and may God’s love be with you

I do feel that we are extremely fortunate to be able to do this. Our families worked hard to put us in a situation that allowed us to even consider such a trip. And we don’t have anything else tying us down yet so it seemed like a good time to give it a go.

We definitely have the love of all our friends with us. Pretty much everyone we’ve spoken to has been happy for us (with a tinge of envy thrown in perhaps). And most people say that Japan is a place that they would love to visit. Here’s hoping we get a few more people to travel to Japan.

Speaking of friends wishing us well, I got this brilliant card from my colleagues at Akoni

It was kind of weird saying goodbye to everyone at work because it was a “leaving but not leaving” deal. I’m still working with them, just won’t be in the same office. I will definitely miss them all while I’m working remotely.

It’s been good spending some time with the family. We hadn’t really planned to go anywhere, but a spur of the moment decision on Friday evening saw us heading out to Lonavala on Saturday to spend the weekend there. No journey on the Mumbai Pune highway would be complete without a stop at Datta for a vada-pav or misal-pav (or both!) depending on your fancy and your appetite. This is an old favourite, and despite the new expressway being built, worth the detour on to the old highway.

Having spent more time eating, chilling and playing a bit of table tennis and carrom the short weekend was nearly over. Before heading home there was the other mandatory stop - this one for when you are in Lonavala, which is of course Coopers fudge. A Lonavala institution for as long as I can remember, the “fudge” is not what would be called fudge in the UK but is extremely tasty. You can see how popular it is by the queue of people waiting to buy some.

This was a shorter trip than usual and has gone by quickly. We’ve just about finished packing our bags - this time with a few spices and some Indian goodies for the Japanese family. I expect we’ll fully max out our 30kg allowance.

That’s it, time to head to the airport.