We always learn a thing or three about ourselves on our journeys. This last trip to Japan was rich in revelations.

Between our first trip to Japan in 2018 and our 2026 trip, eight years have elapsed. We are not the same people. We are older people, dang it.  Older. NOT old.

We have been travelling abroad every year for about 15 years. We travel “light,”  stuffing all our needs in a backpack and carry-on each for trips of up to one month.  However, those bags have somehow gotten heavier over the years.

For one, Andy now brings a laptop and either a portable keyboard or guitar.  For another, I have learned over the years that whatever clothes we start with, they just get heavier as the trip proceeds. Even if we don’t buy anything to bring home–and we usually don’t.

This year, I started abandoning things to lighten my load.  I left my flipflops and a stained T in the trash in Kanazawa.  I left my well-loved, but worn-out, hiking boots in Tokyo.  Somehow, the bag felt the same despite these leavings.

Unlike me, my carry-on has not just gotten older. It has gotten crotchety, too. The four wheels don’t agree on which way I want to go, the bag flops over at the slightest provocation and the temperamental tires hate airport carpeting, nearly refusing to budge under said conditions.

For our next trip, I have decided to replace this creaky, cranky canvas bag with a hard-body suitcase. I beg you, my readers, to tell me if you use a hardbody, what brand,and if you love it or would switch back to fabric. Thanks in advance for the advice in the comments.

Here’s the harder truth of our nomadic travelling days.  It’s getting more difficult to switch hotels and destinations  every two or three days. Especially, when the travelling days between stops  involve multiple modes of public transportation.

If you followed our Japan travels– and travails– you know that we were often train switching and bus catching with mere moments to spare.  While the Japanese transit system is amazing with bullet trains and city trains, it also requires the challenging juggling act of racing up and down crowded staircases and escalators with our bags balanced on one side while hanging on to handrails on the other.  The strain and pain of racing for a train? It’s plain…not again!

In the future, we promised we will stay put at least four nights in any future location but preferably longer and with fewer destinations per overall journey.  We have agreed that– at this point – our carefree hobo-packing, train-racing days are done.

We  also learned that we need to bring some basic medications with us.  Time and again, one of us gets sick and we struggle to find familiar cold and stomach remedies in unfamiliar languages.  My bout of flu in rural Japan was the last straw. The pharmacy packages were all in Japanese and the staff didn’t speak English outside the big cities.  We are okay coping with with minor ailments when we travel. It’s part of the deal when you are stuffed into planes, trains, buses and rush hour crowds. What is more essential in the future, is that we are better equipped with the comforts of basic medical care.

The most important thing we learned is that we really prefer the “slow travel” afforded by using Home Exchange.  We love spending a week or three in the well-appointed homes of fellow travellers. We love being able to spread out, cook some meals and discover local shops, bakeries and markets in our new, temporary digs. We get to experience a city like a native and borrow deeper than just hitting the “must sees” of first time visitors.  We love exploring new neighborhoods, boutique museums and hidden canals and parks.

However, we still are not ready to join a curated tour group or hop on a short or long cruise. We love being independent travellers moving to our own rhythm and open to serendipitous detours and encounters along the way. Andy got to jam with a sushi chef/musician in Kanazawa. I got to enjoy a fabulous okonomiyaki cabbage pancake with the owner and her friend in a tiny shop in an alleyway in Onomichi. It’s the unplanned, memory-feeding stuff that makes us want to get up and go again.

We have not lost the travel bug.  But instead of flitting around like vagabond moths, we are going to be moving more like snails. Or escargot.

Video:

Andy in an impromptu jam with a Sushi Chef in Kanazwa:
sushi https://www.instagram.com/reel/De23tSQtWP1/?mdxt=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Opening illustration created by Claude on my instructions!