I am finally back from my international trip where I visited three areas, four hotels, and took a gazillion trains. The background: My daughter and I went to Okinawa Japan where my son is stationed with the Army to celebrate his birthday and decided to also visit the main island of Japan and South Korea. This post won’t be a travelogue but I am happy to say we had tremendous fun. I rarely travel internationally–the last time was when I toured the Soviet Union (now Russia et al)–so didn’t know what to expect as far as languages, customs, foreign money, and everything in between. Words can’t express how nervous the whole thing made me (I’m not a brave person) but with my kids’ support, I did it and am happy I did.
A few highlights:
- We planned to carry on our luggage and do laundry in the hotels. That often didn’t work as there were strictly-enforced weight limits on flights.
- We traveled Delta’s Comfort Plus to and from Japan. This cost more money than Main Cabin but much less than Business Class and turned out to be a wonderful balance of cost and comfort. Check it out next time you take a nine-hour flight.
- I worried about phone charges but that was solved by leaving my phone in Airplane Mode the entire time. Luckily, my son had local phone service so we used his.
- We stayed in US Military vacation housing. This is discounted luxury hotels they make available to Active and Retired military. It had everything I needed at a fourth of the price.
- I bought a Scottevest for the trip with its dozen pockets and RFID protection for carrying my passport, military base passes, wallet, receipts, room keys, phone, headphones, rechargers, medication info, and incidentals. It was a life saver.
- The first thing I noticed as I arrived in Narita (the Japanese airport that was our port of entry) was how quiet the terminal was. The people didn’t chatter endlessly as Americans do. That changed when we arrived at Customs and Immigration, thanks to all the foreigners.
- Japan and South Korea have few trash cans and still no trash lying around on streets, on trains, on sidewalks. It seems that no one tosses their refuse on the ground. I ended carrying mine around until I came across the rare trash can or a restroom.
- Japanese trains are clean, well-maintained, safe, dependable, affordable, and packed with riders.
- As one who speaks neither Japanese or Korean, I gained an appreciation for symbols and hand motions. Most signs included a visual of what they meant which was all that save me from complete confusion many times.
- The Japanese walk everywhere and do it quickly. Many people older than me passed me up and climbed multiple levels of stairs without slowing down (by the thrid flight, I was stopping to rest). I tracked my steps and floors on a health app and I often exceeded 17,000 steps and over 40 floors. Yikes!
- There are trains to take you anywhere you need. Most people don’t commute to work in cars and taxis are horrendously expensive. But, once again–these folks don’t mind walking. The train we’d take to our tours were always at least a half mile from our hotel. Lots and lots and lots of walking.
- Many restaurants didn’t offer napkins with the meal. When we asked at one of the eateries, they gave us a box of Kleenex because that was all she had.
- I ate 50% more food than normal and lost one pound. Woot!
A few problems–not unexpected on a long international trip:
- I lost my Surface Pro laptop on my Air Seoul flight. Multiple phone calls did no good, nor did visits to the airline and airport lost and found. My biggest worry was security. I spent 3-4 hours changing passwords, locking down accounts and the device itself, and then daily checked my Find My Laptop account. It never showed up, nor did anyone try to use it. I found out too late that I should have installed a program called BitLocker that would wipe the device as soon as someone tried to use it. I still had my phone so became adept at doing everything (like getting boarding passes) from my phone. Sigh.
- ‘Send’ stopping working on my phone. ‘Receive’ still worked (thankfully) but I couldn’t Reply or compose new emails. Troubleshooting, I found out that Gmail still worked as did my webmail. My workaround became to go directly to the mail sites (rather than my phone’s aggregation of all mail sites). From there, I could copy-paste any message I needed to and reply. Update: It works again, now that I’m home, so it must have had something to do with Japanese/South Korean internet settings. Hmm…
- My son broke his Chromebook. By the end of the trip, we had only my daughter’s iPad and our phones.
OK, Debby (over at D.G. Kaye Writer)–you wrote the book on traveling. What did I do wrong that I should fix on my next trip?
–A note on the picture: That was taken at the DMZ. Clever those South Koreans.
