about being alone

When I told my boyfriend that I was going to Japan, he told me to go alone. He insisted that there are certain things that you can only experience when you are traveling alone. I didn’t mind and probably because it was Japan, I wasn’tl worried too much. After all, I have my sister in Tokyo.

So, yeah, I bought my JR Pass, booked my dorms and hostels, packed my carrier and armed by my new second hand Nikon. I was ready to embrace new things alone. Some people are not into traveling alone, but after this trip, I realize I’m not that kind of people. I loved every minute of it.

I met new people, I spoke new phrases in a new language (ohayo gosaimasitaaaaaa), I saw new places, I tried new food, but I have to say the best of all was I had freedom. I could feel it when I stood next to Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkin facing the grey sea, I could feel it when I walked under the gates up in the mountain in Koyasan, I could feel it when the view outside my window on Shinkansen became blurry. Everything felt so light.

I left my country with so many things in my mind. Before I left, I told myself that this could be a good opportunity to think things over. But when I was there, all I wanted was not thinking about anything, because I felt that there isn’t a problem too big if I could stop and enjoy the view in front of me.

I love this quote from Albert Einstein:

“The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before.”