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Travel Planning Part 2
Monday, 6 February 2023 23:37 OMG! LOL!
A friend was interested in joining my London trip but is still on the fence undecided because of her passport issues and also I didn't score the cheap tickets. I did some "flexible dates searching" and managed to find days with a better and more reasonable price on BA. I wanted to buy the tickets already, but since this friend is a scaredy cat kind of gal, she wants to do things together, so I placed a deposit to hold the price. I told her my deadline is tomorrow and no matter what I will issue the tickets tomorrow. If she decides later than me to go then we can get her ticket separately. I kind of think she'll get a better price. After I placed the deposit for the price freeze, I saw Cathay Pacific had an even lower price (WTF!) but with 1 day difference.
Anyway, the price freeze will end tomorrow and I'll issue the ticket no matter what. I am not letting another person's indecisiveness affect my enjoyment of my plans.
The only thing is that if she goes, then I've booked us an apartment studio type accommodation which is definitely better than the single room I got for myself. I kind of think I'm getting old so not feeling up to staying in dorms nor rooms with a shared bathrooms. I managed to find something with a private bathroom but I can see from the photos it's gonna be a tight fit. These two places have a free cancellation until around a week before my check in date, so I've got time to freely cancel either one.
I already got a travel pillow, it's a bit fancy that I don't have to blow it up. There's an inlaid pump thingamajig that I can pump it up by pumping it. I also got a cup sized water boiler (size of a medium sized tumbler). Ever since I saw that news article about people boiling their period-stained panties IN THE KETTLE (amongst other "Rumours-not-rumours" about hotel amenities) I was looking for a travel kettle. But I thought them all to big. I found this tumbler sized one that was just right, boils just one mug of water.
I'm still on the fence on whether to go see Oxford or Cambridge but I've already decided on one of my day trips out of London - Hastings!
The London planning has been placed on a temporary slow-down because...
Out of nowhere, I'm going to Tokyo in March LOL. My bestie scored some event ticket of whoever (band or artist or idol) she likes, so she was going there anyway. We also had a standing agreement that... we'd visit Tokyo Disneyland on the big anniversaries because we are the same age as Tokyo Disneyland... LOL So we're celebrating our 40th with Tokyo Disneyland's 40th.... and so... it was agreed, and flight tickets were bought and stuff... LOL. Split second decisions are horrible. I didn't even ask my Boss for holidays yet, but then with the minimal time difference I assume I'll just be on call and "working from out of office location" anyway, so probably I don't even need to take time off.
In my last trip to Tokyo I learned of a shop called Kakimori that sells stationary, fountain pens, and ink and such stuff. It had a subsidiary called the Ink Stand and held workshops where you can mix your own colors to make a new one-of-a-kind fountain pen ink. I wanted to do that last time already but didn't have the time. I was thinking of doing that this time, but then found out due to the whole coronavirus thing they've downsized, and Ink Stand is only opened on weekends and public holidays. Our entire trip was going to be on weekdays because my bestie has to give classes on the weekends... so I thought it was a lost cause.
Then my bestie reminded me: the day her event is held is a public holiday, so it's as good a chance as any other for us to do our separate entertainment on that day. She's going to her event at noon-ish, and I'll see later in February when they update their schedule and confirm if they are indeed open on that day and I'll book myself in for 11:00am or noon as well. We'd have a day in Tokyo Disneyland, and maybe get the afternoon or night supplement for Tokyo Disney Sea (I hear differing opinions about that, ranging from "It's boring and has nothing to really see, to, it's very nice and the parade is spectacular") depending on the time and the costs.
Then we will try to see things out of Tokyo because we're both pretty bored of Tokyo already. The prices of the flight tickets were so high (and the schedules so bad!), we couldn't justify the cost of returning from another airport (Osaka, to visit Kyoto on the way) so my friend will look for interesting places outside of Tokyo, possibly similar to Kyoto, or something more nature-y.
oh, oh, aaaaaaannnnnddddd! During the pandemic times, China sort of semi-cancelled their visitor visa things? Since they've reopened their borders, I thought to get my China visa now in case I need to make any ad hoc trips up, and decided to fill in the form for a "24-month visa". It was the standard for any Macau citizen with a permanent resident status. Then my colleague called to ask and found out they now have a "36-month visa" (for the price of a 1-month visa) for Macau permanent residents whose residency card and passport have that validity. My residency card expires in 2029 and my Austrian passport expires in 2027, so I could get the 36 month visa... if they are willing to let me amend the application when I submit it on Friday. (I couldn't amend it on the web application because I've already "submitted" it.) The thing is, on the form, it isn't a tick-box choice of "1-year, 2-year, or 3-year" visa, it was an open space of "your desired number of months"... guess they thought that out so that they can make ad hoc changes and not have to worry about the application form.
