I will go on a summer vacation trip with my sister Emily today. It was a little far from our house on the west side of the city to the airport in the northeast, so we took a bus from home with our suitcases. We arrived at the airport counter, handed our bags over to the airline ground staff, and checked in. We headed to the boarding bridge, looking at a corner lined with duty-free shops. We waited for boarding to begin, eating snacks with my sister in front of a bench with a sign for our designated flight, chatting about trivial things. When boarding time came, the business class passengers were announced, and after a while, we were called, so we handed over our boarding passes and entered the plane. We put our day bags in the rack above the seats and sat down next to each other. We were depart just now.

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I woke up suddenly, lured by the sound of my alarm. The morning sunlight was dazzling. Oh, what a happy dream. I checked the departure time on the reservation confirmation of flight WS80 that I had printed out yesterday and placed on my desk.

"Departure at 3pm... I have to be at the airport by 12:30pm."

I muttered to myself as I checked the contents of my suitcase, then gathered up the leftovers from the almost empty refrigerator and had breakfast.

"Well, I'm off now."

I said goodbye to sleeping sister and left the house. At that moment, I suddenly remembered that I had seen my sister in my dream yesterday, and I started to cry as I compared her to the adult version of my imagination. However, this trip was not a pure vacation trip like the one I had dreamed about, but a business trip with travel expenses covered by my employer. I left home before noon and took a bus to the airport in about an hour. After showing my reservation confirmation to the airline counter attendant and checking my luggage, I waited for a while while drinking coffee on a bench in front of the boarding bridge.

Back to Friday, the day before yesterday, my last day at work before my business trip. After finishing the relatively light coding work that I was assigned that day and reviewing a PDF file that outlined the exhibition I was going to, "Computing and Information Technology Expo," and exhibitor information, we had a small farewell party at the office. Since it was daytime, there was no alcohol, but we had cake. I drank coffee while my colleague told me to do my best to participate in the exhibition in faraway Japan and wished me a good trip.

When the call came for economy class passengers, I lined up to board, handed the boarding pass I had received at check-in to the attendant, and entered the plane. There was a commotion for a while after I sat down, but it eventually quieted down and we took off. The flight attendant explained how to use the oxygen inhaler in an emergency and how to put on a life jacket. After that was done and I settled down, I opened the electronic version of the Lonely Planet Japanese conversation book on my smartphone and reviewed everyday conversation. The rest of the time I ate in-flight meals, drank coffee and cola given to me by the flight attendants, and slept most of the time.

The plane I was on finally landed at our destination, Narita Airport, about ten hours after takeoff. After the plane came to a complete stop, the flight attendants guided me off the plane, walked down a long corridor, and went through immigration, then collected my luggage at the carousel. There was a currency exchange machine just outside, and I put in five thin, see-through, $20 bills as the minimum amount I needed, and got about 10,000 yen, so I think I'll be able to cover my transportation costs and food expenses in places where credit cards aren't accepted.

There was no shop on this floor, and a guide showed me that it was on the fourth floor where the departure lobby was, so I went up there and bought postcards and stamps at the shop there, then headed to the information desk for the airport station in the basement of the terminal. So I showed the attendant the Japan Rail Pass voucher I had bought at a travel agency counter a kilometre and a half from the local downtown area, and said in broken Japanese, "Watashi, kore wo pass ni hikikaetai desu. Soshite, korekara Chiba-eki no chikaku no hotel ni ikitai no desuga? (I want to exchange this for a pass, and I'm going to a hotel near Chiba Station from now.)" She looked at the issuer of the voucher and replied in fluent English, "Please wait a minute." Then she disappeared behind me and returned a while later. "Here is your pass. Is this correct for seven days?" she asked, showing me the pass. I replied, "This is fine." She then told me how to get to Chiba Station, "Enter through the ticket gate on the right, get off at the platform, and take the train with the blue and white lines." I was recommended a Welcome Suica card for the day I was participating in the exhibition, and I didn't travel long distances, so I tapped it on the ticket gate as instructed and headed to the platform. The explanation was that this card was for tourists, and there was no need to pay a deposit for the regular cards used by local people, but it will expire after four weeks and the balance would disappear. I have used this kind of card in another city in my country, so I knew what it was without being told, but I haven't heard anything about it being introduced in our city's transit system yet.

So I got on the brand new long train with blue and white horizontal lines that was parked at the platform. Looking out the window, I saw a rural landscape. There was an LCD monitor above the door that showed the next station and advertisements. As the train moved, I heard an automated announcement saying, "Next Station is Chiba, JO 28". So I prepared to get off. I went out onto the platform with my luggage and went up the escalator, and was surprised to see a number of souvenir shops, grocery stores, and other small shops lined up in the concourse just before the ticket gate. Even though I hadn't left the ticket gate yet, there were as many shops as I had seen at the airport where I had flown. Even though I was still in the suburbs, far away from the centre of Tokyo. I felt that it would be difficult to make a profit even if I set up a shop at the entrance of the station in my town.

After exiting the ticket gate, I went right and walked along the deck, then walked for a few minutes to the hotel I had checked on the map on my smartphone. I checked in and put my luggage in my room. When I connected to the hotel's Wi-Fi with my laptop, I received an email from Nagisa, an exhibitor at Nozomi Systems, a company with a business partnership with my workplace and an exhibitor at the booth.

"Dear Shirley O'Neill Poplowski, I'm sure you've just left Narita Airport and arrived at the hotel. I'd like to give you my Computing and Information Technology Expo exhibitor's pass, so could we meet tomorrow Tuesday at around 8am on the bench in front of the entrance to Makuhari Messe? If that doesn't work for you, please let me know. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Nagisa Inazawa, Nozomi Systems Public Relations Department"

So I replied right then and there,

"Dear Nagisa Inazawa, thank you for your email. That's fine, I'll come over tomorrow at 8am."

After calming down a bit, I took a walk around the station. I happened to see an electronics store right in front of me. It was a huge nine-story specialty store that I'd never seen in my country, and it sold home appliances, toys, and some cosmetics. I first bought a SIM card for tourists at the mobile phone section, then walked around the fairly large PC section and tried out the latest models. My main shopping destination is Akihabara, which is a place that even my colleagues know about...yes, that's where I plan to go. There is a restaurant area in the building, so I had a light meal there, and after stopping by a small grocer under the nearby train tracks, I returned to the hotel around 9pm. There were many things I had never seen before at that grocery, so I would like to take my time shopping there when I have more time. I went to bed early because I had just arrived in Japan after traveling a long distance and was feeling a bit sleepy from jet lag. I wanted to upload the photos I took today to SNS and write a postcard to my precious sister from the place I set foot in for the first time, but I'm running out of energy, so I'll do it tomorrow. I'll definitely write to you if I have time, Emily.