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The reason why those routes don't take you to your hotel is because Odawara is the closest you can get with the JR pass. You'll need to pay out of pocket for the remainder of the journey because the trains there aren't JR.
Zettace fucked around with this message at 05:03 on Sep 18, 2023 |
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Sep 18, 2023 04:57
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Why do they call it the romance car?
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Sep 18, 2023 05:20
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Zettace posted:The reason why those routes don't take you to your hotel is because Odawara is the closest you can get with the JR pass. You'll need to pay out of pocket for the remainder of the journey because the trains there aren't JR. Yeah I know that and that's fine since it's just a few bucks, but I'd like to get the majority covered with the pass since I factored that into buying it. Just want to make sure I'm doing things right and what the common method is, plus how to actually reserve.
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Sep 18, 2023 05:23
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I would blow Dane Cook posted:Why do they call it the romance car? Hakone is supposed to be a romantic getaway spot, and it's the dedicated train going there. As far as I know there's nothing unusual about the car itself, but that's secondhand knowledge from my Japanese friend.
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Sep 18, 2023 05:58
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Maybe the JR passes are overrated. As it turns out, Japan has so many railway companies that are not JR, that it just doesn't make sense unless you can get everywhere you need on a Shinkansen, and want to move hotel every two days. I just got home from a 3 week trip, with 6 different lodgings booked, and that was a few too many for me. None of the rail passes, neither national nor regional, made sense for what I wanted to do.
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Sep 18, 2023 06:09
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Akratic Method posted:Hakone is supposed to be a romantic getaway spot, and it's the dedicated train going there. As far as I know there's nothing unusual about the car itself, but that's secondhand knowledge from my Japanese friend.
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Sep 18, 2023 06:19
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So there’s a romance car for romancing like there’s a smoking car for smoking?
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Sep 18, 2023 09:16
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KingKapalone posted:Yeah I know that and that's fine since it's just a few bucks, but I'd like to get the majority covered with the pass since I factored that into buying it. Just want to make sure I'm doing things right and what the common method is, plus how to actually reserve. Well the reason why it's giving you wacky routes is because the JR pass is causing you to take a wacky route. Just follow that the website says I guess. You can bring your route to a JR midori no madoguchi and show them the route and they'll reserve anything that needs reserving.
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Sep 18, 2023 09:19
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I would blow Dane Cook posted:So there’s a romance car for romancing like there’s a smoking car for smoking? IIRC they introduced semi-private "saloon" seats a few years back. Then covid happened.
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Sep 18, 2023 09:48
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Waltzing Along posted:There is no joy quite like going to 711 and buying an egg samich and paying for it in 1 yen coins. peanut posted:Put them in temple/shrine donation boxes.
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Sep 18, 2023 09:53
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I would blow Dane Cook posted:Why do they call it the romance car? This train fucks
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Sep 18, 2023 12:41
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Going to start looking for flight stuff I think and was curious if any of y'all used like a AAA travel agent to do this or just went on your own with like Priceline and such haha. My last out of country trips were school related ones (not counting a 3 day job interview stay in Toronto like 12 years ago).
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Sep 18, 2023 17:13
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Charles 2 of Spain posted:It's actually because of the type of seats they have which don't have an armrest between them.  I honestly don't think I would have even noticed that if I rode the car.
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Sep 18, 2023 17:14
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Good Listener posted:Going to start looking for flight stuff I think and was curious if any of y'all used like a AAA travel agent to do this or just went on your own with like Priceline and such haha. Book direct whenever possible my dude
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Sep 18, 2023 20:27
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Virtue posted:Book direct whenever possible my dude That checks tbh haha.I'll start looking at JAL or ANA later. Thanks~
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Sep 18, 2023 22:08
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If you get a refund on the Suica, does that turn the card back into them? Can you keep the card but get the money off of it? edit: also back to my booking shinkansen tickets/seats with JR Pass. Should I just know roughly when we hope to get on one and buy them right at the station before we go? We would need them next week Tuesday, Wed, Friday, and Sunday all in the mid-morning probably. KingKapalone fucked around with this message at 22:45 on Sep 18, 2023 |
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Sep 18, 2023 22:11
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Zip air is expanding their routes from Narita to LAX to include San Francisco, San Jose, Honolulu, Singapore, Manila, Bangkok and Seoul.
