Hi all,
I’m excited to be writing my blog for the first time in a while. Since
mine and Rob’s big trip in April/May last year, I had a bit of a rough
time health wise. After my planned hip surgery in June, I ended up with
my rehab taking a lot longer than expected, daily pain and fatigue for
months, and then needing two other unrelated surgeries. It was a really
hard time. In September, I asked Mum and Dad if they wanted to rebook
our long awaited Japan trip for June/July 2024 as something to work
towards and look forward to.
Fast forward to this year, and Rob and I found out in January that we
are pregnant and due at the end of September which we are really excited
about. Considering the pain and fatigue I experienced last year, I’m
proud of how my body has held up so far all things considered and all is
going well with the baby. My hip pain has popped up again which was
expected, but my obstetrician and physio have been great and I am
managing.
This is an emotional trip. Not only because for a while there with all
the health issues it felt like I would never be able to do anything like
this again, but also because of the meaning behind it involving Nan. We
found out too late from Nan that she had always desperately wanted to
visit Japan, but kept it to herself because Pa didn’t want to go
(understandable as he fought the Japanese in WWII). Sadly Nan told us
too late just how much she had wanted to visit, and by then it was
impossible for her to travel. So we told her we would book to go and
take lots of photos, bring her back souvenirs etc. We were booked to
leave on March 28, 2020. Eight days before we were due to leave, the
world had turned upside down and the Australian borders shut. We thought
we would get to go a few months down the track, but as we all know, the
dreaded C word went on for a lot longer than first expected.
So after many attempts, 1547 days after we were first supposed to leave,
we are finally leaving today. We lost Nan in April 2022, and miss her
every day. But we promised her we would make it in her honour one day,
and here we are! I think she would have thought it pretty cool that baby
H is coming along for the ride. I’m a bit nervous with how sore and
tired I’ve been of late, but I’m hoping the excitement and the warmth
over there helps my body forget about it and have a great time!
Rob drove us to the airport this morning and we enjoyed the Qantas
lounge pre flight (thanks Shannon for the passes!) and then boarded our
plane. We ate too much rich food on the flight and all felt full and a
bit sick once we arrived. We got through immigration really quickly and
bypassed the 500m long queue because they sent us into priority because
I’m pregnant (yay!).
Once through, our bags arrived immediately. We then headed to the Narita
Airport terminal 2 train station and walked straight into the JR rail
office to redeem our rail passes for later in the trip and make train
reservations. The staff were so friendly and made the process easy. So
different to home - people calling you over and offering help, patient,
kind and knew what they were doing. Mum felt the baby kick for the first
time while the lady made our reservations.
Finally, we redeemed our airport train voucher (something else we can’t
do at home haha!) and boarded the 8.33pm fast train to Ueno. We then got
the metro three stations to Asakusa and walked to our apartment. It was hot outside still, but getting windy and trying to rain. Our apartment is "big" by Tokyo standards and fairly well equipped. The view of the Tokyo Skytree from our balcony was a nice bonus!!
It’s been a huge day and we are all tired and hoping we sleep well. I’m
so happy to have finally made it here after five years of planning. We
made it, Nan!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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