Dearest Rachel –
We’ve done a lot of traveling in our lives, both while you were around and since you had to go. Most of those trips were cruises, where as we put it, you unpack once and let your hotel do the traveling for you. Other times, it’s been with large groups (although I suppose the extended family, including Mom and Dad as well as Jenn, Bill and the kids could be considered a relatively large group in and of itself). But this particular trip is going to be a little different.
Bits of it are going to be familiar, in terms of logistics, but but it’s definitely not the usual “unpack once and don’t worry about it” vibe to it. We’ll be traveling from one city to another, and having to completely decamp at least twice in the process. Sure, we can do it – we did it twice before when we went to Israel (and I’ve done that now twice since) – but it’s certainly not as easy as when we’re traveling by ship.
And while we are going as part of a group tour, at least for the bulk of the trip, this is going to be a group of complete strangers. Sure, you might compare that to our final cruise, with the SeaBronies (which I guess have all but disbanded since, even down to striking the name from their Discord server; they’re now just the Sea Ponies, it would seem), but again, this is all going to be on land, where we’re in charge of moving our own stuff from one place to the next.
It’s not even like we’re loading everything onto a coach bus, either; we’ve got reservations on the train to get from our first stop to the next (and back), and it’s not as if the thing will wait for us if there’s a delay on our end. That’s an “us problem,” if it happens, and it’s not something we’ve ever had to deal with as such. Oh, our last trip together was on the Amtrak, and we had to be at the station at a certain time, but this is Tokyo, not New Orleans or San Antonio. Places will be crowded, frantically busy… and there won’t be much in the way of English to be heard. I don’t need to tell you how different that is from any trip we’ve taken before.
And then, there’s the fact that we’ve decided that, as long as we’re over here in Japan, why do we need to go home right away when the tour group portion is over? We’re intentionally letting the supports drop out from beneath us for a good three days, while we attempt to at least knock about the city (if not the country) as best we can. Ironically, part of that was done with the attitude of “well, when’s the next time we’re going to be here again, eh?” only for us to book a more conventional trip (for us, anyway) to take place in a little more than a couple of months. It was a rhetorical question that we promptly answered for ourselves, but at the time, it made sense.
Because – as you might recall – I’ve mentioned the idea of getting a JR Pass at some point in the further future, and wandering the country together with Daniel (and/or Megumi, should she appear) with no particular itinerary in mind. Just making our way from city to city, station to station, and stopping wherever the spirit may lead. It’s nothing like any form of travel we’ve done before (and admittedly, I wonder if you’d envy us the trip, as you’d hoped to take Daniel here as a family, so that we both could show him what we enjoyed of this place)…
…but before we take on something as ambitious as that, we need to start a little smaller, first. And that’s why, for all that I’m telling you this is going to be strange for us to deal with, it’s something we need to take on, if for no other reason than to prove that we can. Can we shift for ourselves, with only the barest amount of a plan? Can we find our way to the express train that will get us to the neighborhood where our hotel is, without outside assistance? Can we find our way to meet up with our group by tomorrow evening?
In theory, all of these should be an easily answered “yes” – indeed, the fact that you’re getting this letter is proof that at least those first couple of questions have been so answered. But as I’m writing this to you from the plane, I’m not yet completely sure. Oh, I’m as sure as I can be, given the circumstances – I’ve certainly got no reason to doubt myself. But, not having actually made it to where we need to be yet, I only have hope, and not real certainty, that this will work out. And that’s what’s different about this particular trip.
And that’s why I’m asking you to keep an eye on me and Daniel, honey, and to wish us luck. More than most times, we’re going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 