I
had always intended to go back to Japan. I lived there for 2 years, and
even though I have since traveled to over 20 countries, Japan will
always have a special place in my heart. When I met my husband, I knew
we were in for the long haul because he not only tolerated my incessant
stories of Japan, but he seemed to enjoy them. However, after years of
hearing Japanese stories and vocabulary until they felt like they were
his own, it was definitely time to have him experience Japan firsthand. Our plan was to go to Europe (done) and then Japan, but last
summer we decided to get married, which put the Japan plan on hold. So we promised ourselves that
we would go the next summer. Now, what confirms that we are both incurable sufferers of the
travel bug is that the next summer (this summer) we actually booked tickets. (The difference between the travel bug-infected and the general population? Instead
of finding reasons to put off a trip to Japan because it's expensive, we find
reasons to go now because it is expensive; e.g. once we start having
kids or buy a house we won't be able to afford to go on a trip like
this, who knows how long my friends will still be there, etc.)
As we started our travel planning, I counted the years since I'd lived in Japan and to my horror counted 9 years. I was sure there was no way that could be right, so I did the math a few different ways before accepting that if I left in 2004 and it was now 2013 that was 9 years ago. I swore I just got back! This trip was very much going to be like my 10 year reunion with Japan.
Planning for this trip was a touch hectic. For the first time this year I was going to teach summer school, meaning we had to be back before it started. Meaning that in order to have a trip that was long enough to make the killer flight worth it, we had to leave 2 days after school got out. Plus the end of the school year is always a crazy time for me. Plus Mc had the joy of a noon to 9pm work schedule, so he wasn't home before 10pm M-F making preparing together difficult. Not to mention that as the trip neared, I started to feel a bit of anxiety. I mean, I had talked up Japan just a touch over the years (in a non-stop kind of way) and I started to worry that I wouldn't remember how to do anything or maybe Japan wouldn't appeal to Mc like it does to me, or maybe this very expensive trip would be a disaster. (I shouldn't have worried, of course. But, then again, if I didn't worry, I'd be a totally different person.)
Mc and I prepped for this trip by listening to a Japanese language CD set during our daily commutes, buying the latest version of the Lonely Planet Japan (although honestly that's more for our travel bookshelf) and photocopying the pages on the places we knew we would visit (if you pack your heavy travel book for a whole country, you will likely regret it; just photocopy the pages of places you know you're going and then toss them as you travel), buying quality raincoats (in order to be back in time for summer school, we had to book our trip during the rainy season, but we're from Oregon, so we figured we'd be ok), and going to jorudan.co.jp and printing off the train routes to and from the destinations we knew we would be going to.
*SuperNova Travel Tip: Sooooo many language CDs are terrible! Since I lived in Japan, I could tell pretty quickly when a CD set wasn't teaching me the things I needed to review. We went through about 5 different Japanese language CD sets before finding a good one. It was by Pimsleur's, which does many different languages, and was the only one that taught vocabulary words through useful phrases. Not perfect, but the best by far. I'm sure that Rosetta Stone is good too, but, and this is important, they had Pimsleur's at the library and we are cheap.
We also emailed my few friends remaining in Japan and arranged dates to come visit them. My friends are awesome and even kindly offered to let us stay with them.
*SuperNova Travel Tip: If you have friends or family in another country, VISIT THEM. Right now. I'll wait while you book your flight . . . Seriously, traveling is awesome, but traveling where you can stay with people who know all the ins and outs of the country they're in is invaluable. They will take you to cool restaurants, help you figure out transit systems, and let you do your laundry. Yes, traveling can be expensive, but it will be way cheaper than if you had to pay for all your room and board! Plus, if you follow my travel tips you know that I don't accept cost as an excuse to not travel, as I firmly believe that travel is always worth it. PS - if you do follow my advice and visit friends/family, bring them a present. A good one. You are interrupting their lives and it's the least you can do for amazing hosts.
Our flight was at 7am, which didn't seem so bad when we booked it. Obviously, we eventually realized a 7am flight meant we had to get up at 3:30am in order to get to the airport 2 hours in advance. Fortunately, I have a wonderful mother who agreed to take us before she had to go to work. We thought that the early flight time might work in our favor, sleeping on the plane-wise, but no sleeping on the plane occurred (which is the norm for me). We flew Air Canada with a 4 hour layover in Vancouver, BC. The flight was uneventful and excruciating as all 9 hour flights/26 hour travel days are. As I always say, the worst part of traveling is the traveling.
