Leaving Japan ))):

This morning, my parents woke up early to see the Imperial Palace and I “slept in” until about 8:30. Then, we got breakfast at a nice European-themed café across the street and came back to finishing packing up. Then, we headed to send Yuko a thank you note and an extra Suica card to use for herself or give to another future visitor! We couldn’t find the post office at first because it was underground, but once we got to the station, it was very easy to find. I was hoping to see the cute Kit-Kat boxes you can send to gift Sophie, and they were there! Also, miraculously, they had an adorable postcard shaped like an original post box covered in snow. But that’s not all—it also has two capybaras wearing onsen towels!!! I knew I had to buy it to send to Camden’s family for Christmas. Once I bought the items and used up most of my yen coins, we headed off to the Narita Express platform. It was a little bit far and tricky to get to because you needed to take an elevator to a transfer platform, where you walked a couple of yards to another elevator that went to the correct platform. We got there around 25 minutes early, and my dad really liked the momo water, so I went back upstairs and went to 5 different groups of vending machines, but couldn’t find it. When I went back down, we chatted and waited for a bit, then saw the beautiful red and white train appear in front of us. It was completely empty, so we didn’t have any trouble getting on and settling in our seats.

Our train actually got delayed, which is quite unheard of in Japan. Thankfully, we left very early, plus we were only stopped for about 10 minutes. Once we got to our terminal, we went to retrieve the 2 suitcases we shipped from Kyoto. It was alllllll the way at the end of the terminal, but it was very easy to find. I could even see my bags sitting on the shelves as soon as we got to the stall. We handed our slips over, signed for them, and went straight for the airline to get our boarding passes. Since we had so many bags, it was a little difficult, but we made it with 3 checked bags and 5 carry-ons! Getting through security was a breeze, except for one thing: I got my roommate a really cool foamy soap dispenser at Tokyo DisneySea, which I meant to check, but since it was lighter. Since it is already filled with liquid, it was put aside, but thankfully they let me pour out the soap and keep it—phew! I’ll just have to explain to her later why it’s empty lol. From there, it was smooth sailing. We had a little over an hour to get food and get to our terminal. Since our airline is much cheaper than others, my parents got us business class. This will be my very first experience not flying economy. I can’t wait!!!