Japan-Korea 2019: Is it happening?

Two years ago I had the privilege of spending six weeks traveling across Japan and South Korea. Since then I’ve been hoping to one day do a second journey through one of both nations and if possible I’d like to make 2019 the year that it happens.

If I were to return to Japan and/or Korea I would be flying out sometime around September, October, or November. Summer would actually be the easiest time for me to travel with my current work schedule but it’s also the worst time for me since I hate the hot, humid weather that a lot of Japan and Korea are engulfed in during that time of year. September can still be fairly hot in parts of Japan and Korea but it’s not as bad as June, July, and August, and if I arrived in September what I could do is immediately head into the mountains or up north to places like Hokkaido. The trip would need to end no later than early December because I always try to travel as light as possible and that starts getting harder when the weather turns cold.

My main precondition to traveling this year is that I’ll only do it if I’m able to take at least 5-6 weeks off for the trip. If I’m going to fork over the funds needed to fly out to Asia I won’t be satisfied if I just spend a week or two there before hoping on the long flight back to America. Ideally I’d spend a whole 2-3 months experiencing both nations in-depth, but at the moment that’s more a dream than a reality.

So, what’s holding me up? I can definitely save up the money for this expedition and my job thankfully is flexible enough that I’ll still be employed after a leave of absence, but right now my housing situation at around the time when I’d be traveling is in flux. The lease at the place where I live expires at the end of November and I don’t yet know if I’ll be renewing or looking for a new place to live. If I end up needing to move that will throw a giant wrench into any travel plans.

As of now I’ve set a deadline of mid-June for committing to this journey or calling it off. Hopefully I’ll have a decision made long before that, but regardless of what happens I’ll make an official announcement when I know if I’m traveling or not.