This is technically Saturday but I'm writing it Sunday night.
First, I notice I am used to my well water. The chlorine in the water is burning my eyes every time I shower. My eye drops help a lot.
We got up and went to the Buffet at the hotel. It is very nice with a mixture of western and eastern breakfast foods. This means I had a nice salad and plenty of fresh fruit to eat. We hung out while everyone woke up and wandered down.
Jet lag was an issue. I'm a bit better off becuase I'm more on my work schedule. However, everyone is tired but we want to go and do stuff.
Our first task is to find the Data Center for those that are actually here to work.
We found the nearest subway stop and went down and down and down. Often we walk on the left hand side. Sometimes its the right. Also, as far as my American driving habits go, everyone is on hte wrong side of hte road. But traffic actually obeys the traffic laws. I've not seen anyone run a red light yet or even speed up for a yellow. There is almost no honking and even with the narrow lanes, people obey the traffic laws and therefor traffic flows smoothly.
Most of us decided to buy the multi-use train pass. We can reload them and not worry about getting new tickets and adjusting tickets constantly. Fortunately, the menu has an English option. I am thankful. Very thankful.
The tran station names are also listed in english and there tends to be an english map. The train lines are all represented by a roman letter and the exits are all roman letters and numbers. Its not as complex as it seems. No more then any other subway there are just more of them.
We made it to the proper exit and wandered in circles for a while. The weather is hot. Places are air conditioned and trains are but the stations are not. However, the trains force air through them at high speeds and they are not unbearable. There are vending machines everywhere but almost no trash. It is hot and humid. No worse then VA has been this summer but wandering around in it gets unpleasant. But one must endure and there is plenty of access to water.
We finally found the Data Center. The reward was my first vending machien expierence. I picked a white grape and aloe drink that was very nice and refreshing. We then decided to go to Akihabara which is known as Electric Town. There we wandered into one of hte giant electronics stores. It takes up a city block on its own and its 9 stories tall. It was crazy.
Want a hummer bicycle? Need a Bently pocket watch? Looking for a 1,000yen rice maker? Come on it, they had it all.
Each floor is a mix of things and stuff. The floor is taped off and I can barely tell where one shop starts and the next ends. There is everything from the newest laptops to massage chairs and gold equipment. We wandered level after level for about three hours. We decided we were tired and hungry so we went to the 8th floor which had the food. 20 food shops to be exact. We settled on a place where you cook your own meat.
Because there were six of us they gave us a small room with rice screens. You kinda stepped down into the table. Shoes off. So pretty. We figured out that you order by pressing the call button when you need stuff.
So we got food. Lots of pointing and smiles and thank you's go a long way. We also made sure they took cards before we went inside. The meal was lovely. Everything was tasty. The rice was delicious. No Uncle Ben's prefab fortified shit. This is quality rice as rice should be eaten.
Full and comfortable we staggered out and went up to level 9 which was the fitness floor. It was actually the golf flood. The entire thing was dedicated to golf. We wandered back down to floor 6 which was games.
This was a quarter arcade, a quarter game store, and the rest just games both electronic and non electronic. I found some gorgious puzzles there. Stunning. I'll be going back. There were modlels al over the place. Lots of Gundam robots. Lots of action figures. Lots of little anime girls in provocative poses. Soo amusing.
We also got to look at 3D TVs. They cost about 10k USD but they were very cool.
Need Cat7 cable? Not 5 or 6, but 7 in all shapes and sizes.
The place was pretty fantastic. But we were full and tired so we staggered out, wandered in a circle and decided to go back to the hotel to shower and refresh. The Husband was close to heat stroke at this time. A cup of tea, a soda and a half a glass of water was not enough moisture. The Lawson's convince store directly beside the hotel accepts credit cards. We got big bottles of water and I made him drink and drink, take a cool shower, and drink some more. Hydration is important.
That turned into a six hour nap for almost all of us. We met back up and it was around 11pm. At this point the restaurants are closed but the bars are open. We wound up going to the Denny's across the street. The food there is fantastic. This isn't the nasty, greasy, ignored by the staff Denny's Americans are used to. This is quality food in sometimes familiar ways.
I went with a Japanese course. Tasty.
We went back to the hotel and back to bed. The jet lag kicks in at odd times.
