Time to Get Going

Wow.

After two years, 257 posts and a multitude of sleepless nights, my departure date is finally here. No longer will you, loyal blog readers, have to listen to me whine about how ready I am to go travel. Now I can finally do what I’ve been wanting to do for a very, very long time.

Tomorrow I will stumble jet lagged into the crazy and complex city of Tokyo.

I’m excited to finally visit Japan. I can tell that it’s a complex country: a mix of tradition and history with frenetic twenty-first century modernism. I already know it warrants a much longer visit than I’m allowing. Unfortunately it’s the most expensive country I’m planning to visit, so I will only be able to spend a short couple of weeks here. Hopefully that will be enough time to at least get a feel for the land of the rising sun (and to break in my rusty backpacker skills before I head to China).

These are some off the things I’m looking forward to in Japan.

• Visiting my friend Anna, who has been teaching English in Japan for over a year now. She is meeting me in Tokyo for a fun filled weekend, then I’ll be spending a few days at her home in Shizuoka near the base of Mount Fuji. I can’t wait to see my funny old friend!

• Kyoto- the imperial capital of Japan with an unfathomable number of beautiful palaces and gardens. I love old stuff and I’m sure I will want to see as much as possible!

• Giving sushi a second chance. I know I’m a freak, but to be honest, I really don’t like fish. I’ve never warmed to the idea of eating raw animals, but I’m determined to give it my best shot while here.

I have a lot of things to look forward to, in Japan, and even further down the line. For now though I’m concentrating on staying sane through a 14 hour non-stop flight over the Pacific. I’ll have my netbook and a juicy Outlander book to keep me company.

I will do my best to update within a few days of arriving.

Until then… here goes nothing…