Category: International Travel

Friday, July 5, 2024

We landed at Narita close to 3:00 in the afternoon. Customs/immigration had a longish line, but it moved. At immigration they didn’t put a stamp in our passports; they put a sticker which was so easy and clear to read. This was our first moment of “they do things that make sense here!” And the organized side of my personality swooned when she took the time to find the next available passport page with the right amount of space left for the sticker, instead of haphazardly opening the passport and slapping it on a random page. I wonder what those agents think when they see the chaos of other country stamps in people’s passports.

We had this cute little greeting as we exited customs into the arrivals hall. They like cute little things in Japan, right?

For most of the months leading up to this trip I had planned on using the Narita Express train to get us from Narita to Tokyo Station. It was going to take around an hour and $40 for the both of us to get within 20 minutes walking distance of our hotel so it seemed like a great option. Besides, it’s a TRAIN, and in Japan you take TRAINS. But then just a couple of weeks before we left I stumbled upon a YouTube video that talked about taking a coach bus from Narita to Tokyo Station and I was intrigued. Same transit time, half the cost, less popular with tourists. So we decided to keep an eye out when we landed at Narita to see which option was most appealing on arrival.

So we exit customs, get cash at an ATM, and then immediately see two counters selling these bus transfers to Tokyo Station. And the bus picks you up right outside the doors. And they could get us on one leaving in 20 minutes. And it was less than $10 pp. SOLD.

We were the only western tourists on the bus (this means it was quiet). It was comfortable and clean, obviously. They stored my bigger bag under the coach and pulled it off for me when we got to the station. This couldn’t have been easier, and considering it’s around a 40-mile trip I think the cost was a steal. I might preach bus coach over Narita Express forever.

When we disembarked from the bus we got our first clue that Google Maps for walking directions in Japan is just annoying. #iykyk But after a few false starts we started the walk to our hotel which was about a mile away. Tokyo streets are largely what I think you’d imagine – clean and orderly. Every single person waits for the cross signal before they cross a street. Every, single, person. The thing that caught me off guard the most was how few cars are driving on the road. This is one of the biggest megacities in the world and they must have fewer cars then Seattle. I know it’s expensive to drive there, and they have great transit, but it still struck me. Like I texted a friend during our trip, “I knew they were better than us, but now I know it know it.”

So the walk to the hotel was easy, but it was hot. Like hot and humid, muggy, sweaty, yucky hot. I kinda wish I had a wheelie bag at that point instead of my pack. So entering our hotel to a wave of frigid A/C air was heaven.

We stayed at the Hotel Villa Fontaine Hatchobori (they have several locations). I don’t remember exactly why I chose this one. I wanted a hotel walking distance to Tokyo Station for day trips, it was less than $100/night, and the reviews were decent. We prepaid $595.71 for 7 nights, including taxes, and including a $69.63 rewards credit we had on Expedia. I failed to take photos of the hotel and the room, but the photos on their website and Google are accurate. First impressions were great, and I’ll write about our overall stay when we check out on the 12th.

We unpacked somewhat quickly. Well, kind of. Not only was the room small (to be expected in Japan) but there wasn’t much in the way of furniture to unpack very well. But we made it work. We then set off the two blocks to a recommendation from Cakes With Faces, a chain yakitori restaurant called Torikizoku that uses iPads for ordering that you can toggle to English. Keeping it easy on our first jetlagged night. Well they were full and we didn’t have a reservation. Another time, then!

I was getting hangry so we stopped into the infamous Japanese 7-11 to grab snacks, head back to the hotel and regroup for a new dinner plan. This is where my love of konbini egg salad sandwiches was born. I started to Google a new dinner plan and we both just realized we were exhausted and would be happy with just another konbini run and an early night. So we set out again and this time found our first Family Mart. Like everyone else says, why can’t we have these in the US?

While Scott was showering I decided to see what was on Japanese TV. I noticed that they tend to have a lot of writing on their screens. There’s also a lot of big cute energy. And then there’s the show where a panel of people on a TV stage were watching and reacting to nighttime videos of cats navigating around their sleeping owners?

Goodnight, Tokyo. I look forward to getting to know you better. Sweet dreams.