Its a lot of walking. I have some small blisters today. But I feel good. I like the feel of the city. There are a lot of foreigners so I don't feel overly odd. I expected to be a lot more uncomfortable but I don't.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
Day One - The Flight and the First Night
Flickr Photos of Tokyo
The husband is still asleep beside me. At 1540hrs I woke up with a snap. It is about 0611hrs now but our time, 1540hrs is me waking up a bit late to head to work in an hour or so.
So I'm awake. As the Husband snores beside me, I'll write up yesterday's action.
Everything went pretty smoothly.
We left the house in plenty of time. We got to the airport around 1000hrs, which was the plan. Our flight was laving at 1250hrs but we wanted to make sure we had time to get a good meal. I'm glad we did.
We parked in economy and caught our buss. We made to to make lot and bus stop numbers down in our phones for later reference. The last thing we want to do is loose the car. Because the Husband was upgraded to first class we got to use the super short line at the airport. There was also a herd of boy scouts making an international flight somewhere.
As we entered the airport, a man had exited and was turning around trying to figure out which deck he wanted to get on. This TSA lady is leaving and she bellows in this horrible, bitchy SNARLY voice, "WRONG DOOR" to this poor guy. What the hell? There is almost no one around and people get confused at the airport. I have no clue if I'm using the right doors or not at Narita. They all have exclamation points and open for me so who knows.
Anyway, we grab a wonderious lunch at Fudruckers. They have just opened and the guy doesn't know how to use his credit card machine. So, I pay and give the receipt to Tim to expense later. Yay for cash.
We go to the business lounge. The guy tells Tim, "Sir, you can use the First Class Lounge" but we were meeting with some of his co-workers. This lounge system is interesting. Lots of chairs and places to charge your stuff with people hanging around trying to shove alcohol and snacks down you.
We didn't stay for long because they started boarding the plane almost an hour early. I ran and grabbed a pretzel and some lemonaid for the flight and we boarded. This was the second rude Dulles employee I've met today. Maybe it was early, maybe I wanted everyone to experience the warm excited blur I was in. He's probably just tired of herding people he can't communicate around. I dunno, but the plane is loading and this one group is hanging back and he just starts yelling at them to get moving. I think they didn't want to cut in line but I wanted to give dude a Valium.
The Husband is swept away to his little area. I find my seat and sit down. Only its not my seat. I thought that I seemed one seat back but I was in a happy buzz. So, when a guy asks me, 21B? I go... 20B... and get up to ask the kid in front of me... 20B? and he goes 19B? To ask the guy in in front of him who is the true cause of it all being one seat back and in an isle when he should have been in a row. As we are sorting ourselves, a steward goes 'Everyone needs to get seated' and the kid goes 'We're sorting it out, thanks'.
So we sit. My seat mate is a quiet Japanese man who naps most of the trip. There are a ton of kids around me, but I'll give the parents credit, they worked hard at trying to keep them quiet.
The flight wasn't bad. I was in Economy Plus so I had plenty of legroom. They fed us (nasty stuff) and gave us snacks, liquids, and such. There are TVs in the seats. I wasn't allowed to go visit the Husband but he was allowed to come back and slum. He was blocked the first time he went back for a moment until he convinced them that he did belong up there. He wound up sending me a cookie at Dinner and feeling a bit lonely. There were only three other people in first class and he discovered that he wanted to sit with me more. We're trying to arrange that on the way back and I'm not going to argue the business upgrade for me. Not that he'd listen to me again on that anyway.
We arrive at Narita. I'm excited. The flight took us up to the arctic circle and down across siberia. I really want to see a map and trace the flight path on a globe. But we are here and we get off the flight and the airport is HOT.
WTF? Its around 1530hrs, 90 degrees outside and the airport is burning up. We're all sweating by the time we reach customs. They gave us customs forms on the plane to make it all easier. We hang them over, have our index fingers scanned and a photo taken and we're done.
We're still sweating.
We stand at baggage and wait and wait and wait and none of our groups baggage shows up. Finally, a porter asks us if we were on this flight and we say yes. As we look up and down the baggage carousel we notice something down at the end.
Our bags. All taken off.
I guess becuase they had priority stickers on them.
So we collect out baggage. Collect our missing group member who took a different flight, and off we go to find out about taking the bus. Because, of our missing member we have to wait for the bus that leaves at 1750hrs. We hang around, buy some soda and stuff. I got some onigri. Rice balls are tasty. They had fish or something that was tasty inside.
The trip wasn't bad. The seats are small and we were hot and the Husband tired so some grumpyness set in. It was about two hours to the hotel with traffic and all. But we made it. We got dropped off at the hotel and checked in.