More on traveling
21 Tips on How to Write Remotely
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy, the Rowe-Delamagente thrillers, and the Man vs. Nature saga. She is also the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, blog webmaster, an Amazon Vine Voice, a columnist for TeachHUB and NEA Today, and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. Look for her next prehistoric fiction, The Quest for Home, Fall 2019. You can find her tech ed books at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning
Sounds like you had a memorable trip, Jacqui! (So sorry for the loss of your laptop though.) A friend of mine moved to Okinawa and I’m looking forward to visit one day – from what you’ve written I guess I’m in for a treat! 😄
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Oh I wish I’d known. It’s a smallish island. I probably could have stopped in to say hi. Lots of US military there.
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They were probably really busy building their hotel anyway, Jacqui. Better to wait until they’ve finished it and come back again then. 😉
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We stayed at military housing there–Inn of the Corps I think. What’s their hotel?
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I think they’ve just finished laying the foundations! 😁 They had to wait endlessly for approval from the authorities and hope to get it all build in the course of this year. It will be a lovely little boutique hotel. They did this in China (Yangshuo) as well and sold it afterwards to a chain. I plan to visit once it’s all done – someone trustworthy has to test it, right? 😉
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I think my son will be gone by then but if he isn’t, I’ll meet you there!
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Deal! 😄
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Sounds like you had a fabulous trip. Bummer on the laptop though.
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It was. We were as close to Australia as I’ve ever been! Maybe next time…
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So close but… =)
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Sounds like you had a great trip, Jacqui. I would not have been a brave soul in a foreign country where I didn’t speak the language. Way to go!
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It helped a lot that my son has lived in Japan for two years and my daughter is an avid traveler. They became knowledgeable and brave for me!
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I know what you mean. Our daughter lived in Italy for four years, and when visiting her, she was definitely the brave one!
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Love hearing about your experience. What is RFID protection? That sounds like a vest I could use just on a daily basis! lol. Sorry about your laptop. That would be horrible!
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RFID protection is so no one can grab your credit card info off the strip. These hackers are really way too clever so lots of wallets now have that too. Interesting isn’t it?
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So glad you had a great time! Sorry about the laptop and chromebook, though.
I left my kindle on an airplane. Didn’t realize it was gone until several days later. By then, the airline couldn’t find it. It was probably long gone. 😦
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Maybe a password change so they can’t lock you out of your own Kindle? Sigh. Tech owns us, doesn’t it?
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It totally does. When it’s working fine, it’s wonderful. When something goes wrong, we’re left floundering. How did we survive before?! 😉
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I’m losing my desktop today–I have to replace it. I’m buying a new one today but my tech guy can’t set it up until tomorrow. I’m completely stressed over that. I just need to get through the next 37 hours.
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Ha! Hang in there, Jacqui!
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Oh my goodness, Jacqui, this is an amazing experience to cherish. Thank you for sharing your journey with us. Cheers to you and adventures that lead us to magnificent places and lasting memories. 🙂
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This was such a fun trip. I’ve rarely had one this exciting and having my kids with me–as adults–just made it better.
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Sounds like a great trip despite losing your laptop. Ugh! That would be awful! Great tip on the Bitlocker. I always back up my whole computer before I leave on a trip. With all the walking–reminds me of the one trip I took to Europe and the incredible amount of walking we did (even though we were on a tour). Then again, it worked out considering so many of our meals were heavy on butter and starch 😀 Thanks for the Scottevest tip!
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So Europeans are walkers too? We Americans are the only sloths? Who knew?
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https://promohadiahptlazada.wordpress.com/2019/06/02/pemenang-undian-pt-lazada-2019/
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🙂
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I’ve always loved the idea of going to Japan, it’s been on my bucket list since I was a teen. I’m so glad you had a wonderful time and it sounds like you managed, with your kids’ support, to figure it all out as you went along. I would have been pretty nervous too!
Happy (very belated I’m sure) birthday to your son! How’s he doing over there?
Interesting about the quiet airport terminal. Cultural differences can be quite striking I imagine when it’s a place like that, so large that’s usually incredibly loud and overbearing in the US and UK, too. Not sure I could kept kept up with the locals walking so quickly! If you had the chance, would you go back? Even though you had a great time I’m sure it’s good to get back to home comforts and routine (and a language you can speak)! 🙂
Caz xx
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I loved the experience and how it pushed me to be healthier. I would go back. We didn’t get to see Kyoto or Hiroshima, or Taiwan. I think those places could be a whole ‘nother trip.
