Today I drove to the airport to pick up my friend Jen Em.
This was actually quite anxiety-inducing for me, as it is furthest I had ever driven on my own (1.5 hours), on a route I’d only seen driven once, and I’d have to navigate around the airport and find the arrivals parking all on my own.
Driving here is pretty stressful in general because I do not allow myself to EVER exceed the speed limit by one smidge EVER (what would I say when I got pulled over for speeding? "Could I have todauy's special menu, please?" [my Japanese classes have not covered traffic infractions thus far]). It is also stressful because the beast is, well, little (this should be noted by those planning visits in pairs: do not bring a lot of luggage. Seriously), and trucks in Japan, while small, are still quite a bit bigger than the beast.
Anyway, back to the airport drive: Thanks for that construction, Narita Airport Authority, really appreciated that! Certainly liked that element of surprise as I was trying to find the parking (Is it on the left of the earth mover? Or the right of the earth mover?).
Despite all the stress, it worked fine. I was extremely nervous driving there and back, but I didn’t get lost once – although coming home in the dark I thought I was lost several times. But I wasn’t.
Tomorrow, Jen and I hit Tokyo.
2 comments:
This post was laugh-out-loud funny! I loved the image of you trying to talk yourself out of a ticket with a limited vocabulary!!
I'm glad your adventure was a success. I'll bet that you'll be driving tour buses cross-country by the time we visit!
MD
What is the "earth mover?" Some sort of icon that indicates parking? or is the airport under construction? you did mention "construction..." If you get stopped by a cop you can show them your alien card and the registration for your Japanese card. Also, I'll bet the officers read English... good schools. requirements.. etc. nevertheless I was nervous just reading about how scarey it was. This is the way I felt driving in Seattle which is why I turned in my rental car much to polly's dismay... Also, sometimes when I am driving, all of a sudden I cannot figure out where I am because of dead brain cells I guess. I suddenly cant remember which road to take and nothing looks familiar... this is especially true in the countryside at night... whoops, I wrote an "essay...:
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