I am totally psyched to announce that we're going back to Japan. After careful deliberation and lots of soul searching (at least for me, for my wife it was no contest), I decided $550 including all taxes was too cheap to pass up.
I estimate that we're going to pay $1100 for the plane and about $1500 for a cheap hotel or apartment for three weeks. At one point when gas was at its most expensive, I thought tickets might cost that much. I think we can eat pretty cheap, maybe splurging only a couple times on meals. I am most worried about how much we will spend on clothes (Rhonda) and tech and anime crap (me).
This may seem foolhardy in a recession. Rhonda already has her pink slip, and after dodging layoffs just a couple months ago, the IBM acquisition rumors don't exactly spell job security. Trust me, that is why I took almost the full 44 hours the seats were on hold to pull the trigger.
But this is a pretty important and symbolic trip for us, for reasons I don't want to explain. It has taken on added meaning over the last two years. When you have pretty dire financial and health situations over which you have no control, and you keep having to put off your dreams, it's incredibly disheartening. I know we are not the only people in this boat. But this opportunity presented itself at a time when we were in position to take advantage, and sometimes you need to make your own luck.
Also, scoff if you will, I feel this was divine intervention. I wasn't shopping for Tokyo tickets. I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact we might never go to Japan again or, at least, not in 2009. But a system of coincidences put itself into alignment Tuesday night. I had the "1000+" article count in Google Reader, yet I decided to read from a feed that is probably not in my 25 favorites. I decided to click on a link in that article to a website I'd never heard of, on a whim. That page happened to have a story on United fares specifically from SFO (and only SFO) to Narita for $400. The fare was only available on a handful of dates but some of those dates worked for our schedule. The sale only lasts until tomorrow, and the flights have basically all sold out. We were extremely fortunate, at a time when it seems like it's been a while since we've had some good fortune.
And you can see how I felt like we had to do this.
I didn't mean to write so long about this. Initially, it was just going to be a brief "woohoo!" kind of update. But it's nice to be excited about something again. We've had some news that made us feel relieved lately, and/or grateful, but not excited. Pumped. Alive.
2 comments:
Well said. I'm sure I don't need to tell you this, but it's your money, your business. You've both worked your asses off and you deserve this. Like we said after buying our phones, "Sh*t, I've never been this broke and this happy at the same time."
Chris, I had to congratulate you on your decision to take the plunge to go to Japan in spite of the tug of financial responsibility. I've seen too many people indefinitely postpone their travel dreams to the point that they never fulfill them. Carpe diem! Or as they say at Priceline, carpe dealum. :-) It's clear from your post and other posts that you're thoughtful about spending and debt, so I hope you go with a sense of adventure and a clear conscience.
As for your comment on Twitter that "flat feet suck," I know, and have you considered orthotics? You should look into getting shoes while you're over there (as long as your feet aren't too huge by Japanese standards), because they are designed with the often-flat (and often-wide) Japanese foot in mind. Arched Westerners living there complain about this, in fact. :-) You can msg me at flat_footed at Twitter if you like.
Bon voyage and congratulations on a good decision.
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