*SuperNova travel tip: Canada Air is excellent. You can check TWO whole bags per person to Japan for free! They feed you on the plane more than once for no extra charge! And you only have to go through customs once in Vancouver! It sounds like little things, but on 26+ hour travel day, those little things become the big things.
As we started our travel planning, I counted the years since I'd lived in Japan and to my horror counted 9 years. I was sure there was no way that could be right, so I did the math a few different ways before accepting that if I left in 2004 and it was now 2013 that was 9 years ago. I swore I just got back! This trip was very much going to be like my 10 year reunion with Japan.
Planning for this trip was a touch hectic. For the first time this year I was going to teach summer school, meaning we had to be back before it started. Meaning that in order to have a trip that was long enough to make the killer flight worth it, we had to leave 2 days after school got out. Plus the end of the school year is always a crazy time for me. Plus Mc had the joy of a noon to 9pm work schedule, so he wasn't home before 10pm M-F making preparing together difficult. Not to mention that as the trip neared, I started to feel a bit of anxiety. I mean, I had talked up Japan just a touch over the years (in a non-stop kind of way) and I started to worry that I wouldn't remember how to do anything or maybe Japan wouldn't appeal to Mc like it does to me, or maybe this very expensive trip would be a disaster. (I shouldn't have worried, of course. But, then again, if I didn't worry, I'd be a totally different person.)
Mc and I prepped for this trip by listening to a Japanese language CD set during our daily commutes, buying the latest version of the Lonely Planet Japan (although honestly that's more for our travel bookshelf) and photocopying the pages on the places we knew we would visit (if you pack your heavy travel book for a whole country, you will likely regret it; just photocopy the pages of places you know you're going and then toss them as you travel), buying quality raincoats (in order to be back in time for summer school, we had to book our trip during the rainy season, but we're from Oregon, so we figured we'd be ok), and going to jorudan.co.jp and printing off the train routes to and from the destinations we knew we would be going to.
*SuperNova Travel Tip: Sooooo many language CDs are terrible! Since I lived in Japan, I could tell pretty quickly when a CD set wasn't teaching me the things I needed to review. We went through about 5 different Japanese language CD sets before finding a good one. It was by Pimsleur's, which does many different languages, and was the only one that taught vocabulary words through useful phrases. Not perfect, but the best by far. I'm sure that Rosetta Stone is good too, but, and this is important, they had Pimsleur's at the library and we are cheap.
We also emailed my few friends remaining in Japan and arranged dates to come visit them. My friends are awesome and even kindly offered to let us stay with them.
*SuperNova Travel Tip: If you have friends or family in another country, VISIT THEM. Right now. I'll wait while you book your flight . . . Seriously, traveling is awesome, but traveling where you can stay with people who know all the ins and outs of the country they're in is invaluable. They will take you to cool restaurants, help you figure out transit systems, and let you do your laundry. Yes, traveling can be expensive, but it will be way cheaper than if you had to pay for all your room and board! Plus, if you follow my travel tips you know that I don't accept cost as an excuse to not travel, as I firmly believe that travel is always worth it. PS - if you do follow my advice and visit friends/family, bring them a present. A good one. You are interrupting their lives and it's the least you can do for amazing hosts.
Our flight was at 7am, which didn't seem so bad when we booked it. Obviously, we eventually realized a 7am flight meant we had to get up at 3:30am in order to get to the airport 2 hours in advance. Fortunately, I have a wonderful mother who agreed to take us before she had to go to work. We thought that the early flight time might work in our favor, sleeping on the plane-wise, but no sleeping on the plane occurred (which is the norm for me). We flew Air Canada with a 4 hour layover in Vancouver, BC. The flight was uneventful and excruciating as all 9 hour flights/26 hour travel days are. As I always say, the worst part of traveling is the traveling.
*SuperNova travel tip: Canada Air is excellent. You can check TWO whole bags per person to Japan for free! They feed you on the plane more than once for no extra charge! And you only have to go through customs once in Vancouver! It sounds like little things, but on 26+ hour travel day, those little things become the big things.
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