Vacation Reflection

2024-06-02

My wife, kid, and I went to Japan for two weeks on vacation. Before reflecting I want to say I am super grateful to have the time off and money to travel, it is not free and I am super lucky that I can do it.

First off being in Japan is really different. The culture is different than America and I really got to be a part of it for a short time and a lot of the lessons I learned as a kid came back to me quickly. Be quiet in public, clean up after yourself, bow to people, etc. It was nice to have a change of pace there and see how a different culture lives day to day.

Vacationing is interesting because you are putting your ‘normal’ life on hold and doing something different. Instead of our son going to daycare and my wife and I working for eight hours a day, we are hanging out together for the entire day, twenty four hours, and finding things to do. This includes, hiking, navigating train stations, finding delicious Japanese coffee from vending machines / konbinis (‘konbini’ is a Japanese convenience store, my favorite coffee was https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Suntory-Coffee-Original-Blend-Bottles/dp/B074KNX6CG ), going to Disneyland, going to a waterpark, visiting shrines, etc. And this is a very different type of day than normal.

And I realize, what is normal? If I quit my job and became a stay at home Dad, this would be my ‘normal’ and I would be doing all of these things (minus being in Japan) every day. I dont think I would enjoy that as much as working and being a morning / night parent but I think I could make it work. There is some universe where I am a stay at home Dad and have to plan day activities with my kid and it would be pretty similar to being on vacation all of the time kind of. I dont know if it would make vacation less special but it might, but it might not, I haven’t given a stay at home lifestyle too much thought.

Secondly part of the beauty of vacation is that you have to spend twenty four hours with your family. This is the most sequential time I have spent with my family this year and it is really interesting. I got to learn more about Sneha and son’s habits, I am sure I got on Sneha’s nerves sometimes, but I also got to see her under pressure, stress, and enjoyment more than normal. We got to see Disneyland together, wait in lines, eat delicious food. We slept in tiny hotel rooms together in Japan, ate every single meal together. Shrey doesn’t like vegetables, especially Japanese vegetables. Everyone really likes tempura. Traveling is hard for all, jet lag is a pain. Our kid is kind of like me and doesn’t sleep on planes and likes people. He doesn’t mind making friends on trains and hasn’t quite learned that staring is rude yet.

I will end this with gratitude, I really appreciated this trip and my family, it is super nice to spend time with them in Japan and hope I can do it again in the near (but not too near) future.

-Gary