Thursday, July 4, 2024

I can think of no better way to celebrate US Independence Day than by leaving it. I was ready to be independent and free of this shitshow situation, most effectively displayed in our presidential contest that was in full swing. My people have the shortest memories, I swear.

We booked our flights for Japan at Christmas, so this had been a long time coming! We had gone through several rounds of obsessive YouTube travel vlogger binging, I think three different Air Canada changes of itineraries/planes/seats to our original purchase, and some last minute oh shit I think I should grab a few more ideas from the interwebs on what to see what to eat what to do. But the morning was finally upon us!

We had a 10:40 am flight and left the apartment at 7:00 am. We did our usual walk a block > take a bus > walk a block > take the light rail commute to the airport for $3.25 each. Typically this is a very, very smooth transportation option, but this time we had a technical issue on the light rail and had to switch trains mid-route. But we left plenty of time and the transit people did an awesome job so it was no biggie. When we arrived at the SeaTac station I did my usual grumbling of “WHY DIDN’T THEY PUT IN A MOVING SIDEWALK BETWEEN THE LIGHT RAIL STATION AND THE TERMINAL AT SEATAC?!?!?!” So stupid.

TSA was a long line but it was fine. We found our way to the Concourse A Priority Pass Lounge and wow, terrible. Crowded, a couple of sad snack options, and WOW NO COFFEE? I think they’re overwhelmed by how many of us commoners have access now.

So now is where I will explain my travel day stress and how it all ultimately worked out fine (of course it worked out fine, see below). When we bought the flights back in December, our layover in Vancouver (YVR) was 2 hours. One of the itinerary changes by Air Canada along the way was to reduce that layover to one hour. Then they also moved our seats from the front of the plane to the back of the plane, apparently because they combined two flights and well, someone has to lose and why wouldn’t it be the people that booked 6 months ago? And then when we got to the gate that morning we learned that our Air Canada flight departure out of Seattle was delayed 20 minutes. If we missed our connection in YVR to Tokyo it wasn’t like there was another one just a few hours later. I didn’t like this.

What fixed my mood was when we got on the plane we figured out that there were maybe a dozen people or so that were also connecting to the Tokyo flight in YVR. They wouldn’t abandon all of us, right??? Yeah, it all worked out fine (see above). The transition through YVR was short and quick, they held the plane for us, and I think maybe for even another connecting flight because we were sitting on the plane for a bit before we pulled away.

The 10 hour flight in economy was just fine. I slept for maybe an hour, the movie selection was yuge, and the inflight meals weren’t bad. For some reason I didn’t want to pull out my knitting project. I would like to forget the midflight massive hot flash that I think was triggered by the free red wine. And I would ask Air Canada to rethink passing out hundreds of tuna fish sandwiches as a mid-flight snack.

Sunday, May 5, 2024

Some life updates… neurodiversity, retirement planning, summer plans, travel plans (x2):

The Trendy Diagnosis

My suspected ADHD brain actually let me follow through on a goal I’ve had for awhile now. I got evaluated and officially diagnosed, so I am now a confirmed ADHDer! I also worked with a nurse practitioner to figure out the right medication and dosage for me.

Can I tell you that Adderall is a game changer for me? To folks unfamiliar with the ADHD brain this is going to make me sound unwell, but Adderall makes the voices in my head go away. I no longer have a continuous narrative loop in my mind telling me everything I should be doing and that I’m a loser for not doing all of the things. I also sleep a lot less, which has been a bit of an emotional adjustment since I really loved excess sleep. I think I loved it because it was the only time I couldn’t hear my narrator. But now when my mind turns on at 6:00 or 7:00 am I’m learning to accept it and not fight it.

And being on Adderall reminds me of when I first got on Bupropion (aka Wellbutrin) for depression – it didn’t cure my disorder, but gave me the mental room I needed make the life changes necessary to squash my ever-imposing chronic depression, and eventually get off the medication. Not a quick solution at all – I started that medication in 2011 or 2012, and stopped it just last year. So far with the Adderall support I’m learning about time blindness, and managing ebbs and flows of energy, and creating routines, and learning how to work through an all-or-nothing mindset. Maybe someday I can do these things without the pharmaceutical support, but I’m not in a rush.

FIRE-ing

Thanks to Uncle Joe a bunch more months counted towards my student loan forgiveness and moved up that timeline.

