My fucked up sleep schedule became a problem? No way!
Today’s reading says that to chase ambitions you gotta leave responsabilities to others. In other words “don’t even think about work while on your vacation”.
Well, I did get a couple of hours of sleep, but I was thrashing about in the bed for way too long before then.
I left everything in order before leaving, thankfully, so I just dragged my ass to the gate first thing in the morning.
There was a minor snag in that it’d been so long since I last carried something other than my backpack into the cabin that I forgot it was 7kg TOTAL between bag and backpack and not each. But thankfully I was more than one hour away and I just had to pay for one more checked in luggage.
Two hours of dissociation later I was in da island. And more importantly…
I was reaunited with My Beloved.
I’ve only seen this brand of tea in Okinawa and it’s the first thing I go get on a straight line when I come.
After getting my luggage I start checking how to get to Miyakojima. Like many of my trips I saw some photos in Yodobashi Camera, they said “Miyakojima” in big letters. I do a cursory search and it goes “In Okinawa….” and I go “cool, I go to Okinawa this year, then”.
Google maps doesn’t show me transport options and I’m like “oh I bet it’s a different island and I have to take a ferry”.
I take the monorail to where a nearby port is and I take the chance to take the sights in.
A flash rain got me stuck on a Seven Eleven for like half an hour but I was still in high spirits.
A bit of extra walking and I finally make it to the port.
And in the port they tell me to get to Miyakojima you have to take a plane.
FINE.
Back to Naha Airport with me.
On the way back I managed to book a flight to Miyakojima. It’s last minute and pricey as hell (because again, last minute) but I managed to solve things.
It’s also in 6 hours from then but again, I managed to solve things regardless.
One meal later I leave my luggage on a locker and I decide to explore a bit since the airport is, all in all, shockingly close to downtown via the one monorail. And if things get dicey hey, cabs are cheap at least.
I randomly pick a spot called Tsubogawa but quickly turn around when nothing caught my eye. I decide at that moment to instead check the area I was staying in last time since at least it’s familiar enough that I shouldn’t get lost.
I made a quick stop to cool off by a nearby mall and then headed out.
THEN I got lost.
Well, kinda. More specifically I headed on a straight line from the wrong side of the street I remembered and because it had a V shape, the longer I walked the further away from where I needed to be that I was.
One quick adjustment and I got to the beach.
For context this was the spot I was near to back in 2023, last time I came to Okinawa.
Here’s some photos from this spot specifically back then.
I made a quick stop at Naminoue (literally “on top of the tides”) Temple and headed back. It was almost 4 so it would be almost 5 by the time I made it to the airport.
By the way, in case you’ve forgotten, yes. I’m still doing all of this with like 4 hours of sleep at most.
Back on the airport I pass security and all that and I’m starting to feel the exhaustion kick my ass. I’m thinking “Miyakojima better be fuckin’ amazing for all these hurdles.”
Then I saw the sky on the flight.
I’ve flown a fair bit in my adult life and I can tell you without any doubt that these had been the ´prettiest clouds I’ve ever seen from a plane. They were so pretty the 50 minutes of the flight just vanished in a blink.
Miyakojima was already looking really interesting from the Sky because there were so few buildings.
Then the airport was super small and the cab had to be like one of a bhandful of times where I’ve gotten in a car in Japan and the dials were analog instead of digital. The man didn’t even have a GPS.
At this point my interest in beyond piqued, nd then I get to the hotel. and get distracted by what’s in front of the hotel.
The Funky Flamingo, a retro-themed restaurant with live music and one hell of a burger.
By my own standards I’ve already done a lot of the things I look for on a trip, including cool sights and something dumb but ultimately harmless inciting adventure.
But for now… I collapse.