Sunday, April 01, 2007
Recipe for a Vacation
Step one: Planning.
Ingredients: One (1) Guide Book
Two (2) Plane Tickets
One (1) Internet
One (1) Tenuous grasp on the local language
Two (2) Travelers
Instructions:
The guide book comes first. It’s pretty much the primary reference I’ve been using to plan the trip. Everything I know about what the heck I’ll be doing in Japan comes from this book. It contains the sum total of what I know about visiting Japan, and extensive reference material about things I don’t know, that I can look up as I go along. In place of an English-speaking guide to the country, I have this, and in many ways, it’s a perfectly good substitute. In some ways, though, probably not.
The next step is the plane tickets. Just pick a date. Pick it. Use the guidebook to choose your time so as to avoid busy seasons, then set a date and lock it in. This is the most important step because from here on in, you are going to Japan. You have the plane tickets, you have the passport, everything else is just gravy. You know, things to *do* in Japan. Once you have your ticket, once you’ve locked down your date, it’s on. It’s travel time.
Yikes!
Now, you don’t want to overplan your vacation because, well, because you’re crazy. Your attention gets caught by tiny little details or silly little ideas, so just stick to the basics. And what are the basics? Food, water, clothing, and shelter. Food and water are fairly simple. We’re not visiting the African Savanna, here. This is Japan. Big-city Japan, mostly. Food and water should generally be available in exchange for money. It may be strange food, or weird food, or even disgusting food, but it keeps them alive, so it should theoretically do the same for you.
Clothing. Time for a confession, I’m going to make my mother frown. We’re not bringing 25 pairs of underwear, there will be very few backup socks, and I’m keeping pants to a minimum. Very minimum. Truth is, we’re going to be moving around, quite often, with all of our possessions on our back. All of them. This means efficiency, and that means reuse. Keep the clothes light and easily washable, and then wear them over and over until they can support your own body weight. It’s rough, I know, but that’s part of the adventure.
Shelter. You’ll need the internet for this, so warm it up. It is possible to stay in big, fancy, Japanese hotels. In fact, for some people, it’s one of the joys. Not for us, I’m afraid. The purpose of a hotel is to keep rain and bugs off of us while we sleep. Not to mention that it is generally a faux pas to fall asleep in public in Japan. So get yourself some cheap housing. Options include ryokans, minshukus, and the very handy hostel. The best part of a hostel is that you can book the durn things online, no Japanese language skill needed. Pick your dates, search your locations, pay your deposit, and you’re on your way. It’s keen. You will need to keep your tenuous grasp of the language handy, however, because when you get over there, you’re going to have to talk to someone, and while many people that run Hostels speak some english, many don’t. Look! Adventure! Whee!
Bake at 350 for 16 days. Serve warm.
I’m ready, pretty much. I’ve got the rail pass, the hostels are planned, the flight has been purchased. I know where I’m sleeping, and I have a book to tell me what other people have enjoyed in the past, and I’m footloose and fancy-free enough to decide what I want to do and on what day I want to do it. I’m ready, I’m locked and loaded.
I have no idea what I’m doing. Adventure! Whee!
-N
Step one: Planning.
Ingredients: One (1) Guide Book
Two (2) Plane Tickets
One (1) Internet
One (1) Tenuous grasp on the local language
Two (2) Travelers
Instructions:
The guide book comes first. It’s pretty much the primary reference I’ve been using to plan the trip. Everything I know about what the heck I’ll be doing in Japan comes from this book. It contains the sum total of what I know about visiting Japan, and extensive reference material about things I don’t know, that I can look up as I go along. In place of an English-speaking guide to the country, I have this, and in many ways, it’s a perfectly good substitute. In some ways, though, probably not.
The next step is the plane tickets. Just pick a date. Pick it. Use the guidebook to choose your time so as to avoid busy seasons, then set a date and lock it in. This is the most important step because from here on in, you are going to Japan. You have the plane tickets, you have the passport, everything else is just gravy. You know, things to *do* in Japan. Once you have your ticket, once you’ve locked down your date, it’s on. It’s travel time.
Yikes!
Now, you don’t want to overplan your vacation because, well, because you’re crazy. Your attention gets caught by tiny little details or silly little ideas, so just stick to the basics. And what are the basics? Food, water, clothing, and shelter. Food and water are fairly simple. We’re not visiting the African Savanna, here. This is Japan. Big-city Japan, mostly. Food and water should generally be available in exchange for money. It may be strange food, or weird food, or even disgusting food, but it keeps them alive, so it should theoretically do the same for you.
Clothing. Time for a confession, I’m going to make my mother frown. We’re not bringing 25 pairs of underwear, there will be very few backup socks, and I’m keeping pants to a minimum. Very minimum. Truth is, we’re going to be moving around, quite often, with all of our possessions on our back. All of them. This means efficiency, and that means reuse. Keep the clothes light and easily washable, and then wear them over and over until they can support your own body weight. It’s rough, I know, but that’s part of the adventure.
Shelter. You’ll need the internet for this, so warm it up. It is possible to stay in big, fancy, Japanese hotels. In fact, for some people, it’s one of the joys. Not for us, I’m afraid. The purpose of a hotel is to keep rain and bugs off of us while we sleep. Not to mention that it is generally a faux pas to fall asleep in public in Japan. So get yourself some cheap housing. Options include ryokans, minshukus, and the very handy hostel. The best part of a hostel is that you can book the durn things online, no Japanese language skill needed. Pick your dates, search your locations, pay your deposit, and you’re on your way. It’s keen. You will need to keep your tenuous grasp of the language handy, however, because when you get over there, you’re going to have to talk to someone, and while many people that run Hostels speak some english, many don’t. Look! Adventure! Whee!
Bake at 350 for 16 days. Serve warm.
I’m ready, pretty much. I’ve got the rail pass, the hostels are planned, the flight has been purchased. I know where I’m sleeping, and I have a book to tell me what other people have enjoyed in the past, and I’m footloose and fancy-free enough to decide what I want to do and on what day I want to do it. I’m ready, I’m locked and loaded.
I have no idea what I’m doing. Adventure! Whee!
-N
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