Getting to Japan

When I first found out I was going to Japan, I thought all I really needed was my passport and clothes and things from home...no big deal. Well I soon found out there were many steps to get to Japan. I must note though, Missionary Josh Stahmann and his wife Lynnette were very helpful in talking me through and sending me all the information I needed to get ready for Japan.

I did have a passport already so that made step one easy. Step two though was getting my visa. This was a bit more difficult. There are quite a few documents that you are required to send in to get your visa. Thankfully most of them were just sent to me and all I had to do was get some passport-size photos and create a resume. So when I got everything in the mail and put the packet together, I sent it all in to the Japanese consulate in Houston. Not too bad. Then I found out that they needed some more documents to verify the information. This would have been fine too, except one of the documents I needed was from one of the missionaries who was on furlow in Hawaii, not the easiest place to track someone down. But eventually I got everything I needed sent in and the consulate was very quick to send me my visa.

The next thing I had to get was an international drivers license. This was very easy to get. All I did was go down to an AAA office, give them my drivers license along with some passport-size photos, and they gave me the new license. Easy.

Next I had to get plane reservations. I first went to places like expedia or travelocity. These were no help at all. They had one way tickets costing the same as a roundtrip, anywhere from $1,300 to $1,800. Luckily the Stahmanns new of a Japanese travel agency that normally had very low prices. I called them and found a nonstop flight for a bit over $700 which is a great price.

The hardest part for me was figuring out how to put everything I wanted to bring into three suitcases all weighing no more than 50lbs (70lbs if I wanted to pay $25 per suitcase). Well I had one large suitcase and ended up buying two more huge suitcases. Then I had to decide what I needed to bring, what I wanted to bring, and what I was leaving behind. I then packed and squeezed, folded and smushed as much as I could into my suitcases, as well as weighing them every so often to make sure I hadn't gone over my weight limit (which ended up to be 70lbs each because there was no chance I'd be under 50lbs). I did get all my essentials packed and most of what I wanted to bring too.

When the day finally came for me to go to Japan, I was very ready and prepared. The flight was very smooth although also very long. I made it through immigration and customs fine. The whole Stahmann family was there to greet me when I got to the main lobby. I was finally in Japan.