I celebrated my 33rd birthday in the lead up to our trip to Japan. My birthday fell on a Thursday so that meant I was at work which was actually a good thing. I’d spent a couple of hours the night before making a white chocolate cheesecake with mango and lime coulis to take in for afternoon tea. I got made a fuss over and Glen had a beautiful bouquet of flowers delivered to reception. I got through a bunch of work and felt I’d achieved enough to be able to go on holiday.
In the evening we had dinner with the family at 7 Spices in Ardross. I’d failed to find out if the restaurant was upstairs, and if it was, whether there was a lift, as my grandmother came along and isn’t as mobile as she used to be. To our surprise though, she managed to get up – and down – the two flights of stairs so it all worked out well.
We ordered too much, though it didn’t feel like it at the time, and then we had cake, another one that I’d made, which was pistachio and chocolate. It wasn’t as nice as the cheesecake but it was still tasty and moist so it might make another appearance one day.
On Friday we went to the gym and then I went into work (contractors were coming in and I thought it best that I be there to oversee the work rather than leave it for some other busy person to handle).
A couple of hours later I went to the chiropractor to have some work done on my back because I was a little worried about skiing with some of the twinges I’d been having (it’s since gotten worse with all the walking). After that I took the car to be serviced, went to the bank to pick up the yen I’d ordered, and then it was home to pack.
We’ve become used to travelling light, taking only a carry-on bag with a week’s worth of clothes in it. While we’re only in Japan for a little over a week, we’ve brought a lot more gear. Ski boots, ski helmet, ski clothes, gloves, scarves, and then hiking boots all went in, as well as other clothes, electronics and toiletries. Our flight between Tokyo and Sapporo only allows 20 kg so we were a bit on edge about how much weight we’d be taking. (We later found out we’re just under 20kg so we’re travelling fine.)
In the evening a few of the boys came around to continue my birthday celebrations. We played a new card game called F**k which was a bit hard on the brain. We had pizza, some drinks, talked, laughed and then Dion and Ben took us to the airport for our midnight flight.
Travels with Dan 
What do you say, eh?