ria_oaks

Well, I originally wasn't going to mention this on LJ since it's still very much up in the air and is not by any means definite, buuut... the more Mom and I talk about it, the more likely it becomes, and assuming we can get farily cheap airfare, it may well happen. So I'm going to mention it because I really want to talk about it, and because with any luck it will actually happen. Possibly. If I pray a lot, anyway. *grin*

So, given that, anyone care to guess where I might be going this summer? ^_^ I'm probably going to be beset by very jealous friends, but I'm taking shopping lists and requests so trust me you'll all be getting lots of souvenirs. *grins*

Okay, enough stalling. Details behind the cut:

So, Mom and I are thinking of going to Japan this summer for 2-3 weeks. ^_^ Possibly. Hopefully. God I hope so. O.o We hadn't originally planned to go on a big vacation this summer since we need to save money for going to Europe next summer (Dad has a few shows over there) and of course for my tuition. But we both want to get away somewhere interesting, and the best we could come up with was Vancouver Island. Whopee. -_- But a possible opportunity for a 2-for-1 airfare came along, and that got us thinking about going somewhere more interesting and exotic. While that deal might have fallen through, we're still thinking about it since we think we can get fairly cheap airfare. We're planning to stay mostly in youth hostels, since they're far cheaper than normal hotels. And we'd like to stay in a few ryokans, which are traditional Japanese inns. Most are pretty expensive, but some not so much.

We're thinking we fly into Tokyo and stay there a few days. Mostly just sight-see and rest from jet-lag; we'll probably save our shopping for the end (since we'd be flying out of Tokyo, too) so we don't have to lug all the anime crap I'll be buying all around Japan. Then down past Yokohama (which is practically part of Tokyo it's so close; incidently, it also sports the first ever Harry Potter store, which opened recently) to Mt. Fuji. We want to climb it, since you just can't go to Japan and not do so. *grin* It's a 5-7 hour hike, but it'd be worth it. Most people either go in the late afternoon and sleep in huts at the top until sunrise or climb all night to get there in time for sunrise, since sunrise is evidently the time to be at the top of Mt. Fuji. ^^ Evidently it's very crowded at night, but worth it.

After Mt. Fuji we'd be heading south (by train; we'll be getting train passes), eventually to Kyoto and Nara. Dying to see Kyoto; there's over 1000 temples there. O.O And, once you get out of the urban area, it's supposed to be very beautiful and quite traditional in places. So I'll be running around pretending I'm Kenshin or the Shinsengumi and drawing a lot of stares. :P I'd like to be there on July 16th, which is when they hold a Shinsengumi parade, but I don't think we'd be there that early (Mom has to work the first 2 weeks of July, so we'd probably be leaving around the 15th or 16th). oh well. ^^ Anyway, don't know about Osaka since it's evidently not that great (mostly industry and stuff), so down further south past Hiroshima and into the south island, Kyushu. We'll see Nagasaki, probably, and not sure what else there is to see there. Then back up north , but on the western side of the islands, and up to the mountains that Mom wants to see, then back to Tokyo. Where I plan to camp out in the various Mandarakes and do a shitload of shopping. *grins* Then, sadly, home. ^^;;

We're still not certain if it will happen or not, but we'd both like to. Mom finally broke the idea to Dad today and he didn't freak out, so that's one worry gone. ^^ Money's still an issue, of course, but if we can stay in youth hostels, get cheap-ish airfare, and get a rail pass, then we should theoretically be able to do it under $5000. According to Mom. Frankly, I think she's dreaming if she thinks she can budget that low, but she's worked it out and she thinks she can do it for that little.. guess we'll see. ^^

Of course, other than money there's the issue of language. I plan to break out my old Japanese textbooks and do some massive reviewing, but even so... I'm a bit worried about street signs. ^^ Hopefully we'll be able to find a really good map. And people in the tourist business seem to be able to speak at least a bit of English. We've got out several travel books from the library and have been flipping through them; Mom's always loved planning trips... *g*

So, that's it. It's still not definite by any means, but I'm desperately hoping it will happen. And if it does, then feel free to bombard me with shopping requests, as long as you give me enough money to cover it. ^^ And keep in mind that we can only bring back $500 each and I plan to do a lot of my own shopping, *g*

And, well, barring that I guess we can go to Vancouver Island. Oh goodie. :P

EDIT: Fixed the link... used the wrong code. ^^