I think I may have figured this luggage thing out.

Why am I always up late packing the night before? I always PLAN to be ready and get to bed early but once again....

Bought two new Samsonite bags. A 25" and 21". The bags are ultra light but strong, and they have the spinner wheels. You just tap the bag and it travels for miles. Made a cool discovery while at the store ... the 21" nests inside the 25" luggage. That means I can check one bag to Asia but come back with three. What is that you say? Don't you mean return with two bags? Nope, I mean three. The 25", the 21" and the duffle bag that is folded and hidden inside. Oh yeah, I've figured out how to get around the only one checked bag allowed on the domestic flight from Beijing to Shanghai and, oh yea, I am so pleased with myself.

Best laid plans though ... hmmm ... we'll see how it all turns out.

Booking a Flight

Good news. International flights will check two bags. Bad news. We are booking our flights to the rendevouz point individually and the domestic flights tend to charge for BOTH bags. (sigh)

Good news. Southwest will check two bags at no extra cost. Bad news. Southwest flies out of Midway and we are flying out of O'Hare. (sigh)

Good news. We could take the train between airports. Bad news. A blog says it will take two hours to get from one point to the other. Add those two hours to the time it takes to fly back from Japan and then the four or more hours still to get home. (sigh)

Good news. It's summer vacation so I'll sleep when I get home. (yay)

Nuclear Reactors in Fukushima

Nuclear Reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, as seen in a Wednesday satellite image—two days after an explosion blew the roof off the unit’s secondary containment building.

The website "The Big Picture" shows the effects of the earthquake and tsunami on Japan on March 11 like the picture below.

Tsunami

Earthquake & Tsunami hits Japan March 11, 2011

"Japan, Tradition & Change" by Lucien Ellington. 1990.

When I attended the NCTA's Seminar at the University of Florida, they gave us a pile of books. Don't you just love free stuff? When I switched careers to become a teacher, one of the deciding factors was the simple fact that I love to learn. I had no idea there would be so many educational opportunities provided.

This book is very easy to read while also being very informative. Unfortunately, it appears to be out of print. However, the author has a newer book that looks like an updated version. Twice the number of pages though. "Japan (Asia in Focus)".

Japan's Geography. Japan is comprised of four major islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku, plus THOUSANDS of smaller ones. From its northernmost tip in Hokkaido to its southernmost in Kyusu, Japan extends from Maine to Alabama. Because Japan is separated from the rest of Asia by water, even its distance to Korea and China are great, it avoided invasion until 1945 (WWII). Due to minimal immigration or migration the Japanese race has maintained its homogeneity.