And the accounts keep growing. It’s starting to feel real that we are going to be able to start that full-time travel thing in the next couple/few years. So we have followed through and hired a fee-only financial planning company to help us sort out some details and learn some nuts and bolts. Scott has been sending them our information and was told he might have the best spreadsheet they’ve ever seen. That made Scott’s year, I think. We have a big 4-hour session in a couple of weeks to see what advice they have.

Summer Side Hustle

I will be “working” for a few days at the start of summer break. It’s 5 days. It includes field trips, and a baseball game, and two meals at a couple of Seattle’s best restaurants. I get to hang out with international visitors. I’ll be getting a paycheck. This seems too good to be true.

Another Country

We have a trip to Japan booked for July. Even though we aren’t full-time travelers yet, we still prefer slow travels on our trips. So instead of following a typical recommendation for a two week itinerary to catch a train to a new overnight stay every 2-3 nights, we are spending 7 nights in Tokyo and 9 nights in Kyoto. Those two locations have a lifetime of things to see in and of themselves, plus there are lots of day trip options from each. We know we will love Japan and want to return, so why try to cram everything into one trip? We shall move slow and smell the tea. Except when we are driving these.

I Prefer to Call Them Boats, I Don’t Care What People Say

A stranger (maybe a cruise employee I can’t remember) actually verbally corrected me when I called the vessel we were on last summer a “boat”. Cruise people are so weird. They get offended when you don’t call it a “ship”. Get over yourselves. Plus, when you have a (copied) Midwest accent it’s way more fun to say “boat” than “ship”.

We have an Alaska cruise booked for a week in August. I’ve only been to Anchorage on a short work trip before. Scott has been on three cruises before, including one last year that he did without me. First of all, we are not codependent and know how to enjoy ourselves apart. Second, he had vacation time he had to use up and I couldn’t take time off at the beginning of the school year. Third, he brought me home souvenir stickers and scouted yarn shops for me. So, anyway, this year I am going on one with him. It’s a week, and we don’t have to fly anywhere to catch it. We can take the bus or even walk if we want. Scott is treating me by paying for an upgrade to a balcony cabin AND we are going to buy thermal suite passes. This will not be a repeat of my bad attitude on the cruise last summer.

Thursday, August 10, 2023

Airalo. Yes. Technology that makes traveling so much easier. And it’s affordable.

I’m starting to hit those middle-aged years where I find myself avoiding learning new technology. When I was a corporate manager I had some older staff that I inherited and they would drag their heels when we upgraded software and it would drive me insane. But now I’m that older staff. Thankfully I work for a governmental organization now, so software upgrades aren’t really a thing.

But I’m dragging in personal life, too. I still haven’t tried any AI tools yet. I tried ChatGPT, had some static trying to set up my login, and then just quit and said fuck it. And even though I primarily use Instagram (which also is lately considered for “old people”), I still miss Facebook because honestly it had (and still has) easier usability. And just this week for the first time am I actively trying to change my habit of pulling out my debit/credit cards and instead using my Apple Pay. #boomerlife

So what inspired me to be such a trendsetter, you ask??? I can’t sleep on airplanes > I get off the airplane and I’m a zombie > the last thing I can/want to do is figure out where in the airport I can buy a SIM card > if I can figure it out I don’t have the brain power to figure out what to buy and manage that process. So, eSIMs to the rescue, and totally worth the new knowledge in my Swiss cheese brain.

Side note, I just wondered what SIM stands for and Googled it. Subscriber Identity Module. I never would have guessed that. Sounds like something from a dystopian future like Black Mirror.

I’m sure I learned about eSIMs and Airalo from a travel blogger/vlogger out there but can’t remember who. But huge thank you to them.

At first I was sure my phone was too old for this. I still have an iPhone XR. I’m old and I’m frugal so I don’t get new phones until I have to. But they have a great list on their website of which devices are compatible, and I was a winner.

Next I saw how cheap the coverage was for our next upcoming trip (that Iceland and Greenland trip we just finished). Iceland (our first stop) was $7.50 for 15 days worth of coverage (up to 2GB). And I found a referral code online that gave me $3 off my first purchase. So even if the whole thing sucked I wasn’t out much.

