dianaschnuth

From: Diana Schnuth
Sent: Monday, March 19, 2007 2:46 PM
To: 'Aaron R. Schnuth'
Subject: passport

That took my entire lunch hour.

There were nine people in front of me, not including the dude who cut. The actual process didn't take overly long, though. I had to have my picture taken twice, because the first time there was too much glare on my glasses. The second time, my hair didn't look as good, though. 😉 My clerk reminded me that even expedited, my passport will take four weeks to arrive, but that I should be able to start checking online after two weeks. Oh, and she loves the forms from the computer -- they're just so nice and neat! Total price? $191.18. Yikes.

So, both of our passports are on their way. Everything will arrive in time. 🙂

Love!
Diana

The plane tickets have been purchased. The hotel reservations have been confirmed. The Dynamic Tokyo Tour is a go.

OMFG, we’re going to Japan!!

Wednesday, May 16: Arrive in Tokyo. Limo-bus to hotel. Check in, get our culture shock going on. Locate dinner.
Thursday: Guided tour. Begins at 9am. Ends late afternoon in Ginza. First major task: getting “home” from Ginza.
Friday: Still open. Maybe Akihabara? Maybe Ghibli Museum?
Saturday: Also still open. Perhaps book Saturday night at the Ryokan Asakusa Shigetsu.
Sunday: Visit Harajuku and the Meguro Parasitological Museum?
Monday: Possibly a day trip to Nikko, or just catching up on whatever we haven’t done yet.
Tuesday: Check out, have lunch, and catch the limo-bus back to Narita Airport for our flight home at 4pm.

As Sheryl would say… ::flail::

…

WTF am I going to do with the 2500 WorldPerks Bonus Miles I’m going to earn from this trip?

Former travellers to Japan, please complete the following sentence:

“I can’t believe you’re planning a trip to Japan and you’re not planning to go to                !”

That’s right, fellow readers, we’re taking the plunge and heading off to Japan, most likely in May. My lowest APR credit card just so happens to be able to swing airfare and hotel for a week in the Land of the Rising Sun. It’s not the best financial decision we could make, but it’s one of those things that I think we’d regret not having done when we had the chance.

We’re going to sit down soon (probably this weekend) and think about things we really MUST do while we’re in Japan, particularly Tokyo. We may have to forego our tour of southern Japan, just due to funding issues. We’ll see. At any rate, we already have some destinations on the potential to-do-in-Japan list:

• Akihabara (Electric Town)
• The Ghibli Museum
• Eat at a kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi-ya
• The Tokyo Tower (conveniently located adjacent to our current hotel of choice)

I’m sure there’s a lot more we’d like to do, including visiting a shrine and just walking around the city, but that’s all I can come up with right this moment. Anyone have any additions, especially within a decent subway-ride of Tokyo?

I’ve also heard that it won’t matter that we’re not fluent in Japanese. Actually, only Sheryl has told me that, and she’s one of about three people I know (other than friends of friends) who have been to Japan. Who else wants to chime in on this one? Will I be OK asking how much this costs, how do I get to [insert place here], knowing my right from my left, counting to ten (and higher if I think really hard), and basic shit like that? Has everyone else had Sheryl’s same experience of dealing with English-speakers in all the important places? What words do I need to be able to *read*, if any?

(Aaron’s not too good with languages, and I’m cool with that. If one of us has to go take a crash course on Japanese, I’m it. Bring on the vidcasts and websites and CDs.)

I am SO stoked for this. I haven’t been this excited about a trip in a long, long time.