Travel Tomodachi

Last night we had a little unofficial first send off at a Safety Last gig. As always there was plenty of snarky conversation and Garreth was in top form as he punctuated the shameless merchandise promotion with snippets of music.... but the highlight was the fans of the year award. The tension was palpable. There were so many contenders for the title. Would it be Richard and Rachel? Rachel and Richard? Or would there be a last minute upset from a certain SOM faculty member?
Of course, to those in the know, the result was obvious: Rachel and I won and now have a new companion for our trip. Wasabi the pony will be coming across the Pacific with us. We might even enter him into some dressage competitions along the way. We also got some kick ass new neckerchiefs to show our support throughout the world.

Booty

Another day closer to Japan and many more items have been purchased to help make the year all it ever dreamed it could be (because years dream...)
For me this meant trying to find a new suit that is appropriately corporate, in the fairly likely event that I find work teaching English at a place like Berlitz, etc. Rachel got a fancy case for her Kindle, which was an important item because her need to read is voracious enough to have posed a hazard to an unprotected e-reader. This was paired with an external hard drive for her important, highly protocoled, research data that she will be collecting over the next year. My bounty from the same electronics store was a portable keyboard for my tablet (on which I'm writing this post).
There was also a backpack purchase, because my North Face backpack has been driving me a little bonkers lately. So I opted for a more basic Jansport and will be letting Rachel take over the North Face bag.
So basically we are fully equipped for Japan, though the packing and moving out bits are moving slowly...

Luggage Upgrade

Yesterday I got some new luggage for the trip. It's far better than my 15 year old camping/hiking backpack that I used in high school. Not only does it look more "adult" than my other options, but it has 4 omnidirectional wheels! So I can push it around upright through the airport in Japan to keep myself upright in my post-flight stupor. (I refuse to admit, however, whether I have a matching smaller suitcase, or whether Rachel and I will be matching with our bag use...)

T minus 2 weeks

Two weeks from now we will be on our plane to Japan. Still a lot to do here in Madison before then, including trying to squish two apartments of belongings into a single storage unit. Otherwise though I think we are ready to embark on 13 months of... well, of Japan. 

Not much else to report at the moment, though I'm sure this blog will have nothing but gripping tales to relate in the future.