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Welcome to Clothesforce, the podcast that can't believe we survived 2025. Seriously. Happy New Year to all of you. I am recording this and hopefully releasing this on New year's day of 2026. Oh yeah, I'm your host, Amanda and this is episode 251, a surprise two parter to my episode. I guess it's an episode series. Now, about my month in Japan. I heard from a lot of you that you wanted to hear about the first half of my trip after hearing about the second half of my trip with Dustin in last week's episode. So I thought, hey, why not lay it all out for you. Plus, I received some questions from various listeners about Japan travel. And you know, I am always like really weird when someone calls me an expert in something, you know. You know I will just tell you if you didn't know already. Imposter syndrome knows no bounds, right? So when people are like, oh, you're like an expert. You have information to share about things. Whether it is, you know, my two decades working in fast fashion or traveling, I am always like feel embarrassed. But the truth is, I actually am an expert traveler. During the peak of my career, sometimes I would be on four flights a week. During trade show season, I would just be traveling every week for six to eight weeks. And on top of that, you know, I've traveled around the world. I've traveled to visit friends here in the United States. And of course I have traveled to Japan now about a dozen times. So yeah, I guess I am kind of. No, not kind of. I am an expert in travel. So let me give you some advice and tell you a little bit more about my trip to Japan as well. So listener Rebecca sent me an email asking me for my tips and tricks for getting good prices on airline tickets. And I'm going to share with you what I do, but with the caveat that this could all change on a dime, right? With the way airlines and other retailers are using our data and the way AI is making it easier for them to sort of weaponize our data against us, my tricks could be obsolete at any moment. I don't know if you recall a couple months back at the episode I talked about how basically our data is allowing companies to start using more dynamic pricing, kind of like against us. And airlines are one major part of that. So I'm going to give you my tips. Try them. If they don't work, don't send me a message saying that they didn't work because it probably means just that like dynamic pricing is here. To stay. But here. Here's what I do. So the first thing I want you to think about when you are looking to buy a plane ticket for a big trip, whether it's to Japan, across the country, to another part of the world, whatever. I want you to think about what. Where you can fly out of versus where you would prefer to fly out of. Because sometimes the cheapest airline ticket might not be at the closest airport, and you have to decide if that matters to you. So, for example, I live in southern Lancaster county in Pennsylvania. We don't have our own airport. If I wanted to spend a ton of money, I could fly out of Harrisburg, which is technically an international airport. But most likely what that would do is fly me into a larger airport. I would suspect Chicago o', Hare, and then I would fly off to Japan or wherever I'm going abroad. I don't do that, but I could. And that's only about an hour from my house. I can also drive an hour south and fly out of Baltimore Washington International, also known as bwi, to be honest. In that situation, I might get an okay price on the ticket, but I'm definitely once again going to be flying into another city and then taking a connection from there, especially if I'm going to Japan. I also could drive about an hour and a half and fly out of Philadelphia, which sometimes is a good option. Dustin and I did that, actually, when I was flying to the west coast for the live shows. And it was actually like, not a bad drive when we did it at 3am not always a fun time to do that thing where you get four hours of sleep and then drive to the airport, but there was no traffic and it was pretty nice. We did that because we could fly direct to Seattle, which also was not the easiest trip because the easiest trip maybe would have been us flying into Portland, where we were actually staying. But. But in order to do that, we were going to have to take a connecting flight. And Dustin said he would rather drive three hours from Seattle to Portland than have a connection and a layover. So that was a decision we made. Right. I could also drive about, I don't know, depending on traffic, two to three hours south of my house and fly out of Dulles, which is outside D.C. that I think I could get a direct flight to Japan and to a lot of other places in the world. But that drive is epic. And especially because there's always traffic and it's really unpredictable. So where I actually have flown out of now two years in a row to go to Japan is Newark, New Jersey, which is outside New York City. And it is my airport of choice for these trips to Japan, because one, the airline tickets, the prices are really good flying out of Newark, and two, there are direct flights to Tokyo, which I love. I just, like, want to get on the plane and, like, settle in, and just the next time I get off the plane, be at my destination. Put a pin in that, because that can also determine the prices you're going to pay. So I've been flying out of Newark. It is about a three and a half hour drive from my house. And last year I did. I asked Dustin to drive me to Newark, and he did. And we stayed in a hotel near the airport the night before. And then in the morning, he dropped me off and he drove home. And that is because he is a great husband. I'm very grateful for that. When I got home, he kind of miscalculated the time it would take to get from our house to the airport. And he was several hours late picking me up from the airport, which meant I was not happy by the time he got there. And I was also really exhausted. And then, you know, to drive three and a half hours home, it. It was just rough. This year was a little bit different because, one, I knew I did not want to have to rely on Dustin to drive me because it's a lot to ask someone to drive you three and a half hours to drop you off at the airport. And also because he was going to be coming back with me. So, like, what will we do about the car? And his trip got a little bit more complicated because first he went to Chicago to visit his mom, and then he flew from Chicago to Tokyo to meet up with me. So what we did instead is I actually took Amtrak to Newark. Life hack here. For any of you who live along the east coast, like I said, flights out of Newark to Japan are really, in my opinion, some of the most affordable pricing I've ever seen to go to Japan. And the Amtrak station is actually connected to the airport. You get on this, like, air train from the train station, and it takes you over to the airport. It's really easy. Really easy. And so I took Amtrak up to Newark. I stayed in a hotel the night before that. I used my points for. So I could just be, like, feeling pretty fresh to get on the plane the next day. And when we came home, we did the reverse. I used my points again to stay in a hotel near the airport. And then the next morning, we caught Amtrak back here to Lancaster, and we were almost Home. So that is a convoluted trip for sure, but actually affordable and relatively easy. The thing about a long trip like this is it's never easy. So you want to make it the level of difficulty that you can handle. Another time that I flew out of a different airport in pursuit of a cheaper airline ticket, was flying from Houston, Texas to Japan when we were living in Austin. And that was about a three hour drive. And it was fine when we headed out, but let me tell you, when we came home, the last thing any of us wanted to do was drive three hours. And what it made it even more complicated is that our flight had come in very, very late. So we were driving home to Austin at like 2 o' clock in the morning and we were both just a mess. I. I wouldn't do anything like that again. I think if I'm gonna do something where I fly out of an airport that is far away, I'm gonna budget into that to stay in a hotel and then drive home the next day. Okay, so that's like one thing. I just want you to keep in mind that sometimes the best flight is gonna be further away, but it might be worth it. For me, flying out of Newark is great because it's the lowest price and it's easy for me to get there and it's nonstop. So those are all checking a lot of boxes for me. Okay, so next, the best thing you can do is fly in and out in the middle of the week. So like Tuesday, Wednesday. I'm a big fan of flying on Tuesdays for no particular reason other than it's often the cheapest. Saturdays can usually be pretty cheap too, so that's another one to think about. And in theory, if you fly on a Saturday, the traffic to the airport might not be that bad. So yeah, so I usually fly in and out on Tuesdays. Do not try to fly on a Monday or a Friday. You will regret it. Sunday is usually pretty expensive too. Next. Most of the time, I would assume you would agree. I am not going on a trip last minute unless it's a crisis. So I am planning this out months in advance, which gives me plenty of time to start looking for a good price. What I recommend to all of you is that if you are about two to three months out from your trip, you could even, I would say, go up to five months out to your trip. Go set up price alerts on Google flights or Skyscanner. And what it will do is it will send you an email when prices are dropping or rising. It will Also give you an idea of the most affordable dates to fly in the first place. And so what I did on my most recent trip, so I'm going to tell you all, I flew business class to Japan, round trip this time, which, yes, is literally three times the price of flying on a normal ticket. And I saved up my money so that I could do this. Because earlier this year, well, I guess now last year, because it's New Year's Day, Dustin and I did a desert road trip. We try to do one just about every year. I don't think we will this year, but you never know where we fly to. Vegas, also a cheap place to fly in and out of, by the way, and rent a car. Kind of the cheapest place to rent a car as well. And we drive out in one of the directions into the desert. We've gone to Death Valley and Joshua Tree and Palm Springs. We've also gone out to the Grand Canyon from there this time we actually went into Arizona and went to Tucson and Saguaro and a bunch of other cool places there. Anyway, the day we had to fly back, there was a lot of stuff going on. One was the fires in LA had like started about the day before. And because of just epic wind and other conditions, all my friends in LA were like evacuating and were scary and I was feeling super anxious. And the weather, even in Vegas that day when we were flying out was this level of wind I've never experienced before. Like, it picked up my suitcase and blew it down the street as we were loading up the rental car. It was really wild on top of that. So I was like, not in a good head space, right? But on top of that, that morning I'd gotten a message from someone on Instagram accusing me of using AI to create a post that, to be really honest with you, I have been sharing for like two or three years. Like, it was the same post I'd re shared many times. A post that I'd created before. Generative AI was a thing, or at least accessible. And it was actually a scan of like a vintage greeting card. So the whole thing was really weird. And it got even weirder because the person who messaged me, you know, I said, like, listen, I'm actually really anti AI. Like I've done episodes about it. I've done like public speaking about it. Here are some things you can check out to see my thoughts on it. And she was like, yeah, I already know that. That's why I'm like really surprised that you're using AI. And that really got into my head because I was like, this person thinks I'm a hypocrite. This person who doesn't know me wants me to be a bad person. It's like such a small thing, I know, but in on top of everything else, it was like, really fucking with me, to be really honest. By the time we got to the airport and found out that our flight was several hours delayed, I just was like, I'm tired, I am stressed out. I'm worried about all my friends. I am trapped in the Las Vegas airport, and I'm probably also really hungry. And so our flight just kept getting pushed out, pushed out, pushed out. And we were feeling a little stressed about it because we knew we were going to have to drive back from Baltimore when we got in, and it was going to be like a weird middle