Last weekend in Tokyo

Going away party at Rojo in Koenji

There really is no excuse for leaving a city like Tokyo without a bang, and I’ve never been one for making excuses. We had a great weekend with many friends—we saw Batman followed by a well overdue karaoke session on Friday, had our official farewell party at our favorite local Mexican restaurant with a great turnout complete with obnoxious belligerence (and it wasn’t even me this time!), and had drinks with a couple friends at an awesome yakitori place just outside my old apartment on Sunday.

All I can say after six years in Japan is that I really do have some interesting friends, and I hope the feeling is mutual. I got a ton of great advice as well from some of my more well-traveled friends. For instance, two people told us to watch ourselves in Salvador if we decide to go there for Carnival (a distinct possibility), and another mentioned that Phnom Penh is not a place to be out and about after dark. We have also added the wrestling cholitas of Bolivia to our "must see" list.

My last kampai in Tokyo for a while

This just highlights to me that more than guidebooks, you really do need to just ask people that have been there before, or even better some locals once you get there. Research beforehand is definitely an important step not to be skipped, but there really is no replacement for personal experience. That, and I look forward to wandering off and finding my own little gems along the way, even if it means getting lost. Seeing the big sites is great, but sometimes the biggest highlights of the trip are those places or things that you find yourself—it really makes it feel like your own personal trip and not some preconceived, cookie-cutter tour. I guess you could call it making a trip into an adventure.

Well, here is where the adventure really starts to pick up: we’ve sold or tossed probably around three-fourths of our worldly possessions, left our apartment behind and are heading up to Miyagi for a week. Miyagi is Akemi’s home and my unofficial home away from home, so we both have a bunch of people we want to meet before setting off.

Urge to travel: rising!