The inevitable return of...

Aaaaaand... we're back. In an almost carbon copy of the last time I did some writing I've left it to over a month after I got here to get started. So I'll keep this one relatively short.

How was the UK? Great thanks. Christmas with my family is awesome, catching up with friends was great, and doing some 'normal UK shit' was much needed. But. London life didn't make me happy. I was in the city about two days before I had to physically remove someone from my personal space on the subway, and it really felt like a shitty grind to return to. I tried not to be one of those travel wankers who keeps harping on about 'oh well you know everything's so much better in Japan...', but I Must Not Tell Lies. Not that Japan's perfect by any means but London man... it can get under your skin and drive a nail in.

Why Workaway again? Because it worked, I met a bunch of cool people, stayed in a lot more interesting places than if I'd just gone sight-seeing, and saved a lot of money. Of which I have significantly less saved up for this trip, so the wallet straps are going to have a bit of a tighter reign on them.

Why Japan? Because it's awesome. The food, the culture, pace of life, the scenery, the women (sorry... not sorry). I feel at home in the places I've made friends so far, and like I'm enjoyably lost in the places I'm visiting for the first time. And there's a lot of places still to explore. I only set foot on three of the four main islands last time, and missed out most of the north of Honshu.

What do I hope to achieve? See fewer places for longer periods of time. Spend more time in the cities instead of out in the backwoods. Have more fun. Meet more people. And learn to speak Japanese at least a little bit better.

Am I going native? Perhaps. TBC. Any sort of long term plan, be it in the UK, Japan or elsewhere, has still got a lot of moulding.

So I'll try to write whenever I think there's something interesting to say. The same rambling as before, and maybe take some pretty pictures along the way too.

#travel #japan #Workaway #iwanai #hokkaido #japanese #apps #izu #kofu