On April 7th, a month out, I will be departing on a nine-day solo excursion to Japan and then meet up with my family in Taiwan. The first four days I will be in Tokyo and the rest of my time will be in Taiwan.
While this is a relatively short trip, I am feeling emotions from all ends of the spectrum about the upcoming journey . At the moment, quite honestly, I am mainly nervous about Japan. Those of you that know me know that I have done a lot of traveling within the US – sometimes solo. This will be the first time that I am traveling alone to a country I haven’t been to; not only is it a different country, but a country with a completely different dialect. With my non-existent Japanese skills, I’ll admittedly be kooking out like a non-local and be heavily reliant on Google Translate to get me through each day. The important thing is I know how to say “sushi, ramen, yakitori, sake, etc.” right?
On the other end of the spectrum, I am super excited!! Amped about all the food (obviously), about the cherry blossoms in Japan, and about getting the chance to surf in the motherland of Taiwan. Surfing in Taiwan has been something on my mind for a very long time and to be one step closer to doing that has got me absolutely frothing!
This will also be the first time I have been back to Taiwan in more than 10 years. I haven’t told too many people but the main reason for this trip is because my family is taking my grandfather’s ashes back to Taiwan. I will be seeing family members and family friends who probably don’t recognize me (and vice versa). The significance of these things is obviously pretty heavy and I honestly don’t know how I will feel until I set feet onto Taiwanese ground.
All I do know is I will be making the absolute most of this quick trip. Subscribe to this blog below and/or check back here when I depart for my trip as I will definitely be sharing my experiences and photos with all of you here.
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P.S. Comment below for suggestions or anything you want me to do so you can travel vicariously through me. I will photograph or video it for you. (things already on my list: food – lots of it, surfing, live mario kart, cherry blossoms)
if i went out there, i’d try to catch a pro baseball game and hunt for some fly asia-exclusive ontisuka tigers or other gear. i’d maybe try pachinko too.
good luck!
(the streets is watching)
Good call. I’ll be on the lookout for some swag.