Then I dug around the internet and found reviews where people detailed their first experiences. Almost everyone said they had a hard time setting their eSIM up correctly the first time. The tips were to be in a stable WIFI environment for awhile when you set up your first one (like your hotel), turn your phone off/on after you download the eSIM, and to use the customer service link in the app to chat/message for help. So that’s what I did. Unfortunately in Reykjavik we were in an entirely off time zone for an active back and forth chat, but when I woke up in the morning I had gotten the answers from the customer service rep and was able to complete the setup.

By the time we got to Greenland I remembered everything from the Iceland setup experience and was able to complete my Greenland setup without the extra help. Quick and easy.

And zero complaints about the coverage in those two countries. Worked great. Even when we were on a cruise ship within view of land in Greenland I could get coverage!

The only thing that didn’t work seamlessly for me was SMS texting. Some yes, some no. I imagine it has something to do with Apple? I don’t know. But I could use WhatsApp at all times, so good enough.

So yeah, try it. Use STACY6621 for your referral code to get your own $3 off.

Now go enjoy some travels and GET OFF MY LAWN!

Monday, July 24, 2023

This is the day we traveled home from Reykjavik, so here’s the post-mortem on this trip.

The Wins

Scott still wins as best travel partner I could ever hope for or dream of. I am so, so lucky to have him as my life partner.

Reykjavik is a lovely city. I’m really glad we had some time here before and after, with the bonus day due to the cruise itinerary change. I don’t think it’s a candidate for a long-term stay during retirement but when we come back for a road trip we will definitely budget in some time here again – maybe a week? We love a city stay where we don’t feel the need for a car.

Both of our Reykjavik hotels were good and the breakfast buffets made us smile. Unless I could get a similar rate at a hotel up by Laugavegur, I would stay at the Storm Hotel again for sure. And using travel hacking/Hilton AmEx points to get a free stay at the Hilton was a big win.

Another food tour FTW! Wake Up Reykjavik knocked this out of the park. Highly recommended to anyone that will listen. This is the post where I detail what we did.

In addition to the hotel breakfast buffets and the food tour we also had good food and beverage experiences around town. I’m looking at you, Einstok, Te & Kaffi, Icelandic Street Food, Bastard, and Bjor Gardurinn.

Walking to/from the cruise port worked out really well for us on this trip. Obviously it saved us some money but there is so much sitting on a cruise that the walks also just felt really good. This won’t be a realistic option in a lot of cases, but in this situation the city’s walking culture, the weather, and the hotel locations made it work well.

Renting a car in Akureyri was the right call. Super simple and convenient to the cruise port (the Avis/Budget office) and we had a fantastic day of freedom in the countryside! Godafoss was a highlight of this trip. And I learned that driving on Route 1 aka the Ring Road is super easy – well signed, well paved. Well, at least the section we did that day. Confidence for a future Ring Road trip boosted! Here’s the post about that day.

The ATV tour we did in Isafjordur has put ATV tours on our radar for future vacations. We had so much fun! This is the post where I detail what we did.

I saw icebergs for the first time ever thanks to Greenland. Epic. The first picture is horrible because it was a frantic “THIS IS MY FIRST ICEBERG EVER!!!” photo, but keep scrolling the rest are better.

Overall the weather on this trip was better than we could have hoped for, with loads of sunny days and pleasant walking weather. We had that rain on our Nanortalik port stop day, and high winds kept us out of Djupivogur. Climate change made us miss two stops in Greenland. But overall I think we just really lucked out since all of our days in Reykjavik were super pleasant for long meandering walks, and on the day of our ATV tour in Isafjordur the tour guide said it was the best weather he had seen all summer.

Airalo FTW! I’m going to do a post about this app for eSims eventually, but this was my first time trying it and it was fantastic. The coverage was inexpensive – I paid $4.50 (incl. $3 off for first time user with a referral code) for Iceland for 15 days/2 GB and $8.10 for Greenland for 7 days/1 GB. And if we were on the boat and sitting next to a window with view of land the coverage actually worked from the boat! My referral code is STACY6621 if you want to try it and get your own $3 off. But more details to follow in a future post…

The Lessons Learned

I learned a lot about how I can make cruising work better for me in the future. I anticipate we will be on a cruise ship at least once a year for the rest of our lives, so this knowledge is good to accumulate. There will always be a bit of a discomfort just because I’m so introverted, but I know I can figure out how to enjoy them since I do love me some down time.

