Traveling with food allergies

Travel can be difficult, even frightening, for someone who has food allergies. Though my daughter and I do not have immediate life-threatening allergies, we both suffer internally -- after some exposure I find myself in bed for a couple of days. While traveling is not a time I want to deal with physical sickness. I'd rather choose to stay home than deal with it.

With that in mind, I've been preparing for our extended travel to Japan and what we need to take with is to be comfortable. That led me to a Facebook group, Gluten-free Expats in Japan. Which led me to discovering Triumph Dining Cards. I got my set of cards for American, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Mexican, Thai and Vietnamese cuisine. One side is in English and the other in the corresponding language. Each card is specific to the cuisine.

I'm feeling much more confident about dining in a different country with a different language. 

Two weeks from today...

we will be on our way toward Japan. Our flight doesn't leave until 1 a.m. Monday, Aug. 17, but we'll get on the train the afternoon of Sunday, Aug. 16 for Los Angeles.

I have a mix of emotions, though now my apprehensive has dulled to nervous butterflies, with tons of excitement. I can hardly believe that in two weeks' time we will be on our way toward Japan.
My final weeks have been working as a program for an exchange program, which renders me busy all the time, even if I'm just there as a body I'm not at home. This weekend I was slated to go to San Francisco, but since only 21 of 72 students went, I got to stay home and get some things done at home.I did get enough done this weekend that the heavy weight on my shoulders has been lifted.

What's left:

• Sell the Mazda
• Sell the Saturn
• Sell my desktop computer
• Sell my laptop
• PACK (though I've gotten a good head start)
• Wrap up various work-related tasks
  

It's real, and it's near

It's starting to feel real. Butterflies are in my stomach. Both excited butterflies, and the omg-what-am-i-doing? butterflies. Seriously, what am I thinking to pack up myself and my 6-year-old daughter for six months and go to another country? 

Have I lost my mind? Some people have said yes. But where would be without people you leapt first and thought second.

I've learned that sometimes you have to say, "this seems crazy, and it probably is, but I'm going to not think about it and just do it."

Some examples that come to mind are the time I jumped off a large rock in the Pacific Ocean in Waimea Bay on the island is Oahu in Hawaii.

Another one is when I decided to not get a full-time, steady job with benefits and instead I pieced together a living with freelance and one-off gigs. I love it. I don't want to go back. Doing that has enabled me to pack up and head to Japan/Asia for six months. I still need to make money, but I can do it from anywhere because of what I've built--and because of technology.

I'm so excited to see what life has i store for my girl and I in Japan.

The wanderlust bug has bitten...

I'm just over five weeks away from embarking on my next adventure--six months in Japan. With my six-year-old daughter.
I'm starting to question if I'm sane. I've already been told that I'm not.
Because...
We have a 13-hour flight from LAX to Taiwan. Then another two-hour flight to Fukuoka, Japan. The longest flight my daughter has been on is three hours, from LAX to Kansas City...when she was 7 months old and I got her sleep while wearing her. Now, when my daughter gets overly tired she sounds like a fire alarm when the batter runs low. Except she doesn't beep, it's just a single high-pitched squeal. I don't even think she knows she's doing it. It's like a warning single, don't get too close, I might bite.
I might never come back just to avoid another 13-hour flight...
38 days to go.