冒険 Adventure

Well.... I am in the final stages of my preparation for my Japan adventure. This will in all likelihood be my last post before I take a giant leap into the unknown early next week. I'm sorry to say that I am more scared than excited at the moment. Normally before I travel I feel the complete opposite, but I guess this trip is in a league of it's own. It is making my two months in Türkiye a few years ago look like a long weekend.

My main worries are to do with the language and my job, which it has to be said are going to be pretty major components of the next six months. On the up side, I don't have many little niggley worries that are going to drag me down. In fact, the only one I can think now is that I have to survive the winter without my Vicks inhaler - the only thing I have found that successfully clears my nose when I have a cold. But unfortunately, according to the Japanese anti-stimulant laws, all of Vicks' products are illegal in Japan :-(

Anyway, I better get back to my preparations. See you on the other side.

手荷物 Baggage

I know it has been a while since my last post. I have been wanting to write more but there's not all that much to report back on at the moment. That is, apart from my packing dilemma. I have 29 kilograms in total to sustain me for 6 and a half months. I alternate between thinking this is plenty and pitifully little. I'm trying to trick my brain into thinking it will be enough and I'm managing to convince myself of this for about 90% of the time. Unlike most airlines I have come across is the past – who charge £4 to £6 per kg of excess baggage – Virgin Atlantic charge £43 per kg, so there's no way I can be even a little over. I have 23kg for my suitcase and 6kg for my hand luggage, and that's that.

So how does one pack six and a half months worth of stuff into 29kg? How does one possibly decide what one needs and what one doesn't need, what might come in handy, or what might prove to be just a waste of space and weight? Personally, I like to go the list route. I have made lists for everything – stuff that is going in my hand luggage, stuff to go in my suitcase, stuff to go in a bag that's going into my suitcase for me to take out on arrival in Tokyo. I have made lists of individual items of clothing, make-up, toiletries and jewellery. I am well aware of the obsessive-compulsive nature of my packing strategy but hey, it works and it is possibly the only thing that is keeping me from panicking.

My master packing list gets edited every few days but I'm still not happy with it. Some things I repeatedly take off and put back on. For instance, at first I decided I could manage without a comb or brush (I have curly hair so can, more easily than a non-curly haired person, get by without one) but now I have two combs on there, a fine tooth and a wide tooth. It doesn't matter if I take zero, one, or two combs – combs are not important - but the tight regulations on my packing are making the most negligible thing in normal circumstances seem critical even when they are not. It's the same with every single item on my list and at the moment I have 150 things on there. It's so stressful. Another thing I have to take into account is the return journey and all the souvenirs etc. that I will be bringing back with me. The weight allowance is the same coming back so I either have to pack with weight to spare or be prepared to leave some stuff in Japan. *sigh* I'll manage – I have no other choice.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention: my suitcase, the lightest light-weight suitcase I could find, weighs 3.7kg. My luggage allowance is down to 25.3 kilograms. Life's tough, ain't it?