track our trek

literally, i mean…it rained for our first three days solid in japan! no worries, though…we didn’t let it stop us from hitting the streets of the big city. we started out our first day with an adventurous Japanese style breakfast…mental note…save “adventurous” eating for later in the day! although i knew what to expect from my bowl of rice, miso soup and piece of salty fish, i was unprepared for the cold raw tofu slab sprinkled with seaweed…and neither was daryll prepared for his fermented soybeans with some sort of sticky mustard-like sauce…it looked a bit like alien vs. predator eggs ready to hatch. lol! at least we got some good protein to carry us thru the morning! we spent the morning walking around shinjuku, which was much less lively by day than it was the night before…mostly a business district. we walked for a few hours through central park and the imperial gardens before we stopped for a much tastier lunch of chinese noodles. after lunch it was back to the room for what was supposed to be a short nap & to find ourselves accommodations for our next few days (since all we booked before we came was our first couple nights in the hotel!) a short nap turned into 4 hours for me and 3 for daryll—jet lag’s a bear--while we took turns surfing the web in search of hostels with available rooms…hmm… trickier than we thought it would be! we’re slowly getting the hang of this improvisational travel & learning it will probably be good to stay 4 days to a week ahead of ourselves when booking rooms to avoid being forced to pay high rates. it’ll get easier once we get ourselves oriented a bit.

our next couple days were much more action packed. we moved ourselves to our new digs in asakusa…a brand new hostel called k’s house tokyo…which was sparkling clan & full of very friendly folks from all over. very cool! we had a deluxe double to ourselves (with a deluxe price tag) since we had booked so late & that was all they had left. But it was worth it to meet some folks and feel a bit more connected. we did some sightseeing in asakusa & had some very yummy treats before we headed out shibuya to check out the night life. day 2 was a much better eating day! delicious katsu-don for lunch, fried bean paste (?) treats that come in flavors like pumpkin, green tea, sesame & sweet potato…and the most delicious chocolate/banana croissant for dessert!

what shall we say about shibuya at night? about tokyo in general, we were overwhelmed. when we tell people we meet we’re from the states and new york, in particular, they say “oh, you’re used to it.” but in nyc, only times square is on sensory overload! in tokyo it seems everywhere we turn it’s flashing lights and neon signs and pachinko (like slot machines)! get on the train, ride to another section of town & find more flashing lights! and so many people on the streets at 11pm! very cool! this city really never sleeps!

we've spent a few months now researching our transportation options. after lots of deliberation, we've decided to book around-the-world tickets with the oneworld airline alliance. what's that? (we didn't know either before we started this whole thing.) there are several international airline alliances made up of 6-10 member airlines and their affiliates that offer different round-the-world airfares! some of them have set prices based on number of miles travelled up to a maximum; others have set rates based on number of continents visited and a number of flights within each continent.  we picked oneworld (www.oneworld.com) because they offer a fare that's based on number of continents, not maximum miles. - 39,000 miles may sound like a lot, but we discovered that miles quickly add up when you're making long cross-ocean and cross-continental flights! www.staralliance.com is another option we looked at, but their fares are miles based.

we considered trying to hunt for the cheapest flights to each destination and buying individual one-way tickets to maximize our flexibility (what if we change our minds somewhere along the way??) - but there's almost no chance that we could fly so many places as cheaply as with the oneworld fare. and ultimately, we only have to know all of the cities we want to fly through - not dates - in order to book the tickets. so we can wing it in most places as long as we eventually make it back to the airports on our itinerary to move to the next spot.

so then comes the task of deciphering the terms and conditions! no small feat, let me tell you! we think we've got it sorted out enough to get us most of the way around the world. with our 4 flights per continent up to a maximum of 20 total flights, our current itinerary is getting us through asia, australia/new zealand, africa, europe, south america to somewhere in central america...then we're on our own from there...jokes! don't worry! that's not as alarming as it may sound. we plan to do quite a bit of rail/bus/ferry/foot travel between flights to see far flung and off-the-beaten-path places  throughout the trip. so it's no big deal if the last part of the trip's a little loose. after all, we don't know where we'll want to call home next, so leaving it open-ended seems pretty appropriate.

now that we're in the full swing of this trip planning process, it seems things keep getting more and more complicated! questions lead to more questions, which lead to more questions; and every question yields countless answers depending on which book you read or which blog you follow, or what google search you do. yikes!

this week's question of the week has been what to pack and what kind of backpack to buy? based on all the knowledge we've gleaned from dozens of world travellers who've gone before us (and some of our own general common sense), the basic answer is ONE bag apiece, as close to airline carry-on size as is humanly possible. (that's taking the term "travelling light" to a whole new level!) so the next questions is whether to get a technical pack or some type of "travel pack." technical packs tend to be geared toward specific sports, i.e. mountaineering, skiing, camping, trekking, etc., and they come in all sizes from "small & manageable", to "huge & unwieldy." for world travellers who fancy themselves "adventurous to a point," but who don't anticipate needing pick axes and ice climbing gear on a regular basis - that's us - all the straps and buckles and pockets aren't always terribly practical. which brings us to the travel pack...an internal frame backpack, often with a detachable day-pack. some of the smaller versions comply with most airline carry-on size with the day-pack removed. (that's 22"x14"x9" - not much space at'all!) any idea how small that actually is???  take a look...  so far we've been to rei and hudson trail outfitters trying on various packs full of newspaper, posing in front of full-length mirrors and trying to picture how on earth we'll fit the things on our packing list into them. ha...jokes! seems to me that if we commit to carry-on size, the packing list must adjust itself to the bag! (...the packing list is a whole other story...)

for now, after much internet browsing, we remain undecided as to brand and style....guess we'll have to keep trying them on for comfort and fit. we'll let you know what we decide on!

just a couple months and counting before our journey begins & there is much to be done before we go! from purging and packing to immunizations and paperwork, our heads are already spinning! but we'll be off before we know it, & in the meantime, we'll try to use this blog to keep a record of our planning efforts. can't wait to go!!