of the night driving situation, which we are not fans of. And when we finally did get to board the flight, it was like the worst turbulence I have ever experienced. And trust me, I have experienced some turbulence over the years. And I know that turbulence isn't dangerous as long as you're wearing your seatbelt and, you know, making sure all your stuff's stowed away and turbulence will not wreck a plane. It's kind of like driving on a really bumpy road, just, you know, in the sky. I know all of these things. I've watched numerous videos about it. But this turbulence was so bad. And there was a woman behind me who would scream every time we dropped. Behind her was a woman who was praying very loudly. And I think those factors, along with the fact that I was tired, that I was in this really bad headspace, I ended up having a really, really bad panic attack. I thought I was gonna die. I could not breathe. Those of you who had a panic attack, you know how it goes. And really the only thing that got me through it was just being there with Dustin. Him, like, holding my hand and just like, being there with me. And so when it was time for me to go to Japan, I was really afraid that, I don't know, something like that might happen again to me, and I would be too panicked to get it together and I might, like, actually die or like, a flight attendant would have to spend their time talking me off the ledge. And so I thought, you know what? I'm gonna fly business class because I can lay down flat in the bed and sleep and just be really, really comfortable and well fed. Well, well fed for an airplane. And just like, hopefully that will prevent me from having a panic attack. And so I was like, I spent the money on business class. And I'm glad because you know what, it was great. And I got like, I don't know, eight hours of sleep on each flight, which is unheard of. I can't sleep sitting up. So it was a game changer for me. And so I knew I wanted to fly business class for this trip. Right. I also knew it was really, really expensive. And when I first started looking, tickets were like five, six thousand dollars. And I was like, I can't do that. That would be wild. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I spent that much money on a plane ticket. So what I did is I set these Google flight notifications for various dates and over the next few months, sometimes it would send me an email that got me really excited where it would be like, this business class flight to Tokyo is $1,500. And I'd be like, whoa, like that's not much more than a normal ticket. I'm gonna buy. Go look at it. And you'd be like, cool, yeah, it is fifteen hundred dollars. But first you have to fly from Newark to Switzerland. Okay. And then you have to fly from Switzerland to Tokyo. And yeah, it's a 24 hour trip. And so I didn't take that one. But that's a great example of how you could get a really hot deal if you don't mind taking an abnormal route. Right? So that's, that's something. Anyway, I watched and watched and watched. And one day I got an email. I was sitting at my desk working and it said, you know, business class tickets to Tokyo for these dates have dropped $2,000. Maybe it was $3,000. It was wild. It was just this one day. Weirdly enough, I want to say it was a Sunday. I was working on Clothes Horse at my desk. And you know what I did? I bought the ticket. It was a really good deal. And the next day they went back up again. And this was like a normal nonstop flight from Newark to Tokyo. I would have never gotten that price if I wasn't getting those notifications. So that's something I'm going to put out there for you. Do that. I also, there are other hacks that I have used that you could try. One is like buying a really cheap one way ticket from one airline to get there and a cheap one way ticket from another airline. Get back if you're wondering if that's an option for you. Often Google flights will make recommendations like that when you search. And sometimes you can also Find that on Orbit or Expedia. I would also encourage you, depending on the length of your trip and what you're doing, to consider a package deal from Orbitz or Expedia. Now, package deal. The first time I heard that sounded like when you go to one of those all inclusive resorts or something, that is not what it is. What it really ends up being is essentially you are buying the plane ticket and you're getting your hotel for a deep discount or almost free. There are several trips I have taken to Japan where I didn't even stay in the same city for the whole week. But I always stay at the Hotel Graphi Nezu, which I've mentioned here many times before and I will mention again. And I have gotten package deals from Orbitz in the past where Dustin and I basically were paying for the plane ticket and our whole week at the Graphi was free with a package deal. Now it doesn't always work out that way. There was one time I remember specifically we were going to Mexico City and that time it was actually, I mean it wasn't much cheaper. It was like 100 cheaper to get our hotel and our airline tickets separately. But often there is some kind of discount there. The other thing I will say is that I often look at airfare prices on these discount platforms like Priceline and Orbit and Expedia. But then I will go directly to the airline website and buy the ticket from the airline. Most of the time it is the same price and I just do that because if there are any interruptions or issues with your flight, it is way easier to get it solved by the airline if you bought the ticket directly from the airline. All in all, I just think buying a plane ticket and getting the best price on it is more complicated than even the amount you've paid. Right. Because it's about what will make you comfortable, what level of difficulty of a trip can you handle, how long do you want to be on a plane and what are your deal breakers? Right. Like for me I said I prefer to fly direct. It just does make the whole trip a lot easier. But if the price were right, I would take a connection. And I will tell you, I have taken many connecting flights to Japan, through San Francisco, through Seattle, through Toronto, probably other places I'm not even thinking of. And for me it's just all about what is the best timeline for the trip. And I also get really worried about connecting flights being late, missing my trip, my big flight to Japan. And so that's another thing. I just don't want to deal with. And if I fly direct, I know I'm going to get there. Okay, let's talk about packing for a minute. So I, as I mentioned, I take two suitcases with me when I'm going to Japan or any other big trip. I have big pink and medium pink as they are called. They are both suitcases from monos. They have good wheels, which is really important to me, and they're pretty lightweight. They're like the hard shell type of suitcases. And put a pin in that because it's going to come up later. First off, I maintain that you do not need to buy an entire new suitcase of clothing to go on a trip. You don't even need to buy half a suitcase of new clothing for a trip. And please, for the love of God, do not be one of those people on Reddit who takes nothing and buys everything while they're there. Instead, you take all of your favorite clothes because one, you know they fit you, two, you know you feel comfortable in them, and three, you actually feel your best wearing them. And who doesn't want to feel their best when they're traveling? Trust me, you want to feel your best because sometimes you're going to eat something that upsets your stomach, you're going to have jet lag, there are going to be stressful situations, you're going to hit a wall where you're like, I miss home, where everything is easy. But at least you can say I am wearing my favorite, most best clothes. And that, trust me, is a, it's an ego boost. It gives you a sense of comfort. And also you probably look really good because these clothes are your favorite clothes for a reason. And if you go out and buy a whole new haul of brand new clothes for your vacation, which to be fair, I many people do all the time, you don't actually know if these clothes are proven, if you feel great in them, if you feel comfortable in them, if they even look good, you know you're actually being way more risky by buying a whole bunch of new clothes. Whereas these clothes, your favorite clothes, they are proven. You know, why add another another level of stress to your vacation? And also why spend money that you don't need to spend when your favorite, most awesome clothes are waiting for you in your closet right now? Take them on vacation with you. As I'm getting ready for a big trip, I have a rolling rack out in my room and I just start putting things on there and kind of building outfits, thinking about my favorite things to wear together. And I look for interchangeability I think about different weather stuff. In Japan on this trip, it was really important because I went up into the mountains where it was much colder, and then I went further south where it was, I don't know, it was like a 20 degree difference in terms of temperature. So, you know, I needed to take a parka, but I also needed to take lighter weight clothes and I also needed a raincoat. So I think about all of those things. And I do use compression bags to pack everything up. So I get maximum use of my space inside my suitcase. And for these Japan trips, what I do is big pink. The big guy is exclusively clothes, maybe one pair of shoes. That's where most of my clothes and stuff are, how they're going to get to Japan. And then medium pink is kind of like everything else. It's all my toiletries, if I'm taking books, any of the things I need for work, you know, my umbrella, some shoes, things like that. So all the other stuff is in there. And what I do then once I get to Tokyo is in the hotel room, I start to, you know, pull out things like, okay, this stuff is going to go back in the medium pink suitcase for when I leave town, you know, clothing and whatnot. And this other stuff will stay in the suitcase and get shipped to my destination. That's a few days ahead of where I am right now. Right. So I'm very strategic about all of that. And once again, I take my favorite clothes. I take things that I know I can clean and I take things that I can kind of mix up. And I know I'm not going to get bored with wearing. I also think it's really important to take things that you might not be able to get while you were there. You are going to be able to get contact solution. But if you're like me and you have big feet, you're not going to be able to get shoes and socks and you're probably not going to be able to get tights. And so those are things that are really important to me. Bras. I got big old American boobs. I got to take my bras with me. Things like that I am sure to take plenty of. I also bring my laundry bag so that I can start, you know, continue to separate and store my dirty laundry. I actually take two laundry bags, one for things that can go in the dryer. And one thing for things that are delicate, I take my special travel hangers which I talked about in the last episode, which are not actually like designed for travel, but are these extremely lightweight and Somehow pink wire hangers that I got in Mexico City a few years ago, they weigh nothing. I put them under my compression bags of clothes in my suitcase and they don't take up any space. And then I can hang clothes to dry, which is a game changer. I also take reusable face pads rather than, you know, going through a whole bunch of disposable stuff while I'm there. I know that I can laundry these things. I have this fold up pour over coffee maker that is from an outdoor company called Snow Peak. It folds flat, but then it opens up to be, I don't know, a pyramid sort of. You can put a cone filter in there and make pour over coffee. That's really important to me because I drink a lot of coffee and I know that every hotel room I stay in in Japan specifically will have a hot water kettle so that like I can boil water and it will always have some sort of mug or cup in the room that I can make coffee in. So life unlock to just drink nice coffee in my room every morning I always take a water bottle. Obviously I take utensils because I do eat in my hotel room and I would like to not use plastic disposable stuff sometimes. I definitely did on this trip. I take a small bowl for eating cereal or oatmeal or whatever in the morning. I have a tiny first aid kit that's great for travel and trust me, all it takes is cutting your leg one time shaving in a hotel room, which happened to me like 15 years ago, and getting blood everywhere to make you start bringing band aids on vacation. I have a travel sewing