer camp all of June, then finally, the week of July 11th was here.

But with all the excitement I was feeling, I was feeling just as much anxiety and nerves.

An hour before my flight to Japan was supposed to board, I was asked to volunteer my economy plus window seat, with extra legroom (long legged women get it), up for a spot on another plane because of over crowding.

Keep in mind I was already nervous about the flight. (The initial anxiety had set in about three days prior when sleep was getting scarce.) 13 hours in the air and I’d be landing at a different airport than my professors and the rest of the students. (Although I could have sworn when I booked my ticket I made sure it was to Haneda and not Narita.)  I’ve never flown internationally or let alone by myself, I somehow managed to book a flight to the wrong airport in Tokyo, and I’d have to navigate my way through customs, the train station, and parts of Tokyo by myself to get to my hotel. On the inside I had been freaking out, honestly. But I feel like I kept it together pretty well. After all, my mom was displaying more than enough nerves and anxiety for the both of us. Her tear stained eyes gave her away.

So you can imagine what I was thinking when asked to swap my ticket. I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry. I thought this guy has some nerve asking me to swap my seat out because of an issue on their end.

 It wasn’t until he saw the hesitation on my face when he decided to tell me that by offering up my seat, I would be on a plane that will be landing at Haneda (where the rest of my group will be landing) and I’d be getting a hefty American Airlines credit.

With a smile on my face, I kindly accepted the terms and volunteered my seat. I gave the gate attendant my information and waited a few minutes as he typed away on his keyboard. Then, with a smile on my face and my new boarding pass in hand, I headed to my new gate.

Exit rows have never my go-to when it comes to choosing my seat. Window seats are the best, and I’ll die on that hill. You can’t access your bag easily in the exit row. There’s no seat in front of you to slide it under, so it has to go in the over head bins. And I would really love to be reading my book right now.
But whatever, I’m finally on my way to Japan!!
Now I’m nearly five hours into my flight with my legs stretched out in front of me, and an elderly Asian woman asleep on my shoulder. (Yea… not ideal. I knew it was coming once I saw her head bobbing up and down from sleep, but I’m scared to wake her.)

But it’s ok, hopefully I’ll be able to fall sleep just hard as she is.

So far the flight hasn’t been bad. The plane food was better than I thought. I’m not sure what I was expecting but it was warm and had flavor. A little turbulence around hour 4 but nothing too exciting, and other than an upset baby it’s been pretty quiet.

Anyway, in about 8 hours I’ll be landed and working on my multimedia production and travel writing skills.
As for now, I have to work up the courage to wake this peaceful old lady up so I can use the restroom.