This Sept was time to decide where to go for my birthday. I'd already had a busy year with trips this year to Quebec City Carnivale in Feb, Yucatan Mexico in Mar, and Vancouver in June.

One place I'd always wanted to go was Iran due to the rich Persian history, architecture, cuisine, and music. Now was a good time to go as my passport renews next year, so I can go now, renew my passport, and get rid of the stamps so I wont get stopped and questioned all the time about what I was doing in Iran.

The visa process however was problematic. Since the previous Prime Minister Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party was so pro-Israel relations had gotten so worse that the Iranian Embassy in Canada was shut. Things were so bad Canadian banks were instructed to shut down Canadian bank accounts of anyone in the Iranian diaspora that sent money back to Iran.

Due to this the visa process for Canadians, British, and Americans (the three most vocal anti-Iran countries) were quite complex. Aside from booking an approved tour and having a letter of invitation we must be accompanied by a guide at all times and can not travel alone.

I looked into several tours and found some reasonably priced starting in Tehran, then heading south to Isfahan, Shiraz, the Zoroastrian Temples in Yazd, and the ancient ruins of Persopolis and Pasargarde. However there were several problems dealing with Iranian tour operators.

Aside from the time difference, and language problems not being fluent in English, there was the laziness work attitude of warm climates, the Eid holiday which caused a week shutdown, and lack of proper responses when asking about visa process, deposit, and payment methods when credit card transfers are banned under current sanctions.

I was referred to a local Iranian travel agent in Toronto organizing a group tour from Toronto during my birthday week. Great! As part of the package they would arrange the visa. However this too fell thru when people in the group pulled out after some middle east bombings even though Iran was perfectly safe of terrorism.

I had to fall back on the original plan of emailing agents in Iran. When I was near to booking with one I found out the tour on his website and the one I thought we were talking about the whole time is not the tour they are running during my proposed week in Oct.

Instead of starting/ending in Tehran where the international airport was, they were ending in Shiraz which has less flights and would require me to stay one day extra to either get a flight from Tehran or Shiraz. Since Canadians must be accompanied by a guide I must also pay one day extra for a guide to accompany me.

Once I got all my questions and pricing finalized with the agent I filled out the online visa application only to hear NOTHING for two weeks. When it takes 8-10 weeks for the visa process for Canadians why did they just waste two weeks and do nothing with my application??

With time running out for my birthday and the 8-10 week visa window closing I just gave up in frustration. This whole visa process is just proving to be ridiculous, I cant get the tour exactly how I want, they wont answer questions properly, and my time is running out.

In frustration I needed to pick somewhere and went for the simple option of JAPAN!!!! I can just buy a rail pass and go as I please! None of this ridiculous visa and guide nonsense.

My first trip to Japan in 2011 was to Tokyo, Kyota, Nara, Kobe, Osaka
(see blog http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/lo ndone7/15/tpod.html)

My second trip was to Hiroshima, Miyajima, and Northern Kyushu Island (Nagasaki and Kumamoto) - (see blog http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/lo ndone7/22/tpod.html)

In 2011 when returning from Canada to Korea and connecting thru Japan I had a forced return landing due to a bad storm in Korea (see entry http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-en tries/londone7/1/1313340059/tpod.html)

Before leaving Korea I had planned to go for my third trip to Japan to visit the north island Hokkaido but opted instead for Malaysia and Brunei, another unique destination I'd wanted to visit which wasnt easy to reach.
(see blog Malaysia & Brunei http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/lo ndone7/26/tpod.html)

Hokkaido in the north was interesting as it had native indigenous culture and Russian influence, as well as its main city Sapporo famous for its beer and winter ice sculpture festival.

I found a good deal on flights and had an afternoon flight for a change so no late nights or early mornings. During online check in I moved my seat to row 56 window at the back which I like. The middle seat next to me however was empty so I had room for my flight.

There was a one hour delay as the fuel truck broke down and needed to be towed away. As we took off for a 13 hour flight my anxiety kicked in and I asked myself why I was doing this with my uncomfort with turbulence.

The flight however was quite smooth. They served a light lunch and I was still quite hungry so had to raid my food bag. After trying to sleep with my eyepatch I could smell socks. Around 9pm they were coming round serving pot noodles - how Asian for Air Canada!.

Our route took us over Northern Manitoba and Hudson Bay. The area was desolate of any civilization although I have wrote First Nations accounts in this area which has no road access.

The receding ice lines left interesting ripples in the landscape and there were volcanic like mud flows into the sea. It then became dark so I slept for the rest of my flight until our rainy early evening arrival at Haneda.