The Cherry Blossoms Will Have to Wait

After much consideration and news-watching, I've decided to cancel my trip to Japan. Sigh. To be honest, I'm still not sure if I won't have serious doubts in a month's time, when all might be back to "normal" and I'll have second thoughts whether my decision was fuelled by media-hysteria rather than common sense. For everyone (except one person) around me, there was no doubt that I should not go. My parents would probably not be able to sleep if they knew I could be exposed to radiation and/or some natural disaster any time. For MM, the decision was clear already after the earthquake, her reasoning being that it is morally questionable to travel around in a disaster-stricken country. I have to say that I only partially agree as it feels like punishing tourism as well.

photo taken from here

Again, these are idle thoughts and non-existant problems compared to people actually affected by the disaster, but I'm glad my friends admit to being just as politically incorrect as I tend to be in matters where the personal seems to outweigh the global: many called to say "I know I should think of the poor people in Japan first and foremost, but my first thoughts were, poor *me* who was looking forward to that trip so much." That's what friends are for, eh?

I am going to donate a substantial amount of the "pocket money" I had allocated for shopping sprees in Japan and otherwise hope to get back some of the non-refundable parts of my travel arrangements, such as the €1000 flight-ticket I already paid for.