I recently took a short trip to Hakone with my family.
My son was recovering from the flu, so we kept the itinerary simple. We took a ropeway and cable car up a volcano, and smelled the sulphur and vapour hanging in the air. We rested our legs in hot water as the cold wind whistled around us. We took a boat across a lake. And we enjoyed a lovely meal at the hotel restaurant, where I ate deer meat and tried some different kinds of wine.
My son enjoyed all of the vehicles we travelled on. He liked the “Romance Train” from Tokyo to Hakone, and a special train which climbed the mountain. He loved the ropeway and cable car. The thing he really didn’t like was when we arrived anywhere. As soon as we got out onto the volcano, he wanted to get back in the cable car. Maybe he is an instinctive Zen priest. It is not the action that is important, but the process; it is not the destination that matters, but the journey.
My wife was getting very frustrated in the hotel, trying to contact reception. She wanted to ask about booking a taxi.
“I can’t believe it!” she complained, “They’re engaged again!”
Every time my wife called reception from the phone in our hotel room, the phone line was engaged. No matter how many times she tried calling, she couldn’t get through.
Eventually, my wife read the information sheet next to the phone a little more carefully. For all of this time, she hadn’t been ringing the number for reception. She had been ringing our own hotel room. No wonder the line was always engaged.
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