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What an amazing opportunity to take in such a different culture from the good ole USA. I hope you had good weather for the trip. Very special to spend time exploring the world with your kids. I know how worried you would be losing that laptop and security. But again, maybe not having an internet connection was a good thing so you could enjoy the region without the distraction of notifications, etc. I like days when I don’t use the Internet. My 14-year-old grandson was chosen to visit Japan with 9 other students. They are visiting our sister city, Yahaba. Going to school there, giving presentations about the US, and living in the families’ homes. What an experience. He leaves in a couple of weeks. I’m sending him the link to your interesting post.
JQ Rose
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How exciting for your grandson! He will be so impressed. There were many times we were walking (of course) down the street and would run into dozens of uniformed school kids, going to or coming from school. What a curious, happy bunch!
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I’m so sorry you lost your laptop. Chances are it was stolen and sold quickly. Although I think I’d take my laptop on a journey, I think I’d keep it in a suitcase and use it just in the hotel room.
Do you think you might be able to create a novel from your adventure?
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That–keep it in the suitcase–was the plan but when we had to check our luggage, I thought it would be safer with me than tossed around by baggage handlers. Boy was I wrong!
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I can understand why you switch to carrying it with you. Now, knowing what happened to you, I think when the time comes, I get some bubble wrap for my laptop before packing it.
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Sounds like a fun trip 🙂 (Aside from the lost and broken technology 😦 I wouldn’t dare take my laptop on holiday because I’m bound to lose it!)
I’ve always wanted to visit Japan. I think I’d enjoy the walking, the trains, and the food, but I know very little Japanese. Good to hear the signs include visuals!
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The Japanese I think are used to English-speaking tourists and made efforts to understand me even when I didn’t speak their language. They were always kind about it.
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Lol, I chuckled at the end of the post when you asked ME what you did wrong, as I was shaking my head thinking, OMG, am I travelling on a full moon or mercury retrograde when anything that can go wrong will go wrong? These phases of the moon exaggerate whatever is happening.Some things are preventable, like, how on earth could you lose sight of your laptop. I learned my lesson on laptops ( I have the same on as you) on one flight where I left my husband in charge of my computer bag in the overhead bin. Thankfully, mine was a happier ending. But we’re allowed to carry 2 personal items so I have my overstuffed carryon and a huge tote purse where I place a small purse inside the tote, along with my laptop bag. Brilliant huh? Lol, my laptop never leaves my sight. But I must say you’re quite the warrior woman on all that traveling. Sounds like a great bucket list trip. 🙂
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That is a great strategy, Deb. I still face palm daily that I lost track of that laptop. Sigh.
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I can’t even imagine the pain!
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Asians love stairs and steps it is the same here and public transport is also good..What a lovely trip….Japan is on my evergrowing list I love to travel thank you for the tips 🙂 x
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They are a wonderful people. I never had a single time they weren’t polite and respectful–as I was with them. If I’d known how much they love stairs, I might have prepared better. Good grief I climbed a lot of them!
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HaHa…As I said Jacqui stairs are loved in Asia and the people are amazing as you found out..
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I have wanted to visit Japan for some time. Thanks for your tips as your experience helps me with planning and all those steps and stairs.
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Ah yes, I will fondly remember the nonstop walking. I am really far too sedentary!
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Wow! Jacqui, this would be an amazing trip without the addition of being there with your son and daughter! How truly special to all be together and for them to show you around! You walked a lot and must now be super-fit! I’m smiling at your end comment to Debby – definitely the go-to travel expert/writer!
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Yeah, she is. I’m sure my methods would bring on a face palm. We had so much fun. I especially loved that both kids were willing to spend so much time with me.
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Travel in itself is such an education, isn’t it? I loved the trains too when we vacationed in Europe. So sorry about your laptop, though, Jacqui!
I’ll be thinking of you tonight when I dine on Korean chicken for the first time. 🙂
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No doubt it comes with lots of healthy veges. I’ve been inspired to eat more of those!
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Such a wonderful vacation marred by Laptop loss! I am so sorry for that Jacqui.
I look forward to more stories about Japan, I have heard it is looks most beautiful in Spring.
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It’s especially problematic because I already needed a new desktop (mine has started to shut down without warning). So, I can’t replace it for a bit. Sigh.
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Sometimes I think we make the most personal growth when we get out of our comfort zone, Jacqui. I find it empowers us to take on future challenges. Congratulations on your trip and for being brave.
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Thanks, Pete. I really hate deviating from my comfort zone, do so only in emergencies–like my boy needed a visit! Sigh.
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Oh my gosh, Jacqui. What a trip of a lifetime. We’ll have a brief moment of silence for the laptops.
