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My flight to Narita Airport was around 11:16am. I left around 7:30am in order to be early as possible because my mom did not have an assigned seat. On the way, I thought I forgot my airpod and made my dad head back home. He was very mad because he tends to panic when things don't go his way and on schedule. On the bright side, my airpods were in my backpack so we did not have to head all the way back home. It took over a hour to get to PDX since it's super far away. The check in process was a bit confusing because my mom and I checked in online, however they wanted everyone to check in again using the kiosk.When we went to check in our luggage, my mom asked to see if there is seat on the plane and was just told that she'll know at the gate. This caused a lot of stress for her because she thought she couldn't get on the plane.
Security was quite different compared to the last time I was at an airport to board a plane. Basically, you did not have to take anything out of your carry on so it was quite easy. The scary part of security was that I thought was in trouble when I was going to the scanner thing where you go in and they check if you have anything in your pockets and such. I was just sent right next to it and a security guard just put rubbing alcohol on my hands and waited for a few seconds before I was excused. My mom just laughed and told me it was most likely because of my height and I was just too short for the mach
ine.
After going through security, my mom and I tried to find something to eat. I just ended up buying a yogurt and cookie since I was not hungry enough to eat a burger at Burgerville. It has been a while since I've last been at the airport so I was surprised at the amount of shops they had. When we got to the place our gate is, the first thing my mom did was ask about her seat. It turned out that she was be able to board and the only thing was that she could not sit next to me. My mom was very relieved about it because she just wanted to board the plane.
Normally, it feels like it takes forever for boarding to start by but this time, it felt very fast. I was surprised how fast and efficient it was to board the plane although it took forever for my section to get called. I think I accidentally cut some people in line because I didn't know where the line started. My seat was more in the back. After getting settled and put everything I wanted to use in the pocket, someone asked me if I could switch seats so their friend can sit next to them. Since I didn't have a reason to say no, I switched seats. They were very polite about it. The seats were very cramped. I feel like economy plus had a normal amount of space while economy was just cramped, but it also might've been the fact I had a big backpack with me. The person sitting next to me just watched YouTube videos or anime and drank a lot.
Despite the cramped seats, I did enjoy the flight. The food was good. I chose miso salmon made from a Japanese organic restaurant in Portland. The flight attendants were very nice and gave us a lot of snacks, up to the point where it was too much. I grabbed some snacks but didn't eat it all because I wasn't that hungry. The only downside was the USB charger plug was broken so I had to charge my phone from my portable charger. Also, they did not have an outlet so I could not charge my laptop. I did not sleep too much on the flight despite feeling tired and sick.
I was quite surprised to come out of the exit where TV shows such as Why Did You Come to Japan usually film and honestly got a little excited. It did take a long time to get out of the airport. My mom had to get her SIM card so she can use her phone in Japan but there was a lock that prevented any other SIM cards to be used on her phone so she decided to get a pocket wifi. Then, she had to line up to get her JR Japan rail pass since she was going to Osaka to see family. While I was waiting, I went to Starbucks and the konbini.
After we got everything done, we were finally able to hop onto a train and head to Asakusabashi. It took about a hour to get there because it stopped in every three stations or so. But it was an interesting experience. We passed by the town where my mom's friends family used to live. When we finally arrived, it was very easy to find the hostel since it was very close to the station. We checked in and went to get some food. We had some Takoyaki at Gindaco. It was pretty good. I just thought it was a lot bigger than the Takoyaki I usually eat.
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I will try to post about each day of my trip once a week but if I can't, then it will be up eventually.
