161 replies to this topic

[MEDdMI]

One of the places we'll visit is Ikebukuro, which has the Pokemon mega center and some other stores. It also has Otome Road, a street that has a lot of stores/cafes for female otaku. In case you thought only the male otaku were being catered to...

 

The best part of this vid is the girl's reactions, honestly. The Pocky is a good fake-out to pretend kiss. Maybe if there was a manlier/buff version, but TMM would never be up for that, and I'd be too embarrassed to go on my own.

[MEDdMI]

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This is how crazy I am. Bold purple are the areas, pink is must-see, yellow is see-if-we-can, blue are the hotels, green are full-day trips outside Tokyo, and the magenta in the bottom left is a rough breakdown of how much time we'll have to ourselves each day. I figured 12hr days, roughly from 10am to 10pm, minus 2hrs for meals/breaks, minus 3hrs when we might get together with family. Not figuring in travel time except for the longer ones which I know how long it will take. Purple areas show how much time I expect we'll spend. I definitely need to make some cuts, especially in Asakusa/Akihabara. One or two arcades should be fine, I don't need to hit them all. I also need TMM to take a closer look at the toy stores and take off a few options. I haven't looked too hard into the owl cafes yet, there's quite a few in Tokyo and the decision may end up being whichever fits into the schedule better.

 

I normally don't get this detailed for trips but I really want to make sure we maximize our time there, but not get dead tired. I plan to make maps of each area and mark down the places we want to go (probably just use Google Maps and number the destinations, but the guidebook has nice mini maps too). I still have to keep it flexible, like the Eorzea Café we're hoping to get in at 7pm since it has allotted time slots and the last one at 7pm one lets you stay 3hrs. However, it is way too early to reserve right now, and probably will be until a month before hand. Also haven't gone into Osaka here but there's just one or two places I'm planning on since we have less time.

 

I think I mis-entered the info for Kawagoe, will fix later.

Edited by MEDdMI, 23 May 2019 - 11:08 PM.

[OrionPax44]

I tried doing something like this years ago. More local mind you. We started and fell way behind and chose to slow down and do 1-2 of the 5-6 things just so we could enjoy them more. I hope it works out where you two can fully enjoy the trip.

[MEDdMI]

Yeah, there's definitely going to be some see-how-we-feel. Definitely going to try to hit the must-see areas first and take it from there. Tokyo is very condensed so a lot of these are near each other and/or smaller shops.

[OrionPax44]

The place I was referring to was Maui Hawaii. We soooo wanted to do the full Road to Hana but only got halfway and we never made it up to the entire upper western area that has amazing paper plate dinners with the most amazing views. They are on the list for when we eventually go back.

[MEDdMI]

Hawaii would be fun to visit sometime, though I wouldn't want to go in the summer. XD We never had the time/money for a proper honeymoon. We've taken overnight or day trips here and there, and any trips that are longer have been primarily for visiting family/friends out of state. We're sorta treating this trip like a honeymoon, though there will still be some family gatherings.

 

Hotel reservation woes, spoilered b/c rambly.

Spoiler

My parents found decent cheap hotels for the trip, but for the last night we're going to splurge a little more and go on our own to Lotte City Hotel. Lotte is a food/snack company, and one of their main products is Koala's March, which you can see more commonly in the US now. They're little crackers with chocolate (or other flavor) fillings, with different koalas printed on the front. The breakfast includes koala shaped pancakes. Their high end room is the Koala room, which has koalas everywhere. Pretty much thought it'd be funny for one night. Anyway, US-based booking sites like Hotels.com don't even list this room as an option, just one of the basic ones. I've been fighting with the Lotte reservation pages awhile on their website-the official English version causes display errors. The calendar wasn't even populating the dates/prices. I use Google Chrome's auto translate feature and my limited Japanese and made it to the final stages recently. "Continue as a guest", where you enter your name and such... but it was also looking for the way your name is pronounced in katakana. OK, I know katakana and I can input it on my virtual keyboard, no biggie.

 

NOPE!

It was NOT taking it, saying the English characters and katakana didn't match. I tried so many ways but it just wouldn't take my name (I kept my last name when we married, I just like it). So I tried TMM's name, and while it still took a few tries, I got through. Well, almost. Got a nice big error message to contact the bank, no actual confirmation. Got annoyed and decided to try again another day. Checked again yesterday and the site showed one less koala room available than before. Hmm. Checked the accounts online. Nope, no pending charges. No options on the website for travel notifications. Oh well, I'll try again and call if needed. Tried to get the last koala room (listed at a cheaper price, too). Nope, different error message to contact the bank. Bah. I'll try tomorrow. Soon, the bank fraud dept calls me up. Yes, that was me, I really am trying to get a hotel room in Japan. Ok, they said, after 10 security questions, try again in a few minutes. Sweet! I do so... NOPE. But no bank error, something about the info being incorrect. Let's try again. Back to two available rooms and no more deep discount. Sure, whatever. Wait... I-is that a CONFIRMATION page?!?!? There is a pending charge showing now, but the fraud line still called, but it was an automated thing and I didn't have time to call before work. Oh well, hopefully it'll go through this time. If not, there's still 4 months to get a room at this hotel, even if it's not the koala room.

