Japan with the Pump, PSP and Walker – Blog 1

Japan with a terminal illness, a pump and a walker 🙂  A daring adventure or a calculated risk? Am I about to make a regrettable mistake or create one of the most memorable moments of my life? Only time will tell – Hopefully the second as long as I am ultra-careful.

Japan is one of the few places I have truly always wanted to see. I have been to a few places in the Asia Pacific region (South Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, India…) but I have never been to Japan. (Probably because I have been to the US 76 times.) Well – the wait is hopefully almost over.

One of my children is on a trip to Asia and is heading there and asked me to come join for a few days in Osaka. It took me about 30 minutes to find a flight. I was desperate to go, partly because it is Japan and partly because I needed an escape after being stuck at home for weeks.

Then the daunting prospect of the trip set in – the lengthy trip (11-hour flight, 7-hour connection, 5.5-hour flight) and return, of course, given the basic fact that I can’t walk more than a very short distance without a walker.

So – you know the answer already – I still booked and am off tonight. I am hoping for some special time and a little adventure but I am also taking every precaution I can think of including:

– I will travel with my walker (which, having spoken to the airline, will be collected at the gate and given back at the gate). I have strapping to do what I can to protect it in the hold.
– I have my cane for the plane and as a backup, I have reserved wheelchair use if needed (I am the top status with the airline and have been able to WhatsApp with their medical team) or if for some reason they insist on checking in the walker (despite that not being the plan agreed).
– I will travel Business Class because, as someone with PSP and 194cm (6 foot 5 inches), I simply cannot go on flights that long any other way.
– I will wear DVT protective stockings and will ensure I walk around and stretch.
– I have travel insurance.
– I am a relatively seasoned traveller, I think it is fair to say.
– Most importantly, I will not overdo it when I get there and am staying in an accessible Airbnb where they are even providing me with a Yoga Mat so I don’t need to bring it.

This is a big trip by any reckoning, but it is one in length I have done many times before. It is the travel with a disability – in transit, in Japan, in general – that will be the interesting aside. I have heard horror stories about walkers being crushed by loading teams or medicines being lost.

That said, I recognize I am taking a risk and some people I know think it is a ‘Hell of a risk’. Truth is, I have a very thin Bucket List (I didn’t actually have one when diagnosed) but top of the list was to do a trip with each of my kids and my wife. I have been away with the other two kids and my wife and I are going away soon on a special joint 50th trip! When the last remaining of my kids asked me to come, I simply had to – it is as simple as that.

I may have a terminal disease and effectively be pretty much walker/wheelchair limited – not allowed to work or drive – but I still want this experience and feel I am taking appropriate measures to make it happen. There may be some who feel that someone who is receiving prayers for his safety and long life shouldn’t be doing this but to me it is simply part of the need to live and experience and be with my kids for as long as I have left, especially as it is clear the disease is progressing with rapidity.

I can’t deny that there are of course things that can go wrong, and I am travelling alone, but that is true of life and if you don’t take the opportunities, life is pretty boring so I am going for it.

So tonight I am hopefully off – who knows what awaits on the way to and in the Land of the Rising Sun. Japan ranks in the top 10 countries for accessibility for disabled tourists, so I am optimistic that my experience will be manageable and enjoyable. First impressions are amazing in the form of the kindness shown by the Airbnb host and I am really looking forward to the two trips we have booked to Hiroshima and Nara (one a bus trip with minimal walking and one a personal guide and it can be tailored to our needs so can sit and drink coffee for as long as I want).

As an aside, those who have followed my previous articles on Kosher travel will be delighted to learn this is the one week when Chabad in Kobe is not providing food because it is expanding its kitchens. So, it’s fresh fish, tahini, vegetables, and fruit for us, with bread and wine brought from home. No plans for irons or shoehorns, but we’ll see!