kit with me, which is also really important. You know, a few years ago, Dustin and I were in Japan. We were at an art thing and a kid accidentally, total accident, stepped on the back of my skirt and basically ripped off half of my dress. And so we ran to. It was very weird. We ran to a convenience store nearby and we bought a little tiny sewing kit in there. We were standing out on the sidewalk just basically piecing my dress back together so I could get through the rest of the day. And then later on that trip, I actually was able to sit down with my sewing kit and do a better repair job so I could keep wearing it. I also bring a pill case for all my vitamins and medications because obviously I bring a month to supply with me for that. And I keep the large bottles in the big pink suitcase that's shipping around and I dole them out into my pill case for the days that I Don't have my big suitcase. It just saves room in the smaller suitcase. It's great. Okay, I'm about to say something that might shock you. I'm definitely going to drop an F bomb, but I want you to hear me out on this. Fuck travel size toiletries. I'm serious. I get it. They're cute. They're adorable. It's whimsical. It feels good to buy them and put them in the little case and be like, oh my God, I'm going on vacation. But guess what? They are such a mega waste of plastic and you don't need them. It's kind of a mega waste of money too. What you need is a nice set of reusable travel bottles. They can be plastic, they can be metal, whatever you want. And fill them up with your favorite toiletries and take them on your trip and then bring them home empty, clean them out and get them ready for the next trip. Right? So that's what I do. Now there are certain things I can't do that for. Contact solution is the main one. It would be kind of gross to pour that into another bottle. Could get an eye infection. I do use travel for that, but like, that's it. I'm using all my other favorite stuff in my refillable bottles. On a trip like this, where I'm going for a month, I might actually bring some full sizes of things that will last me the month. I don't need itty bitty bottles to feel excited about going on the trip because guess what? I'm going on the trip. And that's really exciting. Another thing I would just recommend here, if you think you are going to buy souvenirs, which you probably are, and no shade. I mean, you might want to buy secondhand souvenirs. Who knows, you might buy a bunch of snacks. It doesn't matter. You're probably gonna buy souvenirs. I recommend that you bring with you a collapsible duffel bag. Something that folds down to almost nothing. Something sturdy enough that you would feel okay checking with your souvenirs or what have you in it. Actually, what Dustin and I usually do is we have this like collapsible duffel bag that one of us carries in our suitcase for the trip. And then as we're packing to come home, we might put all of our dirty laundry and whatnot, like non fragile items in that collapsible duffel which we'll check at the airport. And then anything fragile, like souvenirs, and fragile being a relative term if it's glassware, I'm carrying it on. But, like, if it's things, I just don't want to get crunched up, right? I'm gonna put all that stuff in my big suitcase where it's, like, all protected and packed very strategically around it. Once again, if it's truly fragile, I'm going to carry it on. And yes, I have totally taken glassware on a plane in the past. I am not ashamed. One time I took a typewriter on. Whatever. It's my life. Anyway, bring a collapsible duffel bag. And that brings me to my last thing about packing, which is a source of stress, which is the weight of your suitcase, right? If your suitcase is over £50 here in the US you are going to have to pay some exorbitant fee to check it, if you're even allowed to check it honestly. And rather than getting to the airport and having to unpack and re situate and move stuff around, which, yes, 100% has happened to me and I am not ashamed to admit happened to me as recently as when we flew to the west coast for the live shows. Because one suitcase was all over the merch and it was really heavy. It's stressful to have to do that at the airport. So what I recommend is that you have a scale at home to weigh your suitcase and do that as soon as you're done packing, just to make sure that it is the right weight. The scale that we have in our house, a normal scale that you might see in someone's bathroom, actually lives in our pantry because it is not used to weigh people. It is used to weigh luggage and packages. Because as a person who has been struggling with an eating disorder my entire life, it feels the last thing I need is a scale in the bathroom. Like, I can't. I can't handle that. That will be my undoing. But I also hate having to repack all my stuff at the airport. So we weigh everything on this scale that lives in our pantry. And I also have one of those little digital scales that you sort of put through the handle of your suitcase and you lift it up and it gives you a pretty, I would say a pretty accurate weight of your suitcase. I also travel with one of those so that my suitcase is the right weight coming back. That said, if you're not so extra like me, many good airports will have an area before you check in for your flight that allows you to weigh your suitcase and repack it. Of course, Narita being in Tokyo, being an awesome airport, has a very Generous area not only with a scale to weigh your suitcase, but literally with tables there for you to put your suitcase up on and like re situate and repack. And it is so nice, no matter what, you want to make sure that you weigh your suitcase at some point before you go to check in because it's going to save you so much awkwardness and so much stress. And you know what? Traveling is stressful enough, right? Let's make things easier for ourselves. Let me tell you my advice for having the best flight. First off, for the love of God, wear a mask. You're a good person. You want to protect others from any germs you're carrying around. And you do not want to get sick on your trip if you can avoid it, right? I have gotten sick on trips. Last year, Dustin had norovirus on our desert trip. That trip was awesome. But I think about it, there was norovirus, there was a panic attack, there was turbulence. There was some weird stuff in that trip. Anyway, wear a mask. Studies have actually shown that the most contagious times of your trip will be in the airport on the Jetway, especially where there is like no air circulation and you're all crammed in together. And anytime you're on the plane and it's not at cruising altitude, apparently when you get up to cruising altitude, AKA they turn off the seatbelt sign until you can get your devices out. At that point, the air filters are really good at filtering out germs and you're probably going to be safe. That said, it's not a bad idea to try to wear the mask for your whole flight, especially if someone near you is being gross. Now, I'll tell you when I'm flying 12 or 14 hours to Japan. I try my hardest to keep my mask on the whole time, but it's like, not realistic, right? Because sometimes I'm eating or it's. Sometimes it's hard to sleep with it on. And so I don't want you to like, get frustrated and then not wear a mask at all. Maybe make a first commitment to you that you wear it in the airport, getting on the plane and at landing, but not like for the bulk of the flight. Like, do what you can do. What else? Most airlines for an international flight, when you get on, are going to give you this alcohol wipe when you get on to wipe off your tray table, your armrests, your space on your plane. Do it because you know people are gross. Okay? Another piece of advice is you need to drink so much water the night before the Morning before at the airport and on the plane I have a huge water bottle. I fill it at the airport and I drink that whole thing on the plane. And on top of that, anytime they're bringing beverages around, I'm taking one and I'm drinking it. I don't drink alcohol, which I think probably helps me stay pretty hydrated on the plane. But if you are drinking alcohol on the plane, which, hey, you're on vacation, go for it, please drink a bunch of water afterwards. Trust me, it makes a huge difference in how you feel when you get there. It really helps with jet lag. And the other thing is, I will tell you, on most international long haul flights, like the kind you're going to take to Japan, they usually have carts kind of like at the back of the of your cabin. Whether it's, you know, you're flying business class or premium, economy or economy, there will be carts at the back of your cabin during the flight that usually have bottles of water or cups to fill with water and just keep getting up and getting some water. Seriously, it makes all the difference. Also wear compression socks. These are a game changer. I've been doing this for about 10 years, for just about any longest flight, maybe even longer, actually maybe more like 15 years. And it's something I really believe in. I have friends who are flight attendants who swear by it. And back when I waited tables, I would often wear compression socks too under my uniform because it just made me feel light on my feet to not have like swollen ankles and feet by the end of my shift and the same thing for a long flight. It makes all the difference. Currently, as far as I know, there are no cute and sexy compression socks out there in the world. And that's okay. I have a pair from Bombas that are pretty decent and I've worn for a few years now, so you could check those out. Also bring some slip on shoes or wear slip on shoes or heck, bring a pair of slippers. It's so nice to just be able to slip out your shoes and put in something comfortable on the plane and not be barefoot when you go to the bathroom. That's disgusting. Also, I recommend that you bring earplugs, a sleep mask and your own pillow because those airplane pillows are wimpy. Also, you need to moisturize the heck out of your face and hands while you're on the plane. So I always have hand lotion that is is small enough for me to get through security, but not a travel size. And I also I bring moisturizer in a little tiny reusable jar and I'm like putting that on like every hour. And you know what else I've been doing? I did that on this most recent flight and I did it last year when I went to Japan. To and from as well is I actually I don't use sheet masks in my normal day to day life because I feel like they're really wasteful. But man, where they are perfect if you don't care what other people think of you, which I just generally do not use them on the plane. So I will put on like after the first meal because they feed you a lot on these, on these international flights after dinner's over and they like dim the lights, I put on a face mask, I put on a movie and maybe I hopefully fall asleep and maybe I wake up at some point, take the mask off and slather on some cream and go back to sleep. And, and if I'm feeling really sassy, I might do a second face mask before breakfast before we land. So just, just another thing for you to think about if you want to feel like your best. And I also recommend in terms of feeling your best, a few other things. Wear layers of clothing because the temperature on the plane is like highly unpredictable. Often flight the pilot will actually turn up the heat a little bit after dinner is served. So people go to sleep. It's kind of cozy at first, until it's not, I'll just say. And conversely, I've also been on flights where I was freezing my butt off and could not get warm. So wear layers. I also recommend because I do this, bring toiletry items that are going to make you feel your best for landing because guess what, you're going to feel tired, you're going to feel overwhelmed, you're going to feel disoriented, you're going to feel hungry and sleepy and impatient and maybe sweaty and all of these things. So take care of yourself and do things that will make you feel better. So for me that means I brush my teeth before we land, I bring deodorant, I wash my face and like put on some moisturizer again and sunscreen. And I, you know what, I put on some mascara and I fill in my eyebrows just to feel a little good, right? I bring in some dry shampoo and I clean my hair and just, you know, so I can feel pretty good. And I might even, although I didn't do it on this trip, but I usually do. I bring some clothes to change into just, you know, and yeah, I'll either Do it in the bathroom or once I get off the plane before I go through immigration, just to feel a little bit more human. Also, one last tip, and this comes from many years of eating an extremely