Travel Novel (2) -- 'Okinawa - The Short Escape from Reality'

Okinawa - The Short Escape from Reality

The weather last December and January in Korea was horrible. It was one of the coldest winters I have ever experienced.

Last December, it snowed a lot. Korea’s winters can be so beautiful with layers of snow everywhere, but I really couldn't bear this cold weather anymore. The temperature fell below zero almost everyday. Sometimes it went down below -15c. I had been sick for few weeks and became depressed.

While I was in the funeral home and right after the funeral, I did not want to talk to people. I stopped talking to friends for a few weeks. However, I talked about my situation to only one person.

A friend I met online about 6 months ago; I entered a random chatting website, I chose my interests and waited for someone to talk to. I felt bored and didn't have much to do. After talking to random strangers, he showed up. I could tell there was something different about him. He said he is traveling now, so I asked him when will he go back to home. He said he is always traveling. I did not know what it meant at first.

We discovered that we have a lot in common. We added each other on Facebook so we could stay in touch. By the time my grandfather passed away, he became a very important person to me. We haven't met each other in real life at that point but I could share so many ideas and interests with him.

Some days, he would send me photos of beautiful touristic sites he went to.

I was wondering how he can travel so easily. He said he is working remotely which allows him to travel and work at the same time. He reminded me of some people I met in a language study group last year. I taught Korean to foreigners and some of them had remote jobs so they could travel the world. Some worked as a software engineers, programmers, graphic designers or writers. I talked to those people but initially haven't thought that I can also be like them.

My new friend also has one of those jobs. When I said "I am jealous of you" to him, he said "You don't need to be jealous, because you'll be like me soon."
When he said that, I thought he is just joking and did not know this can be true.

When he noticed that I was in depression, he said he'll come to Korea to meet me on the weekend. He was in Thailand at that time and he couldn't just move over to me.

"Are you serious? It's freaking cold here."
"You seem sad and depressed. I'd like to help you."
"You are coming to Korea for only 2 days? That's insane."

I was very grateful, but I knew it can be difficult for him to come to Korea. He even does not have any warm clothes.
Suddenly a spontaneous idea occurred in my mind.
I hate the cold weather here, so what about meeting up in a warmer country?

"What about this, we can meet in a country between Thailand and Korea."
"Where?"
"Check out google maps"
"Okay, let me see."
"Do you see an island called Okinawa?"
"Where is Okinawa?"
"Below Japan, actually it belongs to Japan. It's close to Taiwan. You said you have not been to Japan, right?"
"I haven't"
"Let's meet in Okinawa, I'd like to escape from this reality."

And that very day, we arranged our first meeting in the Okinawa airport.