Goodbye To The Hotel Takatsuki…such a lovely place…

…and then there were three.

Only us Canadians remain and with the other two of them having to check out tomorrow much earlier then I do as they are traveling farther distances they are both now lost to the land of dreams and our floor is silent.

I’ve packed my bags and in doing so have changed my mood slightly from earlier today and I am now a bit more anxious to get out on my own into my own place where I can cook for myself once again. All this eating out has taken its toll on my very slim budget. I wonder what my new place will be like? My area?

Still, this hotel stay was nice and I realize now that I have never stayed in a hotel on my own before. My previous travels always included hostel stays where I shared a room with a bunch of snoring strangers. Though this room was nice it was a nice place to return to after a long day of travels, information overload and teaching. I say goodbye to the Sun Hotel now before crawling into the room’s bed one last time.

Goodbye to the flat screen television they installed a few days ago to replace the old clunker they had in here before. Goodbye to your channels of strange game shows and commercials and endless wealth of pornography. Goodbye free soap and shampoo and razor and small toothbrush and comb and single serving toothpaste and shaving gel. Goodbye towel that felt like sandpaper over my skin. Goodbye deep tub. Goodbye desk phone that I never used except to hang you up during an unneeded wakeup call. Goodbye tea kettle which I also never used but don’t feel so bad because I’ll be taken those two free teabags with me when I go. Oh, many sad goodbyes to the free coffee in the lobby and the little plastic cup holders that littered my room. I may not have made it without you and the warmth you gave as I drank you down was the best part of waking up. Goodbye maid service that would fluff my pillows and change my bed sheets and keep supplying me with new toothbrushes, razors and clean bath robes. So long desk clerks that didn’t understand me and I didn’t understand you but you always knew what key to give me and when to refill the coffee machine. Your constant bowing made me uncomfortable but it was appreciated. Adios leather lobby chairs that just conformed to your body when you sat in them. Farewell to the soft jazz music that floated in from the club next door. Ta-ta elevator with your classical muzak mornings.

Finally, goodbye free internet. It was nice to have a constant outlet to chat with you folks back home and email and update this site on a regular basis. I am unsure when I will be back online again. It could be as soon as I arrive in Kashihara (if there is some poor sap to leach wireless off of) or it could be many weeks. I do promise to return to the online world as soon as I can and in my absence know that I will keep writing journal entries to post them here whenever I can log on again. You may be inundated with multiple postings but I will try to get back to a regular flow whenever I obtain my status card and drum up a translator to help me get hooked up. I will be thinking of all you and miss you dearly. Like Schwarzenegger “I’ll be back”.