lackluster gluten free meal on the plane. Bring snacks that you enjoy. You will be glad to have some calories and some comfort. And you know what, this is like a special occasion. We don't need some diet culture nonsense while you're on the plane. Like, eat some food, be happy, take care of yourself. When I get off the plane in Japan, I am always extremely excited, but also like, oh my God, my stomach hurts. I feel like I always have a stomach ache, headache when I land, no matter what. I mean, that's what it is to be on a plane for a really long time. So I go through immigration, I get my suit, luggage, go through customs, all that stuff. And then the first thing I do is I get a coffee. Just sitting down and have a coffee for a minute is like, okay, all right, here I am. I also think this is just something really important to call out no matter where you are going. And this is a lesson that I have learned the very hard way. Something Dustin and I have to remind ourselves of all the time, is that you do not need to beat yourself into a pulp on vacation. Which means take some time and just chill out. This is an exciting trip, you know, you take care of yourself. So don't feel like, okay, we're in the airport, we gotta get out of here. We gotta get out there and start exploring. Because guess what? Even going to get coffee at the airport in Tokyo or wherever you are is gonna be an experience, you know, So I usually get a coffee, sit down for a minute, just kind of get my head together. Because there are errands to run at the airport, right? One is if you're getting a WI FI device, you gotta pick it up. So WI FI device is basically a little tiny hotspot that will allow you to use your phone throughout the country, although people can't call you unless you're doing like FaceTime, just as an FYI. But it will also give you Internet access on any other devices you've brought with you. So I actually always rent a WI FI device because I need it to do work as well. I want consistent, reliable Internet. So I, I actually rent like the high speed one with the most data so that I can work in my hotel room or in the Shinkansen or any other trains I'm on or in the station. Wherever I am. I could Sit down and do some work. And I love that. I like maximizing my time that way. So I always rent a WI FI device from Ninja WI Fi. I actually arrange for that sometimes. It's like the first thing I do after I buy a plane ticket because it makes me feel like, ah, I'm just checking off the boxes. I'm going on this trip. So I rent my wifi device and then I can pick it up at the airport, which is great. And when I leave, I literally drop it off at the airport. It's awesome. Other people now will get these ESIM things for their phones which allow them to make phone calls and get like a limited amount of data and WI fi. That's something to think about too. There is WI fi all over the place in Japan. It's just not always as good as I would like it to be. So I rent the WI FI device also for this year's trip, I guess. Now, last year's trip, I. In addition to the wifi device, I actually got a one month international plan for my phone because a few months ago, Dustin's dad had a stroke. He's fine, he's doing really well right now. But I was worried that if things took a turn, I just wanted it to be really easy for anyone to reach me in a crisis. And even just having that international phone plan, which I want to say was like a hundred bucks, I mean, it wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be. Obviously I don't want to pay a hundred extra dollars every month, but for one month it brought me a really good peace of mind and it was worth it. Do I think it would be worth spending $100 on an international phone plan to go to Japan for a week? I don't know. Maybe if you were sharing it with someone else, but for a full month, I was like, yeah, I am here for a full month. This makes sense. If you have bought a jrail pass, which will allow you to take most trains, they'll be covered by that pass. You won't be spending any other money. You probably want to pick up your J Rail pass at the airport. Jr, which is the company that runs the trains, has an office in both Narita and Haneda airports and so you can go pick it up there. They'll just want to see your passport and your confirmation that you purchased it. Purchasing your jailrail pass is something you're going to want to do in advance as well. And you can do that online. I used to always buy a J Rail pass. It made Sense saved me a lot of money, covered all my Shinkansens and other trains, but the prices doubled in the past couple years. And so, of course, you know me, I sit down and total up what all of my train tickets are going to cost if I buy them out of pocket, so to speak. And you know what? This year, it wasn't going to save me any money. So I did not buy a J Rail pass this year. It was like my first time not doing that. But if you're going for a week or two and you're doing some intense traveling, like you're going to go from Tokyo to Kyoto to Hiroshima, maybe stop along the way in Nara or go out to Naoshima, I would say yes, you should get a J Rail pass. Okay. Another thing you want to do at the airport, perhaps while you're sitting down drinking your coffee or tea, is set up Suica on your phone, which is the transit card. It's really easy. You just go into your wallet, you do add transit card. It gives you the options. You look for Suica and you put some money on it. And then you only need to tap your phone on and off most trains. Not the Shinkansen or limited express trains, but just about every other train. And it will just deduct the cost. It is a game changer. Highly recommended. Will take you like two minutes tops to take care of that. The last thing you might want to do at the airport is get out some cash. And you might want to go to Yamato, which is the bag forwarding place which I talked about in the last episode. If you're shipping your bags to your hotel or a hotel that is a few days away, whatever you're thinking, One last thing I just want to mention here is that there are two airports in Tokyo. One is Haneda and one is Narita. And I have flown in and out of both of these many times. Often but not always. You will find that the flight from the US at least from the US I can't speak to other locations in the world, will fly you into Haneda, but then your flight out takes you out of Narita. Both airports are great. And I will say that if you are traveling into Tokyo and your plan is to jump on the Shinkansen and immediately go to Kyoto or go north to Hokkaido or what have you, then you want to fly into Haneda, because otherwise, if you fly into Narita, you will have to take a train from Narita, basically almost to Haneda to catch the Shinkansen. And that's just Going to be another hour that you don't want to spend. I actually decided on this trip that for where I always stay at Hotel Graphi and Nezu, that I prefer to fly into Narita because I can take the Skyliner train from Narita to Ueno. And it's about 35, 40 minutes. It's direct. They have big spaces for your luggage. It's comfy. There's WI fi. To me, that is easier than flying into Haneda and having to take one train to the subway and then take the subway to my hotel, because having my luggage on the subway gives me stress. But it is certainly something that I have done many, many times before, for both options are affordable and not too difficult. So really, where you fly in might not even matter to you. Okay, well, now that I have bombarded you with travel tips that I hope you found helpful, let's talk about what I did in the first two weeks of my trip before Dustin joined me. Well, I got started in Tokyo, and as I always do, I stayed at Hotel Graphi Nezu. Now, Hotel Graphi does not pay me to tell you this. I just really like this hotel. We stayed there for the first time when we went to Japan the first time. And I feel like it was a fluke that I found it. I would say fluke, except of course, I had to read the reviews for every single hotel. And I actually used got our hotel room at Graphi for that first trip as part of a package deal on orbit. So fate brought us together. But anyway, I love Hotel Graphi for a few reasons. One, it's an amazing location. A lot of people, when they come to Tokyo, they stay in Shibuya or Shinjuku or Ginza. These like really epic centers for like, shopping and dining and tourism. And I actually like staying in at the Graphi because it is. It's in Nezu. It's a real residential neighborhood. There aren't really any other hotels specifically right there. So it's quiet and I get to see kids going to school and people living their lives. And there's like a grocery store and a pharmacy and a 711 and all kinds of cute little restaurants. It's a close walk to Yanaka, Ginza, which is like a cat town and like a cute retro shopping area. And there's also a big cemetery there. And it is a few minutes walk from Wayno park and Wayno Station. Wayno park is like this massive central park, kind of huge park with museums and a zoo and a huge pond that used to have swan boats. But alas, does not anymore. But it is full of really cool aquatic birds and it's just like a beautiful place to walk through. In fact, if you're there and it's like a warmer part of the year, even in early November, it's still warm enough because the weather in Tokyo is pretty mild. When you walk through the park at night, you hear crickets everywhere and the light is sort of just like soft because there's a temple in there and there's like very soft sort of like public lighting in there and people are sitting on benches and like whispering to each other and it's just like, I don't know. It's such a splendid experience to walk through the park at night. It reminds me of this one level on one of my favorite video games of all time, we love Katamari, where you're walking around at night trying to roll up fireflies. And it reminds me of this song that is used in a few levels of that game, which is called Angel Rain. I'm just going to play you a little, little bit of that so you can understand the vibes I'm working with. Okay. Isn't that great? I never thought I'd be talking about video game music here on Clothes Horse, but there I am. So yeah. So I love walking through O. I love staying at the the graphy and other things I like about the graphy are it's really affordable. Like you can stay in a hostel style room with like bunk beds. You can stay in a private room but use the shared bathrooms which are really nice, very private, extremely clean. Or you can get splurgier and have your own bathroom in your room. You can get really large rooms, you can get really tiny rooms. It's very minimalist and it's just, it's just like perfect for my needs. Every room has a refrigerator and you like the hot water kettle and, and the mugs and everything that you'll need. They have a great laundry room there and there is a shared kitchen slash like sort of like living room space downstairs. So you can go down there if you want to hang out and work or watch tv. You can also cook a full meal there if you want. They have tons of appliances that you can use. There is also a restaurant there and they have a great breakfast. They also have dinner, food and, and I think they give everybody beer, free beer every night. It's just like generally a nice place to hang out. So I really like the groffie. It's affordable and I don't know, it feels like, home to me, staying there every time I go. Okay, so, you know, I'm gonna tell you that when I picked up my luggage at Narita and And had ran my errands, you know, picked up my wi fi device, had my coffee, did all my things, I was like, something is weird about Medium Pink right now. Like, she's having some problems. It feels like she's not pulling right. And I flipped her on her side, and I was like, okay, something is wrong with the wheel. But I know that airlines don't really cover wheel damage. So what I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna do my best to get it back to the hotel and then look at. Then maybe I can go out and get some, like, epoxy and fix it. In my mind, I was just dealing with a messed up wheel. So somehow I got my suitcases back to hotel graphi. That part doesn't surprise me because I've done that before. But what did surprise me is. Okay, so I will tell you that I. I put these, like, covers on my suitcases when I travel to protect them. They're kind of like a sleeve that go over it, and then Velcro's at the bottom. So it's like. It's kind of like holding it all together, but also protecting the finish of the suitcase. And when I took Medium Pink's cover off, I was like, holy. I am so glad that this cover was on here, because it was the only thing holding all of my stuff in the