Musings from Another Time and Place

Ever since I have traveled abroad, I have kept journals of my experiences. Some have been better and more frequently updated then others, but still, they exist in some shape or form. I have been trying to get them all together (all the way back to when I was 11) but it has proven to be a bit of a challenge. Through several moves and simply the passage of time, they have been misplaced. Though last weekend, I found my journal from Japan. I was so pleased. I love reading what I thought of things when I saw them, and at what age, and how my perceptions have changed. I would like this to be somewhat of a "blog series", with chapters, in which I take my favorite excerpts out of my travel journals.

Chapter 1:

Japan

Age: 17

"The first night was hard. I suppose I was expecting the transition to be a bit more smooth...My stomach sank and I realized where I was, how incredibly far away I was from anything known and familiar...There's stars on the ceiling here, to make up for the ones in the sky that the lights of Tokyo outshine."

Photo: Taken in a tram car in Hakone Nat'l Park, Japan.