March 17

Well, hello all my lovely friends. I thought it was about time to join the online world of the self indulgent and start my own digital diary. Heaven forbid! Hours and hours of boring things I've accomplished with the expectation that you'll all read it with much enthusiasm.

Thank you to everyone that called me on Friday morning to wish me goodbye. Sorry I didn't call back but I didn't get your messages until I was in the queue to board the plane which just didn't seem the most appropriate time to be making calls. Same with the emails and phonecalls I never got around to returning in the lead up to my journey. I was a little rushed for time and incredibly stressy so yeah... Usual excuses I spose.

Annnnyway, to get this started I'll tell you about my airport adventures, or mishaps shall we say. Despite arriving the required two hours early I still managed to be the last one to check into my flight, only to find that I'd well exceeded the baggage limitations and at $64 per kilo extra (with me being a good 7 kilos over the limit) we figured a last minute repack would be the wisest move. Tip number 1: You can take 10kgs on board - Matt, tell Pete his backpack saved my life. Whilst this is going on my seat goes into standby and I almost have a sigh of relief at the possibility of delaying my trip a little longer. But alas, I finally manage to get a seat and am on my way.

Luckily, this all happens so quickly that I've no time to dote on my fears or sorrows. The flight to Japan is fine. Was seated next to a slightly annoying couple and with no individual TVs to tune out (which prior to this I thought would be the entire highlight of the journey), the flight is mostly pain free.

Customs in Japan takes forever but once through many memories of my time in Japan before come flooding back. I put this down to the smell. Japan has its own clean, fresh kind of smell without being overtly noticeable.
I am surprised, however, at the amount of Japanese people wearing face masks like a fashion accessory.

The hotel is quite nice. I order in a club sandwich (the menu was distinctly unJapanese) and have a laugh at the excessiveness of Japanese adverts and game show style TV programs. There's a particularly odd one focussing around Dracula which I find intriguing as I just can't understand the point of it. Time for bed and I begin to reflect on how, while being organised for this adventure, I'm not at all ready mentally. But then, would I ever be.