Most of the group decided to hit the sack. The Husband wanted to get food and so did I. We showed and changed. I wasn't smelly from the flight, but 2 hours in the non air conditioned airport and I was stank. I was tired but the 13 hours forward had moved me into my night schedule so I was ready to eat and go to bed. We wandered for a few blocks until it got really bright and neon.
We found a place with plastic food on display and energetic staff members moving people inside. I peeked in and saw a busy but heavenly smelling interior if you ignored the cig smoke. We decided to make the attempt. The exterior menu had enligh on it, as did hte interior. We got these big salads with beef on them and some fried chicken pieces and two sodas.
Everything was very tasty. Service was prompt. It was noisy without being irritating. We eat, were able to pay by card and headed back to the hotel.
We stopped a at convince store, found something that said Milk and had a cow on it, a box that had white grapes on it, and some cola flavored mentos.
Back to the hotel room to set up the internet, and zonk out
The husband is still asleep beside me. At 1540hrs I woke up with a snap. It is about 0611hrs now but our time, 1540hrs is me waking up a bit late to head to work in an hour or so.
So I'm awake. As the Husband snores beside me, I'll write up yesterday's action.
Everything went pretty smoothly.
We left the house in plenty of time. We got to the airport around 1000hrs, which was the plan. Our flight was laving at 1250hrs but we wanted to make sure we had time to get a good meal. I'm glad we did.
We parked in economy and caught our buss. We made to to make lot and bus stop numbers down in our phones for later reference. The last thing we want to do is loose the car. Because the Husband was upgraded to first class we got to use the super short line at the airport. There was also a herd of boy scouts making an international flight somewhere.
As we entered the airport, a man had exited and was turning around trying to figure out which deck he wanted to get on. This TSA lady is leaving and she bellows in this horrible, bitchy SNARLY voice, "WRONG DOOR" to this poor guy. What the hell? There is almost no one around and people get confused at the airport. I have no clue if I'm using the right doors or not at Narita. They all have exclamation points and open for me so who knows.
Anyway, we grab a wonderious lunch at Fudruckers. They have just opened and the guy doesn't know how to use his credit card machine. So, I pay and give the receipt to Tim to expense later. Yay for cash.
We go to the business lounge. The guy tells Tim, "Sir, you can use the First Class Lounge" but we were meeting with some of his co-workers. This lounge system is interesting. Lots of chairs and places to charge your stuff with people hanging around trying to shove alcohol and snacks down you.
We didn't stay for long because they started boarding the plane almost an hour early. I ran and grabbed a pretzel and some lemonaid for the flight and we boarded. This was the second rude Dulles employee I've met today. Maybe it was early, maybe I wanted everyone to experience the warm excited blur I was in. He's probably just tired of herding people he can't communicate around. I dunno, but the plane is loading and this one group is hanging back and he just starts yelling at them to get moving. I think they didn't want to cut in line but I wanted to give dude a Valium.
The Husband is swept away to his little area. I find my seat and sit down. Only its not my seat. I thought that I seemed one seat back but I was in a happy buzz. So, when a guy asks me, 21B? I go... 20B... and get up to ask the kid in front of me... 20B? and he goes 19B? To ask the guy in in front of him who is the true cause of it all being one seat back and in an isle when he should have been in a row. As we are sorting ourselves, a steward goes 'Everyone needs to get seated' and the kid goes 'We're sorting it out, thanks'.
So we sit. My seat mate is a quiet Japanese man who naps most of the trip. There are a ton of kids around me, but I'll give the parents credit, they worked hard at trying to keep them quiet.
The flight wasn't bad. I was in Economy Plus so I had plenty of legroom. They fed us (nasty stuff) and gave us snacks, liquids, and such. There are TVs in the seats. I wasn't allowed to go visit the Husband but he was allowed to come back and slum. He was blocked the first time he went back for a moment until he convinced them that he did belong up there. He wound up sending me a cookie at Dinner and feeling a bit lonely. There were only three other people in first class and he discovered that he wanted to sit with me more. We're trying to arrange that on the way back and I'm not going to argue the business upgrade for me. Not that he'd listen to me again on that anyway.
We arrive at Narita. I'm excited. The flight took us up to the arctic circle and down across siberia. I really want to see a map and trace the flight path on a globe. But we are here and we get off the flight and the airport is HOT.
WTF? Its around 1530hrs, 90 degrees outside and the airport is burning up. We're all sweating by the time we reach customs. They gave us customs forms on the plane to make it all easier. We hang them over, have our index fingers scanned and a photo taken and we're done.
