How I Planned my First Overseas Trip to Japan and Important lessons
Finding out That Discomfort is Better Than Fearing the Unknown
MY FIRST OUT OF THE ORDINARY TRAVEL EXPERIENCES
The earliest I can remember traveling somewhere that took me a little out of my comfort zone is as a young adult. It was work-related and we traveled by minivan. Those trips allowed me to experience staying in hotels for the first time. And despite those being no-frill two-star hotels, being away from home in a work capacity for a few days at a time was still something exciting to experience.
Our manager would take care of booking everything and drive us around to wherever we needed to get to. So things were still quite easy and comfortable. No real decision-making was required at that level. I would liken this loosely to booking a group tour where everything has already been handled for you before you begin your journey. It’s certainly a memorable experience one way or another, but if personal growth and developing your confidence is what you are aiming for, then I would argue that this sort of arrangement is unlikely to result in that outcome.
TRANSITIONING FROM COMFORTABLE TO MORE COMPLEX TRAVEL
Several years later I found myself moving to the USA for personal as well as professional reasons, and my career path at that time put me in a position where I was required to travel to several states on business. These trips were much more formal, and the scope of my responsibilities was greatly expanded as compared to my earlier work travels.
While I stayed in some mid-range hotels which were more comfortable overall, I also had to learn to become adept at doing a slew of new things, including:
- Driving rental cars to my destinations
- Learning how to travel by air (economy only!)
- Learning how to travel by train
- Learning how to use a company (credit) card and fill out expense reports
- Going out to lunch or dinner with clients
- Handling client issues onsite during consulting assignments
- Etc
Visiting new locations across the country and fulfilling those responsibilities brought a new level of excitement, and also stress, to my trips. But rather than dwelling on the difficult or uncertain parts, I always chose to focus on learning by doing. This translated into increased confidence and the acquisition of valuable new skills. The kinds that stay with you and will continue to have a positive impact on your life far into the future.
So now that I was accustomed to traveling this way, I began to feel the urge to delve into international tourism.
AN IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION BEFORE YOU CHOOSE TO TRAVEL INTERNATIONALLY
In all of the places I had been to so far everyone spoke the same language as me, largely ate the same foods I was used to eating, and followed more or less the same cultural norms. There was no need for adapting to anything particularly new anywhere. There was always, still, a degree of excitement with visiting a new city, and this is something that I think everyone who thinks of traveling should aim to feel at their core, regardless of whether the destination is a close one or far away. It’s a good foundation to start from before stepping out of your comfort zone and going overseas to immerse yourself in that world.
WHY I CHOSE JAPAN AS MY FIRST OVERSEAS TRAVEL DESTINATION
When I first began considering where I should go I decided that I would like to visit a country that is on the opposite side of the world, where the culture, language, and even food would be very different from what I was used to after having spent all my life in North America. This is right in line with my desire to constantly challenge myself, prepare well for succeeding at whatever I’d like, and acquire new skills.
After adding my long-time interest in martial arts to the mix, along with my passion for computers and technology in general, I settled on Japan.
WHAT GOOD TRIP PLANNING LOOKS LIKE
Planning for a trip to Japan in 2007 looked a lot different than it does nowadays. It was much more complicated because there were no smartphones, data plans, or local SIM cards to purchase or rent back then. No online access to resources that assist with directions, translation, or booking tickets. Whatever you landed with… was it. I would be spending 12 days visiting 7 major cities, and 2 days flying to and from Japan.
I set out to do what ended up amounting to around 4 months of careful research and planning leading up to this trip. Internet-based resources were still few and far between at that time, and I used the one good website that I had been able to find (shout-out to https://www.japan-guide.com!) as a springboard for gathering all sorts of information. While browsing the site I discovered and learned about various places of interest, how to do things according to local cultural norms, what to eat, how to get around, etc.
I would classify all of the above as being basic information gathering. The minimum required effort for this sort of plan. I understood that I would need to be even more prepared than this, however. To that end, I had also created and printed itinerary pages which included inline information covering important details such as train and metro schedules and fees, names of famous dishes to try, addresses for hotels and other places of interest, phone numbers, ticketing information for tourist attractions, and some translations of specific things such as dish names.
