Deep Breath Before The Plunge

The start to our journey was anything but ordinary.

Exactly what I expected it to be.

We were dropped off by my dear mother and met by my father at the MSP airport early on July 16th, 2019 to catch a flight to Chicago where we would be flying out the following day to Narita, Japan.

As we said our emotional goodbyes, I walked away from my parents, not knowing when I would see them next. Mom and Dad — thank you for sending us off with such love and care. It meant the world to me. Dad, I carry around the dream catcher wherever I go!

Trying to stop crying and catching my breath, we made our way to the American Airlines kiosk when I noticed as Ben checked us in, my name popped up Tanna Rittmaster. I looked at Ben, snot dripping down my nose and said “did you forget that you married me? That’s not my name anymore”. (Sorry for the tone, Ben.)

Bug eyed, we asked the American Airlines person for help. She looked as us like we were a bunch of noobs and I feared that our journey would soon come to a halt.

After speaking to three attendants, their supervisor and waiting 30 minutes, I was able to prove my identity with my credit card that I hadn’t yet changed my name over (sometimes NOT doing paperwork pays off). She signed off on the name change, reissued my boarding pass, and we made the flight with five minutes to spare.

Upon arriving to Chicago we had a lovely day doing some exploring, walking down the river walk, and grabbing a bite to eat as we pulled out out computers and researched what the hell the next year of our lives would look like.

I read through a travel Vietnam book my mom had given us and circled all the places I wanted to see. I quickly realized that Ho Chi Minh was just one small part of this beautiful country and pitched to Ben that we see as much of Vietnam as possible. Already along for the ride, Ben agreed and so the adventure continued.

We had a lovely evening with one of Ben’s groomsmen named TK and his wife Nicole. We had dinner at an awesome local hole in the wall restaurant called The Roost in which we ate our body weight in fried chicken — the last meal in America. Fitting, eh?

After a good nights rest we took the train to O’Hare airport, made it painlessly through security and found our way to a little bar where we grabbed a cold beer and continued to do some research. I applied to a work abroad site where I became SUPER excited about all the different opportunities I could dive into in the upcoming year; nannying cute little Vietnamese babies, helping plant community gardens to help feed the poor, being a receptionist at a hostel, teaching windsurfing, working in a coffee shop, etc. I was totally engulfed in my research when Ben got a call from American Airlines. He answered it, and the bug eyes returned.

“You have three minutes to make it to the plane before the gates close” said the woman.

We had totally lost track of time.

Ben through some cash on the bar, grabbed all my stuff, looked at me and said “we have to go. NOW.”

Last on the plane and out of breath, we took our seats, stared at each other, and laughed.

After we settled down a bit, a flight attendant came up to me and asked, “are you Tanna? (She pronounced it “Tonna” which I’m sure my friend Hillary will get a kick out of). I apprehensively said yes and asked if I was recently married. Afraid that we had found ourselves in another sticky situation, she said “I was contacted by a fellow flight attendant named Janine Witting. She asked me to take care of you guys.” (Janine is a family friend and an absolute sweetheart.) The flight attendant brought us over some slippers and a travel pack with some essentials (mini toothbrush, toothpaste, eye cover, socks, pen, chapstick, etc.) She checked in on us a few times, refilled our wine, and hooked us up with some extra snacks. It was the start of feeling like royalty.

The flight from Chicago to Narita was 13 hours and having slept quite a lot the previous morning I wasn’t tired (not a usual feeling for me). I watched five and a half movies. Something I never thought I’d do.

When we landed in Narita and as we were stepping off the plane there was this tiny cute blonde girl behind us that said, “is this your first time here, too?” Her name was Lana (pronounced like my name but with an L) She was from New Orleans and was traveling to Thailand for an undefined amount of time BY HERSELF. She is 26 years old and was itching for an adventure. As we walked to grab our bags we realized we both needed to get to a neighboring airport to catch our next flights in Haneda, Japan. We decided to take her under our wing, rather, Ben’s wing, as he took the lead on figuring out directions, navigating the train and getting Yen. By the end of our time together, she called Ben Dad (which I thought was very sweet).

We took the train with our two huge bags (they honestly looked like we were transporting dead bodies) and as we grew closer to the main part of the city, we quickly realized it was rush hour in Tokyo. Holy shit. Just google it. So. Many. People.

One bizarre part of the experience though was that it was silent. Seriously. You could have heard a pin drop in there. What seemed like hundreds of people jammed into this train, no one was even breathing loudly. We decided to follow suit and just stay quiet, ourselves.

By the time we had gotten off the train and made it to the airport we had been up for about 20 hours straight. Surprisingly, our energy levels were pretty good. We explored the beautiful airport filled with authentic Japanese restaurants, lots of anime stores, and cute little Asian babies running around. We discovered an outdoor bar overlooking Tokyo and grabbed a Japanese beer as we continued to get to know Lana. She reminded me a lot of myself, although I was never a stunt double in movies such as Happy Death Day, The Reeping 1 & 2, and other films. Her story was crazy and sounded like it wasn’t going to calm down anytime soon.

We grabbed a bite to eat eating traditional ramen and by the end of our meal, we could barely keep our eyes closed. We made our way to the gate and the three of us fell into a deep, sodium filled sleep.

Our flights took off around 1:30 am. We said our goodbyes and good lucks to Lana and then we were on our own again.

The flight was a mere 6 hours and I continued to nurse my lack of sleep. Ben on the other hand, isn’t as gifted as sleeping as I, and pretty much read an entire book that flight.

When the plane hit the tarmack, I looked at Ben, smiled, and said, “we made it.”

So many things went into getting here. So much time, preparation, energy and emotion.

It was time to start our new chapter we had worked so hard for.

We got our visas, grabbed our bags, walked outside, and were greeted by the beautiful 6:00 am Vietnamese sunrise. And I thought to myself my favorite quote:

“And now I know what I have to keep doing. I have to keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide may bring?” -Tom Hanks, Cast Away

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