I like James May’s title of “Our Man in Japan” way too much for having never watched that show…

I don’t consider myself to be much of a globetrotter. I’ve crossed the Atlantic Ocean only once. But very soon, I’ll be crossing the Pacific.

It started in earnest with going to Germany with my family during high school. I want to say I was taking a German II course at the time, since I was a sophomore when we went. I remember trying to order pommes frites in German, and when I forgot how to say “no” (yeah, I know!), my dad and I received fries covered in what luckily turned out to be a very delightful sauce. The most memorable parts of that trip were the towns of Heidelberg, Munich, and Rottenburg; the drive along the border with Austria; and, no doubt, our visit to Dachau concentration camp.

After graduating college, I went on a family trip to Aruba. That was a fascinating island, with its dry climate being a surprise and its mix of Dutch and Caribbean influences playing off of one another. The palapas are more than just huts or umbrellas; they’re a lifestyle. A New Mexico flag, of all things, flew on top of one of the beachside rental businesses, a nod from the universe to remind me of home. I’m sure there’s more to Aruba, yet we were really there for either the ocean or the resort, and neither of those disappointed. The best part, however, had to be my first experience with Dutch pancakes.

I’ve been to Canada twice now, once with just my husband and another time with our kids. The first was a Valentine’s Day surprise trip to Quebec City. As we drove over the border on the way there, I told the Canadian Border Services agent that we were going to Montreal. My husband and I tromped through snow, sat on ice benches, rode on ice sleds, and saw a partly frozen waterfall. The second was part of our trip to Glacier National Park in Montana, which naturally served up a chance to drive into Alberta and go to Wateron Lakes National Park. We skipped rocks and rolled a log in our first non-American lake!

Speaking of international waters, in a way, I’ve also been on two cruises: one with Disney and the other with Royal Caribbean. They both had a port of call in Nassau, and both times in Nassau, I’ll be honest, were kind of forgettable. More memorable were the experiences on each vessel, although we did an island excursion through Disney that provided such a fun day of snorkeling and playing on the beach. So I suppose, technically, I’ve been to a couple of islands in the Bahamas.

Thus, my upcoming trip to Japan marks just the fifth country I’ve ever been to! It’ll be only me and my husband, as the kids will stay here with the grandparents and keep going to school. Plus, it’ll be a celebration of our tenth anniversary. So to say that I’m excited about both the country and the occasion is a severe understatement. I’m looking forward to our itinerary because, as far as traveling internationally goes anyway, we’ve truly only planned this trip and our trips to Canada ourselves. The farthest my husband has traveled so far is to Hawaii!

This journey has been in the making for two years. It’s super weird and beyond crazy that it’s almost here!