Day 31/32: A Long Jump Across the World

Some of you are probably wondering where last night's post was. Because of the travel plans over the last day and a half, I was unable to find time to both write and post. That didn't stop me from writing entirely though. Here's a few things I jotted down in my phone with timestamps:

1:29pm or 13:29

So it turns out that the Budapest airport operates in a completely different way than I ever could have guessed. I arrived at the airport six hours early for my 7:10 or 19:10 flight after eating lunch in the city. My plan was to give myself plenty of buffet time to get to the airport, comfortably get my boarding pass, and relax at the gate until boarding. Maybe get some dinner at the airport. I walked into the terminal and tried to find where I could check in. My flight company didn't seem to have any desks. After some quick internet research I found out that you can't check in until two hours before the flight. Why? I don't know. But now I'm stuck in the terminal for about four hours. Give or take. Not a great start.

4:02pm or 16:02

A desk has been appointed, but there's no one at the desk. This is about an hour earlier than I expected so I can forgive them. Unless the employee takes an hour to get to the desk, then they should have just waited.

11:02pm or 23:02

I am almost finished with my first flight. After this afternoon's four hour festivities before check in, things went pretty smoothly. I stockpiled snacks at the gate and I already ate them all. So I'll have to double stockpile for my next flight, which will be twice as long.

Not sure if I will be able to get this post out tonight, so you might be reading this the next day.

My layover is an hour in Qatar, which makes sense since I'm flying Qatar Airways. Then it's ten hours to Tokyo. Easy peasy. I have well over 50 hours worth of audiobooks and a few hours of music and comedy to supplement that, so should go by pretty quickly. I might already be in Tokyo by the time you read this, but I'll let you know.

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That's all I got before landing in Tokyo. Now I am successfully checked into my hostel and comfortable. So I can write a little more. I might be a little brief though because I am very tired. There is a seven hour time difference between Budapest and Tokyo, and that means anyone back home reading this on the East Coast is thirteen hours behind. Pretty wild.

So I'll talk a little more about my second flight and getting to the hostel, since I didn't cover that in the earlier paragraphs.

The first five hour flight landed in Doha, Qatar. I had about an hour, but most of that time was spent just getting to my gate. I had some time to spare though, so I went searching for snacks. I had already finished the ones I brought from Budapest, so I needed to stock up. Unfortunately, I only found candy. There was no stores near the gate that sold anything other than toys, alcohol, or candy. So I had to settle for a big bag a skittles or pick another flight. I wasn't too happy about this, since this flight was going to be twice as long as the first one, but I'd have to make do.

The flight was not as bad as it could have been. I was in and out of a hazy sleep most of the time, so I didn't even need to use up my audiobooks. What was nice (on both flights actually) was that each seat had its own TV on the back of the seat in front. I watched a documentary about leaves changing color in New England that made me very homesick, and then I watched a documentary about video games becoming the next biggest industry in the world, bigger than television and movies. It wasn't a great documentary, but at least the content was interesting.

I landed in Tokyo at around 7:00pm Tokyo time. Which meant with jetlag factored in, it should have felt like noon after a night of bad sleep. But I was doing ok, and I still had some traveling to do. I checked with the information desk and they gave me directions on taking the train into Tokyo. They gave good directions because I made it to the hostel without any issues. There was of course the constant fear of missing my stop or getting on the wrong train, but I didn't have to worry about that.

The hostel is tucked away down a side street, and seems small from the outside, but it's not. I had to leave my shoes in a closet in the lobby, a very different experience than any I've had. I followed my guide through the hallways in just my socks. I had the option to put on complimentary flip flops, but they looked a little dirty, so I chose to go with socks.

I am in a four person room that seems to be full, but only one other person is here right now. I assume the other two are out doing something fun in the city. For me though, I need some sleep. Tomorrow I will get up and begin exploring this new city. I am very much looking forward to it.

That's all I got for now, I'm tired, but of course there will be more tomorrow, so for now, thanks for reading, and here's to tomorrow.