Testing our will to succeed...

This is a long one...but I felt that every painful detail was necessary to paint the full picture. :)

The 15th International Congress of Dietetics drew to a close, and we hightailed it out of Yokohama in search of a taste of Old Japan in Kyoto. Kyoto is about a 2.5 hour bullet-train (super high-speed) ride away from Yokohama, so we assumed we could leave the conference around 5pm and easily arrive by 8pm. "HaHa, suckers! We'll see about that," responded the travel gods.

In fact, we left the conference facility around 5:00pm and in hopes of catching a 5:50 train. "Plenty of time!" we thought. And the travel gods laughed heartily.

Although we had 7-day rail pass vouchers, we needed to exchange them for actual seat assignments on the bullet-train. We made sure to get directions and instructions from a native Japanese friend (who now lives in the U.S.), and away we went. Rachael with her two suitcases, Samia with her one jumbo (i.e. ridiculously heavy) suitcase and her overstuffed backpack, and me with the world's largest and heaviest expandable carry-on, plus a heavy shoulder bag, plus a bag of food. In other words, we were not traveling light. :) And since we were not traveling light, we opted to take a taxi to the subway station, per our friend's recommendation. As it turns out, we could have walked there more quickly...it was only two blocks away, and the poor driver & hotel concierge spent at least the time it would have taken us to walk that short distance trying to Tetris-fit our massive amount of luggage into the small cab. "Gee whiz. Aren't we silly for this little time waster?" we thought. "Just wait," responded the travel gods.

Upon our arrival at the station, we immediately spotted the Japan Rail (JR) office, and confidently stepped inside to exchange our rail pass vouchers. But wait! For some reason, this particular office does not complete voucher exchanges! We were told that we needed to go to another JR office in a subway station several stops away before we could hop on the Kyoto train. "OK...not a big deal," we thought. And they laughed again.

We made our way to the recommended Yokohama Station, and were happy to think that we were actually just a little closer to Kyoto. From the directions we had received, we were to pass through Yokohama station, anyway. So, no big loss of time! A collective sigh of relief followed. But the travel gods laughed some more.

We disembarked the subway train with our bags in tow and quickly realized that we were in the throws of rush hour within the main city terminal...in the second largest city in Japan. All three of us live in major U.S. cities, so we're no strangers to crowds...but the sheer volume of people moving through that station at lightning speed was an unbelievable sight, and moving through them with our luggage in tow was truly a test of fortitude. We walked and walked and walked, but we had no idea of where the JR office was located within this large, crowded station. We were also moving less than efficiently with our luggage. Rachael stepped up to the plate and volunteered to find the office while Samia and I waited with the bags. About a half hour later, when we assumed that Rachael was lost in Japan forever, she came running back to us, out of breath and covered in sweat. "Follow me!" she said, while grabbing her bag and taking off in a full sprint...dodging in and out of the rush hour crowd with amazing agility and lightning reflexes! Since the maps were all written in Japanese the the crowds didn't allow for stopping and contemplating, Samia and I trusted her lead and attempted to follow suit...oh, and speaking of suit...did I mention that I was still in my presentation suit and heels??? And the travel gods laughed heartily again.

We ran until we were honestly panting, and arrived at the JR office literally the same moment that our number (that Rachael had cleverly picked up) was called. We rushed up to the counter, knowing that our window of time before departure was narrowing, and proceeded to be waited on by the most meticulous, precise, S-L-O-W hand-writer that I have ever seen. He got the job done, but with only five minutes to spare before our train's departure time! When we asked which track we should run toward, he looked at us as if we were beyond crazy. The lady next to him, who was more confident with her English skills, explained that we couldn't possibly make that train because it departed from SHIN-YOKOHAMA station, not YOKOHAMA station. Rachael, with a look of pure defeat, walked over to the water cooler for a sip of cool rejuvenation...and it was empty. :) So the travel gods laughed again.

We forged ahead through the crowds once again, made our way onto another subway line, and headed toward Shin-Yokohama station, our oasis. This required a transfer to yet another line. :) We had already missed our initially-intended train, but now had ticketed reservations for the 6:50 departure. And the travel gods giggled shamelessly.

Upon our arrival at Shin-Yokohama, we were once again thrust into a rush hour crowd as we maneuvered our way from the subway area to our JR train platform as deftly as possible. We took escalators, elevators and short stairs on our path to the upper level platform...as a reminder, with our luggage in tow, and me in a suit & heels. We got to the final point of ascension to Track 10, and gaped at the 40+ stairs separating us from our train. We stood, dumbfounded and defeated at the base of the staircase, searching for an elusive escalator, and dodging the crowds spilling around us. Then Rachael saved the day!! She spotted a slightly hidden elevator on the opposite wall, and we scurried toward it with a sense of final victory! She pressed the "up" button (written in Japanse, of course), the doors opened, and we started to move inside...only to get stopped in our tracks by the realization that it was a BATHROOM. :) This time, we belly-laughed along with the travel gods...it was the only way to maintain our sanity at that point.

We had three minutes before the bullet train departed, just above us. With a final push of strong will, we took a deep breath and lugged our bags step-by-step up to the platform. A very kind Japanese gentleman helped me with mine, and I will be forever grateful. Just as we reached the top, the train arrived; we sprinted (once again) to the "ordinary" (i.e. not first-class) cars & got on just in time for the doors to close behind us.

Deep breaths, cold beverages, and we were on our way...