Going to Okinawa....

For Winter break, I decided to travel down to Okinawa.  When they heard about my plans, Bethany and Nina both asked if they could join me.  I gladly said yes.  It was one of the best vacations I have had.  We decided to stay from 25 December until 1 January, celebrating both Christmas and New Years in Okinawa.  Since it is further South, it was much warmer than Ishinomaki or Tokyo, but not quite warm enough to be short-sleeves weather.

We caught the night bus from Ishinomaki to Tokyo on 24 December, arriving really early in the morning, before anything was really opened.  Our first destination was Starbucks.  We sat around enjoying each other's company until we could walk to the stores that were opening.  Our flight to Okinawa was not until four, so we had some time to wander around Tokyo before heading to the airport.  

From the plane, we could see Mt. Fuji in the sunset.  It was a gorgeous view.  When we arrived in Naha, we had very little problems finding the monorail and getting off at the correct stop.  Finding our hostel proved to be a little more difficult, especially since the iPhone's version of google maps is practically useless.  We were about six blocks away from the actual hostel when the pin on my iPhone map said we had arrived at our destination.  So, we had to use the map on the hostel's website to try to determine it's location--and it was sprinkling.

When we arrived at the hostel, it was nothing but noise.  They were throwing a party, and giving out gifts, so we thought it was a group of people staying there.  We learned later that it was a Christmas party that all guests could be a part of.  Where most hostels have some form of community room and can be a great place to meet new people, this one was centered on that--bringing people together through events.  It was a lot of fun, and we met several new friends.  Most of our trip, especially in Bethany's case, was spent relaxing in the living room of the hostel.  It is one of the things that made the trip so nice: being in a new place without feeling as though we had to get out and do as much as possible.  We were there to relax and enjoy our time away from work and the cold.

**Side note: at this time, I am having a bit of trouble with Flickr... I will add photos later.  Sorry!