Milestones

The last day before we left Kyushu Island (where Kumiko lived in Kurume City) was busy and hectic.  We had so many last-minute things to do I didn't think we were going to get them all done - and we almost didn't...

We had spent all of the previous day (January 30) getting Kumiko's belongings moved out of her apartment and into her parents' house - with the baby-grand piano getting placed safely at her brother's house next door.  Here's a photo of the piano being lifted over the balcony of her apartment to be lowered by crane six stories to the truck waiting below...

When the apartment was completely empty, we were finally able to organize the stuff we were going to take - and see if it would fit in our packs.  Here are the before and after photos...

Our last day in Kurume City was full of errands - getting travelers checks, visiting various city offices to stop utilities, insurance, etc., moving Kumiko's money from one bank to another - and one of the final errands was to a travel agency to pick up our airline tickets from Taiwan to Hong Kong.

From there we drove to Kumiko's parents' house (20 minutes away) so she could give them instructions about bank accounts and other important issues that they would be taking care of while she was away.  At the same time, I was taking digital photos of all our important travel documents - passports, credit cards, immunization cards, travelers cheque numbers, etc.  After transferring the photos to my laptop, I then connected to the internet and e-mailed them to my Lonely Planet e-mail address.  If we were to lose any or all of our important documents during our trip, it's would be a simple matter of connecting to the internet to print a copy of the necessary items (to aid in getting replacements).

It was while I was taking photos of my credit cards that I realized I had left my American Express card at the travel agency in Kurume City.  By this time, it was quite late, so the travel office was closed - and our flight out of Fukuoka was mid-morning the next day, which didn't allow us enough time to go back to Kurume City to retrieve my card.  So, I was going to have to deal with getting a replacement card somewhere during our travels - a process I was somewhat familiar with, having done it three years earlier on a trip to Australia (that time the card was cancelled by AmEx the night before I left the States because of fraudulent charges).

As I said, it was getting quite late - nearing midnight - and someone (I think it was Kumiko's father) finally realized that the last train to Fukuoka was to depart at 12:14.  Unfortunately, they (Kumiko and her parents) were communicating this to each other in Japanese - and no one bothered to explain it to me in English.  So suddenly everyone was in a hurry, but I didn't understand why.  We rushed to finish up, gathered our stuff - trying to make sure we didn't leave anything else in the process - and hurried out the door to load up the car in a light rain.  After a quick and somewhat frantic drive to the station, we boarded our train with one minute to spare.

Our plans to meet Kumiko's friends for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe in Fukuoka were obviously cancelled - as was the plan to go see an acquaintance of hers play piano at a hotel nearby.  Instead, we arrived at our hotel at almost 2:00am, having missed dinner, and went straight to bed.

The day of our departure was a bit more relaxed.  Our flight was scheduled for 10:30.  After a leisurely breakfast, we arrived at the airport to find Kumiko's friends - the ones we were to have had dinner with the night before - waiting to see us off.

In the photo (from left to right) are Maki, Kei-chan, Kimie, the little one (whose name we can't recall now), and Kumiko (wearing "Tilley").  And, of course, in the Japanese tradition, they had gifts for us...

And they were thoughtful gifts, too.  Knowing that we had limited space, the gifts were not only compact, but quite useful as well.  So, here we are - all dressed up, with more places to go than we can count...

Aren't we cute?

As we walked down the loooooooong corridor to the jetway, we got to see Kumiko's friends one last time as they waved goodbye from the other side of the glass wall separating us travelers from the poor souls who have to stay behind.

It was a wonderful start of our great adventure...