I don't even know I've messed up yet. |
I spent a few days
in Hakone. No particular plan other than to search out local cuisine
and soak my body in the hot springs.
I was ambivalent to
people’s excitement about the Hakone
Open Air Museum. I’m not sure what changed my mind. But on my
last full day in the city, after a second person mentioned it and I
google some images and was taken by the beauty of some of the work, I
decided to navigate the bus and search out beauty.
It was an amazing
day and unexpected in the best way.
At first, I balked
at the price...$16...but I'd braved the bus walked the meandering
road into the mountains, so paid my admission and began to wander
anew.
The gray sky
threatened rain but held itself at bay, save a few drops here and
there. And I marveled at what people create when they have time and
intention.
That was a plan-less
day. A day without an itinerary or even expectations that ended with
me at an onsen and an amazing dinner. A day that went according to
the of plan I didn’t have.
Then there was
another day.
My sister is a
voracious reader and she sends me articles of interest as I journey.
One about ways to meet people when you travel, stories from women who
travel alone (like me), and most recently – one about a noodle
shop that is opening in New York but whose original store is in
Japan. I was intrigued and so I checked a map and realized that
Kamakura (the site of the original shop) fell on my trajectory to
Tokyo. So little distance between Hakone and Tokyo in fact
(especially with express trains whizzing by every few minutes) I
planned (Planned! A word I use so infrequently my parents have
stopped asking me.) to leave Hakone in the morning, have lunch in
Kamakura, and then head on to Tokyo.
Mistake number one
wouldn’t become evident until after mistake number two.
Not the best presentation but delicious! |
The sign read Hanon
but the rest of it read Korean cooking class and deli. Who knew there
was more than one Hanon...clearly not google maps because I had to do
a separate more intentional google search to identify my mistake.
The view from my mistakes was delightful. |
After a surprisingly
delicious bowl of soup and a promising looking hostel (something I
had yet to secure in Tokyo) I decided to stay. I made my way to my
hostel and that is when I discovered mistake number one…
I left my passport
in my bed at the my last hostel.
Sigh.
Anywhere other
country I might have worried rather than simply being irritated, but
Japan has a lovely way of restoring my faith in humanity. A friend
lived here a few years ago and he recounted to me a time when he left
his phone on a train and somehow it was returned to him.
My passport arrived
the next day. It cost me 500 yen, a lowly $5 dollars – less than it
would have cost to take the train back.
Yes! I made it to the noodles and they were wonderful! |
All I had was
anticipation...anticipation of my passport’s arrival, of noodles I
only knew about because my sister was the original Google in our
family, and for whatever awaited me when I made it to Tokyo.
My tomorrows are
full of uncertainty, and in my travel life, I like it that way.
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