I’ve been planning this trip to Japan for about a month now. I’ve been to Japan twice before so this should be easy. I feel like the world is getting more crowded and reservations for things are more necessary than they use to be. Gone are the days where you just show up, find a hotel, wander, find dinner and then decide last minute to do that tour or see that thing. In some places, it could still work out that way, but I might be too old to just show up and find a hotel when I arrive, especially when travelling alone. I booked all my hotels ahead of time for this trip. That was pretty easy. I booked some activities that I was pretty excited about. Then I started to book all the high speed trains (and one normal speed bus) I would need. I had it all mapped out only to find out you couldn’t order tickets more than a month in advance. It was quite a bit of work to figure out times and routes to get where I wanted to go as there were so many options. Which options would involve the least amount of walking with my suitcase? I found out that you could ship your suitcase in most situations, but I wouldn’t know for sure until I could check in at each hotel. So, I had to assume worst case, I would be dragging a suitcase with me. It took me the better part of a day to figure out which trains I wanted tickets for so I recorded the various websites to buy tickets from later and the times and routes I wanted. I just wanted to buy the tickets then and be done with this part of the planning, but I would have to wait.

After I bought the first tickets, I expected a ticket I could print or a QR code I could download. Instead, I found pages of information on how to “receive” my tickets in Japan. I looked up a large list of stations where I could receive tickets and the one I would be departing from was not on that list. I looked it up twice – not sure why I thought it would change – it didn’t. So I switched gears and looked at the pages of instructions on how to receive tickets from a machine. It felt like the worst easter egg hunt ever – find a machine (somewhere in Tokyo?) that had this symbol or this symbol and then go through these 10 steps to receive your ticket. You will need the credit card you bought the ticket with and a four digit pin you chose. At this point I started to regret deciding to do this trip and seriously wondered if I was getting too old to travel, too old to learn new things. My house and life in Colorado were starting to feel all too comfortable. In small print I saw that tickets could be received at select ticket counters in Tokyo. It didn’t say which ticket counters, but at least I could formulate a plan now. I would try to find a ticket counter at the airport when I landed. I remember getting train tickets there in the past. If that didn’t work, I would go to the main train station in Tokyo one day and find a ticket counter.

Over time I bought four more train tickets and a bus ticket. Four of the five train tickets had the same “receive” instructions. The other and the bus ticket came with QR codes. One train ticket required that I set up a membership before I could purchase. I have no idea what I am a member of. Of course, this is the one that my credit card company denied. I had to enter my membership information at least fifteen times due to the website timing out, the website verifying my membership, the website going under maintenance, and the transaction not going through because of the credit card denial. I spent over a half hour on the phone with the credit card company trying to resolve the issue. Again, I almost threw in the towel on the whole trip. I will still have to pay as I go for all the local trains and one bus ride that are not reservable.

By the time it was time to leave, I felt beat up and incapable. Add that to some health issues and I wasn’t sure I even wanted to go. I checked in for my flight the day before and got to the page where it asked if I wanted to change my seats. There were plenty of first class seats still available and I was feeling sorry for myself so I clicked on a first class seat and put my credit card in. I felt a mix of better and worse at the same time. It felt like this would be my last trip ever so I might as well have a lie down seat for it. Who am I right now and where are these doomsday thoughts coming from? Is this just because the train scheduling got the better of me or because I’m not as healthy as I used to be or do I just need a snack?

I woke up early for travel day – earlier than I would normally so that put me in a bad mood. I immediately regretted buying the first class seat. I was going to really miss my husband. I was hoping I would say healthy. I had a weird thought that I was afraid my government wouldn’t let me back in the country when I came home – some crazy things are happening in our government right now. As with a lot of things lately, I blame menopause. After I checked in and went through security I found some breakfast and immediately started crying. I hadn’t told my husband that I upgraded my seat. Ultimately, he was the person working and paying for it. It felt like a huge weight. It felt like I was lying to him even though I was technically withholding information, information he probably would never know. I called him sobbing and apologizing. He was fine with it. I realized that part of why I feel so horrible is that I’m leaving him behind. Even though he chose not to come, it still feels weird to not take my partner in crime with me.

The flight was ok. I had trouble sleeping partly because there were two women that talked the whole flight and partly because there was an infant babbling most of the flight. First class does not buy quiet. I did get two blankets, two pillows, slippers and a kit with ear plugs, eye mask, tooth brush, etc. I watched a few movies and got a little sleep. I woke up mid flight, hungry and was able to get a grilled cheese and some tomato soup. That was the best timed grilled cheese ever. I guess I’m off the keto now.

After landing, I was able to find a JR East ticket counter. Even though all my tickets were on JR West, the lady at the counter knew exactly what I needed and easily printed all my tickets for me. It took less time to print all my tickets than it took to read about how to receive them. All that stress for nothing. She also helped me with a local train card that I could reload with money later if I needed. Then I took a taxi to my hotel. I should have taken a couple of trains instead. More money down the drain and no grilled cheese to go with it.

My hotel had check in agents with an automated check in screen in front of them. You were supposed to enter all your information and it would spit out your breakfast coupons and room key. So basically, the lady behind the desk pushed all the buttons for me when I got confused on how to do the automated check in steps by myself. Again, am I too old to be travelling? My room is tiny. The window looks out at the side of another building. The bathroom is slightly bigger than the bathroom in our camper van. But the TV is giant. The hotel reminds me that some people in the world live in spaces this size. I am filled with gratitude for all that I have.

I picked a hotel with a restaurant so that if I was too tired to go out on the first night I wouldn’t have to. The restaurant was closed for a private party. So, out I will go. Google maps found a few restaurants with in a ten minute walk. I picked one with a medium price. I was in an area that seemed to be more business offices so it was very quiet out. Maps took me down some quiet streets to a closed restaurant. The second restaurant I chose was also closed. I should have clicked the “open now” filter. The third one was open and not at all crowded. They specialized in yakitori and I happen to like meat on a stick so it was a win. They brought me a small dish that looked like a salad before my chicken trio. Aw, how nice. I looked in the bowl and saw something silvery under the beautiful micro greens. I don’t eat fish and I’m sure that is raw fish hiding under the microgreens. I felt bad for not eating my free treat. But the chicken was excellent. The walk back to the hotel was cool and peaceful. It took this long, but I finally felt my nervous system start to relax. Maybe I wasn’t too old to travel after all.

The tv in my room told me that this hotel has a public bath. The tv comes on automatically every time I come in the room. It comes on to a hotel information page with lots of helpful and not so helpful little videos that tell me about Japan and the hotel. There is a little sign that tells you if the public bath is busy or not. Tonight, it wasn’t. The tv told me the correct way to put on my bathrobe (yukata) and that I could wear it from my room to the public bath. That seems like a simple bit of information, but I was happy to know it. It also told me that tattoos are not allowed in the public bath, but the hotel has stickers you can use to cover them. That was good to know too since I wasn’t sure which baths allow them and which do not. I will need to cover that very offensive snowflake on my foot, the terrifying bird on my shoulder, the rude turtle on my chest, and the kuma (bear in Japanese, my old dog’s name) on my leg and the dirty frog on my back. To be fair, the frog is a blue poisonous tree frog so it could be dangerous, but the rest are not. I asked for stickers at the front desk and the guy gave me two. I felt funny asking for three more. All stickered up, I looked like I had gotten in a knife fight and was all bandaged up from it. The baths and lack of good sleep put me very ready for bed by about 9:30. Finally I was looking forward to the rest of my trip.