Last autumn I went on a 2-week solo trip! I realized that it was the most adventurous trip I ever had. I'm here to share the thrilling and heartwarming experience during my travel. It was a roller coaster ride with a parade of emotions.
I began the trip on November 14 2020, a nice sunny Saturday morning. All dressed up in traditional wear as it was Deepavali back in my home country. Was so excited to experience the fall foliage and got super lucky to witness Mt.Fuji during my travel, which is always a brownie point!
This was the longest solo trip I have ever been to. I was almost 14 days away from Tokyo and stayed in a new place around Kyoto. I was pumped up and already jotted down the plan for the day. Decided to start the trip by paying a visit to a beautiful shrine called Kifune, which is over an hour of journey from Kyoto.
Here comes the tragic and the fun part! I reached Kyoto in the morning and put my luggage in the coin locker right outside the Kyoto station. I just took my purse, my mobile, and my camera to visit the shrine. The plan was to visit the shrine and other scenic spots nearby, then check in to my Airbnb hotel and call it a day! I almost completed an hour of journey to the shrine and got down at a place where I need to switch to another bus. Just before I got down from the bus, I saw this jaw-dropping beautiful place filled with autumn foliage. The hyper kid in me woke up and as soon as I got down from the bus instead of going to the bus stop for the next bus, I was heading to that beautiful place, searching for the bus schedule on my mobile. Boom !! my mobile slipped off from my hand and it fell right under the bus. My brain was processing the scene and an inner voice in me told "Mithra!! pick it up right awayyyy" while another voice in me told "Mithra! No, what if you lose your hand, no one will marry you" (I know it is funny, but I thought about it :P ) and in no time, the bus just rode on it and my mobile's display was shattered into pieces leaving my mobile completely damaged
Everything just changed in a split of a second. How much I wished if I had the superpower to rewind the time. It was like a nightmare as I neither know how to go back nor my Airbnb stay's address. I sat there for a while and was processing everything around me. The Kifune shrine that I wanted to visit for was just 10 minutes away and I didn't want to miss a chance to visit it. So I took the crazy decision of continuing with my journey instead of returning! I had a plan in mind - to retrace the same transport path and reach Kyoto, unlock the coin locker and use my laptop, connect to Wi-Fi and figure out things!
In a few minutes, I arrived at Kifune shrine. The autumn colors especially the golden orange and the wine red colors were so stunning and the beautiful Japanese-styled lamps were like icing on the cake!
After spending quality time there, I was forced to get back to the reality! It took me about 2 hours to reach Kyoto station. I picked my things from the coin locker and settled down in a café and was too much stressed out. I have this bad habit of running things in my mind like a flow chart and I would keep repeating it. Nothing new for a person like me, who maintains checklists and gets high while I strike off things.
This was my checklist for the day!
1) Connect to Wi-Fi
2) Find how to go to Airbnb
3) Connect with my family through the Viber app in laptop
4) Try to connect with my friend who was residing in Kyoto to enquire on mobile repair stores
First of all, I thanked myself for renting out a portable Wi-Fi before my trip, the reason - to use it as a backup for work, if the Wi-Fi at my hotel was bad. Since it was a pandemic, I got the opportunity to work from home and hence I tried staycation with utmost precautions! I connected the laptop to the Wi-Fi but had a hard time logging into the Airbnb web. I never remembered its password as it was on my mobile app. Usually, on forgetting passwords, a code will be sent to my mobile which I was not having access to. Latter I cracked it by signing in through a different authentication. I had rented the place near the station and it was a 8-minute walk! I had to memorize the directions (I'm bad at it as I trust Google maps more than myself :P ) and somehow managed to reach near the place. It was funny to ask for the address by using my laptop on the road and to finally reach my place. Finally, it was a relief when I was at the hotel - home for the next 2 weeks.
The next thing I did was to call my mom via the Viber app. Since it was Deepawali, I knew that they would have called me while they do the pooja. So I made sure to inform them first! I was strong when I was narrating what had happened to my mom, sister, and brother-in-law but when I got to speak to my dad, I busted out. I was in so much tension as it was a new place to me and I need to figure out things for the next 2 weeks without mobile. I didn't want to go back to Tokyo in the middle of the trip. Luckily my dad didn't scold me for damaging my mobile but consoled that it's totally fine. He told me that it was a good decision not to take the mobile that was under the bus as safety is more important! I was relieved and told him about the next plans.
Next, I got access to the Instagram web and messaged my friend, who resided in Kyoto. He responded to me immediately and we together checked out a few mobile repairing shops but in vain as only iPhone was popular in Japan and mine was Oneplus. Nevertheless, I was glad that he came to help me. Meanwhile, I contacted another friend of mine in Kobe as I was about to meet him next week on a group trip. He immediately offered me to lend his iPad and I can return it to him before I leave Kyoto. I was immensely happy as I could use my portable Wi-Fi and connect to Google maps to navigate.