Unless there’s some sort of extenuating circumstance, I doubt we will ever go on the Norwegian Star (or any other Dawn class ships) again. Looking back on it I think my main complaint was the minimal natural light anywhere inside the ship. The windows felt small. And the sea weather wasn’t good for any outside time. It just felt crowded and claustrophobic.

We should have spent the money on Thermal Suite passes. In the moment the extra $500 felt like a lot, but considering the lack of natural light in the ship, how crowded everywhere felt, and the extra sea days I think it would have helped a lot to have these lounge chairs available (not my photo).

Although I’m a knitter which is the best downtime hobby in the world (I’ll fight you), I need to have more downtime hobbies because cruising is a lot of downtime. Especially if you’re introverted and a bit snobby when it comes to typical onboard entertainment offerings. My ADHD is pretty bad so reading books is like impossible. I could use downtime to be better about keeping up on this blogging hobby. I could. But what else can I get into with minimal packing needs that could hold my attention? Maybe Scott and I should learn how to play cribbage and a couple of other card games.

Next time I will take a closer look at the cancellation policies of any tours/activities we book for cruise ports if they are booked with a local operator (i.e., not thru the cruise excursions). We completely just lucked out this time that the kayaking operator in Djupivogur refunded all of our money when that port was cancelled due to weather.

I learned that I don’t think I like geothermal hot springs because of the smell. I think I’m willing to try one more time at another location to make sure, though.

Next Time Cruising

I’m very glad that whenever we cruise next with NCL we will have Platinum status. This will get us priority embarkation (which should improve my mood that day) and priority tender boat boarding (never again with a 3 hour wait to get off the ship). We will also get a free bag of laundry and an extra specialty dining meal.

On all future cruises I will be looking more closely at the common areas that are available on the ship. And I need natural light! We’ve begun looking at doing an Alaska cruise next summer, and the NCL Bliss has this observation lounge that looks perfect.

Unless it’s a particularly scenic cruise (like Alaska maybe) I’ll be fine with booking a cheaper interior cabin again. Especially if I book a Thermal Suite pass like I plan to on all future cruises. Again, the NCL Bliss seems to have what I’m looking for…

Next Time in Iceland

We definitely want to go back and spend more time on land in Iceland. That will likely look like a Ring Road trip with a side quest up to the Westfjords. Previous to this trip I assumed we would want to do a campervan trip but now that I’ve experienced the cold and the wind even in a warm summer month, I’m thinking this will be more of a road trip with scattered hotel stays. Being able to get warm every night and have hot showers will increase my interest in all of the outdoor exploration – hiking, kayaking, etc. – that Iceland really deserves. This next Iceland trip will probably happen post-retirement so we don’t feel rushed, and when we can again stack up points and miles for flights and hotel stays.

Overall Rating… Great trip! I’m glad I memorialized it here for future reminiscing. Peace out from Keflavik airport on our way home.

Sunday, July 23, 2023

This was Scott’s birthday! We made sure to book an extra night at the end of our cruise in town so he wasn’t spending his birthday traveling home from a vacay – how depressing is that?

We disembarked our cruise in Reykjavik with a plan to take a city bus to our hotel. But I failed to take into account that this was a Sunday and we would have had to wait an hour for the bus by the time we got to the stop. And we are too frugal to spend inflated prices on a taxi. So instead we walked the 2 miles dragging our luggage. But the weather was pleasant and the route was really pretty along the coastline trail.

Since we didn’t have any more Hilton points, I opted to book us in a local hotel called Storm Hotel for our outgoing night. Kind of on the outskirts of what I would call super centrally located, but definitely much closer to the action than the Hilton was. I failed to take any room pictures but this was definitely a great choice (bravo to me). Very clean, modern, quiet. Modest-sized room but this wasn’t a place we were going to hang out for long periods of time. Nice breakfast buffet – it couldn’t possibly compare to the Hilton’s buffet, but it was certainly good. Highly recommended.

We wandered a bit around town including another stop at Te & Kaffi – we loved their food treats!

We took a long walk out to visit the dedicated Omnom shop, which we thought was going to be like a big flagship store with free samples but ultimately we could have gotten the same selection at a lot of tourist shops around town. The chocolate was… ok. Still a lovely souvenir option for folks back home, largely due to the lovely packaging and portability.

