Let the games begin...

I have bought my plane tickets, dog-eared my Lonely Planet, and told the folks, the boss, and the pals.

I'm off to Tokyo.

Yes, I'm terrified. But excited. It seems a million miles away at the moment, as I sit here simultaneously sifting through travel agent flyers and blueberry crumble. And I have a whole mountain of accumulated crap to trawl through and box up before I can even think about heading anywhere.

Why Tokyo? Why now?

As for the former: Why not? It's an exciting, interesting and challenging city. And most importantly, when I think about me actually living there, I can't help smiling in a giddy kind of way.

As for the latter, well, as much as I like the idea of curling up in my room watching 30 Rock, knitting and eating Doritos for the next decade, I figure that it's about time I stepped out of my comfort zone. Made my own way in the world, had one of those 'find myself' adventures. And as much as I'd like to think otherwise, I'm pretty sure that I'm no longer building any character watching reruns of Joss Whedon shows, posting photographs of Harry Potter actors on Facebook and sweeping up popcorn at the local cinema. All things I love, but surely now that I'm of an age where I hesitate when people ask "How old are you?", it's time to head into the wide world...

And thus:
Tokyo.
Crazy? Possibly.
Necessary? Probably.
Happening? Definitely.

I'll admit, when I think of my impending trip, I envision a weird montage that basically consists of scenes from Lost in Translation intermixed with images of me prancing merrily down some fluroescent Tokyo street in a trendy outfit, or weeping in front of a map of the underground.

Stay tuned... and we'll see.