We're still sweating.
We stand at baggage and wait and wait and wait and none of our groups baggage shows up. Finally, a porter asks us if we were on this flight and we say yes. As we look up and down the baggage carousel we notice something down at the end.
Our bags. All taken off.
I guess becuase they had priority stickers on them.
So we collect out baggage. Collect our missing group member who took a different flight, and off we go to find out about taking the bus. Because, of our missing member we have to wait for the bus that leaves at 1750hrs. We hang around, buy some soda and stuff. I got some onigri. Rice balls are tasty. They had fish or something that was tasty inside.
The trip wasn't bad. The seats are small and we were hot and the Husband tired so some grumpyness set in. It was about two hours to the hotel with traffic and all. But we made it. We got dropped off at the hotel and checked in.
Most of the group decided to hit the sack. The Husband wanted to get food and so did I. We showed and changed. I wasn't smelly from the flight, but 2 hours in the non air conditioned airport and I was stank. I was tired but the 13 hours forward had moved me into my night schedule so I was ready to eat and go to bed. We wandered for a few blocks until it got really bright and neon.
We found a place with plastic food on display and energetic staff members moving people inside. I peeked in and saw a busy but heavenly smelling interior if you ignored the cig smoke. We decided to make the attempt. The exterior menu had enligh on it, as did hte interior. We got these big salads with beef on them and some fried chicken pieces and two sodas.
Everything was very tasty. Service was prompt. It was noisy without being irritating. We eat, were able to pay by card and headed back to the hotel.
We stopped a at convince store, found something that said Milk and had a cow on it, a box that had white grapes on it, and some cola flavored mentos.
Back to the hotel room to set up the internet, and zonk out
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
1st Class Flight
First class flying looks awesome.
And it is not for me.
The Husband, checked in this evening and got upgraded to first class. I did not get upgraded from Economy Plus to Business, despite my hopes. Maybe at the airport.
Some people would be upset that they are not traveling together. I don't care. Sure, its nice to sit next to him but its a 13 hour flight and we're on the same plane. I hope he enjoys his little bed pod up there.
I need to pack ear plugs. Just in case I have the screaming child horror.
Right now, we're finshing the last minute things. I'm pretty sure I'm packed except for my straightening iron for my hair and my comb and brush. I'm shoving the chargers for my gizmos into my carry on and I'm done.
I think we are ready to go.
And it is not for me.
The Husband, checked in this evening and got upgraded to first class. I did not get upgraded from Economy Plus to Business, despite my hopes. Maybe at the airport.
Some people would be upset that they are not traveling together. I don't care. Sure, its nice to sit next to him but its a 13 hour flight and we're on the same plane. I hope he enjoys his little bed pod up there.
I need to pack ear plugs. Just in case I have the screaming child horror.
Right now, we're finshing the last minute things. I'm pretty sure I'm packed except for my straightening iron for my hair and my comb and brush. I'm shoving the chargers for my gizmos into my carry on and I'm done.
I think we are ready to go.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Trip Planning
I'm an obsessive planner. I admit it. My co-workers are probably tired of me. Some chuckle at me. Whatever, I can't help myself.
However, I have not locked myself down into a tight itinerary of going here and going there and seeing this and seeing that. I have things I want to do and things I want to see. However, I don't have this planned for Monday and that for Tuesday.
Planning has helped a lot. I'm the unofficial trip coordinator now. I've been hunting down vegetarian alternatives for one of the Husband's co-workers and finding out about beer tours and clubbing for others.
The planning turned out to be important for more then my obsessive soul. Things are different and it is very easy to make assumptions about other places based off of what you know as 'normal' for home. Not having traveled internationally before, I am spastic about checking things.
This allowed me to find out that an assumed method of transportation, taxi cabs, was a bad move to take from the hotel.
Narita Airport is 60 miles outside of Tokyo. A taxi ride averages 2-300 USD. Ouch.
The alternative, the Limousine bus is a big plush charter bus that costs 30 dollars, drops us off in front of the hotel and has wifi. We are not taking the train because of bags. We are not packing super light because we are there for 18 days and not changing hotels.
Our hotel is the Courtyard Marriott Ginza. The Husband is a Marriott member and this trip may knock him from Gold to Platinum status.
Courtyard Marriott Ginza: http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/tyocy-courtyard-tokyo-ginza-hotel/
How I planned.
