Jia Lissa Travelling Alone Direct

The trip wasn't all epiphanies. There were lonely dinners. There was a night in a capsule hotel where the hum of the vents felt like a heartbeat she couldn't match. There was a moment on a bullet train, watching Mount Fuji slide by, when she felt a sharp, sudden ache for her sister’s stupid jokes. She let the tears come. Then she wiped them away.

The first day was the hardest.

Her mother had cried. “Too dangerous.” Her friends had laughed. “Who travels alone? That’s sad.” But Jia had just smiled, a small, secret curve of her lips. She wanted to find out who she was without the echo of someone else’s opinion. jia lissa travelling alone