The First Time You Got On A Plane, Where Did You Go?

I was 16 the first time I got on an airplane. My mom took me to Japan. Most children's first time on a plane is somewhere close, or to the most expected; Disney. Not for me though! My mother took me on a 2 stop, 20+ hour journey to the eastern hemisphere. We flew from Philly to Dallas, and then took an 18-hour flight from Dallas to Tokyo. I remember watching the same movie on the plane over & over, until we landed. When we arrived in Tokyo, I was in amazement, all while thinking to myself "FINALLY"! But no, our journey was not complete. We had to take another flight from Tokyo to Misawa. We traveled so long that I can't even remember actually arriving at our destination.

I remember needing visas because we were staying 37 days. Long time, right? At the time, my sister was in the military. We stayed with her and her family on Misawa AFB. It was so different on and off the base. There were a few noticeable differences while on the base, but nothing to really write home about. There was one exception though. The vending machines were so fascinating to me. Yes, I said the vending machines! Instead of snacks and goodies, they had full on groceries. I'm talking milk, eggs, cheese, etc. That was so crazy to me. Although the vending machines amazed me, the experience off base blew my entire mind. The culture shock was extreme and instant. How could a mere few steps take you into a completely different world? I thought, how could I miss all this on the ride in? I guess I was so exhausted from travel, I didn't pay it any mind. I was completely blown away by the tiny cars, funny shaped architecture & what I thought to be, was far superior technology.

Venturing off base had me wanting everything, and I mean this as literally as possible. Everything I saw in stores or on display, I wanted to take home with me. I'll never forget how bad I wanted a Japanese cell phone. My mom refused to buy it, knowing it was a stupid purchase and that there was no way it would work back home. I was "fake" heartbroken, lol. There was this little noodle restaurant that I'd eat at almost every day. I'd get yakisoba and cheese rolls. Yakisoba is ramen dish with the meat of your choice and vegetables. The cheese rolls were shape like any other egg roll you've seen, but they were very little like the size of your finer and completely filled with cheese. This food had me in awe. I was so determined to find this food when I returned home, but I should've known that would be an epic fail. That type of authenticity can never be duplicated.

After all that I've seen and experienced on this trip, the weirdest part of it all is that it was barely memorable. I know that sounds crazy, but it just wasn't. Don't me wrong, this was definitely a trip of a lifetime and I appreciate to the chance to have gone. However, besides the trip itself I have no "magical' or "epic" memories from it. I 100% attribute to my age at the time. I was 16. What could I really have done? I didn't have my own money. I couldn't venture too far without an adult, and I couldn't just get up, go & do whatever I wanted. Oh, and let's not forget I'm kind of old now. The trip happened so long ago, that I'm sure my memories fading is just the natural order of things. But here's the silver lining of it all; this just give me the need and the motive to go back. I will most certainly be getting my "Adult Do Over".