suitcase. There had been some sort of catastrophic damage where actually two wheels were cracked and about to fall off. There was this massive gouge mark and crack in my suitcase. Like, huge crack, and then a bunch of other smaller cracks. When I started to get ready to unzip the suitcase, I realized that the entire zipper was separated from the frame of the suitcase. So the only thing holding it closed was that cover, because it was separated from both sides of the suitcase. It was just this, like, flapping zipper. And when I opened the suitcase, wherever this point of impact had hit my. My suitcase and caused the massive crack and the big gouge mark and the pressure of it all, I guess, to, like, make the suitcase just rip away from the zipper. I can't even imagine what happened here where that point of impact had happened. All of my toiletries and stuff that were in there were, like, crushed. Like, my contact solution was just gone. And there were some other things that were broken and unusable, like travel bottles and things like that. And there was a huge, wet, perfumey Area where, like, lotion and hair stuff had leaked. And the bottle of dry shampoo I'd brought with me was like, had. It had this huge dent in it, but somehow still worked for the rest of the trip. I just want to say I still made it work, but it meant, okay, fuck, I have to get a new suitcase, like, right away, because in a couple days, I'm gonna. I'm gonna head up north, and I need to be able to, like, package up all my stuff and take it to the luggage forwarder. And now I also have to go buy toiletries, which, you know, low key, was kind of fun, but was stressful at the time. So I think this is, like, your first lesson of traveling is that something always goes wrong. Maybe your suitcase gets destroyed or your husband gets norovirus or something happens, right? Your flight is late, your flight is canceled, whatever. You get a migraine, your period starts when you weren't planning it, Things like this happen. And what you just have to do is you kind of have to just, like, roll with it and move on, right? And so I knew what this meant is, like, the next day I was going to have to go get a new suitcase. And I also knew that I was gonna have to figure out how to get the airline to reimburse me for the suitcase. I was like, you know what? I just flew around the world. I'm really tired. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna close this suitcase up and just put it here along the side of the bed, and I'm gonna go to 711 and get a whole bunch of food. I'm gonna come back here, I'm gonna take a shower, and I'm gonna eat food, and I'm gonna fall asleep, and I will deal with this in the morning. And that is exactly what I did. So the next day, I looked up what I needed to do. I took all these photos of the suitcase. I reported it damaged. United was immediately like, okay, yeah, this is not repairable. And I was like, yeah, obviously they sent me through this other company that, like, will send you a replacement suitcase, but, like, a really hideous one. And they can't do it internationally, so it wasn't helpful. So I did some more Googling, figured out what I needed to do, and I declined the suitcase offer, resubmitted the photos, everything else. And I will tell you that United sent me an email apologizing for how epically destroyed my suitcase was. And they immediately, when I submitted the receipt from when I'd bought that suitcase, covered all of that. And that was amazing. So I knew now that I had money to go buy a suitcase. And I, you know, spent my first full day in Tokyo buying toiletries and going from department store to department store looking at suitcases until I found one that I liked and it is not pink, it's teal. And I call it Peter Thiel. Even though I'm not a Peter Thiel fan, I like to have hokey names for my suitcases. Let me live. Okay? So then Peter Thiel joined me on my trip and he. Peter Thiel's suitcase is like a tank. Like it is so solid. Anyway, that was what I needed. So that's what I did. My first day is dealt with the suitcase thing and it was all solved. I also will tell you that I have heard that if the airline gives you a hard time about replacing your suitcase, which the best thing you can do is first off, if you see your suitcase is super damaged, is at the airport, go to the baggage office and they will immediately give you an air new suitcase. Just as an FYI. But I did not see that until I got home. If you get home and well, home to the hotel on your trip and you realize it's destroyed and the airline's giving you a hard time, I have also heard that in most cases, if you bought that airline ticket with your credit card, especially if it's American Express, American Express will cover replacing a suitcase. Just as an FYI. One thing I will call out here that you, I did not know is that the hotel is going to charge you to throw away your suitcase. It's going to be about 2,000 yen, which is about 12 bucks. There is no other option. Don't try to be cheap like this. There is nowhere to get rid of your suitcase. And that is not a. That's not the hotel trying to make money off of you. That's actually the fee that the city charges them to dispose of your suitcase. So just pay it and be like, stuff happens. Things go awry sometimes, right? So figured out the suitcase. I got to do one of my favorite things, which is go to Japanese drugstores and walk around and just be overwhelmed and excited and solve mysteries and use Google Translate and find the things that I need. And then the next day I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo. It was my first time being there. It is incredible building. They're celebrating an anniversary right now. So the museum is full of incredible art right now. I also went to the special exhibition in there called Choreographies of the Reading Listening, seeing, there's all kinds of amazing stuff there. And one thing that really stuck with me is this, this film installation that I watched for like 20 minutes. It was called the Bombay Tilts Down. It's by an arts collective called Camp and it was basically in Mumbai. Started at the top of the city where you would see all these high rises, like luxury high rises being built. And you could see storms rolling in over the ocean and it slowly descended lower and lower. And I kept seeing a lot of, of this particular shade of blue at the bottom of the screen that I recognize is the color of tarps. And I was like, oh shit, this is going to go where I think it's going to. It's going to take us all the way down to where the poor people live, right? It's going to show us the wealth disparity that exists in Mumbai. And it was amazing. It was so incredible. I'm so glad I got to go watch that. And it really moved me, like really emotional experience for me. And one of my goals for this trip was seeing as much contemporary art as possible, which is often honestly my goal when I go to Japan because there are so many amazing places to see it. But this time I actually made decisions for the cities I visited based on the art I wanted to see. So my day at the Museum of Contemporary Art was just sort of the beginning of my like art exploration of Japan. For me, seeing art is very important for my brain, for my happiness. And I think art is this uniquely human experience and ability that AI can never. You know what I mean? And so I want to see a lot of art. I want to appreciate humanity and what we can do via art. So I still didn't go to every museum I wanted to go to. And I definitely, yes, I am already planning next year's trip to go to some more just like world renowned contemporary art museums. So I spent a day seeing a bunch of cool art. I of course then went and had some conveyor belt sushi, including some plant based fish. It was great. I enjoyed it. Probably ate some more convenience food along the way, I will say, and I mentioned this in the last episode with Dustin on this trip I really developed an appreciation for like sort of fancy bougie grocery stores where I could go in and get really nice takeaway bento or salads or bougie dried fruit, a non alcoholic beer, things like that. And so I started doing that a little bit more sort of like an upgrade to conbini food, but not really much more expensive and just you know, for variety's sake, right? I also, as I mentioned in the last episode, got to spend a day with Sushmita of Ethical Fat Fashion. She took me to this great Australian hand pie restaurant that like on a roof and we got to sit on this rooftop. It was a beautiful day. I'd eat and talk and we went to an art museum and we walked around and it was just, it was just such a lovely day. I also spent an afternoon just doing some trend analysis for my job. You know, going out to different department stores and malls stores, seeing what people are into, seeing kind of what the trends are in Japan right now and how they compare to what's going on here. I also of course visited what to me is the best shopping center in the whole world. It's La Ferette, it's in Harajuku. A lot of the Lolita brands have their stores there and a lot of other like more cutting edge, sort of like contemporary designers. And there really is like clothing and accessories there that you, that you can't get anywhere else in the world at like every price. Like cutting edge cool doesn't mean necessarily expensive. So just like lots of cool stuff and really, really inspiring and made me lament my large feet many times because I sell so many cool shoes. So after a few days in Tokyo, I took the Shinkansen from Ueno station, which I've never taken the Shinkansen from there. Usually I'm going south, you know, towards Nagoya, Kyoto, etc. And to do that I have to take the Shinkansen out of Tokyo station. But you can take the, the Shinkansen going north out of Ueno. So first thing I did that day is I dropped my big pink suitcase off at Yamato to get shipped up to Konasawa, which I was going to be going to in a few days. And then I went over to the station and bought my Shinkansen ticket. Now something I'm going to tell you is that you can buy Shinkansen tickets online in advance. And in many cases that's what I do. It's a whole thing where you buy the ticket online and then when you go to the station, you have to go to the website, log in, it sends you an email with a link. It's like a whole friggin roll that takes you to a QR code that you then scan at the machine at the station and it prints out your tickets. Sometimes I am just like, you know, I don't want to buy the ticket, I want to just take it a Little easy today. I'll look at the timetable and see when and how often the Shinkansen leaves. And then I'll say, okay, well, I would like to roughly take the Shinkansen at noon and just see what happens, you know, and get over there and buy my ticket at the station. Now, that is living dangerously. If it is a peak tourist season, like, if you're there at Cherry blossom time or Golden Week, you don't want to do that. You got to buy your tickets in advance. But I knew, like, not a lot of people were probably taking the Shinkansen up towards Nagano on, like, a Monday morning, a random Monday morning, so I could live dangerously and just get my ticket at the station, which is what I did. And here I was heading to a part of the country I've never been to before. So the first place I went was Matsumoto. It is in Nagano Prefecture, and it is the birthplace of Yaya Kusama. And if you're like, who the heck is Yaya Kusama? Perhaps you were introduced to that name and you didn't realize it via this song. So, yeah, that song is Hot Topic by Latigre. And that was how I first heard the name Yaya Kusama. But over the years, I became a huge fan of her art. You may recognize her as the, like, polka dot artist, like the red polka dots. You may recognize her from the Pumpkins and the Mirror installations that were touring the US about, like, I don't know, 10 years ago. Ish. And everybody was posting selfies of on Instagram. I'm just a huge fan of her work. She primarily works via sculpture and installation, but also draws and paints. And Matsumoto is her birthplace. So the Matsumoto City Museum of Art, which is in a small city that I would say is roughly the size of Lancaster, where I live, they have a pretty sizable permanent exhibit of her work in this, like, city museum. And so I wanted to go see it. And I also just wanted to go see where Yaya Kusama is from. You know, I wanted to see what it was like there. So to get there, I took the Shinkansen to Nagano station, and then I took a regional train to Matsumoto. It's pretty easy. I stayed in a very affordable hotel near the train station. It was part of the chain to Yoko Inn. And it was maybe $40 a night. Very small room, but clean. The bed was