Welcome home. We left the light on for you.
I’ll be honored to be here Friday. Thanks for thinking of me.
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It was my trip of a lifetime. Problems just add seasoning, don’t they? I still love that book of yours, Sandra. I need more!
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Happy your trip (overall) was exciting and rewarding. We only had 3-nights in Japan (Tokyo) and it’s a fascinating place. The taxis are immaculate!
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Didn’t try the taxis. My son (the resident expert) said they were very expensive so we trained it everywhere. We did discover the busses about half way through. They’re pretty decent too.
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Wow, amazing trip. Think the train is the best way to see a new place in any case.
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It really was. Once I began to acclimate to the .5 mile walk to and from the stations, I liked it even better.
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It sounds like you had an amazing experience, despite the glitches. I love the glimpses we get from your bullet-points – they highlight the things we take for granted in our own lives. I wish our culture was better at dealing with litter.
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Me too–about the culture. I can’t imagine convincing Americans to walk so much but really, it would be a great idea. Even after 2 weeks, I felt better. Physically and emotionally.
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Maybe you could start a new phase… or craze.
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Glad you made it through. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. I bet it was great to see your son.
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I love the trip but so happy to be home in my own surroundings with the husby (who I didn’t call for 2 weeks though lots of messaging).
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Thanks for giving us a peek into your fantastic adventure, Jacqui! ❤
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Thanks, Bette. We sure had fun.
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Sounds like a great trip, Jacqui, despite your technology losses. I have been to South Korea and found it an interesting place. My blonde hair attracted a lot of attention and touching though, which I didn’t like. I would love to see some photographs if you fancy sharing a few.
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There is not a lot of diversity in people in either country. Interesting, that in itself.
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It sounds like you had an amazing trip, Jacqui despite the loss of your Surface Pro (that must have been awful). The only times I’ve been out of the country have been to go to Mexico or the Caribbean. I bet after you were there for a while, you adapted to all that walking. What a healthy lifestyle.
I was amazed by the restaurants had no napkins. How odd!
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I figured out it was missing when we checked into the hotel, late that night. Ruined my sleep and when I finally awoke the next morning, I had to live through discovering the loss all over. Sigh. Never done that before.
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I can just imagine what you were feeling!
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Sorry you lost your Surface Pro! That sucks.
London is similar. No trash cans and yet no trash. Everyone walks or takes the Tubes. (And you can spot the tourists as they are the only overweight ones in the crowd.)
Glad you got to visit your son for his birthday.
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That’s interesting. Same thing here. I’m not overweight but not young. There were many people much older than me who regularly passed me by. I wouldn’t mind being that healthy.
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What an adventure! I would love to go to Japan, particularly for the next Olympics, but its going to be out of my price range next year.
I can’t imagine how anxious I would be if I lost my laptop – poor you! I travel with mine all the time, and dread damage (I had to have a replacement screen once, but that’s all so far), and I got excited when you mentioned BitLocker – what a great idea! Unfortunately it isn’t available for my operating system – drat!
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The Japanese are wondering how they will accommodate Olympic traffic. Their trains run every 3 minutes. Can’t make them more frequent. Can’t add trains. That leaves cars and the streets really aren’t built for lots of cars. We’ll see!
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Oh oops, I hadn’t thought of that. Mind you, we did an amazing job of handling it in London, and no one thought we would pull it off.
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Yeah you did. Logistics is the key so often.
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I was thrilled to be a tiny part of that machine – it was the most incredible experience, being a GamesMaker ❤
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WOW! What an amazing trip. Hoping you’ll share more details about what you saw and did. Sorry about losing your laptop, great advice about how to protect yourself with BitLocker. Did you take photos? Want to post any?
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I do have photos. Let me see if I can get a few of them up.
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I really enjoyed this post. I love to travel but have never been to Japan, so your insights were really interesting to me. I’m sorry to hear about your surface book and the email app problems. Your creative workarounds were great. You could write a great guest post on a travel blog with your great tips!
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I decided not to make it a travelogue, just include stuff that made travel easier/harder. Glad to hear I seemed to have hit the mark!
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Sounds like an amazing adventure, Jacquie:) Sorry about your laptop, but the rest must have been quite a exploration for you and your family that was full of wonderful memories.
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I took so many pictures. Now need to decide what to do with them!
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I’m like you I take a lot of pictures:)
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Sounds like a fun trip.
