Next stop, Tokyo!

Aloha friends and family!

 

And greetings from the scenic Plaza Lounge at the Vancouver airport where I’ve been chowing down on some free noodles (which will definitely give me a mad case of the garlic breath, maybe not the best choice before a long flight?) and gettin’ my free wine on.  We’ve made it to moving day!  After weeks of packing, stressing, and getting seemingly endless amounts of passport photos taken of me for every single piece of my visa application, we’re finally here!

I don’t think its actually hit me yet that this is it, were not coming back any time soon and this is the exciting new beginning to my exciting new life!  Even writing that I think I’m too exhausted to properly process anything. Honestly, I’m more excited about flying business class for the first time in my life (bless you frequent flier miles) and having a blast lapping up the silly luxury of it all (we get a rug at check in, while those in the slums get no rug.  This must be how Kate Middleton feels!).

Side bar:  I keep hearing a faint “meow” in the distance and for the life of me I cannot tell if it is someone’s text tone, or if there is a cat somewhere in this lounge.  If it is the latter, I will not leave before I meet the cat.

But while I’m here and have a free glass of wine in my hand, I thought I’d pound out a quick post to get you all up to speed on the moving preparations, how to be organized, etc.  But for the life of me I don’t actually know how we got it all done!  What I’ve learned is moving means you get rid of trash bag after trash bag of precious childhood memories, shirts that only look good with one outfit, and all the random bits and bobs you’ve accumulated over 23 years of life and unceremoniously hucking it all on the curb.  Even after getting rid of, no joke, 75% of what I own, I still feel like I’m bringing way too much with me!  Between the two of us we have 6 suitcases, which is a bit ridiculous.  But I do feel better that 2 of those are Shin’s and one of those is entirely omiyage.  But still, we have a lot of stuff.

There’s so much more to the moving process besides packing, but that is what has honestly kept me so busy that feel like the actual securing of the visa was the easy part.  Dealing with bureaucracy  is nothing compared to deciding which of the two almost identical sweaters you’ll keep.

Speaking of sweaters… it’s late-March, and while it still be a bit chilly in Tokyo for now, Japanese summer is right around the corner.  And Japanese summer takes no prisoners.  No point in wasting my time bringing any sort of cold weather gear– I might be chilly for the first week or two, and maybe I was a bit optimistic by not bringing a coat with me, but it’ll be worth it when it’s not taking up our limited space all season.  And knowing me, I will want to upgrade my winter wardrobe in the Autumn anyway.

 

On a more exciting note (more exciting than sweater crises?  I don’t think my heart can take it!)  we have a lot of fun and exciting things happening for our first week in Japan.  I start work on the 4th and Shin goes back to school on the 7th so we have a few days to get situated, get me all plugged into Japanese society, and do some sight seeing we weren’t able to do during the Christmas holiday.  I also have a hair appointment booked tomorrow and I am so excited for a complete hair makeover– new country new look!

Any suggestions for must see things in Shinjuku?  I’ll be hanging out there by myself quite a bit as Shin has a few job interviews on our first few days.

 

Almost time to board, well, after a quick trip to the duty free!

 

See you guys on the other side!

 

Cait.