I wanted to share my thoughts on my trip to Shirakawago & Takayama of Gifu prefecture. It is one of the beautiful destinations of Japan and one of the UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites as well.
This narration is not about the scenic beauty of the place but it revolves around my travel pillow. Yeah, it is about the lessons I learnt through my travel pillow. Somehow it made so much sense to me.
On the early morning of Feb 2 2020, I had gone for a two-day trip with one of my friends. We had a great time relishing ourselves into the picturesque beauty of the nature. It is about 400 km from Tokyo, which is a 7-8 hours of bus journey. So, I had taken my travel pillow with me. Lately, I have been losing few things due to my carelessness and decided to be super careful the whole trip not to lose anything. Was extra careful on this trip not only with respect to our baggage but also with hygiene. Was wearing masks the whole time and sanitized our hands often as it was the initial break-down of Corona Virus.
The bus ride was very pleasant. It was along the country side of Japan. Had a great view of Mt.Fuji and other beautiful sceneries . I wouldn’t complain. Later that day, we went to the UNESCO Heritage site and spent the whole evening there. Enjoyed the nature and of course posed for pictures.
After a long day travelling all around, we were back to hotel in the night and ended the day with a nice onsen bath.
The next day, we were all excited for visiting Takayama. This place was famous for its Edo period, Olden Japanese streets. A perfect Instagram worthy place.
With all the to-visit places for the day in mind, we were about to check-out the hotel and in that point of time only I realized that my travel pillow was missing.
I had lost it.
After I handed the keys to the receptionist, I again got the keys from her and went to the room for searching it. But in vain, it only made me to confirm that I had lost it.
In Japan, usually or at least most of the times, if you lose stuff, you will get it back. Almost all the train stations have ‘Lost & Found’ place as well. We decided to search in the ‘L & F’ and around the coin-locker which we used the previous day near the station. You would think, what was the big fuss in losing a travel pillow. I can always buy a new one. Yes, I can afford it but the whole point was about how, when and where did I lose it. I spoke to the Japanese officials in the ‘L & F’ and explained to them what I lost. They called it “Toraberu Makura”. Makura means pillow in Japanese. They checked in the repository room. I always feel like waiting for the examination results when they ask the details, check it and come back to me. Again, in vain, they were not able to find it. I didn’t find it near the coin-locker too.
My last resort was to search in the kiosk which I went the previous day. I explained to them again. I got the same reply ! By this time, I was done with it. I just told myself “No matter how much ever you try, you will not get somethings in your life. Somethings are meant to happen. You do not have control over it. If it is meant to happen, it will”. A tint of negativity within me.For some reason, I was correlating my travel Makura with my life. I was a bit angry about myself for losing it given that I was cautious.
I then made my mind that I will not get it and was moving on with the plan for the day. My friend suggested me to try looking for it in the tourist enquiry booth kind of small place near the station which we went the previous day for enquiring about the bus timing. I was sure that I will not get it and wasn’t much interested in asking the same question to the people out there.
But we had to visit that very same place again to enquire about the bus for exploring Takayama. I didn’t even utter a word about my lost travel makura. Little did I know that there was a surprise waiting for me!! My travel makura was lying in one of the shelves in that enquiry place. I felt like a mommy who found her lost child lol.
I claimed that it was mine and finally got back my travel makura! Again, I told myself “If it is meant to happen, it will”. This time from an optimistic perspective. I was correlating with my life one more time. With the people in my life to be precise. Now you know how much this ‘travel makura’ made sense to me.
Moving the comments section from my previous blog site for this post.
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