Quote: (Originally Posted by
Abbo)

It all depends what you call significant: if you are diving every weekend then missing a few weekends in a row is a long time; if you're not , it's not. FedEx is very inefficient in Japan and takes a very long time; it might be faster if I lived in Florida like you. My Meg now takes off-the-shelf lithium batteries: thank God a friend was on hand to re-wire it, because I wouldn't have known and there was no manual I had on hand to help. I'm sorted: other people might not be.
You sound like the perfect candidate for the tech course. $1500 spent to save you the expense and hassle of shipping your gear to another country seems like good money spent. Forget about the only reason not to take the course and look at all the reasons to take the course. For you it makes a lot more sense than most of us.