Home In Britain

I'm back in Britain! It's so strange to be back! But of course it's lovely. I arrived at Heathrow yesterday and my family picked me up. It was such a nice reunion. We went to a restaurant and had a British roast dinner, which was amazing. It was exactly what I'd been craving - oven cooked food! And despite what the world may say, traditional British food is amazing.

Pretty much everything went smoothly for my last day, except for the beginning and the end. I got up at 5am to leave in time for my 6.30am bus from Kichijoji, which is 10 minutes by train. Wynne, Katy and Hime-chan came with me, and Rob got up to wave me off from the guesthouse. But when we got to the station, we found that there was a 55 minute delay on trains going into Tokyo! It said "Accident", but it's common knowledge that that usually means suicide.

So I had to get a taxi to Kichijoji station, and had a quick but sad goodbye to the girls. It really didn't hit me that I was leaving them. It took about 15 minutes to get to Kichijoji, but cost Y3,000 (£20) so I was very unimpressed!

I met Rei, the leader of Soul Run who had come to wave me off, at the station. He waited until my bus was out of sight to stop waving, which was really nice of him. It hit me then how much I'm going to miss everyone.

It took about an hour and 40 minutes to get to Narita Airport, and there I paid the rebooking charge for my flight. It was very easy to do, I just went to the JAL Ticketing Counter and showed them my e-ticket, and then paid the Y15,000 for it. After that I could check straight in at the check-in counter, and that went smoothly as well. Even though I had two pieces of hand baggage, and my suitcase was 3.5kg overweight, the woman who checked me in didn't say anything about it, and just chatted to me about my time in Japan and about ICU. I was really grateful, she must have known I'd have more luggage than the average passenger, having been in Japan for nearly a year. Even though I sent stuff home with my brother when he visited I still had a lot of things to bring back.

Then the flight went fine, until we were coming into land at Heathrow, and were about to touch down when the plane pulled up suddenly and started to circle the airport! They announced that there had been a plane on the runway that hadn't moved yet, so that could have been nasty! But we landed safely 10 minutes later.

Then immigration and baggage claim went very smoothly, and I was reunited with my family at arrivals. It was so nice!

We drove to a nearby pub and had our roast dinner, and then drove back to Birmingham. Everything was exactly as I remember it, and it was a very nice feeling when my house came into view.

It's weird being back, because everything is the same, and everything feels the same. Seeing my local area isn't special now, because I've come and gone so many times it just feels normal. Which is good - I suppose that means I'm growing up!

I haven't really reflected back on my time in Japan yet, I'm too tired! But it's already nostalgic, and I miss my friends and just being in Japan. I have lovely memories of that trip to Japan, and I know that it was one of the best times in my life so far. Let's hope that there are many more in the future!

Ready To Go!

I'm pretty much all packed and ready now. My suitcase and everything is on my bed, my room is spotless and sparkling (kind of...) and almost empty!

It really hasn't hit home yet that I'm leaving tomorrow, but it definitely will when my alarm goes off at 5am tomorrow morning and I have to get to Narita Airport. Some friends are going to come with me to my bus and wave me off, which I keep telling them there's no need to do, but they're adamant they want to come. I'll take a pack of tissues, just in case.

This is the end of an incredible year and I will never ever forget it. I definitely need some time to reflect on everything and let it all sink in. Maybe the 12 and a half hour plane journey will help!

My next post will be from Britain, so this is goodbye to Japan for the second time. Goodbye and see you again soon!!

One Week Left!

Oh wow, time is going so quickly! I now have just one week left to do everything I want to do and say goodbye to everyone I want to see!

My schedule is ridiculously full of things I'm doing, but I suppose that's the best way to end a year abroad - not give yourself time to think!

Because I'm so busy I don't think I'll have time to write any posts until I get back home now. I'll fill in the blanks once I'm back, so don't be confused if things appear in an odd order for a while!

For now, I'm going to try to enjoy my last few days in Japan as much as I can. Which means trying not to be sad that I'm leaving, and focussing on the positive. I'm glad I'm sad to be leaving, otherwise it would mean that I hadn't enjoyed my year abroad as much as I have!