Revenge traveling is the word here LOL.
A friend was interested in joining my London trip but is still on the fence undecided because of her passport issues and also I didn't score the cheap tickets. I did some "flexible dates searching" and managed to find days with a better and more reasonable price on BA. I wanted to buy the tickets already, but since this friend is a scaredy cat kind of gal, she wants to do things together, so I placed a deposit to hold the price. I told her my deadline is tomorrow and no matter what I will issue the tickets tomorrow. If she decides later than me to go then we can get her ticket separately. I kind of think she'll get a better price. After I placed the deposit for the price freeze, I saw Cathay Pacific had an even lower price (WTF!) but with 1 day difference.
Anyway, the price freeze will end tomorrow and I'll issue the ticket no matter what. I am not letting another person's indecisiveness affect my enjoyment of my plans.
The only thing is that if she goes, then I've booked us an apartment studio type accommodation which is definitely better than the single room I got for myself. I kind of think I'm getting old so not feeling up to staying in dorms nor rooms with a shared bathrooms. I managed to find something with a private bathroom but I can see from the photos it's gonna be a tight fit. These two places have a free cancellation until around a week before my check in date, so I've got time to freely cancel either one.
I already got a travel pillow, it's a bit fancy that I don't have to blow it up. There's an inlaid pump thingamajig that I can pump it up by pumping it. I also got a cup sized water boiler (size of a medium sized tumbler). Ever since I saw that news article about people boiling their period-stained panties IN THE KETTLE (amongst other "Rumours-not-rumours" about hotel amenities) I was looking for a travel kettle. But I thought them all to big. I found this tumbler sized one that was just right, boils just one mug of water.
I'm still on the fence on whether to go see Oxford or Cambridge but I've already decided on one of my day trips out of London - Hastings!
The London planning has been placed on a temporary slow-down because...
Out of nowhere, I'm going to Tokyo in March LOL. My bestie scored some event ticket of whoever (band or artist or idol) she likes, so she was going there anyway. We also had a standing agreement that... we'd visit Tokyo Disneyland on the big anniversaries because we are the same age as Tokyo Disneyland... LOL So we're celebrating our 40th with Tokyo Disneyland's 40th.... and so... it was agreed, and flight tickets were bought and stuff... LOL. Split second decisions are horrible. I didn't even ask my Boss for holidays yet, but then with the minimal time difference I assume I'll just be on call and "working from out of office location" anyway, so probably I don't even need to take time off.
In my last trip to Tokyo I learned of a shop called Kakimori that sells stationary, fountain pens, and ink and such stuff. It had a subsidiary called the Ink Stand and held workshops where you can mix your own colors to make a new one-of-a-kind fountain pen ink. I wanted to do that last time already but didn't have the time. I was thinking of doing that this time, but then found out due to the whole coronavirus thing they've downsized, and Ink Stand is only opened on weekends and public holidays. Our entire trip was going to be on weekdays because my bestie has to give classes on the weekends... so I thought it was a lost cause.
Then my bestie reminded me: the day her event is held is a public holiday, so it's as good a chance as any other for us to do our separate entertainment on that day. She's going to her event at noon-ish, and I'll see later in February when they update their schedule and confirm if they are indeed open on that day and I'll book myself in for 11:00am or noon as well. We'd have a day in Tokyo Disneyland, and maybe get the afternoon or night supplement for Tokyo Disney Sea (I hear differing opinions about that, ranging from "It's boring and has nothing to really see, to, it's very nice and the parade is spectacular") depending on the time and the costs.
Then we will try to see things out of Tokyo because we're both pretty bored of Tokyo already. The prices of the flight tickets were so high (and the schedules so bad!), we couldn't justify the cost of returning from another airport (Osaka, to visit Kyoto on the way) so my friend will look for interesting places outside of Tokyo, possibly similar to Kyoto, or something more nature-y.
oh, oh, aaaaaaannnnnddddd! During the pandemic times, China sort of semi-cancelled their visitor visa things? Since they've reopened their borders, I thought to get my China visa now in case I need to make any ad hoc trips up, and decided to fill in the form for a "24-month visa". It was the standard for any Macau citizen with a permanent resident status. Then my colleague called to ask and found out they now have a "36-month visa" (for the price of a 1-month visa) for Macau permanent residents whose residency card and passport have that validity. My residency card expires in 2029 and my Austrian passport expires in 2027, so I could get the 36 month visa... if they are willing to let me amend the application when I submit it on Friday. (I couldn't amend it on the web application because I've already "submitted" it.) The thing is, on the form, it isn't a tick-box choice of "1-year, 2-year, or 3-year" visa, it was an open space of "your desired number of months"... guess they thought that out so that they can make ad hoc changes and not have to worry about the application form.
Revenge traveling is the word here LOL.