really hard, but I got used to it, and it was really cold in there. But then I figured out how to Turn up the heat. And it was pretty cozy from that point on. And it had a desk to work at, which is really important to me because even in Matsumoto, I'm getting up at five to work until noon and then going out to explore. So got up there, checked into the hotel, did some wandering around, did some work, and, like, kind of went to bed. But then the next day I got up, and after work, I went to the museum. It was great. It was basically me and just a bunch of Japanese nanas there in like, a Tuesday, you know, Tuesday, early afternoon. And there actually there was this whole gaggle of, like, Japanese nanas behind me as I walked through the Kusama exhibit. And they were, like, talking so much and just being so cute. I just loved it. One thing that I loved about this exhibit is, like, cameras weren't really allowed. You couldn't take photos. And that sounds like whatever, but it is. It is how museums used to be when we didn't all have cameras in our pockets at all times via our phones. And it changes the experience of being around art, of observing art, of participating in art. And so you're not thinking about getting the shot. I mean, I've literally been to museums where people are looking at the art through their phones, basically because they're taking photos of everything. Here, you just. You have to just experience the art. And it was especially moving for me. I got to go into one of the mirror rooms, and first off, the lady who was the sort of, like, monitor of the mirror room really loved my strawberry bag. And we talked about it for a moment, and then I went in. You get 20 seconds in this small infinity mirror room, and you can't take any pictures. And it's all about your soul, right? Infinity and soul and death and what all these things mean. And when you're not in there taking selfies, it's like I brought tears to my eyes. Actually, it was a really intense 20 seconds that I'm really grateful that I got to experience. At the end of the exhibition, there's a huge statement from Yaya Kusama on the wall, which, of course, I couldn't take photos of, but it. It really stuck with me. I wish I could have just taken a photo of that. She just talked about, like, you know, I'm old now, but I know that young people right now feel frightened. The world is scary, and one of the best things all of us can do, especially young people, is continue to create, to make art, to make things. And. Yeah, I mean, agreed. And I think we're not making enough. We're not making enough art. We're not doing enough stuff that we make on our own. And I think those things are really important elements of the human experience, and they bring us a level of satisfaction that we can't get through a screen. You know, just like how not being able to photograph the art and actually just having to experience the art makes it more impactful. It brings you a deeper level of satisfaction. And trust me, I don't need to look at my phone to remember what I saw and how it made me feel. And it was actually one of the best museum experiences I've had in a really long time because I just had to sit with the art. Anyway, museum was great. Highly recommended. It. I mean, it is a small museum and there's not a ton of stuff to do. In Matsumoto, there is a big, beautiful castle. Of course, I walked around there. I ended up going to this big mall for lunch, and they had incredible view of the mountains in the food court, by the way. And so I sort of strolled around there and I walked around town and I looked at things and it was just. It was just a really lovely day, but cold. And. Yeah, then I went back to my hotel room, you know, got ready for bed and got ready to get up the next day and go to Konasawa. Now is a good time to tell you that the music you've been hearing between sections of this episode is actually music from the Shinkansen from various shinkansen lines that they play at certain stations at certain arrivals. And the music that you just heard is my personal favorite. It's a real banger, right? That is the music from the Hokuriku Shinkansen, which is how you get from Tokyo to Matsumoto and Kanasawa, Nagano, everything up north there's. And yeah. Wow. It struck me on the train. I was like, this is literally the best music I've ever heard on a train. And that is saying a lot because I have heard some music on trains. So, like I said in my conversation with Dustin, Kana Sawa was my favorite place that I visited on this trip, and I didn't get enough of it. And I am excited to go back there next year and hopefully take Dustin with me. How did I get there? Well, I took the regional train from Matsumoto back to Nagano, and then I took the Shinkansen to Kanazawa. And the ride was amazing. It was like we were picking up elevation and getting to a place where there was snow covering the Ground, even though it had been, I don't know, 50s and 60s back in Matsumoto, there was snow on the ground as we picked up more and more elevation. And there were a lot of tunnels as we went through mountains. And then we went through a really long tunnel, kind of. It felt like we were at the top of the mountain. We must have been descending down quite a bit. My ears popped. And when we came out the other side, not only was there no longer snow because we were at a lower elevation, the ocean was at one side of the terrain. It was amazing. Kana Sawa is on the north side of Japan, across the ocean. I would say from North Korea, Fukuoka, where, you know, we went later in the trip, is extremely close to South Korea. It's actually separated by the sea there. And you can take a ferry for a few hours to Busan, South Korea. You couldn't really take a ferry from Kana Saw. It would take forever. But you, you're still like, I don't know, pretty close to North Korea and South Korea in Kana Sawa. So I used my credit card points to stay in a really nice hotel, by the way. What I do is basically I pay for everything with my credit card. Dylan's tuition, my health insurance, my groceries, my electric bill, all of that. And then I hoard my points so I can get free hotels on trips. Just in case you are wondering my strategy here. And I stayed like in Kana Sawa in this hotel called Hyatt House. And so my room was actually an entire apartment with like a full on kitchen, huge bathroom, like living room space. It was massive compared to every other place I stayed on my trip. And it was a great place to get some work done. Also be able to cook some meals myself, which was really nice. You start to miss cooking food yourself when you're traveling for this long. And my hotel was also atop a mall near the train station, so if I wanted to, I could go downstairs. And there were all kinds of restaurants and a grocery store and whatnot too. And it was literally like, I don't know, 10ft from the station. It was really, really close. So Kana Sawa, like I said when I was talking to Dustin, was like in pure, just fall glory with the leaves and blue skies and the perfect temperature and lots of great birds and beautiful spaces to walk around. I had heard good things about Kana Sawa, but it is not a place a lot of western tourists go because there's not, I don't know, it's not that much stuff going on, like, compared to some of the other places on the Golden Route. And it is, you know, a little bit more difficult to get up there. I went up there specifically to go to the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, which is in this stunning round glass building. There were so many great exhibitions going on while I was there. There's also this sixth triennial of Kogi, which means, like, sort of like artisan craft. And it was specifically craft of the Kana Sawa area. And it was so cool to. I mean, once again, you can take photos, which is great. So many amazing sort of like contemporary art interpretations of traditional craft. It was stunning. I talked a lot in the exhibit about how in 2024 there had been a pretty catastrophic earthquake in Noto, which is like right by Kana Sawa there on the ocean. And, and how significant creating craft, making. Making art had been for sort of the recovery, for coping with the trauma of that earthquake. And it was beautiful. After the museum, I walked around. It was so beautiful. I saw cool birds. I love birds. As you know, I stopped in a mall to use the bathroom and one entire floor of it was just vintage cellars, which was pretty cool. And I would love to see that in malls. Here I might go to the mall more often. Just saying. In this part of my trip, I also began an almost daily ritual of taking a hot bath with bath salts and reading in the tub. And it was great. Very restorative for my aches and pains. And it was colder up there, so it felt so good. This is also where one night I just ate cheese, a salad and gluten free na beer for dinner. And it was like stupendous. There was. So I was only up there for like, I don't know, like two and a half days. Really. Three nights. Two and a half days. And the second full day there, there was just like extreme rain. So I couldn't really go out, which was very disappointing because I'd wanted to go check out this garden that was there. So instead, what I did on that day is one, I did all my laundry because I, you know, my big pink suitcase was there waiting for me. So I did laundry and repacked things and then I walked around all these malls that were attached to the train station, which sounds like, boring maybe, but it was actually really fun. I just loved watching people and seeing what they were doing and, you know, everything. Buddy was having a Black Friday sale, which of course, course delighted me for many reasons. I had a Dubai chocolate coffee that was great. I just sat down and Enjoyed it while I read a book. It was lovely. And yeah, just. I don't know. I did go to a. I will say in that mall. I went to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant. That may have been a little too authentic for me as a person who's really squeamish a lot about a lot of seafood stuff. But I powered through it and tried new things. And I'm really proud of myself because I have a lot of weird texture issues. And, yeah, it was. It ended up being really great. One thing that I really wanted to do in Kana Sawa, one was like, well, two things. One, I really wanted to go to those botanical gardens, so I have to go next time. The other thing is I really wanted to go to this restaurant called Barrier, where you basically, like, eat in the dark so that you can fully enjoy the food. And. And it consists of pouring different broths over different dishes, which I'm a soup head, so that sounds appealing to me too. I really wanted to go, but it didn't seem. When I was trying to make a reservation, it didn't seem like the kind of thing where one person is really recommended to go and eat alone. So I didn't get to go. I'm definitely going there next year. Like, I'm making Dustin go to Barrier with me. They have a vegan option, so it'll be fun. Okay. So after a few glorious days in Kanazawa that went way too fast for my taste, I headed to Kyoto for the weekend. Now, I knew that Kyoto was going to be incredibly crowded because people love to come there to see the leaves. And it is stunning in fall. I mean, all of Japan is just next level beautiful in the fall. Like I said, it's my favorite time of year there. I knew that it was gonna be really crowded, and I probably wouldn't get to do a lot of the things I like to do while I'm there. But I was specifically going there to do one thing, which I will tell you about in a few moments. How I got to Kyoto is I took the shinkansen from Kana Sawa to Suruga, and there I got on a Thunderbird train to Kyoto. And it was a pretty cool ride around Lake Biwa. Like, I. I liked it. We were like. It felt like sometimes we were like a hundred feet from the lake. It was so close. One thing that did happen on the train, which I hesitated to tell you about, but I think it is important for us to illustrate that no matter where we go and no matter how respectful or quiet on our best behavior we might be. There are people who just don't want us there. And obviously here in the United States, where I live, there is a ton of xenophobia and distrust and hatred towards so called foreigners, right? And in Japan there is a huge. There's always been a culture of distrust against foreigners for many good reasons and some for not good reasons. And you know, especially if you come in there and you're white and you're American, people think you're probably up to no good, right? People think you smell or are rude or are gross or a criminal. I mean, all kinds of things, right? And I've never really overtly experienced xenophobia there. I've