Also included in my itinerary was information on historical locations and buildings. This ensured that I would know more about those places before getting there, and it also served as a backup in case there were no tour guides or information otherwise made available in English when visiting the various locations. And let’s not forget the Japan Rail (JR) Pass that could only be purchased from outside of the country and the flight tickets that had to be booked through a travel agency.
I printed two copies of this itinerary. One for myself, and one for a significant other who was added to the trip toward the end of my planning. Such a trip hadn’t been anywhere on her radar up to the point when we discussed it but seeing all of my preparation convinced her to come along.
Another major part of preparing for this vacation had involved studying Japanese during these 4 months using whatever audio and printed materials I was able to get my hands on at the local library as well as some online-based language resources. These basic language skills turned out to be extremely helpful throughout the entire trip, whereas the small English-Japanese dictionary I had brought along wasn’t.
The last part of the planning concerned doing quite a bit of research on digital cameras as well as portable video cameras until choosing which models to purchase. My target budget was around US$2000 in total, excluding the cost of the cameras, and I was able to do everything within budget in the end.
This was by far the most money I had been able to save or planned to spend on any trip or vacation up until that point in my life. I had carefully budgeted and saved for several months prior, which made the prospect of my imminent departure all the more exciting, and daunting at the same time. You can bet that I was planning to make the most of it!
HELPFUL LESSONS DERIVED FROM THIS OVERALL EXPERIENCE
1. When you first think about something you want to do, if it at first seems very hard or even impossible to accomplish, don’t just dismiss it out of hand. Instead, allow yourself to first get outside of your comfort zone sufficiently to allow for brainstorming a way that you could possibly do it. There usually aren’t obvious or easy solutions to big problems or challenges. So you need to allow yourself to think creatively enough to “get there”.
2. Following through and executing a carefully thought-out plan is rewarding regardless of the outcome. Chances are that when you do this you will also accomplish what you wanted to. For me, completing this trip meant that I gathered a panoply of rich experiences from the places that I went to, the things that I ate, and the people that I interacted with in Japanese during that time.
3. In the same way that studying a second language or how people do things in a different culture will open your mind to those concepts, pushing yourself to do things that are out of your norm will help you to gain confidence as well as develop an additional perspective that helps with problem-solving.
4. Most people you are likely to encounter in the countries you will visit in the future will gladly help answer some questions you may have if you only make the effort to communicate in their language at a basic level. Don’t worry about making mistakes. Seek a way to use that knowledge during your trip. This means learning to accept being uncomfortable, if not feeling somewhat helpless at times. Try a few times before thinking of giving up on what you are trying to accomplish. Even if you only succeed a quarter of the time, you will get a lot of satisfaction from those times. More so than simply showing a translation screen to someone. And this approach will also help you to have more meaningful human interactions.
5. Similar to the previous point, don’t restrict yourself to using APPs for everything, no matter how tempting and comfortable it might be. Nowadays, technology has made everything substantially easier for travelers. And in my opinion, it can’t be denied that some of the thrill and self-fulfillment you can get from traveling abroad is largely gone as a result of it. So what I personally do when I go somewhere new, and recommend that you try as well, is to simply start walking randomly around town, or get off at a random bus, subway, or train station, and see where you get to. There you will often find interesting buildings, foods, landmarks, etc. Consider the APPs to be your “safety net”, but not your primary method of getting things done.
CONCLUSION
In the end, my trip to Japan ended up being very fulfilling and I have nothing but good memories of it as I write this 15 years later. It was a huge step out of my comfort zone and the payoff was significant. I wish everyone safe, exciting, and fulfilling experiences with your own future attempts at doing what is uncomfortable, and at the same time so rewarding.
All the best,
Pascal
PS: You can go here to read how my trip to Japan had such a positive impact on me that it prompted me to change careers from working in IT to teaching English overseas. You can also go here for more travel stories and articles, or read more about me here.
