Shortage of the Anna is nigh!

[annathepiper]

For those of you who don't know already, I'm about to bugger off with solarbird and spazzkat to Japan! We're to be gone from the 28th until the 10th of September, and we'll be attending this year's Worldcon in Yokohama. I am very much looking forward to seeing what kind of con Japanese SF fandom puts on, since this is the first time they've done a Worldcon bid. I'm also highly looking forward to this year's Hugos, since naominovik is a contender. And we've recently learned George Takei is going to be at this con, too! But that'll be only half of the trip, since we will also be taking a guided tour afterwards. 'Cause we kinda gotta. Because we'll be in JAPAN.

So we're all in the midst of increasingly excited vacation prep as a result. Dara and I went out and bought clothes we won't be embarrassed to be seen overseas in today, along with more luggage, since we'll need some durable bags for not only the airplane trip but also the train trips we'll be taking while we're on the guided tour. And we're even going to go and get our hair done next weekend. ^_^

I am uncertain what kind of Internet access I'll have, though Wi-Fi during the con is a non-zero possibility. I'll be posting updates on the trip if possible as they happen; otherwise, there will be a huge swath of posts when we get back. There will also be pictures, though I shall have to rely upon my traveling companions for that.

Anyway, y'all consider this your more or less a week's worth of warning: I'm incommunicado and on the way to Japan on the 28th. Get your Anna while supplies last!

Comments

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, EXCITING!

I hope you have so much fun!

Have a safe trip!

[silme711.livejournal.com]

!
Seems as if I really missed that! JAPAN! You lucky lucky kid you! *flails for you*

[ceallaighgirl.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Have fun in Japan! Have you been there before? My aunt lives there (in Tokyo).

[annathepiper]

Hee, I haven't posted about it much, wanted to wait until the arrangements were solid first. ^_^ And thanks! We're all very much eager to go on this trip!

[annathepiper]

Nope, this will be the first time for all three of us. ^_^ And only the second overseas trip for Dara and me!

[annathepiper]

Thank you very much! :)

[ceallaighgirl.livejournal.com]

Sweet! Japan is really neat.

I remember there being a really pretty huge garden in Yokohama, you should find it! Yeah, there are probably, like, 100 gardens. Oh well. Hehe.

[annathepiper]

Oh, we'll be looking for Cool Stuff all over the place. And for bonus points, Dara had a Japanese tutor a term or two ago, and we'll be meeting up with her. Hopefully she'll be able to show us Cool Stuff that we wouldn't find on our own.

And I expect the guided tour after the con to be brimming over with Cool Stuff as well. ^_^

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

I am SO envious - we went a couple of years ago and it was so wonderful!!!

Have no fear, there are internet cafes everywhere, and even the traditional style hotel we stayed in had a hooked-up Mac in the lobby.

Jealous jealous jealous!!!!!!!

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Tuesday lunch? Meet you at high noon?

[ceallaighgirl.livejournal.com]

Oooh, sweet. I hope you get a chance to see lots of Cool Stuff™!

[solarbird]

Tuesday the 28th? Our flight won't be arriving until 3pm or so, alas.

[alinsa.livejournal.com]

Wow, I had no idea this was in the works. That's pretty cool. Bring back lots of pictures. :)

I love your userpic by the way. :)

*snuggles*

[peregrine-ek.livejournal.com]

Wow, I hope you have a wonderful (and safe) trip and take lots of photos. Sounds like a smashing good time to me.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

No, no, Tuesday as in tomorrow, here, not in Japan.

[annathepiper]

All I need, really, is Wi-Fi; I'll be composing LJ posts on my handheld, or else in the journal I've bought to take with me! But no big if I don't find any Wi-Fi. As spazzkat wisely pointed out, if I'm spending more than what few moments it'd take at a keyboard to look something up, I'm doing vacation wrong. ;)

[annathepiper]

Where? :)

[annathepiper]

We will! Dara may even break out her film camera. And shoot all her pictures in Fuji film while she's at it, especially when we're looking at Mount Fuji. ;)

And thank you! *snugs!*

[annathepiper]

Thanks! Yeah, this has a high chance of being the coolest vacation we've ever been on. :D

[annathepiper]

Dara informs me we're going to be visiting Mount Fuji and that the guided tour in general is packed full of coolness. While we're in Yokohama, we're thinking of going over to Tokyo Tower. ^_^

[alinsa.livejournal.com]

For added geek points... slide film

I reccomend Fujifilm Provia 100F.

Not something you want to do if you haven't shot slides before, but if you have... yum. Slide film rocks.

[damara.livejournal.com]

Have a great trip!

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

Have fun!

Re: oh, and...

[annathepiper]

solarbird and I had active passports, which we'd gotten for the Scotland trip in 2005 that we didn't get to go on. Sniff. spazzkat on the other hand got his earlier this year, when the backup wasn't so godawful.

[annathepiper]

Thanks! :)

[annathepiper]

Thank you! We hope to! :)

Re: can take or leave worldcon, but...

[annathepiper]

Worldcon is generally my and Dara's big vacation every year, and this year it being in a nifty place like Japan is BONUS. Though I daresay that we'll be skipping a lot of the con programming in favor of sightseeing. :D

And thanks!

[ceallaighgirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, definitely go up the Tokyo Tower, that's pretty cool!

[annathepiper]

Heh, you can take that up with Dara, it's all Greek to me. :) (And Dara's actually done slides before, as I recall, just not in ages and ages--though we don't have anything to look at slides anyway.)

[annathepiper]

Hoping so! The CN Tower in Ontario was pretty nifty, so I'm looking forward to this. :D

[blargh.livejournal.com]

Have fun in Japan!

Just a word about Wi-Fi, they can use different channels than the US - no overlap in the 802.11a channels, but 802.11b overlaps 1-11 (Japan can use 1-14 though so there may be some APs you can't associate with).

I SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO want to go visit Japan some day! Uberjealous!

[ssha.livejournal.com]

Have tons of fun! Double or triple fun or more to compensate for all of us not going, that way there'll be enough to share!

Are you guys taking Thomas along? Have you spoken with his brother Tim at all? He's the one who brought home the rather important souvenir. ;)

[annathepiper]

Heh, we're expecting high levels of fun to be had, and we shall endeavor to cram as much fun into every moment as possible. As for Thomas, he has no connection with our plans. I haven't spoken with him in weeks, and have never spoken with his brother. :)

[annathepiper]

Thanks for the Wi-Fi info, good to know! (I only personally parsed some of that, but I relayed to solarbird, who wisely said, "Ah!") So!

And thanks, we have high hopes for quite a bit of fun. :)