Keliling Jepang

Keinginan untuk pergi ke Jepang awalnya sudah saya rencanakan untuk musim semi 2013. Tapi entah kenapa, berbagai file rencana perjalanan dan riset tentang tujuan wisata sudah rapi tak lama sejak tiketnya terbeli :P Efek terlalu bersemangat mungkin, ya? Walaupun begitu, hidup adalah rangkaian keputusan dan roda nasib, sayapun memutuskan untuk memindahkan jadwal perjalanan ke Oktober 2012. Memperpanjang waktu perjalanan dari seminggu menjadi 2 minggu, mencari diskon-diskon hotel musim gugur, dan akhirnya berangkat. Total perjalanan saya 14 hari, termasuk 2 hari perjalanan. Berikut itinerary saya yang format-nya saya ambil dari format itinerary-nya Puty.

Ada beberapa yang berubah dari rencana semula, dikarenakan saya tidak sanggup melanjutkan perjalanan ataupun keinginan untuk mengunjungi tempat lain menjadi lebih besar. Tapi kerangka besar itinerary saya tidak banyak berubah dari rencana awal, hanya waktunya saja diubah sesuai kondisi badan :P

Saya rasa, backpacking ke Jepang sudah menjadi hal yang semakin marak. Sudah cukup banyak orang-orang yang berhasil melakukannya dengan budget yang ketat (walau mungkin luber-luber sedikit karena melihat merchandise yang menyilaukan mata). Tips-tips macam pergunakan tiket terusan, ataupun membeli makan di Lawson pun pasti sudah sering didengar. Tips-nya kebanyakan benar, semuanya akan mengurangi budget, tapi tidak akan membuatnya menjadi murah. Karena memang standarnya di sana agak mahal (walau terganjar dengan pengalaman yang tak terlupakan). Berikut beberapa hal yang saya alami selama merencanakan dan melakukan perjalanan.

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Thousand Miles from Home

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 :)