Tag: japan

Thursday, July 4, 2024

I can think of no better way to celebrate US Independence Day than by leaving it. I was ready to be independent and free of this shitshow situation, most effectively displayed in our presidential contest that was in full swing. My people have the shortest memories, I swear.

We booked our flights for Japan at Christmas, so this had been a long time coming! We had gone through several rounds of obsessive YouTube travel vlogger binging, I think three different Air Canada changes of itineraries/planes/seats to our original purchase, and some last minute oh shit I think I should grab a few more ideas from the interwebs on what to see what to eat what to do. But the morning was finally upon us!

We had a 10:40 am flight and left the apartment at 7:00 am. We did our usual walk a block > take a bus > walk a block > take the light rail commute to the airport for $3.25 each. Typically this is a very, very smooth transportation option, but this time we had a technical issue on the light rail and had to switch trains mid-route. But we left plenty of time and the transit people did an awesome job so it was no biggie. When we arrived at the SeaTac station I did my usual grumbling of “WHY DIDN’T THEY PUT IN A MOVING SIDEWALK BETWEEN THE LIGHT RAIL STATION AND THE TERMINAL AT SEATAC?!?!?!” So stupid.

TSA was a long line but it was fine. We found our way to the Concourse A Priority Pass Lounge and wow, terrible. Crowded, a couple of sad snack options, and WOW NO COFFEE? I think they’re overwhelmed by how many of us commoners have access now.

So now is where I will explain my travel day stress and how it all ultimately worked out fine (of course it worked out fine, see below). When we bought the flights back in December, our layover in Vancouver (YVR) was 2 hours. One of the itinerary changes by Air Canada along the way was to reduce that layover to one hour. Then they also moved our seats from the front of the plane to the back of the plane, apparently because they combined two flights and well, someone has to lose and why wouldn’t it be the people that booked 6 months ago? And then when we got to the gate that morning we learned that our Air Canada flight departure out of Seattle was delayed 20 minutes. If we missed our connection in YVR to Tokyo it wasn’t like there was another one just a few hours later. I didn’t like this.

What fixed my mood was when we got on the plane we figured out that there were maybe a dozen people or so that were also connecting to the Tokyo flight in YVR. They wouldn’t abandon all of us, right??? Yeah, it all worked out fine (see above). The transition through YVR was short and quick, they held the plane for us, and I think maybe for even another connecting flight because we were sitting on the plane for a bit before we pulled away.

The 10 hour flight in economy was just fine. I slept for maybe an hour, the movie selection was yuge, and the inflight meals weren’t bad. For some reason I didn’t want to pull out my knitting project. I would like to forget the midflight massive hot flash that I think was triggered by the free red wine. And I would ask Air Canada to rethink passing out hundreds of tuna fish sandwiches as a mid-flight snack.

Sunday, May 5, 2024

Some life updates… neurodiversity, retirement planning, summer plans, travel plans (x2):

The Trendy Diagnosis

My suspected ADHD brain actually let me follow through on a goal I’ve had for awhile now. I got evaluated and officially diagnosed, so I am now a confirmed ADHDer! I also worked with a nurse practitioner to figure out the right medication and dosage for me.

Can I tell you that Adderall is a game changer for me? To folks unfamiliar with the ADHD brain this is going to make me sound unwell, but Adderall makes the voices in my head go away. I no longer have a continuous narrative loop in my mind telling me everything I should be doing and that I’m a loser for not doing all of the things. I also sleep a lot less, which has been a bit of an emotional adjustment since I really loved excess sleep. I think I loved it because it was the only time I couldn’t hear my narrator. But now when my mind turns on at 6:00 or 7:00 am I’m learning to accept it and not fight it.

And being on Adderall reminds me of when I first got on Bupropion (aka Wellbutrin) for depression – it didn’t cure my disorder, but gave me the mental room I needed make the life changes necessary to squash my ever-imposing chronic depression, and eventually get off the medication. Not a quick solution at all – I started that medication in 2011 or 2012, and stopped it just last year. So far with the Adderall support I’m learning about time blindness, and managing ebbs and flows of energy, and creating routines, and learning how to work through an all-or-nothing mindset. Maybe someday I can do these things without the pharmaceutical support, but I’m not in a rush.

FIRE-ing

Thanks to Uncle Joe a bunch more months counted towards my student loan forgiveness and moved up that timeline.

And the accounts keep growing. It’s starting to feel real that we are going to be able to start that full-time travel thing in the next couple/few years. So we have followed through and hired a fee-only financial planning company to help us sort out some details and learn some nuts and bolts. Scott has been sending them our information and was told he might have the best spreadsheet they’ve ever seen. That made Scott’s year, I think. We have a big 4-hour session in a couple of weeks to see what advice they have.

Summer Side Hustle

I will be “working” for a few days at the start of summer break. It’s 5 days. It includes field trips, and a baseball game, and two meals at a couple of Seattle’s best restaurants. I get to hang out with international visitors. I’ll be getting a paycheck. This seems too good to be true.

Another Country

We have a trip to Japan booked for July. Even though we aren’t full-time travelers yet, we still prefer slow travels on our trips. So instead of following a typical recommendation for a two week itinerary to catch a train to a new overnight stay every 2-3 nights, we are spending 7 nights in Tokyo and 9 nights in Kyoto. Those two locations have a lifetime of things to see in and of themselves, plus there are lots of day trip options from each. We know we will love Japan and want to return, so why try to cram everything into one trip? We shall move slow and smell the tea. Except when we are driving these.

I Prefer to Call Them Boats, I Don’t Care What People Say

A stranger (maybe a cruise employee I can’t remember) actually verbally corrected me when I called the vessel we were on last summer a “boat”. Cruise people are so weird. They get offended when you don’t call it a “ship”. Get over yourselves. Plus, when you have a (copied) Midwest accent it’s way more fun to say “boat” than “ship”.

We have an Alaska cruise booked for a week in August. I’ve only been to Anchorage on a short work trip before. Scott has been on three cruises before, including one last year that he did without me. First of all, we are not codependent and know how to enjoy ourselves apart. Second, he had vacation time he had to use up and I couldn’t take time off at the beginning of the school year. Third, he brought me home souvenir stickers and scouted yarn shops for me. So, anyway, this year I am going on one with him. It’s a week, and we don’t have to fly anywhere to catch it. We can take the bus or even walk if we want. Scott is treating me by paying for an upgrade to a balcony cabin AND we are going to buy thermal suite passes. This will not be a repeat of my bad attitude on the cruise last summer.