Now begins the long-awaited story-telling of my ventures across the ocean to Japan and Korea, embarked on October 9th, 2018. In the coming blogs you’ll find just what sort of ridiculousness, intenseness, and mischievousness I and my fellow travel companions experienced in Asia.
The first thing to know is that I have a huge heart for Korea–their people, their language, their music, their history… I’d been dying to see the country for myself since 2016. For three years, I wondered when it would be my turn to adventure there. I also thought in order to live a dream, I had to wait until the stars aligned and a hundred confirmations came to me, otherwise it wouldn’t ever be the right time. But I learned instead that sometimes it just takes a brave heart to risk making the dream a reality at your own pace. No prophetic words required–just courage to make it happen anyway.
So it started with my cousin, who one day was entertaining her dream to see Japan by checking airfare prices. She told me it was affordable and, “If you come with me, we can stay in Seoul twice as long!” (She wanted to be sure I was totally in. And when she said that, oh boy was I ever!)
From there, the idea grew into something very real, from booking flights and AirBnBs, to onboarding three more adventure buddies to grow the team we’d later call “TS5” or “TokyoSeoul5.” We all pulled our own weight for this, working nine months to save for a 33-day-long trip overseas; 10 nights in Tokyo, Japan and 23 in Seoul, South Korea. We knew that after being gone for over a month, we wouldn’t return the same or hold the same positions at our workplaces (or that we would be too restless to do so and ready to turn a new leaf in our lives), so in addition, each of us quit our jobs just before leaving.
Sounds kinda reckless, right? But the encouragement I received from friends and family to really go all in for this trip… it was overwhelming! In my life, having the blessings of those around me to go after something truly important to me is the greatest feeling in the world. I know what it’s like to watch other people travel the world while you’re stuck on the daily grind, waiting for the day it’ll be your turn. But those around me only cheered me on and reminded me that Korea is my calling and I was finally about to go see it for the first time!! And when the day came, the support of these wonderful people (friends, family, the church, and those I haven’t talked to in years) gave me the strength I didn’t know I’d need the very first day of my adventure to a destination we’d forever call TokyoSeoul.
I left on October 8th at an ungodly hour, flying to Los Angeles from Texas with two of my friends to meet up with the other two–and then from there, we’d hop on Singapore Airlines and take to Japan! Except, between our connecting flights somewhere in Phoenix, Arizona, something really intense happened (Typical. Of course Allison would experience something dramatic the first day of embarking on the great TokyoSeoul adventure.)
I’m learning as I travel more that I’ve got a lot of anxiety, but to this day I don’t really understand why. I’d like to think I’m a fairly certain person, but I suppose traveling can be so uncertain, and when I start feeling sick from turbulence or something so small, my entire body reacts in what would result as a panic attack.
This is what happened on our connecting flight from Phoenix to L.A., and I was so afraid I was going to pass out in mid-flight that I very spontaneously asked to get off the plane before the door closed. As I wiggled out of the aisle, I remember the very worried faces of my two adventure buddies who asked, “Are you sure?” I had to say yes, though I wasn’t actually sure of anything, which made the panic a whole lot worse. So I went back to the gate inside the airport, rested on the floor, and cried. I was alone and very afraid of what my body was doing in a panic attack I had hardly any experience with.
What’s most interesting of this experience is that when the paramedics arrived (just to be sure I wasn’t dehydrated or something), they told me nothing was physically wrong with me. They left me with anxiety medication and rescheduled my flight for four terribly long hours later.
All I could do was try to stop having a panic attack, but I don’t think I’ve ever had one before. I’ve always been so certain of myself and God’s protection over me and yet there I was in the airport alone and horrified that I wouldn’t be able to go to Japan and Korea after all. My brain went into a spiral, seeing myself return home and mournfully watching my social media blow up with the adventures I was supposed to be on, and having no job or picking back up right where I left off, but all I wanted was to catch my dream. Instead I was panicking on the floor of an airport 700 miles from home, all alone.
I had four hours to somehow stop what I literally could not. So while I was trying to get a grasp on whatever the heck was suddenly happening for no reason I could perceive, a stranger came up to me and gave me Mentos and a bottle of Sprite. “Here you go, sweetie,” I remember her saying. “This always helps me when I have an upset stomach. I bought these for you, okay? I hope you feel better soon.” When she left, I finally started seeing traces of what God was actively doing in my darkness.
It was a real fight, you know, until it all blew over within a second of God showing up. I was listening to a song by Housefires–All Your Promises Are Yes and Amen–and suddenly I saw all the times God encouraged, prophesied, and fuelled my heart for Korea. That sentence, “all Your promises are Yes and Amen,” opened up the Holy Spirit to tell me one thing there inside the airport: “I promised you you’re going, so get up and go!”
In that instant, my shaking stopped and my mind completely cleared. It was insane! Honestly, I think about it today and I have no idea how the panicking stopped. It can only be explained by God pouring out his peace beyond understanding (literally.) From that second onward, I didn’t need to cry anymore and I could breathe, eat, and confidently tell the flight attendant I was feeling so much better!
“The peace of God is much greater than the human mind can understand. This peace will keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
(Phil. 4:7 NLV)
I got on that last flight from Phoenix to L.A., and I was perfectly fine–as though I didn’t just spend the last four hours in the most insane mental distress I’ve ever been in–and landed in L.A. all sorts of excited for my soon-coming adventures across the world. I remember finding my way to the hotel where my four companions waited for me, and when I opened the door, we screamed and hugged and I couldn’t help but cry. “I had such a hard day,” I sobbed, “It was so hard, but I’m here now!” And then I ate all their left-over french fries.
My friends told me this trip was going to be epic. If Japan and Korea were places God promised us to go, there was something so exciting there waiting for us. When I later reflected on that random panic attack, I realized it was not so random but very much deliberate and planned by the snottiest piece of scum crawling on the earth, to keep me from seeing God’s promise. Thank goodness I love a very good God, who looks out for me and, yes, wants me to enjoy a month-long trip in Asia.
That evening in L.A., TS5 explored Santa Monica Pier, ate delicious pizza in our hotel room, and giggled all night about our flight to Tokyo that would leave early that next morning!
From Santa Monica Pier, California
We had a ton of fun, and I forgot all the events that transpired earlier that day. But no one blog post can tell all the stories that were to unfold of this trip–and if you must know the rest, simply subscribe by email and the adventures will come to you! Then, I promise, you’ll get the whole story. Fun, scary, exciting, and so incredibly silly.
Next, it’s time to fly to Japan and get lost in Tokyo for two hours immediately!
Signed,
Allison the Adventurer
L.A. Airport, USA –> Narita Airport, Japan
