[HISTORY] #1 The beginning of the journey
This story takes place about a quarter of a century ago.
As a young boy, I eagerly started planning my trip, saying, "I'm going to travel around the world with my backpack and dreams on my back!"
In his late 20s, he worked at a store selling Japanese furniture in Shimokitazawa, and then worked as a staff member at a select shop in Nakameguro. I had a lot of fun every day, surrounded by my position at the time, my friends, and the new cultures I encountered every day.
just I felt like I was just spending my time aimlessly, as if my dream of one day owning my own store was fading, and I often wondered, "What do I really want to do?"
At that time, I saw Gaudi's They were doing a special feature on Sagrada Familia, and when I thought, "I'd love to see it someday...", I thought, "Well, I'll just go see it!" If I was going to go see it, I'd want to go here and there too. Coupled with the influence of "Midnight Express" that I borrowed from Pero, my plans just kept getting longer and longer.
I finally set off on my first solo trip, promising to meet up with my girlfriend at the time halfway through the trip.
The journey began on the west coast of the United States, but in the beginning, I was faced with a series of failures. I couldn't speak any English. At first, I was crying from loneliness.
At a festival in New Orleans, a child I met at random took pity on me and gave me a toy necklace. I was so happy that I thought to myself, "I'll give this to my girlfriend as a souvenir."
There are kind people everywhere. Little by little, we made friends and traveled together across North America by car, stopping in Cuba and Jamaica, and exploring unfamiliar towns we arrived in by bus.
After that, I traveled from New York to London, and then south across the Straits of Malacca to Morocco. By this time, searching for souvenirs had become one of my travel goals.
It was really cheap and just crappy stuff.
The last stop on my solo trip, where I had completely forgotten about Gaudeji's TV appearance, was Barcelona, Spain, as if by design. Thinking that this would be my last, I bought a cheap ring made by an artist at a nearby market.
After several months of traveling alone, I met her again at the Nord station in Paris, but I still hadn't gotten over that habit. Now we're traveling together to flea markets around the world, looking for general goods stores, and browsing souvenir shops.
I found a vintage doll that I really liked at a market in Vienna, and while I was taking a break looking at it, I suddenly started talking to her.
"That's it, I'll open a gift shop when I get back to Japan so I can continue traveling like this!"
After touring Europe, we took a boat from the heel of Italy to Greece. By the time we arrived in Turkey, half of our thoughts were already focused on making plans for when we returned to Japan.
And that was the beginning of the long journey that is "Aquvii" with Nakamu-san, who is now my wife and other half.
