It should go without saying… but staying out late on the evening before travelling, probably isn’t the best idea. Especially if you’ve got a flight at 7:30…

While preparing for the trip I definitely had my ups and downs. It got pretty exhausting after while so in the end I pretty much pushed most of the planning to the last week and a half before my flight.

Nevertheless I learned quite a lot especially when it came to packing:

• Always leave enough space for chocolate!!! – Seriously!
• Packing cubes are awesome! – they make organizing so much easier!
• Write down a packing list, it’s a lifesaver – and it gives you a great overview of what you need
• Don’t finish the packing on the morning of your flight! – you’re gonna save yourself a lot of headache…

But well, I eventually managed to get on the plane in time. Only to hear that we’d spend another hour on the tarmac. Paris was enshrouded in fog, making it difficult to land.

Thankfully I had a four hour layover in Paris which dampened the blow of my delay.

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My trip to Okinawa was: Zurich – Paris, Paris – Shanghai and then finally Shanghai – Okinawa.

The flight from Paris to Shanghai, was rather exhausting. So I was glad to finally get off the plane. Unfortunately I had quickly realized that I wouldn’t be able to use Whatsapp to send an update to my Mom. But well, that’d have to wait for Japan.

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After a long and tiring journey I then finally landed in Naha, Okinawa. Getting through immigration and customs was rather straightforward. But I’ve got to hand it to ChatGPT, which saved my ass (as much as I hate to admit it…)

The trip to the hostel was pretty smooth sailing after that. I somehow managed grab the correct bus and after some chatting with a German couple got off at the correct stop. The hostel wasn’t far after that.

I definitely chose the right place to stay at. Shoutout to my place. A great vibe, good location and awesome people. There even was some Swiss German conversation to ease my way into the Japanese culture.

Pretty much the perfect way to start my journey! 🙂

PS: The food really is as great as they say it is (I’ve only had a Family Mart microwave meal and onigiri so far)

I’ll try to add some images to the post later on. But WordPress is pretty annoying so let’s see :/