We have an itinerary. Tokyo

Travel for us is a somewhat random, some might even say haphazard affair.  We tend to lurch on with only the vaguest of notions about where we might end up on any given day, following signs on a whim, walking and riding transport in a pattern that often resembles the wiring on a Tokyo back street.  Like the wiring though, what appears to be completely accidental almost inevitably ends up at some sort of bright light.

Today for instance, we managed to quite deliberately find our way to Nippori Fabric Town, accidentally discovering a sensational bowl of noodles along the way, some more excellent steam buns, and somehow discovering the first flowering cherry tree of summer.  In that we were not alone it must be said, as here in Japan, the cherry tree in blossom has special significance, quite different to its significance in France where it is a sign that shortly we’ll be eating cherry tart.

Back to our random travels for a bit though: Most reading this will be only too well aware that we are not particularly fussy about where we sleep as well, having found ourselves gratefully recumbent on many a floor, couch and spare mattress on our wanders.

All that changes tomorrow.  We’ve done a strangely uncharacteristic thing.   We’ve arranged to travel with a small group on a guided journey with an actual itinerary and accomodation booked weeks in advance.  

Over the coming few weeks we shall have a chap telling us about things, taking us places, organising accomodation and even more strangely travelling to a schedule, and we’re going to like it a lot.  We’ll be staying in hotels in which if the cost of all this is anything to go by, we might even find ourselves sitting at tables with table cloths.   It's a bit of an experiment really, so stay tuned.