Thousand Miles from Home

Posted on by Prisanti 2 Comments

No matter how far I travel, I might never fall in love. I might like the scenery, I might like the castle, I might like the public transportation. I might like everything. But love is another different league. If I want to put a word to it, I would be giving ‘amazing’, ‘nice’, ‘incredible’, etc. But I’d never given up the word ‘beautiful’. Because ‘beauty’ is home. Thus, I might never fall in love with another.

It is nice finally hitting my own bed at home. After series of night at plane, overnight buss, friend’s bed, train, etc. Sometimes I’m still feeling lonely, having experienced traveling alone for the first time in my life, thousand miles from home. Backpacking alone doesn’t make me an expert on it. I just experienced a slice of what they called seeing the other part of the world. It sure does opening my eyes to any possibilities ahead, it sure does delightful.

Japan is everybody’s dream, especially for the 90’s kids. I have been dreaming to go to Japan ever since, it always made the top list of my future destinations (along with Mekkah, Nepal, and London). To finally stepping my feet on Japan, was another dream comes true. It felt surreal to open your eyes in someplace you recognize so well in your memory. It is also feel surreal to blink your eyes and hitting ground in unknown city and wandering around until you bleed with happiness :)

One thing I realize, no matter how incredible Japan is and how different it is from my country, I still can’t talk down about Indonesia. It is so easy to say that everything in our country is suck. Strangely, nothing came out. I realized, my country reflected me, no matter how hard I want to deny it. I guess it is another slap in the face to really trying harder then.

The trip and the journey itself is another self contemplation. I’ll write more about Japan next time and how I shed tears at a museum :’)

PS: I should really thank Puty for many inspirations she gave me. I read her blog a lot, about travelling abroad, about going to Japan, and here I am :)

Naik Kereta Keliling Jawa

Posted on by Prisanti 7 Comments

Setelah tahun lalu tanpa sengaja mendapat link tentang perjalanan keliling Jawa dengan kereta, saya cukup terobsesi untuk mengadakan perjalanan yang sama. Sebenarnya niatan untuk melakukan perjalanan ini sudah ada beberapa waktu sebelumnya ketika membaca Traveler Indonesia dengan liputan utama yang sama. Akhirnya dengan sisa field break yang belum diambil dan long weekend pertama di tahun 2012, saya kesampaian juga naik kereta keliling Jawa.

Hal yang pertama direncanakan tentu saja rute perjalanan. Kereta apa yang digunakan dan jadwal yang tepat sehingga waktu 3 hari yang saya punya tidak terbuang percuma. Cara termudah mengefisienkan waktu adalah mencari kereta malam sehingga menghemat uang penginapan dan ‘tau-tau sampai’ :P. Saran saya sih untuk yang berminat lewat Jalur Utara, wajib hukumnya mencari jadwal kereta pagi/siang, too good to be missed. Awalnya saya sudah merencanakan untuk menaiki 6 kereta, dengan rute Jakarta – Bandung – Malang – Surabaya – Banyuwangi – Surabaya – Semarang – Jakarta. Tapi karena waktu yang tidak memungkinkan dan karena kehabisan tiket (padahal saya beli hampir sebulan sebelumnya), akhirnya cuma kesampaian naik 4 kereta saja. Sempat ganti rencana mendadak di loket karena kehabisan tiket Argo Sindoro (Semarang Tawang – Gambir) untuk pulang, untungnya teringat Fajar Utama yang berhenti di Stasiun Pasar Senen. Rute yang dipilih akhirnya Bandung – Surabaya – Banyuwangi – Surabaya – Semarang – Jakarta. Dengan kereta yang dipilih Argo Wilis – Mutiara Timur – Mutiara Timur – Gumarang – Fajar Utama.

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