My Trip to Hawaii.. I mean Fussa... I mean Osaka

So, let me explain. Mark is gone on business at the moment and has been for the past few weeks. I got the brilliant idea to take a Space-A trip to Hawaii, which would have worked out had I not picked Spring Break week to go! Seriously, everyone and their brother was on their way to Hawaii!

Yokota Air Base is beautiful! Reminded me of a college campus.

I left on a Thursday from Kadena and flew to Yokota (Fussa, mainland) on a C-130. Pretty cool, right? I thought so! There was a scheduled flight to Hawaii the next day, but it got cancelled. So, I waited another day but didn't get picked because I was too far down on the list. On the next day, I decided I was over it. Here's why:

• When you fly Space-A you are on stand by. It's not so bad, typically, but after three days I had barely progressed on the list because of all of the people. Since I was traveling alone, I was a Category 5 out of 6.
• The flight schedules at Yokota were changing so frequently, the staff at the airport couldn't even give details
• There were a TON of people trying to make it out of there so my chances were slim
• And most of all... the roll call times were in the middle of the day. Yokota is about an hour from Tokyo so there wasn't a chance to do touristy stuff because you had to mark yourself present and be there for roll call. Then, I waited all day for flights to get cancelled or not make it on. 

Now that that's off my chest, we can talk about the fun stuff! Well, before I move on, I have to say that I did meet some amazing people throughout my time at Yokota and walked away with a few new friends! Okay, moving on now...

I started doing my research on Sunday morning in the lobby of the hotel while I chatted it up with my fellow "Space A-ers" and by 1PM everything was booked! I have been to Tokyo so I wanted to go somewhere new... I know, how spoiled am I?! I picked Osaka. It was a pretty easy decision because it's cherry blossom season and because there's a cheap airline that I could use to make it back home. 

The first leg of my adventure was Tokyo. I booked an overnight highway bus from Tokyo Disney, but it didn't leave until 10PM so I had about 5 hours to find something to do. Lucky for me, I got off the subway at Tokyo Station. I made the assumption that it was a very big station and I'm glad I did (because I was right)! I was able to walk out and put my bags in a locker before going out to explore, which is always nice. 

I didn't really have a plan at this point. I knew I wanted food at some point, but other than that I was going to just roam. Apparently I was on a lucky streak because I saw a sign for Imperial Palace right away and that seemed interesting so I was on my way! There were a TON of surrounding parks and it was beautiful. Lucky, lucky me!

Nijubashi Bridge was stunning!

I, honestly, didn't even realize how many things fell into place that day until now. Things continued to go my way when I heard some live music. You don't realize how long it's been since you've heard live music until you hear it. I was drawn to it. Sounds silly, but totally true! I ended up walking a little farther than I had planned, but it worked out. 

There was an outdoor concert going on in a nearby park, Hibiya Park. I couldn't get in, but I did find a restaurant that had outdoor seating. Score! It was a chilly evening so I ordered some beef soup and sat outside listening to the concert. It was such a great time! 

When I finished dinner, I walked back to the train station and headed towards Tokyo Disney. I'll pick up from there in my next post. I will say that being at Disney and seeing the castle, but not being able to go is TORTURE! I promptly text Mark and requested that go before we leave Japan.