2016-Jul-10, Sunday

dorchadas: (Broken Dream)
I'm pretty sure that I've finished everything that I need to do before we leave. Our passports are sitting next to me, we bought our JR Rail Passes and know to make sure to get a Temporary Visitor stamp on our passports so we can exchange them when we arrive, we arranged for portable wi-fi so that we'll be able to check Google maps to find anywhere we want to go / look up train directions (Japanese addressing...leaves something to be desired), we bought a portable charger for our phones and a cord that'll connect our DSes to it too (and hopefully the wifi if it uses a minUSB for its charger), checked necessary visa status (none for our connecting flight in Canada, none for Japan), booked hotels including a ryokan on Miyajima, changed our money before the yen took off, alerted everyone important that we would be abroad, put a hold on our mail, bought new shoes and sandals, got some clothes that will stand up to Japanese weather (think "incredibly hot and humid" and you'll be right. Though apparently the rainy season isn't over yet...)...

But this is travel, so of course I'm running through lists trying to figure out what I've missed. The last post I made on this I thought we had finished everything, but there were some items on the list above--wifi, phone battery, shoes--that weren't still done and which I hadn't seriously considered before. What else am I going to want that I haven't thought of before now?

I made a couple lists on the app that [personal profile] schoolpsychnerd and I use to coordinate chores and paying bills that'll cover everything we need to do before we leave and everything we need to make sure we pack. It's not enough to really make me stop worrying, but at least I can assure myself I've done as much as I can to prepare.
dorchadas: (Darker than Black)
This is another non-random chocolate selection. I realized that it's not even that hot today--I went out of the apartment briefly to go to the store and it was slightly cool in the shade--but it's going to be really hot coming up, and it's traditional that eating spicy food is a good way to deal with hot weather. Of course, the physiological method behind that is that spicy food makes you sweat, which cools you down, and feeling sweaty is about the second-worst feeling I can think of that I have to deal with on a regular basis (the first is feeling oily, which is why I typically hide inside because I hate the feel of sunscreen but also don't want to get burned).

Huh. Double-checking, apparently there's an inverse correlation between distance from the equator and spiciness of native cuisine. Neat! Weeee smiling happy face
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