Lets start with resources:
http://www.japan-guide.com
http://www.japan-guide.com
http://www.virtualtourist.com/
http://www.bento.com
http://shibuya246.com
http://www.chowhound.com
Making Life easier while I'm in Japan:
This is the Suica prepaid metro access card. We plan to use the trains a lot. This way we just have to fill it a few times and we're set to run around all of the subway trains. This is not for trains outside of the city. However, the website can help you with cheap alternatives for travelers as well.
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/pass/suica.html
This is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to and from the hotel. The trains are faster but this picks us up at the terminal and drops us off at the hotel. You have to see if your hotel is on their list. If not, and you want to use them, find a hotel close to your own.
http://www.limousinebus.co.jp/en/
This is a city wide wifi connection that we are going to try out. This will let us use our phones (Spring Evo running Android) instead of renting them. The Husband has a Blackberry from work that will work in Japan.
http://300.wi2.co.jp/en/area/bus/
The Phone:
We run android and we have a ton of apps to help life.
Translation apps, language apps, map apps, photo apps, gps apps, talk over wifi apps, etc. Just remember, when you select your applications make sure that they can function without a cell signal or without needing to access the web for their information.
However, I have not locked myself down into a tight itinerary of going here and going there and seeing this and seeing that. I have things I want to do and things I want to see. However, I don't have this planned for Monday and that for Tuesday.
Planning has helped a lot. I'm the unofficial trip coordinator now. I've been hunting down vegetarian alternatives for one of the Husband's co-workers and finding out about beer tours and clubbing for others.
The planning turned out to be important for more then my obsessive soul. Things are different and it is very easy to make assumptions about other places based off of what you know as 'normal' for home. Not having traveled internationally before, I am spastic about checking things.
This allowed me to find out that an assumed method of transportation, taxi cabs, was a bad move to take from the hotel.
Narita Airport is 60 miles outside of Tokyo. A taxi ride averages 2-300 USD. Ouch.
The alternative, the Limousine bus is a big plush charter bus that costs 30 dollars, drops us off in front of the hotel and has wifi. We are not taking the train because of bags. We are not packing super light because we are there for 18 days and not changing hotels.
Our hotel is the Courtyard Marriott Ginza. The Husband is a Marriott member and this trip may knock him from Gold to Platinum status.
Courtyard Marriott Ginza: http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/tyocy-courtyard-tokyo-ginza-hotel/
How I planned.
Lets start with resources:
http://www.japan-guide.com
http://www.japan-guide.com
http://www.virtualtourist.com/
http://www.bento.com
http://shibuya246.com
http://www.chowhound.com
Making Life easier while I'm in Japan:
This is the Suica prepaid metro access card. We plan to use the trains a lot. This way we just have to fill it a few times and we're set to run around all of the subway trains. This is not for trains outside of the city. However, the website can help you with cheap alternatives for travelers as well.
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/pass/suica.html
This is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to and from the hotel. The trains are faster but this picks us up at the terminal and drops us off at the hotel. You have to see if your hotel is on their list. If not, and you want to use them, find a hotel close to your own.
http://www.limousinebus.co.jp/en/
This is a city wide wifi connection that we are going to try out. This will let us use our phones (Spring Evo running Android) instead of renting them. The Husband has a Blackberry from work that will work in Japan.
http://300.wi2.co.jp/en/area/bus/
The Phone:
We run android and we have a ton of apps to help life.
Translation apps, language apps, map apps, photo apps, gps apps, talk over wifi apps, etc. Just remember, when you select your applications make sure that they can function without a cell signal or without needing to access the web for their information.
A Trip to Tokyo
I will be going to Tokyo, Japan from August 5th 2010 to August 24th 2010.
This blog is for me to write about my life and times, boring or exciting. :)
So how did I decide on this trip?
I've always wanted to go to Japan. I like the culture, I like the entertainment, I like the history, and I like the food. In some ways, I like the food more then the food I was raised on.
My husband has a business trip, and I'm going to tag along. I plan to explore the city, see the sites, eat the food, and enjoy myself.
Let's see how I do.
This blog is for me to write about my life and times, boring or exciting. :)
So how did I decide on this trip?
I've always wanted to go to Japan. I like the culture, I like the entertainment, I like the history, and I like the food. In some ways, I like the food more then the food I was raised on.
My husband has a business trip, and I'm going to tag along. I plan to explore the city, see the sites, eat the food, and enjoy myself.
Let's see how I do.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)