It's Wednesday evening, August 24th and I am checking off my to-do list for the day. A week away from my first departure to Tokyo, Japan as a 2016-2017 Bonderman Fellow, I am writing a shopping list for the following morning - the final preparation before the adventure of a lifetime! Something was nagging at me though. In the back of my mind, I had the feeling that I was forgetting something. Having just booked my first hostel and purchased my Japan Rail Pass (train ticket), I couldn't fathom what I could have missed. Surely I was more than prepared!
On a whim, I decided to check through some old emails and to-do lists from earlier in the summer. I came across something about checking the rules and regulations of the country one is visiting before arrival. Thinking that I would be all good with Japan, I nearly shrugged it off. After all, it was one of the handful of destinations on my itinerary that didn't require me to obtain a visa and therefore one of the "easiest" of my countries to plan for, so I thought. I checked Japan's medication laws (a task that I had been meaning to do awhile ago). Turns out, visitors are only allowed to enter Japan with up to one month worth of personal medications. Seeing as I would be travelling consecutively for 8+ months, I would obviously be violating that rule. To get around this, I would have had to submit a special request form to Japan's customs along with various paperwork from my doctor going over the details of my prescriptions - what they are, why I need them, what happens if I do not take them, etc. It would take 2-3 weeks for my request to be processed and even then, there was no guarantee of being granted entry into the country. Being a week away from embarking on the greatest adventure of my life so far, one could imagine the panic and disappointment that washed over me. Did I really just screw myself up big time???
The next day, I talked to the Saviors over at the Center of Global and Intercultural Studies (CGIS) and explained the situation to them. Thankfully, my mishap did not ruin my opportunity! I was not penalized for missing this HUGE detail in planning, However, my options were slim considering that now 6 days away from departure. I had no choice but to cancel my flight to Japan and head to my second destination first - Jakarta, Indonesia. Although I lost over $800, it was a small price to pay compared to not being allowed to continue my journey at all! All Bonderman fellows were supposed to depart before the end of August, with me being the last one out today, August 31st. I am now set to depart on September 14th.
Thankfully, I still get to live out my dream. Though I forgot a huge a detail, I am re-learning that shit happens. I am only one person. With a million and one things on my mind preparing for such a huge trip FOR THE FIRST TIME, it is inevitable that something would fall through the cracks! Not to mention that this journey will more than likely be full of mishaps! There will be times on this trip where I get lost, forget a detail, make a not-so-great decision, or whatever because that is life! Now, I'm not used to losing great sums of money by any means, but I can't beat myself up about it. So I've stopped face palming, and started settling into my extra 2 weeks amongst the safe and familiar. In the meantime, I get to watch my fellow Bondermans live out their part of our shared blessing.
My journey begins September 14th. Jakarta, Indonesia here I come!