I guess the first question to answer before we get to our wonderful and memorable time in Tokyo is how the hell did we get there? And why Tokyo?
Well, after our car camping turned housesitting adventure, we knew that we had more to explore. We hadn’t found that place where we wanted to settle, mainly because we just aren’t ready to. Setting off and exploring the unknown just makes you realize how much there is to see. We weren’t ready to slow down and, in fact, only wanted to take our challenge of travel to the next level.
When we first decided to give up our beautiful and comfortable two-bedroom, two-bath apartment in sunny and calm Georgia, we knew that living out of our car would be an adjustment. What we didn’t know is just how quickly we would adjust.
Within just the first few days and nights on the road, it became so liberating, that even the discomforts we had anticipated became a fun part of the journey.
Where would we sleep? Where would we go to the bathroom at 5am? Where would we end up next?
All of those questions became something we would look forward to instead of dread and we probably could’ve went on for years doing just that and being completely comfortable. Our confines of a SUV became our home and our home traveled with us wherever we were.
It was awesome. But we needed something different.
After heading back to Jersey for the holidays and spending a few months with family, we were itching to get started on our next adventure. The only problem was that we had no idea what that was. We didn’t want to plan something, we wanted the plans to come to us instead. We needed a sign or a push in the right direction.
Little did we know that the push we were looking for would lead us to Tokyo just a couple of months later.
After setting off to see the world, we knew one thing: that we wanted to see everything. There wasn’t a state, country, or border that we had no desire to visit. If it was there, we wanted to see it. And, that left the problem of where would we would go next.
Since we had never flown together, and Boris had a fear of flying, we decided maybe a road trip around Europe would be the best next adventure. It was the shortest flight from the East Coast and it was an extension of our car camping travels. But, deep down a part of us wanted something a little bit different, a little more exotic, and a lot more challenging.
That’s when we got the email.
The homeowners of our previous housesitting gig from just a few months prior sent us a message letting us know that they were heading off on another vacation. They had told us about it before, but we didn’t know if we would still be in California to be able to agree. So when we got the email, we didn’t know what to do.
It seemed like a sign, but we were all the way on the East Coast with no plans of driving back anytime soon. So we decided that we would make a few requests and if they agreed, then that was our blazing sign from the universe to go where we really wanted to go anyway: Asia.
We wrote them back expressing our excitement and gratitude but addressing the issue of getting us to California and providing us a car while we were there. Within a few hours, we got an email back. Without hesitation, they agreed to fly us out to California and to let us use their cars while they were away.
Quickly, we jumped online and checked tickets from California to Asia. We browsed the cheapest option and LA to Tokyo appeared on the screen.
For $300 each, we could book two one-way tickets to Tokyo. And even though we would be in the Bay Area, not LA, we knew we would figure out the details later.
One quick email back confirming our housesitting assignment and we were ready to book our flights.
“Tokyo, here we come!”