What Do They Say About The Best Laid Plans??

Oh no, now Dylan has to wait to try Pandaseals!

One of the most telling and frustrating characteristic of how we travel, is that more often than not, we make these huge elaborate plans; only to change them. Whether it's flying to New Zealand from India, (no wait make that Singapore, nope...how 'bout Australia), or driving to Montana from Portland, our only constant is change.

Which is why it should be no surprise that we've just tossed all of our plans to travel to Japan this August up in the air and have made new and hopefully improved plans for the next few months. For weeks I've felt a certain dread about going to Japan. After looking for hotels this weekend and experiencing a minor anxiety attack, I brought up some huge concerns I had about our impending visit to Japan with Dylan and Andy. They were:

1-The heat and humidity in Japan is pretty unbearable in August. We still have flashbacks to melting on sidewalks and cuddling near air con units. The only reason we chose August was because Andy's company is shutting down for a week and he needed to take some vacation time then, but to go back when we know we were miserable?? How bright is that?

2-I can muster enthusiasm for a week or so in Tokyo. We've already been to Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima (not to mention two trips to Tokyo) and the unexplored parts for us were the forests and villages of Hokkaido, but we're not really forest and village kind of travelers, at least not for this trip. We were slated to be in Japan for 22 days and it was starting to feel like we would be standing around killing time. Our original intent was to have Dylan do a week's worth of work for her Senior Project at Arbor. Well, since there's no Arbor, and thus no Senior Project, there is no need to stay so long. But with the way our frequent flier miles worked, we were trapped into a 22 day stay if we used these tickets. Ugh.

3-There are far more cheaper places on this planet to kill time than Japan.

4-Leaving town for three weeks while trying to add a bathroom to our house would really slow down construction.

So...

A few intense conversations later and we have much better plans!

Japan--Spring Break 2011. Eight days of onsen soaking (believe me you don't want to visit an onsen in August), cherry blossom viewing and extreme sushi eating and Dylan gets to land in Japan on her birthday! Yup, just rebooked tickets.

Vancouver BC or somewhere equally lovely in August where we can road trip, sans pup but with adventurous spirit intact.

Perhaps somewhere warm, awesome and cheap for Xmas break??? Still have a decent number of frequent flier miles.

And if Andy can't make it to Japan for spring break, I've promised him a sweet couples trip to the New Orleans Jazz Festival--just the two of us.

So much of the travel experience lies in the planning and I guess we take the more roundabout route. Before you revoke our passports due to indecision, I quote JRR Toilken, writer of one of the most memorable travel adventures, "All who wander are not lost..." I stand by my motto: I'm not a flake, just flexible.