Around July of this year, I saw the most amazing flight deal — NYC to SIN , return, for $370 USD.

Yeah, you read that right.

Three Hundred and Seventy US Dollars.

Round Trip.

New York City to Singapore.

Oh, btw, with a stopover in Tokyo.

On All Nippon Airways/United Codeshares.

The flight was an error fare, that also had a San Francisco departure for similar pricing, so you can bet your booty that I immediately called Little Bro and BOOKED THAT ISH.

Yeah, I booked it before asking my boss.

Why not, right? I do love free 24 hour cancellation policies.

My boss said I could do whatever I wanted, so there was much rejoycing.

Unfortunately… Little Bro’s boss couldn’t give him the time off, so we had to cancel his ticket.

….

Fast forward to October 7th, 2016.

A LOT has happened in my life since I bought that flight.

My grandfather went through a life threatening hospital stay.

My boyfriend broke up with me (with ZERO warning).

Oh, right, and my derby team ended up adding two more games to our schedule during my trip. -_-

Seriously though, those first two have really taken a toll on me and it’s been….a rather unpleasant summer of 2016.

However, what better way to shake the blues than with an amazing Asia trip, right?

Well, by starting it at my Sister, Rosie’s wedding the night before!

(Spoiler Alert: I actually originally booked my outbound flight for the night of her wedding, but I realized in time and swapped it. PHEW. Sorry, Rosie!)

What this meant for my trip was that I needed to pack all of my things, bring them to the office on Friday the 7th, and also bring them along to the wedding!

I traveled to the wedding, which was also in NYC, directly from work that afternoon, enjoyed an amazingly beautiful ceremony and an awesome party, and then in the morning, headed off to the airport via the NYC subway. My other amazing Sister, Nikki, was able to bring my wedding prep-bag home with her, which saved me from having to go back and forth to NJ after the wedding. <3

Somehow I arrived at JFK International with time to spare before check-in, even though I had to navigate the maze that is the NYC Subway on the weekends (i.e. TONS of cancellations/station changes).

I breezed through security and immigration, and I was on my way!

First stop: A 22 Hour Layover in Tokyo!!! Here we go!!