… and after having been closed for more than two years, today Japan is finally re-opening it’s borders to tourists.
![Best Happy Dance GIFs | Gfycat](https://i0.wp.com/thumbs.gfycat.com/QuickGeneralElephantbeetle-max-1mb.gif?w=740&ssl=1)
This means that we can finally re-start our mental and physical preparations for the trip, which has now been put on hold for well over a year.
We have known about this news for a couple of weeks of course, so our respective companies have already been advised that we are planning on taking a three months sabbatical next spring. We have also gone for a little warm-up walk with some weight in the backpacks (and discovered we need some serious practice in that area) and packing-and-gear-lists are being mentally revised once again.
So that’s it – just a quick check-in to celebrate the good news! We’ve decided not to book plain-tickets until after Christmas, because damn have we all had a collective lessen as a species not to plan too far ahead. But we’re quietly optimistic and slowly re-taking the first steps towards temple 88.