Happy place. A memory, situation, or activity that makes you feel happy.
Cambridge Dictionary.
November 2019. I’m on a nonstop Delta flight from Seoul ICN to Minneapolis MSP on a brand new Airbus A350.
I’m contented, sipping wine, snacking on nuts, and anticipating the Korean dinner I’ve preordered. I look out the window and see only darkness. Based on previous travel, I assume we’re flying over the Yellow Sea towards China, while avoiding North Korean airspace.
I bring up a map on the monitor and am surprised to see we’re over the Sea of Japan, flying straight towards Honshu, Japan.
Soon we’re tracking the coast of Honshu; dim lights of coastal towns pass by, seven miles below. I want to be down there, in one of those towns, slurping in a ramen joint, Googling how I’ll get to a trailhead in the morning. On the way back to my business hotel I’ll pop into a Lawson convenience store to pick up a Cupke, or similar creamy, cakey concoction in a cup, for dessert back in my room. The assistant will remember to include a plastic spoon; I won’t have to ask.
We fly directly over Sado Island.
I remember the hikes I enjoyed when I stayed on Sado Island in 2014.
We cross over the northern tip of Honshu to Hokkaido. The map shows Wakkanai, Shibetsu, Nemuro, Kushiro, Asahikawa, Sapporo, and Hakodate. Over the years I’ve spent happy times in every one of those places.
We pass directly over Asahikawa, a city I have visited a couple times as a base to visit Daisetsuzan National Park.
We enter Russian airspace, tracing a line parallel to the Kuril Islands archipelago.
I have a ticket to fly back past the Kurils on an Airbus A350 in September 2020. I’ll be en route to Asahikawa, Hokkaido, via Tokyo. I’ll work my way back to Tokyo by train.
The November 2019 flight reminds me there are parts of Japan that pique my curiosity, but I have yet to visit. In particular, I plan to explore the coast of northwest Honshu.
Even if COVID-19 makes travel impossible in September, I’m grateful our home is a happy place where I can take my mind to any number of happy places.