Japan trip OMG OMG OMG...
SO. I've worked it out. Not counting today, I have 71 days until I leave. That's a touch over ten weeks, y'all, which is a really short time. Am I freaked out? Um, YES.
Things I have done to get ready:
1. Paid my downpayment on the tour
2. Bought flight insurance
3. Bought plane-tickets
4. Bought luggage (mine was very, very dead.)
5. Scheduled time off at work (still worried about how they'll handle things)
6. Booked two nights at a ryokan (a Japanese bed-&-breakfast) in Nara
7. Booked one night at a ryokan in Tokyo
8. Booked one night at a ryokan in Kyoto
Things I still gotta do:
1. Pay for the rest of the tour
2. Find a nice walking-stick
3. Buy in-country travel insurance
4. Buy a Japanrail pass for after the tour
5. Get my damn passport (I have an appointment today!)
6. Arrange for somebody to watch my place/feed my pets. I have an idea about that.
7. Lose more weight, get in better shape
8. Change dollars to yen just before leaving
The passport'll be taken care of today, and I'm working on the weight-loss thing with diet and godsdamned exercise (oh, how I loath exercise!) I have a possible small pool of people to ask if they'd stay in my place while I'm gone-- I can pay a little, though not much, and I'd be a lot happier having somebody stay there. Work... My supervisor knows I'm going and gave permission for the leave, but otherwise seems to be ignoring the fact that I will not be here to do my work for three full weeks. This worries me Big Time; I do NOT want to come back to a massive snafu, no, I do not. So I'll have to address that with her sooner or later.
The ryokans I booked look gorgeous, particularly the one in Nara; this is it, and this is the one in Tokyo, and this is the one in Kyoto. (Thanks again, Bridget, for helping me with the Kyoto one!) Didn't originally plan on staying in Nara for two days, but it looks relaxing and there's this small mountain with nice trails there and a good hot spring and I want someplace to *relax* before hitting Tokyo and Kyoto and flying home; so... yeah.
I am so jazzed about this. Scared too, but very, very jazzed.
Things I have done to get ready:
1. Paid my downpayment on the tour
2. Bought flight insurance
3. Bought plane-tickets
4. Bought luggage (mine was very, very dead.)
5. Scheduled time off at work (still worried about how they'll handle things)
6. Booked two nights at a ryokan (a Japanese bed-&-breakfast) in Nara
7. Booked one night at a ryokan in Tokyo
8. Booked one night at a ryokan in Kyoto
Things I still gotta do:
1. Pay for the rest of the tour
2. Find a nice walking-stick
3. Buy in-country travel insurance
4. Buy a Japanrail pass for after the tour
5. Get my damn passport (I have an appointment today!)
6. Arrange for somebody to watch my place/feed my pets. I have an idea about that.
7. Lose more weight, get in better shape
8. Change dollars to yen just before leaving
The passport'll be taken care of today, and I'm working on the weight-loss thing with diet and godsdamned exercise (oh, how I loath exercise!) I have a possible small pool of people to ask if they'd stay in my place while I'm gone-- I can pay a little, though not much, and I'd be a lot happier having somebody stay there. Work... My supervisor knows I'm going and gave permission for the leave, but otherwise seems to be ignoring the fact that I will not be here to do my work for three full weeks. This worries me Big Time; I do NOT want to come back to a massive snafu, no, I do not. So I'll have to address that with her sooner or later.
The ryokans I booked look gorgeous, particularly the one in Nara; this is it, and this is the one in Tokyo, and this is the one in Kyoto. (Thanks again, Bridget, for helping me with the Kyoto one!) Didn't originally plan on staying in Nara for two days, but it looks relaxing and there's this small mountain with nice trails there and a good hot spring and I want someplace to *relax* before hitting Tokyo and Kyoto and flying home; so... yeah.
I am so jazzed about this. Scared too, but very, very jazzed.