Well hello single reader! How is your year going?

Sorry for the radio silence as of late. While I can’t honestly say I’ve been all that busy, I can say I’ve been surprised by how much work planning for Japan has been! According to my guidebook, the Japanese are very into reservations.

So unlike my last few trips to Mexico and Spain – where I basically just showed up someplace and found food & lodging – this trip has taken a lot of forward-thinking. Figuring out hotels and neighborhoods and train routes (our Japan Rail Passes also had to be purchased ahead of time) has been made more difficult by the language barrier, which even over the internet has already been a challenge (though the automatic translations have been interesting).

Packing for this trip has posed some problems as well, as I’m trying my best to keep my load carry-on sized. That’s fine when you’re heading to the tropics, but the winter weather is making light packing difficult. I’ve found the biggest challenge when it comes to deciding what to bring to be the issue of shoes. I’ve been scouring every retail shop in the Colorado Rockies looking for something versatile, warm, comfortable for long walking days, and at least a little stylish. Finally this afternoon I decided to order a pair of boots that look promising online – but with my departure date looming in just over a week, the margin for error on this purchase is pretty much zero.

When I don’t have my nose buried in my guidebook or Japan travel websites, I’ve been keeping myself occupied with lots of eating and a little bit of skiing. Austin and I have moved into our cozy little mountain apartment, and while he works two days a week for ski patrol, I relish in the gluttony of being a job-attached, unemployed person – when I’m not freaking out about my quickly dwindling bank account that is. Since I’ve paid for most of my Japan expenses up-front, that account is looking fairly sad these days – and I don’t even have the memories to convince myself it was all worth it yet!

Ah well, I’ll get there.

We also recently spent a week hosting Philipp – my German brother from another mother. Philipp was an exchange student who came to live with us my junior year of high school. We liked him so much we kept him for the next 3 years. The rest is history. It was awesome to have him here.

I can’t believe that one week from tomorrow I’ll be headed to Japan! I’ve decided not to bring my laptop on this particular journey, though I’m sure I’ll have lots of stories to tell upon my return. I will however be updating my Instagram and Twitter accounts whenever I can, so for real-time updates make sure to follow me here and here!

Until then 🙂