definitely had men grab my butt, be weird, be creepy. Up in Kana Sawa at the art museum, a man who seemed to be like my dad's age in the suit, like intentionally like rubbed his junk on me. It was really gross. So like, things like that happen of course, and they happen to me no matter where I travel in the world. But I never really like experienced intense xenophobia outside the United States like I did on that train from Suruga to Kyoto. And the young woman sitting in the seat out front of me, she had like mint colored hair. And suddenly every time I saw someone with mint colored hair for the rest of the trip, I got really anxious. She kept talking about how I smelled and was spraying air freshener through the seat at me. And I promise y', all, I had taken a shower that morning and was wearing clean clothing. Like it was just her wanting to be mean to someone, which is how bigots always are, right? They just are trying to toss some negative energy out in the world to make themselves feel better. But it really fucked with me. And even though I was on this really cool train ride around Lake Biwa, I kind of couldn't enjoy it. I felt really sad and messed up for the rest of that day. It just. These things happen around the world. It doesn't mean they're okay. But I think they're in many countries right now. We're seeing a rise in this kind of behavior. This like anti foreigner sentiment, so to speak. Japan is just one of a long list of countries where that's happening right now. So in Kyoto, I stayed in a hotel I'd never stayed in before. It was called the Oak Wood. It's basically like tiny little apartments, which I liked because once again there was a stove so I could cook food for myself. That was good to me because I knew that the restaurants were going to be really crowded and I might not be able to eat out. So I like the idea of being able to go to the grocery store and cook stuff and there was a great grocery store literally around the corner. So the reason I went to Kyoto specifically was to go to Future Train which I posted a lot of pictures and stories about. Future Train is a restaurant, but also sort of like experience created by Sebastian Masuda who is considered a pioneering artist of Japan's Kauai culture. He is the owner of a famous Kawaii store in Harajuku called 6% Doki Doki. He was the creator of the Kawaii Monster Cafe which is RIP now, but certainly a place I made Dustin go many times over the years in Harajuku to eat whimsical rainbow colored food. He is also the creator of a restaurant in New York City called Sushi Delic which I haven't been to but totally want to visit. And so I knew whatever was going to be happening at Future Train was really cool. All I knew about it going into it was that it was going to be this over the top food and like art experience. I knew that it was in a train in a decommissioned train station and I knew I had to go so in advance. As soon as tickets went on sale, I actually bought a ticket for this, what was called the Imagination Course. And I knew it was a multi course meal, that's all I really knew. But actually it was so cool. And I highly recommend that anyone visit this who goes to Kyoto. If this is your kind of thing, you can do the Imagination Course which does take a few hours. But when you hear about it, I think you're gonna wanna do it. But if that's not the kind of commitment you may wanna make, you can also just go eat dinner there. And the food menu looked really great too. And I will tell you, one of the things that always blew me away when we go to Kawaii Monster Cafe is all the food was rainbow colored and very like a work of art. But when you see things that are rainbow colored or very complicated, you expect they're not going to taste good. Like they're going to be have like a weird chemical food coloring taste. None of the food at Kawaii Monster Cafe was like that. It was delicious. So the food at Future Train is actually really good on top of being like really aesthetic. Even getting to Future Train was pretty fun to me because I took the subway to a different part of Kyoto that I never visited before and then I walked out. I could not figure out where the life of me was, it was. And then I saw some, like, pink glowing in the distance. And I was like, oh, that's it. And so I had to climb up to this platform. Not literally. I climbed up a ramp, okay. And there it was, like this bright pink train on the track, super lit up. And it said future train. And I went in and there was a woman dressed sort of like. Like a futuristic train engineer. She handed me a ticket after I showed her my reservation, and I went and waited with the other people. And then 15 minutes later, they were like, okay, it's time to begin the trip. And by the way, this all happens in Japanese, so you gotta know that you won't absorb everything. And that's okay because it's still a great experience. We handed over our tickets and we boarded the front of the train where another woman dressed as a futuristic train engineer was waiting. And we watched a video presentation. And she said some stuff to us, and then she mixed up some stuff and poured out all these glowing glasses of, like, blue liquid. And she's made us all drink them. She's like, this is your welcome drink. And it tasted super weird. And I don't think it was very good, but we drank it and it was non alcoholic. I have no idea what it was, but it gave me this, like, weird psychedelic feeling. I can't explain. Explain it. And then we went through another door into another car where a different woman who was wearing this incredible bright pink and blue outfit that included wings. And she said that she was going to be our guide for this trip. So she instructed us to sit down and put on our seat belts. And then we had to attach this thing that looked like a Fitbit but just had a screen that said Imagination on onto our arms. We had to put those on. And I was like, wait, is this. Are we really gonna go somewhere? Does this train work? I mean, we're wearing seatbelts, right? And then for the next, like, 15, 20 minutes, it was this like, immersive installation experience that I can't even describe. It was like multimedia. It felt like we were traveling somewhere, but we never left. And it involved using your imagination to pretend that you were on a train ride. It was so cool. By the way, everybody else on that ride with me were also adults. And I just kept thinking about how, like, adults don't get to use their imagination like that. Like, play train, so to speak, like we were, and how sort of like revitalizing the experience of using your imagination with a group of other people to imagine that you're doing a thing. It was so good. So after that, we went through another car to the dining car, where we listened to like funny old timey music. And the music changed between each course. And before each course, our guide person, she would ring a little bell and tell us a story in Japanese. So I missed a big chunk of it, but I still had a great time. And then they would bring us adorable special food and the music would change. And there is a bird mascot who came in the car and made trouble. And he sat with me for a while. And at one point, the guide sat at my table with me because I was the only person alone. And she said, this bird, he is a bad person. He has a very dark soul. He only thinks about himself. I just like, loved that. It was great. Anyway, several hour experience, there were, like I said, I think eight or nine courses of food. With each course, they would give me a different playing card that explained the theme of that course and what it was. All the food was spectacular. My drink was kind of weird, but I also had some really good coffee. And I left just feeling like, so excited and good. And it's a feeling that I haven't had because excited and good doesn't even begin to capture it. It is a feeling I have not had since I was a child. It was so revitalizing when I left on the subway home. You know, it was kind of late by then, and I was feeling a little tired. I also felt like, so excited and I don't know, it was something that I needed is all I'm gonna say. We all need to collectively use our imagination together. Maybe it even means that we all just sit together and play Barbies for an afternoon. I definitely miss that. Except for when you play Barbies with someone who's really bossy and wants to like, tell everyone what they have to do. I don't like that. So that was one day in Kyoto, and the next day, I mean, everything had been so crowded and just was. It was not what I was feeling. So the next day I got up and I went to one of my favorite places in the world, which is the Kyoto Botanical Gardens. A lot of tourists don't go there because there so much other stuff to do in Kyoto. And it's a little bit of like a subway ride. It's so worth it. It's so stunning there. There is this, this conservatory full of tropical plants from around the world. It also has a desert section. There's lots of great, like, birds and other wildlife there. There is this area for children, that's a reading garden where there are all these mushrooms that are actually cabinets that open up and have books for children to just sit and read. And then there are all these little mushroom tables and chairs everywhere for kids to sit down and read. And there were just like, lots of families there. And it just was, like, such a lovely day. Just what a great way to spend a Sunday morning. And then afterwards, I went to the very busy part of Kyoto, where there were a lot of tourists and there's a lot of shopping. It's this area kind of near the indoor Teramachi shopping mall and the Nishiki Market, where you can get a lot of food. I went to this cafe that I have been wanting to visit for years. It just never worked out. It's called Cafe Soiree, Kisa Soiree in Japanese. It's a retro cafe that was open after World War II. And the decor has, like, never really changed, which means it's beautiful and cool, and for some reason, all the lights inside are blue. So it gives everything this very uncanny feeling. And Cafe Soiree is famous for jelly Punch, which is basically like a soda with different rainbow pieces of jelly in it. It's very beautiful. If you don't like soda, you can also get it with, like, yogurt drink in it, which I saw other people having. And I did feel a little jealous. I think I was just hungry, but just sitting there and having my jelly punch in this weird, like, ethereal blue light, and it was just so nice. And I'm glad that I finally got to go there. And I would definitely go there again. And it was one of those things where I was like, I'm having a great time by myself, but imagine how awesome it would be to enjoy this with someone else. I would say that if we ever did do a clothes horse trip to Japan, which some of you reached out and said you're interested in, one of the places we would go would definitely be Cafe Soiree. Just saying. Anyway, all in all, Kyoto was super crowded and a lot going on, but it's still one of my favorite places to visit. And it's such a special place. And if you've never been to Japan before, no matter what time of the year it is, no matter how busy it might be, it is a can't miss. Seriously, you must go to Kyoto. After Kyoto, I took the Shinkansen up to Nagoya to wait for Dustin. That just takes us to the previous episode, where you can learn about what I did after that. But I thought I would just tell you a little bit more from the trip to sort of wrap this all up. You're probably wondering what I bought in Japan, because people love to talk about shopping. Well, not very much, actually. Obviously, I had to buy a new suitcase. I got gifts for Dylan and my niece Mabel at the Sylvanian family's flagship store. This is very important because they have things that you can only get there. I got some skincare products that I'm pretty stoked on, including this vitamin C serum. I got some secondhand children's books. You know, I was looking for them the whole trip, right. I finally found some on our second to last day back in Tokyo in Akihabara at this huge Manderick location. That's in Akihabara. Manderick is like a chain of, like, secondhand collectibles. So there's a lot of toys and manga and things like that. And they had a section of children's books. And I looked through every single one of them. And I haven't shared any photos of those books yet because I'm still trying to decide what I'm gonna do with them. I also got some not. Not vintage books about Showa era advertising and toys and theme parks. Lots of amazing. Just lots of really good graphic and art inspiration in those books. I got snacks for friends. I bought 20. Yes, 20 of my favorite pens. They're called the Uni Sign Pen. You can only get them