We had lunch at Icelandic Street Food. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Soups were super yummy, affordable, and you got free refills! We were very very happy here. Scott’s even smiling at a receipt, and that isn’t normal.

After wandering around town for awhile and refreshing at the hotel, we hit up 3 spots to celebrate my man’s birthday.

First, Bjor Gardurinn which happened to be on the ground floor of the hotel across the street from our own. This is totally our jam. Large list of taps (mostly local, including their own house beer), lovely environment, and we got a brie snack. Again, highly recommended.

We, of course, had to make another stop at Einstok. We were so thrilled that their Reykjavik tap house is as lovely as their beers (more photos in yesterday’s post). Please start distributing in Washington State!

Finally, Bastard Brew & Food. Yes, I know that doesn’t sound very Icelandic. But they also had a great tap list, and check out these beautiful flatbreads!

We ended the night taking advantage of a hotel perk – a free beer. Happy birthday, my love.

Friday, July 21, 2023

OK, last sea day. We can do this. Tomorrow we get an extra day in Reykjavik, we can stretch our legs, and feel a little less like a pig in a trough.

But honestly, how can any day with this man be a tough one? He tried two new drinks today based on my recommendation for what I thought he might like: a lemon drop and a Midori sour. He’s got a sweet tooth but seems to handle this salty woman just fine.

And besides, Scott went ahead and defied the odds and won money at a slot machine on a cruise ship today. I guess our hotel bill in Oaxaca is gonna be just about covered!

Thursday, July 20, 2023

Originally, today was our port stop for Nuuk, Greenland. Then Plan B was to go into a fjord/glacier situation and then another smaller town south. Then Plan C was to skip the fjord and just go into the smaller today today. Well, ummm… not. The vast drift ice and currents just weren’t on our side. The captain said that they looked back at charts for the last 10 years and this is the worst year they’ve seen. I was disappointed that we had to miss Nuuk as it’s the capital and we had a full day planned there including a whale watching tour, a local yarn shop, and a brewery. Ugh.

Since the failure of the original itinerary, Plan B, and Plan C we are at a count of 5/10 sea days on a cruise that was originally supposed to be 3/10 sea days. But some good news in the mix… the captain is going to head back to Reykjavik a day early for an added shore day, so instead of 6/10 sea days we will stay at 5/10 sea days. Yes, we should have paid for the thermal suite on day 1 (or when booking, honestly).

At this point our sea days are pretty monotonous… sleep in, eat 2-3 meals at O’Sheehan’s, have a drink or two at Proof Whiskey Bar, have a drink or two at Gatsby’s, spend a little money on the slot machines in the casino, do some reading/knitting/spreadsheet work.

But Scott’s a happy boy on a cruise ship, generally. It’s his favorite way to travel. He says, “you can do as much or as little as you want”. It’s not my favorite way to travel, but there are appealing things about it when it’s set up right. So I’m going to consider this trip a learning opportunity, and we’ve already started talking about how we will plan cruises for the future. And since my love enjoys them so much, I can’t exactly call it a burden to plan one a year into our vacation planning. I mean… boo hoo for me, right?

And since my partner is so loving and easy going he’s fine with the types of things we are talking about to make future cruise trips work for both of us. For example, I will investigate the ship we are considering booking in a little more detail and make sure it has plenty of space and quiet areas for me to do my introversion thing in. And I will likely book us thermal suite passes on future trips. I used to think I would need a balcony room to make me super happy, but after this cruise in an interior cabin I think I’m ok with trading the cost of a balcony cabin for the cost of the thermal suite. We also have NCL status racking up, so within a couple more cruises we will have the status that gets you priority boarding and tender boat access (this means less lines for me to wither in), not to mention a free bag of laundry.

I think the NCL Bliss has our name on it for next summer…

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Today was supposed to be Paamiut, Greenland. But mother nature says no.

It was pretty early in the day that the captain came over the intercom system to let everyone know we would not be stopping at Paamiut today due to weather and difficulties navigating the drift ice surrounding the port. So today was a sea day, but I couldn’t be too sad with these awesome views.

The new plan is to travel up a fjord to see a glacier tomorrow, and likely replace the port of Nuuk with Qaqortuk. Bummer I will have to miss the yarn shop in Nuuk! But c’est la vie!