Let's Go!

After a few bouts of anxiety over when to book a flight, countless Pimsleur Japanese CDs with ensuing language confusion (like, why are there 50 different ways and situations of saying the number 7? Whatever-I'll just hold up 7 fingers; that's pretty international), and the feeling that the day does not have enough hours, I'm finally packed and ready to go tomorrow morning. As usual, it's small carry-on only with a session of clothes washing somewhere in the middle of our stay.  

Here's the plan:

a flight to Denver International Airport followed by a relaxing, 12-hour flight to Tokyo on the Boeing Dreamliner, where I plan on doing absolutely nothing besides watching one movie after the other Yes, I'm so desperate for some r & r time, that I'm actually looking forward to sitting on an airplane for that long! After the final flight to Komatsu, I will hopefully meet Lynda at the airport where we'll both arrive around 7:30 p.m. if all goes well. That way we can be confused together, looking for the bus to Kanazawa, our final destination. A short taxi ride will take us to the oldest inn in Kanazawa, Minshuku Ginmatsu, our home for the next few days. 

For those of you who are new to this blog: Lynda is one of my oldest friends.. She is originally from the Isle of Man (look that up on your smart phone, or an atlas if you're old-school!), but has lived in Germany for the past decades. That's where I met her, hanging out at a certain frat house during my university days. I maintain this friendship very carefully, because if she ever told some old stories, I would lose that sweet, innocent image I have cultivated for so long. 

At some point I moved to Kansas, but went to visit her every year when going back to Germany. At another point we thought it a good idea to go to Japan together; that was in 2012 and it was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Well, that turned out to be just a justification in my mind to spend more money, because when it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing, you don't want to be stingy, right? So now it's more like: "Oh, we haven't visited Ishikawa Prefecture yet. When will we ever come back here? Let's spend some more money!" Now it's become such a tradition, that we decided to go every two years to visit a different region. 

This time, we will spend the first half of our visit in Kanazawa, then take the bus to Nagoya, where we will spend another few days. 

To end today's post, here's a little something I compiled after several days of meditation and reflection: