I recently took a trip with my family to Japan. Some travel prep is almost as much fun as the traveling itself.  Other travel prep can be exhausting and tedious–like packing.  One thing that was part of my travel prep was making sure I had enough omiyage. I was going to see some relatives and friends on this trip so I picked up and packed some tea, candy, cookies, mac nuts, and chocolates. I also had to make sure I have enough cash and credit to enjoy the trip.  This was a bit of a stress factor for me prior to this trip. I had enough yen since we had exchanged dollars for yen when the exchange rate was pretty strong.  However, we like to use our Hawaiian Miles credit card for several reasons.  The Hawaiian Miles card does not have a foreign transaction fee, it allows us to earn miles for future travel, and like all credit cards, it helps us keep track of our expenses.  This time, two days before we left for Japan, errors made by the Barclay customer service agents who manage the Hawaiian Miles credit card left me with no Hawaiian Airlines card to use for the duration of the trip. I had to trust that my United Airlines  back-up card would carry me through the 10-day trip. So glad that I at least had my backup credit card and cash~things could have been much, much worse. (Post-trip update on credit card situation:  Since returning to Hawaii, I received my new card from Barclay/Hawaiian Airline Mastercard.  In addition, I had phone calls and emails from the Office of the President of Barclay to follow up with me on the frustrations I encountered. Great customer service and professionalism at that level. I’m sticking with Hawaiian Miles Mastercard.)Checked to make sure I packed the passports, confirmation numbers, device chargers, and extra duffel bags for the extra shopping I hoped to do.

If we forgot anything else, we can buy it in Japan, right? Ready or not, off we went on this trip.Details about our spring break trip to Japan will be released soon.  Stay tuned.