Embarking on a Month-Long Solo Trip to Japan

Today was the first day of my 27-day solo journey through Japan! After attending (and co-officiating) my best friend Harper's wedding, then bopping over to NY Climate Week, I am finally in Asahikawa, Japan.

This will be my longest ever solo travel experience (not counting Amigos, which felt more like working/living in communities vs pure tourism).

Currently, I've got lodging booked for the next five days, but the rest is still in the air. Guess I'm just super cool and spontaneous like that. Or it's because I waited until three weeks ago to commit to this trip. I don't have fixed goals aside from visiting Takayama for the Autumn Festival, seeing my friend Linden in Fukushima, and Hokkaido because...seafood.

After a whopping seven year hiatus, I'm back to this little blog. I was reading through old posts from Nicaragua and realized that it's been a very long time since I wrote with such candor and depth about my life experiences. It seems like most of the writing I do now consists of replies to emails and thought vomiting into the notes app on my phone.

So here are my hopes for this trip: I hope to feel a sense of peace, after what has been a tumultuous year of loss and transitions. I also aim to exercise that gratitude muscle, finding the small things each day that give me joy. And I want to reconnect with the version of myself that I am when I try new things and say yes to adventures. I kind of want to remember that the Lauren who took a gap year is still there (now with a fully formed brain, a Masters degree, and even more trauma).

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