My Non-Trip to Japan
Mar. 7th, 2020 11:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jamesqSo there's this joke I'd heard. Guy goes away on a trip, leaves his friend to housesit and look after his dog. A week into trip he calls his friend up to make sure everything's all right.
"Your dog died."
"Jeez man, you can't just up and tell a man his dog has died. You have to give him time to process all that. You should have told me that the dog had escaped from the yard; that he was hit by a car; that you took it to the vet, who did everything he could, but it wasn't enough; and then you tell me that my dog has died. Good grief, aside from that, is there any other news?"
"Your Grandma escaped from the yard."
So why am I telling you this joke? Well, it all has to do with my upcoming trip to Japan. Anyone who has been paying attention to the news knows that they're getting hit with COVID-19. It's already affected my trip and made me scramble to make alternate plans - our cruise got cancelled, so we needed non-cruise accommodations and activities. This actually suited me fine since the cruise aspect was my least favourite part of the trip, but it did mean I could spend quality time with friends, so whatever.
Anyway, about two weeks ago, my fellow travellers contacted me to let me know that Japan had escaped from the yard.
Which is to say they were giving me advance warning that they might cancel the trip. But in my heart, I knew that this was a done deal. They were going to cancel, even if they did honestly believe that there was still a chance. Anyway, last weekend while I was in Las Vegas, they contacted me again to let me know that the vet couldn't save Japan. Sigh.
So now it looks like I'm going to Japan by myself. Except it won't be by myself - I'll be taking all of my demons with me, and they love nothing more than for me to be isolated on a trip. And not speaking the language? That would be a unique and wonderful opportunity to feast on my brain without interruption. Aokigahara forest, here I come!
Now if I had time to work myself up to it, I could probably still have a good time by myself. When half of the country is shut down, not so much. As of today, all of Tokyo's museums (including my bucket list candidate, the Ghibli museum) are closed until the middle of March. Hell, they closed all of the public schools early.
At this point, I'm keeping my options in case there's some Hail Mary Pass event that gets me travel companions. Something like Canada dropping the level-2 travel warning back to level-1, or I win the lottery and can afford to just buy plane tickets for someone amiable.
More likely I'm going to cancel the trip. Again. And that's making me think that it's never going to happen. I mean, it was long odds that I convinced three people to do it in the first place, and they actually spent the money to do so, rather than just claim they'd think about it. I really wish I had a partner.
Financially, most of the trip is refundable. I'm likely not getting back one hotel room, or my Rail Pass. I hadn't gotten around to booking my tours. Air Canada will likely let me transfer my flight to somewhere else, for a fee. However, if Japan earns a level-3 travel warning, my insurance kicks in, and I claim all of that back. So this will be expensive, but nowhere near as bad as it could be.
So assuming I don't go to Japan, what do I do with my vacation? Australia is an option - I have a friend who has to travel there for work, so I could potentially go at the same time, and while we wouldn't be spending huge amounts of time with each other, I wouldn't be isolated. Camping and road trips are always a possibility - I did enjoy my trip to Eastern Canada last year, and all that was lacking was more time. I could stand to spend more time in Toronto/Ottawa/Montreal.
I'll give it a week, then put it out of its misery.
--- March 12th ---
And I've cancelled all my hotels and flights. I've got about $600 worth of non-refundable stuff, which along with my $600 dollar travel insurance puts me about $1200 out (better than $10K, but still). If the government issues a level-3 travel notice for Japan, I'll just be out the insurance.
"Your dog died."
"Jeez man, you can't just up and tell a man his dog has died. You have to give him time to process all that. You should have told me that the dog had escaped from the yard; that he was hit by a car; that you took it to the vet, who did everything he could, but it wasn't enough; and then you tell me that my dog has died. Good grief, aside from that, is there any other news?"
"Your Grandma escaped from the yard."
So why am I telling you this joke? Well, it all has to do with my upcoming trip to Japan. Anyone who has been paying attention to the news knows that they're getting hit with COVID-19. It's already affected my trip and made me scramble to make alternate plans - our cruise got cancelled, so we needed non-cruise accommodations and activities. This actually suited me fine since the cruise aspect was my least favourite part of the trip, but it did mean I could spend quality time with friends, so whatever.
Anyway, about two weeks ago, my fellow travellers contacted me to let me know that Japan had escaped from the yard.
Which is to say they were giving me advance warning that they might cancel the trip. But in my heart, I knew that this was a done deal. They were going to cancel, even if they did honestly believe that there was still a chance. Anyway, last weekend while I was in Las Vegas, they contacted me again to let me know that the vet couldn't save Japan. Sigh.
So now it looks like I'm going to Japan by myself. Except it won't be by myself - I'll be taking all of my demons with me, and they love nothing more than for me to be isolated on a trip. And not speaking the language? That would be a unique and wonderful opportunity to feast on my brain without interruption. Aokigahara forest, here I come!
Now if I had time to work myself up to it, I could probably still have a good time by myself. When half of the country is shut down, not so much. As of today, all of Tokyo's museums (including my bucket list candidate, the Ghibli museum) are closed until the middle of March. Hell, they closed all of the public schools early.
At this point, I'm keeping my options in case there's some Hail Mary Pass event that gets me travel companions. Something like Canada dropping the level-2 travel warning back to level-1, or I win the lottery and can afford to just buy plane tickets for someone amiable.
More likely I'm going to cancel the trip. Again. And that's making me think that it's never going to happen. I mean, it was long odds that I convinced three people to do it in the first place, and they actually spent the money to do so, rather than just claim they'd think about it. I really wish I had a partner.
Financially, most of the trip is refundable. I'm likely not getting back one hotel room, or my Rail Pass. I hadn't gotten around to booking my tours. Air Canada will likely let me transfer my flight to somewhere else, for a fee. However, if Japan earns a level-3 travel warning, my insurance kicks in, and I claim all of that back. So this will be expensive, but nowhere near as bad as it could be.
So assuming I don't go to Japan, what do I do with my vacation? Australia is an option - I have a friend who has to travel there for work, so I could potentially go at the same time, and while we wouldn't be spending huge amounts of time with each other, I wouldn't be isolated. Camping and road trips are always a possibility - I did enjoy my trip to Eastern Canada last year, and all that was lacking was more time. I could stand to spend more time in Toronto/Ottawa/Montreal.
I'll give it a week, then put it out of its misery.
--- March 12th ---
And I've cancelled all my hotels and flights. I've got about $600 worth of non-refundable stuff, which along with my $600 dollar travel insurance puts me about $1200 out (better than $10K, but still). If the government issues a level-3 travel notice for Japan, I'll just be out the insurance.
