For about an hour this morning, I felt a certain sense of calmness towards the rest of this trip. And then it came crashing down.
I was just about to leave for the library when my brother called my mom, and she told me to say hi to him before I went. It was his usual check-in time—late night in the UK, early morning here.
Naturally, he asked what our plans were after leaving Sakura, where we’re currently situated. I told him we have a guesthouse room booked in north-eastern Tokyo, close to our last hostel.
At this point, I should tell you that my brother has very different views on travel compared to mom and I. He believes in having nice things — luxury is best, but at least convenience. We, on the other hand, are more frugal. We haul our luggage around every few days, climb stairs and hills and train station platforms with it, and we deal with making microwave food or eating salad out of the bag because the cheapest hostel didn’t have a kitchen. But we always get an earful from Onkar when he hears of it.
Today, the conversation on this topic went on for rather a long time, and we were convinced by the end of it to rent an apartment in Tokyo for the rest of our time here. Our itinerary wasn't set, but we figured day trips from Tokyo, with the occasional overnight booking elsewhere, would work.
After about an hour of research — and quadruple-checking because it was non-refundable — I clicked "Pay & Reserve" on Airbnb.
That was it. A sigh of relief.
We were going to have a home for the next month. Our very own space. No more lugging suitcases up stairs, no more packing and unpacking, no more whispering because a stranger is sleeping two meters away. No more scrambling to find cheap accommodations every few days.
We’d found a great deal, costing us only a little over what we’d pay to stay at hostels on average over the same period of time. Well worth it for the convenience (spoken like my brother).
Plus, the apartment would accommodate my dad and aunt when they arrived too. It was perfect.
Notice how I use the past tense there?
Was.
Because an hour after I booked it, as I was eating a salad for brunch at the local Lawson, my phone buzzed with a message from Airbnb.
I paid upfront, mind you, but the site said the host has 24 hours to respond to your request and if denied, I’d be refunded. I figured it was just a formality — why would a host refuse paying guests?
You’ve probably guessed by now that this host did.
The reason? Irrelevant at this point, but supposedly the place was already booked for some of our dates. Some technical glitch in the search parameters let me try to reserve it on the same days, but there went that dream. Okay, I’m being dramatic. And some good did come out of all this, as I later realized.
But first, the panic.
This was the only decent place we found at a reasonable price, and it took well over an hour of scavenging along with inputs from my brother's to find and finalize. The next best option was not great.
I’m not sure if you’ve ever had that feeling when you don’t know where you’ll sleep in a few nights’ time. I know some people travel without knowing where they’ll sleep each night, and I wish I had the faith and self-assurance to be okay with that, but as you know, I’m a planner. Even though we already have the next six nights booked, the uncertainty beyond that is freaking me out.
Planning itineraries while Mama and the rest of the family were here was fine because we were in one city, and I just had to decide what places to visit in a day. We’d booked our lodging beforehand. But planning at almost the last minute for a trip lasting over a month still? That’s a whole different ball game. It’s scary. Just the thought of hauling our luggage across the country already feels exhausting.
A part of me did find the silver lining though.
There’s a tiny bit of relief in not being tied to Tokyo.
It does make sense to see as much of Japan as I can, after flying halfway across the world to be here. I’ve been working for myself for many months now, and one perk is that I can create my own schedule. I cleared a lot of it for the duration of this trip, to study for the JLPT, which is still a major goal.
I fell behind in the beginning, but I’ve spent a fair amount of time studying since. Here in Sakura there isn’t that much to see, and I’ve been spending most of my time camped out in a library near our hostel. Just last night I studied for three hours.
That being said, it would be a disservice to the time not spent studying if I didn’t experience more of the country, and that’s likely what would happen if I end up staying in Tokyo the whole time.
That’s not to say that I wouldn’t at least consider snagging the same apartment if it somehow became available for the dates we need it again, because comfort is an alluring thing and I am already beyond tired.
But I know that by traveling around Japan, good or bad, every experience will be new, and hopefully I’ll grow from it. As stressful as the planning is, on a much higher level it’s also just as exciting and I’m eager to bring my travel stories to you from all over the country in the coming days.