Kyoto by Lonely Planet

I apologize for the sporadic posting of late. I have been quite overwhelmed with several crazy deadlines, special events, and, of course, trip preparations. Doesn’t it always seem like the two weeks before a big trip are always the most stressful weeks possible? Several times in the last fourteen days, it crossed my mind that going on vacation may not ever be worth the stress that precedes and follows it. But I know, deep down, that this is not true.

It is, however, a running joke between me and E that we are always more tired after our vacations that we were at the start. That’s because we have an inability to sit around and relax when we’re on vacation. We always have to be moving, seeing something, eating something, or planning something.

But this week, as I was thinking of this, I realized the simple truth that for us, the purpose of going on vacations is not to relax. For some, relaxing is the main purpose of time off. For us, traveling is more about broadening our minds and experiencing things that allow us to walk away changed, either with new knowledge or new insight. This can happen anywhere, as long as we’re out and about with our eyes and minds open.

We should experience plenty in the next two weeks while we’re in Taiwan and Japan. I’m bringing the Kyoto guidebook with us so we can read about each place our tour takes us to. Since the tour will be conducted in Mandarin, I’m a little concerned about understanding historical or geographical vocabulary. A guidebook will be very useful, I think.

We take off on Sunday, so I’ll say goodbye for now. I may stop in and say hello during the next two weeks, but I’m not sure what my internet situation will be. I will for sure resume posting in April, though. See you then!

Kyoto by Lonely Planet

Tags: travel guides Kyoto, Japan Kyoto Signet Tours Lonely Planet