JAPAN Plan

A few weeks ago I was at a bridal shower, and near the end of the shower someone requested that all the married women in the room would go around and each share a piece of advice about marriage. One piece of advice really stood out too me that night, it was to TRAVEL! She said that even though it’s not the “smartest financial move” to just do it! Do it while your young and while you can. She told us that life is made up out of our experiences and so if you ever have the opportunity to travel … to DO it! Saving is good, but experiencing life is better!

I will admit as first I thought it was an odd piece of advice, but I liked it, I liked it a lot! Over the past year or so my husband Ben and I have talked about a trip to Japan several times, but usually it seemed more of just and idea or fantasy rather than an actual possibility. That’s was until I remembered this advice! So about three weeks ago I just said to my husband “Ben Let’s do it! Lets go to Japan! Let’s go while we have a little bit of money set aside. Lets go before we have kids and before our lives get more complicated!”

After a little bit of an explanation and a tiny bit of persuasion he was on board! Today we are happy to officially announce that we ARE going to Japan! We’re SO excited!!

Obviously were not loaded and it’s not like we have money just sitting around, this trip is making a substantial dent in our bank account and savings. However we know that with careful planning and savings we can do it and the experience will make up for the difference!

We are finally set to go to Japan! After nearly 3 1/2 weeks of waiting for our money to fall into place and for a few other things to work out, we finally have our tickets and were set to leave for Japan the evening of Dec 20^th and we will be there until Dec. 28^th! (being there for New Years is SUPER expensive) :/

Yes this means we will be there for Christmas this year! Wahoo! (don’t worry we discussed it with our families before we actually bought the tickets and they are all very excited for us!) The only thing that scares me is the cold... not knowing how to pack or what to prepare for. But Ben assured me he would help me and even if  I did pack wrong there's always Shopping! ;D

Here’s a list of some of the fun things we plan to do while we are there:

• Tokyo’s LDS Temple
• Tokyo Tower (which is just slightly taller than the Eiffel tower in France)
• Visit the Emperor’s Palace (which is only possible twice a year Dec 23 on his birthday and on Jan 1 New years day)
• Visit the Mission home
• Travel to Kofu to visit Ben’s favorite ward for Christmas and see Mnt. Fuji
• Travel to see the many shrines and temples in Kyoto

This is literally only half of what we have planned! The rest of the things are places I am not too familiar with so I wouldn’t know how to explain it to you guys! All I know is that Ben is really excited to take me over and show me so many things that he loves! This is going to be a GREAT trip! I am so glad we decided to take the advice and to just do it! It's going to be worth it!

-Lauri