The Resolution

There’s a lot that I don’t know and there’s a lot that I’m still learning but I think I’m slowly understanding. I feel so alive not being home and I wonder if I can only feel this way if I’m constantly seeing new things. We’ve spent over 30 hours traveling in trains and buses in the last 3 days and even though my body is tired I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I’m so extremely blessed to be able to travel and see more than people get to see in a lifetime. I have NOTHING to hold me back and I’m free to finally just be lost. It’s what I wrote home about 5 months ago when I sat at my surfer hostel in Portugal and had no idea where I would be at the end of the year. I felt so alone and so lost but there was something scarily awakening in knowing that I was starting something new.

We just took a bus from a town called Takachiho to the train station so we can go to Kyoto today. I do a lot of thinking on buses when it’s quiet and I thought about what I will see and experience in the next 5 months. I have so much coming up I could just throw up I’m so excited.

I have an absolutely PACKED itinerary for two weeks roaming around the north and south islands of New Zealand with Kunal and his two girlfriends. Can I just say that I love connecting with old friends and Kunal has been a super awesome friend of mine. From highschool gym class where we just made fun of each other and talked in line to not talking for a while once we went to college. I stayed in Jersey and he went to (basically) the other side of the world in Pittsburgh. Then he really left and moved to California. He’s back in NY (for what I think will be a while) and our latest adventure took us to Acadia National Park in Maine where we went bioluminescent paddling and climbed mountains with our lives depending on iron rungs. After 2 weeks with him and the girls I’ll be on a cattle farm for a week in north New Zealand where I’ll probably be brushing Scottish Highland Cattle and milking cows (not kidding).

I have a few weeks after that where I don’t know where I’ll be yet but I’ll be meeting up with my aunt in Sydney for Christmas. She’s on an awesome journey herself, flying straight to Australia when everyone leaves Japan. My cousin will be flying into Australia around the same time too and then Kirk gets in a few days later. We ALL get to ring in the New Year together in Sydney and then the boyfriend and I are off on our big adventure exploring the Gold Coast. I must have done something extraordinary in my past life to be blessed with everything I have in this one. What guy would buy a ticket to fly around the world to meet up with a girl he met just four weeks prior? We’ve been to four concerts, endless Wednesday evening date nights and a long weekend trip to Chicago on a whim. This crazy boy asked me to be his girlfriend SIX days before I left the country. I’ll be away traveling longer than I’ve known him but traveling has been my resolution since coming home in May - he’s just in for a crazy ride ;)

The adventure doesn’t stop there. Come January my two travel buddy girlfriends Amy and Francesca are flying to Thailand to ruck around with me. I always brag about my girls but they really are something else. I have girlfriends who are ALWAYS down to do my two favorite things – Eat and Travel. We’ve been to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Austin, the Bahamas, Punta Cana, Boston, Westpoint, all around Philly, NY, Jersey and so much more. We eat multiple lunches and dinners when we travel just so we can taste it all. We NEVER stop. I am so happy to call these girls my friends. They deal with my crazy self 24/7 and they rarely complain about it.

I have an amazing support system and know that wherever I am in the world someone will come find me and share these moments with me.

10/26 12:56pm

Yesterday we took a bit longer than expected to get to our destination town so we had to rush to see it all this morning. Takachiho is very mountainous and has steep gorges and beautiful waterfalls. The town itself it super outdated and old. It looks tired. We stayed at a traditional Ryokan, which is a place with a room where you sleep on mattresses on the floor that are on tatami mats. There are also communal bathing areas. These types of accommodations used to serve travelers during the Edo period. Our beds were made when we got there so we dropped our bags and our first line of business was finding food. We had been traveling all day from train to train to train to bus and hadn’t been able to stop at all to eat. We found a place close by and I had Katsu Kare for dinner (rice and curry with a breaded and deep fried pork cutlet). It’s super comfort food and I was starving. It totally hit the spot.

When we got back we all went up to the public bath to relax. You strip down and wear these robes and bring your towels with you. There’s a dressing room type area with wicker baskets that you can put your stuff in. You leave everything in the basket and walk into another room that has showers. There are stools and buckets so you can sit down and clean off thoroughly before getting into the communal bath. BTW no clothes allowed… we soaped up then relaxed in the onsen (what the bath is called). An onsen is characterized by its hot water (must be over 25 degrees) and must contain 1 out of 19 different minerals. I love really really hot showers and I love soaking in the hot tub for hours but this was cray. I stayed in for about 10 minutes and hopped out. I think my body emitted steam for a few hours afterwards it was so hot.

In the morning we were up at half past five to pack and get out. Afterall, we had waterfalls to chase! We got this awesome taxi driver who not only drove us around but got out of the car and walked with us around everywhere he was a cool dude. We started at Amano Yasukawara Cave which is where the sun goddess Amaterasu went to hide after getting into a fight with her brother thus creating a world of darkness. She was coaxed out of the cave by a dance called yokagura which is still preformed in town to this day with dancers wearing scary masks. There are neat cairns everywhere and to get down to the cave it’s a bit of a hike. It was super cool to see and probably even more spectacular when all the leaves change color. It’s been pretty warm here lately so there’s still green everywhere. Our next stop was the Takachiho

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gorge which this town is most well known for. The waterfall is beautiful although small compared to others. You can take a boat out on the river to see it up close but we were short on time and it was cold out in the morning. Our third trip was to see the “sea of clouds” this lookout point is so high up that when the weather is just right a layer of clouds forms right at your feet. It was a clear day today so there weren’t any clouds but it did serve as a nice spot to see the entire town and mountains in the distance.

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We’re at Kokura train station now and we just had lunch waiting for our third (but not final) train on the way to Kyoto. I had a bento box that had rice, a little piece of fish, pickled radishes, fish eggs, a small omelet, a small pickled Japanese plum (yuck), a tempura fish cake, a piece of tempura shrimp, seaweed and enoki salad, and different stewed vegetables like carrot, lotus and shiitake.

When I get into Kyoto tonight I get to catch up with my friend Vin who I haven’t seen in forever. He moved to Japan to teach English and was living in Obama last time I was in Japan so I didn’t get to see him. He lives in Kyoto now so I have no excuse not to see him =P We have a few more hours of traveling though and I want to read a bit so I’ll catch you guys later.

Much love, Cas

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