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by brokenrecordbaby

After a 40+ hour journey I have arrived in Frankfurt, Germany and was greeted by Kaija and her boyfriend who, as if they hadn’t been amazing enough, got up at 5am to pick me up and drive me home.

The flight was torture – I had no way of checking the news or finding out how Charlie was doing. We skyped minutes before I had to get to my gate. Panic was starting to break out in Tokyo but not because of the nuclear plants exploding but because of the large possibility of another big quake hitting the capital. Charlie said that supermarkets were stripped bare and the girl living above Alex, our host, was leaving Tokyo permanently asap even though she has a whole life there. Thank god I knew that Charlie had managed to get a flight home the following day so I was somewhat relieved though getting to the airport is another mission and a half and I was worried about that.

I got home and called Alex right away. Charlie, Alex and his Japanese housemate Kenya had all left Tokyo early in the morning and were at Narita airport. Kenya was already en route to Bangkok, Alex was about to check in for a Tapeii bound flight and Charlie was checking in for Brisbane. The airport is completely mental with people scrambling to get a flight anywhere, just away from the quakes and radiations.

Leaving Tokyo seemed quite drastic to me when my friends/family were urging me to get the fuck out of there but now I couldn’t be more grateful for what they did. They got my ass out of there before the Japanese finally realized that shit was hitting the fan.

I still feel like I am in Tokyo – my body continues to sway back and forth as if I was on a rocking boat due to all the continuous quakes we were experiencing. But I ain’t complaining – I’m safe’n’sound at home reading The Guardian’s live news blog diligently unable to believe that I was part of the turmoil just 2 days ago.

I know not everyone else will be, or wants to, get out of there but I hope they do. Wishful thinking, I know.