The luggage and carry-ons are packed and ready to go, tomorrow’s clothes are laid out, the boarding passes and travel documents are printed, and we’re just about ready to settle down for a near-sleepless night.
Our checked luggage is still upstairs on the bed, and one inner pocket of one of our suitcases is completely full of chargers and cords for our electronics. Nikon DSLR, Minolta point-and-shoot digital, MiniDV camcorder, Nintendo DS, PSP, iPhones and iPods. (The laptop power supply stays with the laptop in the carry-on.) It’s almost ridiculous how “wired” we are for this trip.
I have to wonder whether being more connected this time around is going to change our experience. And it’s not just the fact of being able to upload photos of our trip while we’re still ON our trip; it’s being able to access our Google Map from our iPhones, instead of marking places in our Tokyo Atlas; it’s having directions via the Tokyo Metro subway at our fingertips, instead of using our 8.5 x 11″ printed map; it’s the allure of Twittering (or even all-out blogging) about our vacation at any given moment. It’s having access to the internet via the laptop in our hotel room, instead of using the free internet at the Apple Store in Ginza to find a kaiten-zushi restaurant in Asakusa.
Honestly, I think our gadgetry will only enhance our trip, instead of taking away from it. As long as we don’t let ourselves get pulled out of the awesomeness that is our vacation in order to document our awesome vacation, I think we’ll be just fine.
Our friend Kris is graciously picking us up tomorrow morning around 8:30am to drive us to the Detroit airport. Our flight starts boarding at 11:30am, and we take off at noon-thirty for Tokyo.
And the adventure begins…