We bought our plane tickets to Japan over three weeks ago.  When we were told that we should plan to arrive on or about Feb. 25, I asked whether we should go ahead and book our flights or whether we should wait until our visas were in place.  Go ahead, we were told, and so I began searching for the best price available.  After checking Air Canada and United Airline prices online and what kind of deal we could get as automobile association members, I contacted the travel agent who arranged our flights last time we flew to Japan and learned that she could offer us a much better deal.  Congratulating ourselves on saving a large chunk of cash, we purchased the tickets.

Now Air Canada is advertising an international seat sale!  Did I do the right thing?  Should I have waited?  Would I be able to buy the same tickets cheaper now?  I don’t know.  Richard assures me that it would have been foolish to wait on the off chance that a better deal might materialize and I’ve refused to check out the seat sale price because if it’s significantly better than the price we paid, I don’t think I want to know!  That’s how I shop.  Once I’ve made a purchase, whether it be a pair of shoes, a coat or an airline ticket, I refuse to look at the same or similar item elsewhere in case I could have got it cheaper.  Right now, though, I do wish that every seat on an airplane sold for exactly the same price so that I wouldn’t have to wonder whether or not the person sitting next to me got a better deal than I did!

Though it’s awhile before we’ll begin to pack, I’m already making lists of what to take to Japan with us. How do you fit everything you’ll need for a year in two suitcases and a carry on each? The school has sent us lists of things to bring and I’ve found other useful lists online. One suggests that the most valuable things to bring are a positive attitude and a sense of humour. Fortunately, those won’t take up any space in our luggage!

Being about the size of an average Japanese man, Richard shouldn’t have any problem buying clothing or shoes in Japan. I, on the other hand, may have more difficulty. I’ve been told that women who are taller than 5’4″, weigh more than 130 pounds or wear shoes larger than size 7 can expect to have difficulty finding clothing or footwear to fit. I passed that height and shoe size back in junior high and am slightly over the weight limit as well!

Our apartment will be furnished with the basics including bedding and dishes so we don’t have to worry about those. Of course, we can shop for any additional items we might need when we get there but we have been advised to bring certain toiletry and health care items with us. Unlike North American products, Japanese deoderants do not contain aluminum and are, therefore, not very effective. Toothpaste is another item that doesn’t meet North American standards and multivitamins are extremely expensive so those are a few things that we’ll take a year’s supply of.

There is one treasure that I absolutely must not forget to pack. On June 1st, at a year end concert in honour of the two teachers who were retiring from my school, I was presented with a very special gift from the students. It’s special to me because the students who chose it clearly put a great deal of thought into selecting something that would be meaningful to me. It is a brown leather bound journal and the inside cover was signed by every student in the school. Knowing my love of traveling and that I was dreaming of living and teaching overseas, they told me that I was to take it with me wherever I went and write down my memories. I will do that and whenever I do, I will remember the students of Lougheed School.

I’ve spent the past two days making lots of phone calls to arrange to have services like phone, cable, internet & newspapers cut off when we leave the country.  I also called Canada Customs about how to register things like the computer and the digital camera that we’re taking with us so that they don’t think we bought them in Japan and charge us import duties when we return.  Another call was made to Revenue Canada to find out about how our foreign income will be taxed.  Of course, all this involved lots of time on hold listening to boring music and even more boring recorded messages but I want to get all this kind of stuff taken care of early so I don’t get stressed out later.   Now we’re in the process of trying to figure out what kind of health care coverage we need.  Those of you who know me well can probably imagine all the lists that I have going these days but every time I cross something off, we’re one step closer to being ready to go!