in Japan. They only come in black, blue, and red. They are less than a dollar a piece. They are my favorite thing to write with. And if you've ever bought something from the Clothes Horse merch shop, I 100% signed the thank you card with my Uni Sign pen. So I got a bunch of those. I got some art supplies for Dylan, and I got two dresses and a sweatshirt from a designer called Kawaii Ko. I'm a huge fan now. And, oh, yeah, how could I forget the most exciting thing that I bought, which, don't laugh, but it is this device that basically makes soup. You're like, what? You mean a crock pot? No, it's different. Okay. So one thing I may have mentioned here before, or maybe have not, is in the subways in Tokyo, there's actually this thing called Subway TV or Transit tv, something like that. And it's TV screens in every car that show you a mixture of weather and, like, local news and commercials. And last year, so. But like, I mean, 20, 24, I kept seeing this commercial for this thing called the, like, Riculte Auto cooking pot. And in it a woman puts in some vegetables and some milk and pushes a button and like soon she has warm, delicious soup, a potage if you will. And when I am in Japan, I eat soup as my part of my breakfast almost every day. These like potage like pureed soups. And it's like such an amazing way to start the day with like some toast and some salad. And so I was obsessing over this soup maker. I went to every store I could think of on that trip looking for it, but I couldn't find it. And then I came back and I kept telling Dustin about this potage making machine that I really, really wanted and how I couldn't find it. We looked for it online and I couldn't find it there. And I remembered it. Okay. I thought about it for a full year and when I went back on this next trip, I was like, I am going to find it. And not only did I find it, it was literally at every loft and hand store that I visited on my trip. But it's heavy so I didn't wanna buy it until I went back to Tokyo at the end of the trip and it was on sale for Black Friday, which just kept going on forever. And it came with two recipe books. And yes, I carried it back to the United States in my carry on and I have used it almost every single day since I returned. I've been making a lot of like butternut squash soup and corn chowder and I made a carrot soup one morning. And what I've been doing is making my soup and then eating toast with it. And the toast is actually bread, gluten free bread that I have been making in my thrifted bread machine. Because before I went to Japan I got obsessed with this idea of making awesome gluten free bread in a bread machine. Of course the first thrift store I went to had like five of them. They're always at thrift stores. And so I've been gradually perfecting my gluten free bread machine recipe. Now FYI, brand new bread machines generally have a gluten free setting because it needs like special baking time, like less kneading and other things like that. But I've been able to sort of make it work with my thrifted probably from the 90s or early aughts bread machine by just like turning it off and on and setting timers and stuff and remembering to change the cycle. This week I actually made honey oatmeal bread in my machine. And it is like my best One yet it's like so soft and fluffy and it makes great toast. And I'll put some like cream cheese or like labneh on it. I'll along with like some chili crisp and that with a cup of soup from my soup machine. My potage maker is like the best winter breakfast ever. So I would say that that little appliance, which is the size of like a pitcher, is the best thing I've ever purchased on a trip, other than those pink wire hangers I got in Mexico City that I'm still using years later every time I travel. One pro tip that I want to give you that did not come to fruition for me, but I will explain why is that if you wear eyeglasses, prescription eyeglasses, Japan is an amazing place for you to get a pair if you need them. Because there are these stores all around the country. There are big chains like Jins and Zof, but then there are also like smaller chains and even just small local one offs where you can get your glasses in less than an hour. And that can include the eye exam. It's like fully computerized. You don't have to be Japanese to get your eyes checked. They'll do it right away. It'll take a couple minutes and give you a new prescription. But if you have your prescription on your phone from your eye doctor, you can just show it to them and they will input everything and they will make you a pair of glasses and you will get them in an hour. And they have many cute glasses at all of these stores and they are very inexpensive. The catch is that if you have a complex prescription, you won't get them that fast. And I told Dustin before he came that I had been talking to Sarah of Deco Denim who gave me the tip about the glasses. And he got really excited to get glasses. We didn't know that because he has astigmatism in his one eye, he needed a specific lens that they don't stock in most of these stores. He still could have gotten glasses, but it would have taken about 10 days. So if we had gotten the glasses like all ironed out, like when he got to Japan, he would have absolutely gone home with glasses. But because we didn't, he couldn't get a pair. And while I really wanted to get a pair of glasses, I didn't feel good getting glasses if he couldn't. So I didn't, even though I could have gotten mine in an hour. So next year the plan is first day in Japan. Go order Dustin's glasses a Little pro tip. Thank you to Sarah again of Deco Denim for sharing that with me because I tried on so many great glasses. I'm just gonna say, all good, very affordable. Even when we were at Parco in Shibuya, there was a kiosk there of seriously the cutest glasses I've seen in my whole life. And those you could even get in an hour. So I'm getting glasses next year for sure. Along the way in Japan, I also just really unplugged from online quite a bit. Believe it or not, I was still posting on Instagram every day and listening to NPR when I woke up every morning. Morning. And doing zoom meetings with my clients and working on spreadsheets and sending emails, all that stuff. Sure. But I read so many actual books rather than doom scrolling because I was sort of on the opposite timeline from all of you. I wasn't really on social media much because you all were sleeping when I was awake and vice versa. And all of this just gave me a lot of time to get into my head and think, which I needed. That's one of the best things about my trip last year too, actually. Just having that time to reflect, to do different things with my brain, just change what I'm putting into my brain every day. And getting, of course, different results in terms of what comes out. Right. So if I'm feeling my brain with books and art every day and people watching and just looking at things and observing and seeing cool birds and all that stuff, I'm obviously gonna feel a lot different than when I'm at home doom scrolling until I fall asleep every night. Right. I also. One thing I wanted to call out is that when I am traveling anywhere, whether it's Japan or Mexico City or New York City or whatever, I actually don't listen to music when I'm out walking around because I just. I want to be immersed in what's around me. I want to hear the sounds around me. And yes, the birds in Japan sound different than the birds here in the United States. And I want to experience that. I want to see the way people are talking to one another. I want to hear the weird ads that pop out of the shelves in the drugstore. I want to hear all the sounds at the train station. I just want to be in it. And so I think that also changes the way my brain feels and what it can sort of produce when I'm existing that way. And so like last year's trip where really the I'm with the Brand series was born and a lot of the Things I talked about on clotheshorse in 2025. They were born on that trip to Japan. I'm thinking a lot right now about what 2026 means so far. It means unplugging somewhat, making more things myself, seeing more art even back home. Like I started to look at like what contemporary art museums could I drive to from like Lancaster, take the train, etc. So seeing more art, plugging away at the I'm with the Brand series, which I'm just going to tell you all, I want to turn it into a book. You know, I've always wanted to write a book. I wasn't sure what I would want to write about. I still have a lot of misgivings if the world needs another book by a white person, so I got to figure that out. But the book that I'm going to write is going to be I'm with the Brand. And if you know any literary agents that you think would be a good connection for me, please send them my way. I do not want to self publish this. It would be really expensive and risky for me and I need the editorial and marketing resources of a publisher. Honestly. Also like real talk, every time I make something that everybody says they want, no one shows up to buy it. And it's really infinitely risky for me financially. So if I'm going to do a book, I'm going to do it right and it's going to be I'm with the brand. And I think it really is. It's everything I've been talking about for the last five years on Clotheshorse and more. I think it brings it all together in a narrative that no one else is sharing right now. I feel excited about it. So like I said, if you know a literary agent, email me. What else am I thinking about in 2026? New ways to get us together as a group. I don't know what that means yet, but I'll tell you this. While I was in Japan, there was another round of people using my calendly link for computer consulting to set up just time to just chit chat with me about nothing to do with professional work, just wanting to connect with me. And I totally understand that. I want to connect with all of you. And if I didn't have to work for a living, I would 100% spend all day, every day talking with you to the extent that I can handle it as an introvert. Right? But that's just like not where I am right now. And also like there are more of you than there are me. I'm just one person and I only have so much time every day. And you know, when people do this thing where they fake trying to have a business meeting with me, or even worse, they schedule a business meeting and then don't show up, it's very, it's very hurtful and frustrating to me. And what I realize, it's. It's really like in a weird way, it's kind of complimentary because you just want to talk to me, right? So I'm thinking about like how we can make that happen because I get messages every day from people who just want to talk to me about clothes, horse related things, who need help with a school report or just I think want connection. And so I am thinking about, in addition to hopefully doing more IRL events this year, I'm thinking about starting these office hours which are like once a month or every other month, there's a zoom link. If you want to show up and talk to me about something, you can. And if you don't, that's fine too. So stay tuned. I'm still trying to figure out how to make that work, but I think it could be good for those of you who want to talk to someone about what we've been talking about here and don't have anyone. Because I feel that when I was in Japan hanging out with Sushmita, I was like, man, I really miss being able to talk to someone about these things. But I also at the same time with my external outside of clothes horse social life, I don't actually want to talk about these things. I want to talk about other things. So just trying to figure out like where that fits into my life too. Like I am far more than Clotheshore, you know. And of course I also am already thinking about my fall trip to Japan. Yes, I was on the couch the other night kind of planning out that itinerary, even though it is literally a year away. But you know, I gotta start looking for those plane tickets in a few months. Okay, well, that is all. And thank you to all of you who listened to it so far. Happy New Year to all of you. You know, I'll say this time last year I was despondent. I was like, how will we get through this year? It's going to be terrible. And I got to tell you, I think there's still going to be hard things in 2026, but I do have this level of optimism that I did not have on January 1, 2025. I think we're going to see some big changes this year. I think we're going to make changes within ourselves. I think we're going to make changes in our community, and I think we're going to start 2027 in such a better place. I believe in that. I believe in us, and I believe in what comes next. All right. Talk to you all soon. By. Sam.