Blahgorrhea

I am sitting in the park surrounding the Imperial Palace, feeling more alone than I ever have in my life. There is something about this town that just makes me feel totally isolated. Not speaking the language, I wander down streets as life happens regardless of me. It is a very humbling and intimidating feeling.

I arrived in Tokyo in a daze. Getting to the train and getting my ticket were easy (mainly because the people at the Japan Rail desk helped me), but once I stepped off they train, I was in a whole new world. People flew, no swarmed, past me as I wandered trying to find the transfer to my next line. I stood in a cloud of doubt on the rush hour crowded train, before disembarking at my stop. Hoping for signs for the correct exit, I got lucky and found myself at street level, immersed in a crisp night air filled with neon light energy and more swarms. [Continue reading…]

I view my trip to Japan as my white road adventure, much like Gary Erickson of Clif Bar had white road adventures biking through Europe. Of course, I don’t know if Japan has white roads and red roads (though given their flag, it would seem appropriate). In fact they might use all different colors for their roads. But what that analogy means is that travelling to Japan with only a vague image of a plan is my chance to step outside my comfort zone and grow as a person. [Continue reading…]

The more I browse through the travel guide, the more overwhelmed I become. The words blend together, and given no point of reference in the cities or the country as a whole, none of it makes sense to me. There are thousands of temples, tons of ryokan, countless onsen. How am I supposed to make rhyme or reason of all of this? And how I am supposed to find a place to stay? Finally, I pulled myself together and made two big decisions: call Kimi Ryokan and book a few nights to start off in Tokyo; purchase a 21-day Japan Rail Pass.

Done and done. I feel so much better now, but I’m beginning to remember why I haven’t travelled by myself before. I don’t like making arrangements.

I had thought a little bit about traveling after I finish up at Edusoft, but I hadn’t put much effort into it and hadn’t come up with any place to go. With only a little convincing over the weekend, my friends pushed me in the right direction. I browsed the bookstore looking at the travel guides to decide where to go. When impulse struck, I decided on Japan and I booked a flight yesterday.

Three weeks in Japan. No plans. Should be an adventure.

I received in the mail today a letter from Delta letting me know that they are combining their two different rewards programs, both of which I have been a member of for a number of years. The letter assured me that I would still be provided with the same excellent service I have come to expect (which isn’t saying all that much), but my concern really is whether or not those frequent flier miles are really worth anything anymore.

Over the last 10 years or so, I have accumulated over 200,000 miles that I can redeem for free travel, for stupid office gifts or for magazine subscriptions. I learned tonight that I can also donate the points to charities. I have been flying Delta most of my life, as they are based out of Atlanta, and I have had an American Express card that offers me 1 SkyMile for every dollar I spend. I am religious about using my credit card in order to amass rewards points, but I never actually redeem the points, so why do I keep up with this ritual, when I could instead use a credit card that offers me cash back? [Continue reading…]