Mardi Gras is over. The city is quiet. Now back to Japan planning mode. My mom surprised me and told me she’d like to do my next pilgrimage with me!!!! I’m stealing her away for 42 days to cover 36 temples across Western Japan. I’ve done many smol pilgrimages but nothing this elaborate. I’m usually more go with the flow but since we have over 1,000 km to cover and many many remote mountain temples, I can’t just wing it. It’s been a challenge with my ADHD to go down so far in the weeds and I finally broke down and made spreadsheets (excel gods forgive me). The official name of the pilgrimage is the Saigoku. It’s 33 temples plus 3 “bonus” temples that are related to the pilgrimage. I built in a few rest days here and there after particularly grueling mountain days and a side trip to Nikko at the end before we fly home. I’m testing several trip planning apps (I don’t love any of them) but several have countdowns and I’m definitely freaking out now that it’s only 19 days away. I took my mom to chase the Sakura (cherry blossoms) in 2023 so she’s familiar with my travel pace and understands how Japan “works”. She’s been practicing with chopsticks since Christmas.