Day 45 - All the way home

Well, we did it! 45 days in Japan with a family of 6 light-backpacking travelers.

The weather has been good (but hot), none of us got sick (except some pesky light rashes - I blame the humidity), and the memories will last forever.

I am so grateful for Angela and the hard work she has done to make sure we had what we needed for the trip - people all over Japan have commented on how lightly we traveled for a large family (of girls), but we had everything we needed. It was a great way to experience the reality that we can live happily with far less than we have.

I am also grateful for the girls who have been amazing travelers. I hope they see the value in what we've done now, and I am very confident they will see it as they grow up. It's been a blast to share Japan with them.

I'm grateful for all the people we met on our way. To the Serizawa's for their generosity and kindness to us at the beginning of the trip (and to the Stouts for helping set it up), to my old friends from Kyushu who we met along our journey, to the many people who extended kindnesses to us as we traveled. For me at least, traveling in Japan has restored some of my faith that people are fundamentally kind and good.

For a last set of images, I asked the girls to choose a few pics that represent particularly fond memories for them.

Lila -- loves animals and Japanese convenience stores




Isa -- loves the water (and guinea pigs, of course)




Megan - Another animal lover and great traveler.



Amy - Maybe the reason they all love animals... a great big sister and soon-to-be mature world traveler!




Ang and I may add our own pics soon, too.

All in all, the trip did mostly what I was hoping. I wish we had studied Japanese more systematically, but the girls all got compliments on their excellent pronunciation of what they did learn, and I loved seeing them get brave and comfortable enough to say a few things. I also sat back with satisfaction as they got more and more comfortable navigating trains and train stations (more than once, one of them helped me find a train platform that I was struggling to find), and were willing to buy things without help. 

We also had a lot of time to talk and just be together (and get on each other's nerves sometimes) and with Amy leaving for France in three weeks or so, I am really happy that we spent the summer together. It will probably be our last forced-family-fun trip with all the girls before they are off to college, etc., and it was a good one. I'm already looking forward to the retelling of trip stories as the girls grow up.

旅のことは思い出と時差ボケしか残っていません。でも本当にいい旅でした。


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  1. 匿名2017年8月6日 4:39

    What an awesome trip! Thanks for sharing the fun images, stories, and reflections!

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