Well, here we are. Seated at Seatac, waiting to board our plane to Tokyo. It’s a bit surreal, and we keep saying to ourselves, “what the HELL are we doing?!” But we’re also excited for this adventure to finally begin. The past few days have been a crazy whirlwind of seeing friends and family, packing, and preparing the house for guests. Our belongings have all been put in storage, the house cleaned and pretty bare for guests, and loose ends…
Friday was our last shabbat with the family. Friday night is a pretty special time in this family, so we made the most of it. It was Shawn’s last day of work, so he left early and we both arrived before 4, ensuring at least an hour of playtime before bed. We had a delicious dinner of salmon, sweet potato, salad, and rice pilaf! But we really missed Lauren, who was down in California for work and visiting friends. Luckily…
We’re squeezing in lots of kiddo and family time before we leave Seattle. Between the birthdays, Shabbat dinners, and spontaneous gatherings, we’ve been soaking it all in knowing we won’t see these crazy people for a while. I think Amanda and I will have to reintroduce ourselves to Ezra when we return, given that he’s just 14 months old.
We’re nine days out! At this point most things are lined up, with the exception of a few last-minute details that we really can’t take care of until this coming weekend. I’ve mostly figured out everything I’m bringing, though Shawn is still working out a few details. Shoes have been the hardest decision because we plan to do a fair amount of hiking and are traveling through many different seasons. I plan to post a packing update once we’ve narrowed…
Our outbound flight is booked! We are heading to Japan first, and will continue our way west from there. Shamanda RTW is about to become a real thing! I’m feeling pretty excited right now, but at the same time, there are a lot of stresses coming from making sure I have everything I need, plus packing up our house and belongings. We’re going to put our house on Airbnb, so I’ve been spending my time trying to line everything up…