Okinawa Adventure 2010

Although I have been wanting to travel to exotic places and interesting locales, I never really had Japan on my radar until my sister moved there with her husband and six children about a year ago. They had a wonderful opportunity with the government and jumped on it so of course I felt compelled to come for a visit. I mean, how often does a person have an opportunity to take advantage of visiting a foreign country and not have to worry about hotels, transportation and going broke before returning to the states? I renewed my passport, told my mom what I was planning and she decided that she'd like to go too. I have no idea how my brother in-law reacted when my sister told him we wanted to come and stay for three weeks, but I must say, the man is a saint to put up with us for that long! What is that saying about fish and house guests...they start to stink after a week? After a few months of planning, our departure date arrived before I could learn much Japanese or worry about the extremely long plane ride that we would endure. This was going to be an adventure on several fronts. First, my mom and I have never travelled together internationally (she has never been out of the United States). Second, my sister has six kids and is pregnant with her 7th, they range in age from 12 to 22 months (I have no children) and we are staying in their home for 3 weeks. Third, we're visiting a country I know very little about, with language that is not close to English in any way and a list of venomous sea creatures a mile long. Let the adventures begin!