#98

Still a bit groggy from my two day camp trip with my students, I’m sitting at my home desk on a day of personal leave trying to catch up with late grad school assignments. Yet all the while the application form for my MetLife retirement plan is distracting me. Till now I’ve never been at a job where I was comfortable enough to even think of setting up a retirement plan much less request an application for one. As I had flipped through it got me thinking; what am I saving my money for? What am I going to do with my retirement? What is the point? Now I personally don’t like money, I hate having it as much as not having it. I’m no big spender, in fact it took me weeks to months to work up the courage to dish out the money on few pricey things I own (guitar, camera, computer, printer, TV). And here I am wondering what is the point to saving up money when I have nothing in mind to save up for, I’m single, I don’t plan on having kids anytime soon, I have a roof over my head where rent isn’t terrible, not having a car isn’t a problem, general bills aren’t a hassle at the moment, and I’m pretty much content.

Then from the back of my mind pops up: JAPAN

The last large trip I took was my backpack adventure around Ireland, I think in the summer of 2005 or 2006. Financially that was funded mostly by a school loan and an unprepared checking account. So now with a Japan trip (which I’ve been thinking about for nearly a year now) slowly formulating in my mind maybe I have something to save for.

The general idea is nearly 2 months backpacking from north to south (within reason) eating. My main points of interest will be the Hokkaido area, Kyoto, the rural areas around Mt. Fuji, and if I make it Okinawa. I might make a quick stop in Tokyo, but I’ve never been interested in cities that much. Sorry to say my Dublin experience wasn’t that great and I don’t want to deal with large crowds again. I prefer the less rural areas to explore and quite literally get lost in. (It happened several times in Ireland and I treasured those experiences).

Hoping to stay in hostels and the occasional onsen, I’m planning on it being a “rough” trip. Most of my money will be geared to food and the occasional gift so not counting the air fair I’m hoping to save up at least 5k, though I doubt I would be spending that much. At least I hope. The trip itself is planned for the summer of 2010, not calculating any other obligations that may come up, so the savings play may be workable.

Well I’ve wasted enough time daydreaming, back to essays for me.