Once upon a time, I made a list of places I wanted to see before I died or got so old I couldn't go. Hawaii, Tokyo, West Africa, Spain and Australia has been on the list. I once promised my brother a graduation trip to Australia... then I found out I was more than 10Gs in debt. No trip for kid bro. I spent the next few years digging myself out of my silly consumer debt hole.
I wised up and figured out that if I wanted to go to all these exotic locales, I'd have to save the cash FIRST. Then go.
And now, free from debt, I'm about to hit one close to the top of my list the first week of June: Tokyo, Japan!
I love anime (grew up on Voltron and Robotech, what!). I love Japanese-fighter video games (Samurai Showdown is da bomb). I just like saying things like Totoro and domo arigato.
How can I afford this fun, ramen-and-sushi filled trip?
Luck? Yeah, mostly.
My best friend (since were 10 years old, and we still blah blah on the phone for hours like we ain't seen each other in years) found a sweet deal from Travelzoo in the weekly travel alerts they send out. She issued me a challenge (well, it wasn't a challenge, but I took it as one, as I will explain in a sec). Trip to Tokyo, four nights in the Four Seasons and a half-day city tour, $1,199 including airfare. We have 12 hours to book the trip. Call me in the morning and let me know if you want to go.
The old me would have said no. Why? Fear.
Fear that I didn't have enough money. Fear that I would get to Japan and be utterly lost and miserable. Fear that I'd be kidnapped and smuggled into some underground sex circuit (I recently saw Taken, so I was bugging). But, first and foremost, the fear of making a snap decision when it had to do with so much money.
I've made decisions like that before and it landed me in an ocean of consumer debt.
I did not want to miss this opportunity. A plane ticket to Japan normally costs more than this whole trip. So, instead of freak out or make decisions willy nilly, I did what I have learned to do -- the math.
I had been saving for nearly nine months for a birthday trip to somewhere. I settled on Hawaii (also on my To Go list) and had picked a condo, airfare, car rental, and surf lessons. I added it up and found that I was on track to save more than $1,500 over my trip budget. Hmm... if I kept saving then I'd be able to cover the cost of my trip to Tokyo. I called my friend and told her to book it.
But then, lo and behold, we actually got our bonuses this year! So I used some of the money in the bonus to cover the cost of both trips and am now sticking the money I had been saving to travel into my emergency fund. Done and done (as Homer Simpson is fond of saying, right before something bad happens).
Of course, today, I had to blow $135 getting an expedited passport. I had to file a lost passport claim and pay to get a new one processed immediately for the trip. I spent the ENTIRE morning at the passport office in D.C.
That $135 cuts into the money I set aside to shop (and EAT) in Tokyo. That sucks because $135 U.S. is about ¥13,043. That's about 10 bento box lunches or a meal in an expensive restaurant. It's a banging souvenir for myself. It's... it's a lot of dough.
Oh well. This passport will be NOT be misplaced. I ain't going through this again. :-)
June 1 -- Tokyo here I come!
DH