I’ve always struggled with focusing on the negative events that happen in my life.  I could hold on to and complain about an issue FOREVER.  Over the past couple of years, I’ve started to change my mindset and look at the positive side to a bad situation.  It is an ongoing process but being able to find  the good in these recent travel incidents, are signs that it’s possible.

——> Osaka

I was excited the Friday afternoon before a week vacation.  I was headed to Osaka and Hawaii, got to leave work early, and was going to ride the famous Shinkansen (bullet train) for the first time.  To save money, I figured I’d buy a non-reserved seat and sit once people got off at their stops.  I don’t know why I thought that the Shinkansen (or what I now call the Shinkanstand) would have less of a crowd compared to the metro; especially on a Friday evening.  I got on what seemed to be a short line of people and walked into one of the non-reserved cars.  There were no seats available so we continued to walk down the aisle.  The train began to move shortly after.  “Okay, I can stand for just a few minutes until the next stop,” I thought.  I ended up standing for 2 1/2 hours!  The people sitting around me weren’t getting off.  I wanted to go to a different car several times but there were long lines down the narrow aisles of each of them.

When someone finally got up, I rushed to the seat. It was in the middle and the woman sitting in the aisle was sleeping. I mumbled a quick “Sumimasen” (excuse me) before climbing over her and hitting her knees with my suitcase. I sat down and took a deep breath, relieved that I could relax.  Literally 5 minutes later, I heard the dreaded music that plays when the next stop is coming up and realized it was mine.  I’m going to buy reserved seating from now on.

Silver Linings:

•Osaka is a great city with so much to do and the vibe is different than Tokyo.

•I enjoyed staying at a capsule hotel for $60.

•I tried some delicious foods that are special to Osaka.

——> Hawaii

I arrived at Kansai International Airport for my flight to Hawaii around 5pm. It was set to leave at 7:30pm so timing was good.  The line was long but I didn’t mind.  I honestly thought about how proud I was about packing light for the first time.  I thought wrong again.  When I finally reached the check-in counter, the woman told me that my bag was overweight and couldn’t be carried on like I planned.  I had to pay ¥6500 ($60) to check it in.  She then told me that the lines were moving slowly so I should head to security ASAP.  The line was ridiculous and by the time I got to immigration, my flight had already started to board.  After a bit of a mix up with my forms, I ran towards a sign pointing to my gate number expecting it to be close, but saw a shuttle train instead.  The shuttle came quickly and once I got off, I started to run to my gate again.  Turns out, they hadn’t started boarding yet. 

Gold Linings:

•I got a window seat by an exit so I had extra leg room and didn’t have to ask anyone to move when I wanted to get up.

•Hawaii is absolutely beautiful and the sunsets are surreal!

•I did more physical activities in one week than I have in my entire life lol

What crazy travel stories do you have? Leave a comment below!