So I had an iPad, portable Wi-Fi, a camera, and a laptop to survive my trip! The next day was a Sunday and I visited Uji, Kyoto. I thought that all my problems came to an end and I could enjoy my trip. I was blown away by how beautiful Uji was! Visited the great Byodoin temple and the whole area was rich in tradition. The vibrant blue colored Uji river and the glazing orange colors were stunning! On the way back, I visited Nara. The deers greeted me with a warm bow. I visited a new temple- Kasuga shrine, loved the lanterns and it's symmetry. The autumn sight was extremely pretty in Nara. Couldn't believe that I walked for more than 12000 steps. I was in love with how I spent the day. The social media-free day was an amazing experience indeed. I was complete with nature. I made full use of my camera and captured all the beautiful moments!
The next day, I had to log in for work. That's when I remembered that to work on a particular system, a passcode will be generated to my mobile. Without it, I cannot use it. While I was terrified again to how to handle this, yet another friend of mine - Sowmya came to my rescue! I was fortunate enough to be offered help. She was also a part of the group trip that was planned for the next week. She sent her spare mobile from Tokyo to my friend in Kyoto and the issue got sorted. Since it was a temporary mobile, I just downloaded the apps that I'll use for work. I neither downloaded WhatsApp nor Facebook. I just used Instagram web when necessary to contact my sister. I decided to be social media-free for the entire trip and began to rejoice in it.
Since it was a staycation, I had the opportunity to explore Kyoto during the early hours of weekdays before logging in for work. One such lovely experience was how I got to visit the breathtaking zen gardens of Kyoto. Zen gardens are known for its tranquility. It was used by monks in Buddhist temples, a living work of art, and a perfect place for meditation which is now open to everyone.
My visit to Enkojo and Shisen-do zen garden remains glued to my heart. I become a great fan of Zen. How could I forget the cute jizos statues? Kyoto itself is very beautiful for its rich culture, but how about adding some flavors of autumn to it? It was nothing but bliss! Just serene.
Another happy moment during my trip was when my friends dropped me messages on Instagram that they missed me and my posts. I'm usually super active on social media and used to update about my whereabouts constantly. But this time, I didn't do it. Some of my friends pinged me on Instagram just to ask if I'm doing fine. One of them called me and told that if I had not attended the call, they had plans of filing a missing complaint to police. I found it cute when people missed me and the effort they to check on me! I felt so grateful as many around me helped a lot in solving the issues I had and in turn I got to enjoy the trip.
Latter, the next week the group trip was executed as per the plan and we visited various picturesque spots. Some of the attractions were Minno falls Osaka, iconic Kobe Port, Awaji island, and Eikando temple walk and we also tried the delicious 'momiji tenpura' (a dish made out of dried maple leaves dipped in the batter and deep fried ). By the end of the trip, I was overindulged with colors and there was even a point, where I didn't want to see any more colors.
During the 2 weeks trip, I saved many dried autumn leaves inside my goshuin book, and every time I see it, I swim in those memories. I also collected more than 20 manholes and it was super fun. I was finally contented with autumn!
This feeling of being content did not just come from the colors I saw but I had one more perspective, that I can never forget. Before I left for the group trip and before I left Airbnb in Kyoto, there was a girl - a foreigner, who just entered the same Airbnb hotel. The hotel has a self-check-in system, using the password sent to their account. The girl was in haste. She bumped into me and was panicking that she didn't have charge in her mobile, couldn't get the password and also cannot connect with her friend in Kyoto. I just saw myself in her who was panicking about a similar situation a week ago. I immediately offered the stranger my power bank. She was sitting on the stairs and was charging her mobile using my power bank. I checked on her after a while and also added that if it gets late she can come to my room and rest. She was trembling about the whole situation and told that she would come if it's getting too late. After 2 hours, she knocked on my door and told: "Thank you so much!! My mobile got charged, I got the password and also got to connect with my friend! It's all sorted now, I just got into my room as well. Thanks a lot!! I don't know what I would have done without you". Her words kept lingering in my mind.
After all, gratitude is to be passed on and I find joy in helping people. That feeling was priceless! I felt so joyful and was returning to Tokyo with loads of colorful memories! Isn't this a memorable autumn trip? :)
P.S: This trip stays extra close to me as during this time, my husband (fiancé then) - Gopi had messaged me in Facebook on November 22nd while I had no clue about it and was enjoying my trip. Later I connected with him after I reached Tokyo.