So as spring quickly approaches, I'm still looking forward to my vacation in Japan. I've always wanted to go there. I've always admired and enjoyed decorations and architecture from the Orient. I had originally planned to go last April, but this pesky Covid popped up, and halted my plans abruptly. I've been sitting on my hands since then, waiting, but not so patiently. I can't go until I can go, so I'm biding my time until that day.
So far I have just about everything I need, and is already packed up waiting to go. And it all fits into one big suitcase. I got my passport renewed early last year. Once I saw the photo, it scared me! I was looking at someone else in that picture. I had just gotten over a really bad virus and I was still recovering when the photo was done. But, it is what it is, and I'll have to use it. I also got my first Covid shot and the other will be in a week or so. I'm sure it will be required for travel, so I did it, although I have strong reservations about them. I did it because it had to be done for me to fulfill a plan. I'm determined to do this.
I also hate flying, and am pretty scared of it. Not the take off, but I'm hoping it lands at the airport, and not somewhere else in between in a hurry. I dread flying with a passion, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. I have to step out of my comfort zone for the reasons I'm doing this to start with. To me it is completely worth it. Besides all of the Beauty of the country, I'm hoping to find answers, and learn new things. I will have my 3 week stay there loosely planned out with sights and destinations. Some days will be 'whatever happens, happens', so I'll be in and out of my room quite often. I'll be the guy with a tourist Nihon dialect. I can speak well with a toddler, but not so gifted with mainlanders. But I'm still learning a little here and there when I have time.
Over the course of a year, I have taken many steps to restore my health and well being. So far I'm down to 160 lbs; down from around 190 or so. I only need to drop 10 more and I will have accomplished that part. I'm targeting 150 lbs or less as I am 5'7" so the weight will be ideal. It will also be better on my knees. The right one is still a problem.
These days, at first glance, one cannot tell I will be 60 this year. I don't feel like it, or act like it. I have muscle and everything! So I'll be ready for just about anything when I land in Tokyo. So I'll be looking for some good times, and hopefully some GREAT memories to carry with me.
Right now, it's a waiting game for airports to open up (like my connecting flight to get to Chicago, where my flight departs). Until then, I'll keep making game scenery and working on music 👼😀
4/11/21: It looks like Tokyo and other prefectures will possibly go in to their 4th lockdown soon because of how the medical response is going. They are also looking to hold the Olympics anyway, even though they will be flying in tens of thousands of Olympians and their staff out of countries Japan still has a travel ban on. Many of those countries are still in bad shape under Covid, but the choice has apparently been made. I'm also currently down about 156 lbs, so there's that.
4/25/21: So, Tokyo and other metropolises prefectures are going into another State of Emergency. It will go until about the middle of next month. I also just read that they will be starting up their vaccination schedules at the beginning of June! I was hoping their response would be a little faster than that. There is also mention that the visiting Olympians will not be required to quarantine. I'm no Medical PhD, but my spider senses tell me that there will be a huge perpetual infection dynamic shortly after it starts, and will be in major growth before the event is even finished. Over 100 countries will be bringing their own strains with them, so I anticipate the hospitals to be at capacity shortly after the Olympics begin. All of this and they are not allowing vaccinated travelers the opportunity to visit.
5/6/21: They're looking at yet another State of Emergency due to increased cases and new strains. I'll wait as long as I need to wait, but it's starting to stress me out big time. Things may have already changed in the last 15 months, and I'm hoping I'm not forgotten by the time the travel ban is lifted.
6/12/21: I'm still waiting for this trip. The anxiety of just sitting on my hands for well over a year can be relentless at times. I've already been fully vaccinated, but there is still a travel ban going on. Even if they raise the level to 3, I would have to quarantine for 10-14 days, which would take a huge dump on my plans. It doesn't make sense. They're letting unvaccinated Olympics people in, but I'm still fenced off. The longer I wait, the less relevant I'm feeling, and I don't want to just be an old faded memory.
6/23/21: I keep picking up things I think will be good for my trip, and I have to be careful not to exceed the weight limits. I really don't want to take 2 suitcases, and I think I can fit all of my clothes and toys into one bag. I'm trying to prepare for any possible scenario, everything from swim shorts to a suit, to electronics, and everything in between. It also looks like some travel bans are starting to be lifted, but my state isn't in it yet. We'll have to wait and see what happens after the Olympics, but at this moment, it's being planned for mid August until about the middle of September. I'd like to be back home for my Birthday on the 20th 😉
7/15/21: So Tokyo has gone into another Lockdown, effective until August 22nd. I'm pretty sure the Olympics will cause the infection rate to explode as they are finding participants that are testing positive for COVID, and they have found Olympians wandering tourist areas against the requests of the Government. I'm so frustrated at this point that 'Leaders' are failing miserably at containing it, and infection rates are already going up. I'm worried that I'll be forgotten by the time I make it there, as it has been a year and a half already. This waiting is slowly breaking me, and I don't want to stand in the rain alone.
8/19/21: Still waiting for the travel ban lift. This waiting is a daunting thing, but I will hold out. I will not break. I'm still intent on going, and nothing will stop me. 😁
10/3/21: Still waiting. I'm hoping it will be lifted soon as medical advances have seemed to help. I read in an articles by a major banking institution, that they expect the travel bans to be lifted by Christmas. I think it was a 60% probability. I'm hoping it is possible. It seems that this trip started 2 years ago, is now something I must do, regardless. I've kind of been in limbo for these 2 years, and I'm ready to break that pattern.
12/15/21: It has been a year and a half since I began planning/anticipating my trip. So far, it feels like a lot of time has passed. It feels like an eternity. It is my personal eternity in which I cannot escape. From what I've been reading about the Omicron variant, it seems to be more transmissible, yet the symptoms have been shown to be very mild, according to the leading Health Official who discovered it in Africa. Let's hope the pandemic has peaked, and things can begin to return to some sense of normalcy.
3/29/22: The time is getting closer and closer. It has been speculated that the travel ban could be lifted by mid summer, so I'm still anxious to make the trip and it seems doable now that there is light at the end of the tunnel. If I have to get a booster to make the trip, then so be it. I am in the mindset that I will make all the necessary sacrifices to do this.
7/3/22: So here I am, still sitting on my hands, still waiting. And all of this waiting is starting to weigh me down a bit. Some days I get frustrated that I cannot go and I'm powerless to do anything to speed it up. Going on 2 1/2 years now. I have been through my suitcase a few times, but it has been packed and ready to go since early 2020, but the planning stages began much earlier than that. The travel ban is still in effect. They are allowing control groups in under a 'Guided Tour Package', but I'm not interested in being on a leash the whole time I'm there. Everything in those tours are highly controlled and monitored. There is very little free movement allowed. Scheduled mealtimes, daily Covid testing, tracking apps for the phones, extended stays in the hotel room when not on a controlled tour, etc. It shouldn't be much longer, and I can begin seriously looking into booking my trip.
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