 

On a side note, Hotels.com lists a basic room at this hotel for $160. The website itself lists the regular rate for the Koala room for around $292 for 2 people. I got it for $172 ish for 2 people. Probably b/c we're booking early, it's not peak travel season, and its a weekday, but still. I'll have to double check everything later to make sure I didn't mess something up.

[MEDdMI]

hrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Pending hotel charge disappeared. I've been trying to get a hold of the bank but since it's on TMM's card/account, they won't talk to me and I haven't been able to get through in the time we're both at home/awake.

[MEDdMI]

Forgot to call the bank with TMM. *slaps forehead* On a side note, I feel like I'm back in school, though I barely bothered to do this sort of thing. Before and after shots. 4 more months... how can I keep myself from going crazier?

 

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[TheMightyMollusk]

Got charged for the hotel, so that's safe. Or I'm gonna burn down the bank. One or the other.

[GodSentinelOmega]

Why not do both?

[TheMightyMollusk]

Laziness, mostly.

[MEDdMI]

Phew. Guess it took a little longer w/ foreign transaction fees? Going to look into getting a travel credit card w/ no transaction fees 2 months before the trip (since most offer bonuses for spending X amount in a few month's time, and it'd be too early to do so now). Still, that's a big relief. Now I don't have to yell at the bank.

[Sharkshadow]

do it anyway, keeps them on their toes. 

[MEDdMI]

Since we're flying out of Boston, looked into different ways to get there from RI. It's a long drive so we didn't want to bother relatives, taxi or keeping the car there would be hella expensive, and Uber/Lyft is iffy. Amtrak prices were pretty cheap, but they don't run that often, so if there's any delays/cancellations, we'd be screwed. Plus the closest it gets is to the main station, we'd have to switch to a local bus to get to the airport. Ended up going for the Peter Pan bus, runs every 2 hours and drops off right at the airport. There was one that would get us there 3hrs before the flight, but still paranoid about breakdowns. Got the earlier bus, *just* in case, so we'll have plenty of time if something goes wrong. I'd rather be 5hrs early than miss the flight. Cost is around $100 round trip for both of us including tax.

 

I've been going back and forth between being calm and obsessing. Worrying a little less about the schedule when we get there, still waiting to hear back from some relatives. Trying to stagger expenses for things. The troll who used to live with in the basement should be able to pet/house sit, so that's less of a worry. Poor dog's gonna need someone to stay with her so she doesn't get too lonely. 3 more months...

[Ironbite]

Want an airport worker's opinion?

[Logicron]

Want an airport worker's opinion?

Please, for the love of God, tell me you are not a flight controller...

[MEDdMI]

Want an airport worker's opinion?

Sure. I've traveled a lot and my general rule is 3hrs early for international, 1.5hrs early for domestic at least. I used to work at Chicago O'Hare, but that was over 10yrs ago.

[Ironbite]

 

Want an airport worker's opinion?

Please, for the love of God, tell me you are not a flight controller...

 

 

I wish.

 

 

 

Want an airport worker's opinion?

Sure. I've traveled a lot and my general rule is 3hrs early for international, 1.5hrs early for domestic at least. I used to work at Chicago O'Hare, but that was over 10yrs ago.

 

 

Always plan for the worst.  Always plan for the bus to break down, the lines to be long, and the plane to break.  Just plan for the worst.

 

Ironbite-I'm lucky as my airport is an international hub and I can just breeze through security.

[MEDdMI]

Pretty much. It's why I'm not scheduling anything for the day we arrive. Who knows when we'll actually arrive at the hotel, and we can decide if we feel up to poking around after.

 

Getting a bit overwhelmed trying to find things we'll both enjoy, then getting distracted by other things. I'm still on the hunt for an onsen near Tokyo that'll either allow swimsuits or has a nice private room we can rent. Leaning a bit towards Nikko and Edo Wonderland for the full day trip. Found a smaller onsen/amusement area that's themed like a Japanese matsuri, includes renting yukata. On the downside, all the onsen areas are separated gender/naked only. Then there's a spa/pool one really close to the hotel where we'll be staying! ....but, its naked AND mixed gender. On a side note, I'm now wondering if the owl café is such a good idea. If we go, we'll have to *really* research beforehand and make sure they treat their owls right.

[MEDdMI]

Think I've calmed down a little for now. We'll probably take the Skyliner train to Ueno, and then a short cab ride to the hotel from there. A bus to Tokyo station is cheapest, but traffic could be busy at that time and I'd rather avoid navigating local trains during rush hour with luggage. Currently trying to get an idea of how much to set aside for gifts and food, plus all the other things I can't buy until Sept (JR rail pass, tickets to Eorzea café, etc). That doesn't even include stuff for ourselves. City taxes for the car, house, etc are also due in Oct, so, yeah. @[email protected]