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Every day was an adventure, Andrew. If not for the flights, I’d do it more often. Maybe more road trips.
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That must have been very upsetting, to lose your laptop. The rest of the trip sounds like a lot of work, but I’m sure there was so much to see and do that it was all worth it.
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It really upset me. I had to consciously tell myself to stop fretting, move on. Surprisingly, that worked.
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You dealt with it probably better than I would. My laptop is like the filing cabinet of my life. Glad you were able to get through it by talking yourself into a better state of mind.
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Hi Jacqui, welcome home. 🙂 It sounds like you had a great trip in spite of losing your Surface Pro. I enjoyed reading your post, very informative. 🙂
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Thanks, Lynette. It may be my last overseas trip so wanted to make it spectacular. We didn’t get to Taiwan though so, hmm… Maybe one more trip.
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Such a wonderful adventure Jacqui. I am glad you had so much fun together. Japan is on my wish list. Thank you for all the tips, but what a shame about your laptop.
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Japan was amazing. The people, the culture–everything. I like how different it is from what I was used to.
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Hi Jacqui – well at least your daughter was with you, and at times your son – you obviously had some perks re the Army … but what an amazing sounding trip. Apart from the loss of the laptop – hope it now doesn’t cause you any hassle … but so much fun … lovely – cheers Hilary
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Luckily, I didn’t keep a lot on the laptop. It was mostly to access the internet, reply to email, that sort. Sigh. By the time my son broke his Chromebook, we could all laugh about the tech traumas of the trip.
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Yes – at least it wasn’t just you … and I’m glad it was only basic things ….
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You ate much more than usual, yet lost weight! That proves that lots of walking is good exercise.
Enjoy the week —
Neil
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That was my takeaway, Neil. It’s been a long time–maybe never–since I walked that much. I know you do it a lot. Can you eat anything you want?
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Yes, pretty much so.
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I really need to walk more. Since moving teaching from a classroom to home, I no longer get my 10,000 steps. Sigh.
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Wow, Jacqui. What an adventure! Other than the laptop and a few tech glitches, it sounds like you had a good time. Welcome home!
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We had so much fun. I am glad to be home but that is because I’m not really a fan of change and this two weeks was all about change!
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OMG – I wouldn’t know where to begin with the passwords and all. That’s why I have a notebook that is not connected with my main computer’s important personal information. I’m basically computer illiterate and be lost in your situation!
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Well you would have been the smart one in this case. It took me too many hours to reach any level of security comfort. Oh well. My data has been stolen at least a dozen times before. There’s nothing private anymore!
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How true!
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Interesting post thanks Jacqui for sharing your travels with us. Could you not track your lost pro laptop? There is a way I believe? But sorry about that – but it shows how adaptable you are! Welcome home!
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I couldn’t but I think it’s because no one turned it on. That’s why I was so sure it was in the Lost and Found–but they wouldn’t fess up to it. The other answer is someone simply sold off the parts. I miss my digital pen.
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Jacqui,
We’re Apple people so all of our devices are linked to the cloud ‘Find My iPhone’ feature which gives us the option to erase all content at any time we feel our device is unretrievable. I hate that your laptop wasn’t located but I guess there is always hope that some honest purrson will turn it in. In spite of your trouble, I’m sure your visit to Asia was a wonderful adventure spent with the birthday boy and your daughter. You’d never catch me traveling across the ocean. 🙂 So, glad to have you back in Blogosphere!
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I couldn’t believe there wasn’t a wipe feature–as I have on my Apple phone. Quite disappointed. I am going to install that on my laptop’s replacement! My kids made everything work. Sean was so comfortable in the area (he’s been there two years now) and Meaghan travels a lot. I turned many problems over to them!
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What a great trip, Jacqui. My nieces studied in Japan while in college, I remember them mentioning how clean it was. Sorry about your laptop!
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So very clean and quiet! I couldn’t believe when I stepped off the airplane gangway and there was little noise. I wanted to whisper.
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Wow! Sounds like a great trip except for losing your laptop. A trip wouldn’t be a trip without something going wrong. I would love to visit that part of the world. So would Amanda!
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Well when Amanda gets around to it, let me know. I’ll give her my insights!
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Fantastic summary Jacqui. Looks like it turned out to be different from your normal life in America. That is great, I think. And perhaps the whole point and fun of travelling. And, if you can handle different, try India next 🙂
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I liked your story too. And, yes, visit India next time 🙂
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