Sunday, July 21, 2024

Thanks to the magic of time zones we managed to live two days between waking up at 6:30 am in Kyoto on June 21st and walking through our front door in Seattle about 4:00 pm, also somehow on June 21st.

To make sure we had the seats we wanted for our transit between Kyoto and Tokyo – two together on the 2-seat side – we had purchased our shinkansen tickets on Friday. Even then we couldn’t find them in the 8:00 am hour of departure in a regular class car. So we sprung for the fancier “Green” car. Mr. Keeper of the Spreadsheet said it was nominally more and not a problem.

We checked out of the lovely Tune Stay hotel about 7:15 am to walk over to Kyoto Station and catch our 8:13 am train. Bless Scott for carrying one of my bags – the one stuffed with evidence of my Japan shopping weakness. We had free checked bags for the flights home, so I consoled myself with that.

Our experience in the Green car was fine and we were glad we tried it, but in the end we decided it wasn’t worth extra money in the future. We will know on future Japan trips to book seats further in advance so we can be picky about their location, but otherwise we are perfectly content in a standard reserved seat. It’s Japan… transit is always clean and comfortable!

Although we had been thoroughly happy with our cheaper (and honestly more convenient) coach bus transfer from the airport to central Tokyo back when we arrived, we wanted to try the Narita Express option since it is so popular. During pre-trip research I had found a tip to get off of the shinkansen from Kyoto in Shinagawa instead of Tokyo because walking to the Narita Express was shorter and easier in the smaller station. Excellent tip! The walks in Shinagawa Station from the shinkansen to the Narita Express ticket counter, and then to the Narita Express platform were very short. We waited about 20 minutes on the platform then found our reserved seats for the ~1 hour ride to the airport.

We are nerds and were several hours early for our flight, and had to wait a bit for bag check to open. Normally we are carry-on only type people, so this whole extra step was annoying. To pass the time we took turns browsing the shops outside security because we definitely needed to be buying more Japan things. After bag check and security we found our way to the Priority Pass lounge. I was a bit apprehensive because online reviews were horrible. But I was pleasantly surprised – we found seats without issue and there was a little food buffet. Free food and drinks in airports is one of the ways we justify that VentureX annual fee.

The flights home on Air Canada were fine. Nine hours to Vancouver + easy and stress-free connection + one hour to Seattle. I was thankful to not have a repeat of the layover stress from our outbound trip and that they didn’t pass out hundreds of tuna fish sandwiches again. Seattle transit home for $3 each, and then we walked into our home sweet home to love on our Zoe girl who we missed very, very much.

Yeah, didn’t really take any blog-worthy photos during our travel day(s), but a pic of Zoe is always worth a million others.

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.