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Sep 18, 2023 22:55
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If you are in Hakone please go have a curry lunch in Cocoro. I miss it alongside every place in Japan serving tsukemen.
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Sep 19, 2023 19:12
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Is there a way to see if a Suica card is still active before I go? I have it set up on my phone which I'll be using, but I have an old Suica card from previous trips that I was going to give to one of the people coming along for whom it'll be their first time going. I can't remember if I did the physical to digital transfer on that card, but at the very least it has a different last four digits. It'd be handy to know if I can pass this along or if we'll need to sort out a different travel card for them.
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Sep 20, 2023 09:22
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Question Mark Mound posted:Is there a way to see if a Suica card is still active before I go? I've got an old Pasmo card I was planning on using, it would be nice to know if its also still good. I think its been said its good for 10 years and mine is like 7 years old so I SHOULD be good. I did download an app on android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.mediavrog.ic_card_expensetracker&pcampaignid=web_share that can let you check the card's balance and since it still says I have money on it, I hope that means wherever its pulling that info from considers it still active, but who knows?
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Sep 20, 2023 12:37
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The current balance and recent transactions are all stored directly on the card's chip itself, the app only needs to read directly from the card to show that data. The systems are designed to be usable by terminals that are only intermittently online. The card issuer will also have a database with trusted data on the transactions etc., and payment terminals will occasionally sync to, but that's not something you can just get access to. Maybe the card also stores its issuance date and the app might be able to show that, but whether it's still actually valid can only be checked by trying to use it.
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Sep 20, 2023 13:51
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Blackchamber posted:I've got an old Pasmo card I was planning on using, it would be nice to know if its also still good. I think its been said its good for 10 years and mine is like 7 years old so I SHOULD be good.
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Sep 20, 2023 16:13
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Have a couple of itinerary gaps to fill. Heading to Japan tomorrow so any advice would be great. Bolding the areas that have questions. Friday 9/22 - Tokyo Hotel in Shinjuku Shinjuku for dinner Kabukicho Golden Gai Saturday 9/23 - Tokyo Meiji shrine Takeshita Street Lunch in Shibuya Shibuya Sky at 2:20pm Shibuya Crossing, Nintendo Store, Center Gai More stuff in Shibuya or go to Roppongi? Dinner in Roppongi If stay in Shibuya earlier, do stuff in Roppongi now? Bar Centifolia Sunday 9/24 - Tokyo Akihabara Lunch Sumo at ~2:30 Dinner? After? Monday 9/25 - Tokyo WHOLE DAY??? Jump ahead (note we have more time in Tokyo at end) Friday 9/29 - Osaka Arrive at hotel in Namba Might need lunch What to do in afternoon? Dotonbori at night Saturday 9/30 - Osaka Worth going to Himeji Castle or Nara? Just do Osaka stuff? 6pm Orix Buffaloes baseball game Kyocera Dome Osaka Dotonbori again? Sunday 10/1 - Tokyo Get to Ginza hotel Lunch in Tsukiji Outer Market Maybe shopping TeamLab Planets late afternoon - haven't bought tickets yet, seen some opinions that it's getting nasty Yurikamome train across Rainbow Bridge around dusk Ginza steak (all you can eat wagyu) for dinner? Monday October 2 Senso-ji Temple Asakusa area - snacks and souvenirs Ueno Park Should that all be done on the free day up above? Lunch Depart HND 4:20pm
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Sep 20, 2023 22:58
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When you say "Shinjuku for dinner" you should go to Omoide Yokocho specifically
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Sep 20, 2023 23:32
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We have reservations that we can always cancel at a shabu shabu place but they're at 7pm so I'm thinking we'll need snacks beforehand regardless so this looks great, thanks. Also are there omokase sushi places that don't need a reservation? We haven't chosen all our meal spots but I don't think I have many if any of those saved to my big Google list so recommendations for that would be nice too. Ideally they aren't crazy expensive but maybe that's a given. KingKapalone fucked around with this message at 00:38 on Sep 21, 2023 |
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Sep 21, 2023 00:30
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Depending on where you’re flying from, the jet lag is gonna hit, so nightlife the first two nights might be…optimistic. That looks like a healthy itinerary already. Just leave the time to follow your nose and whimsy and see more around those areas. No need to ever get to Roppongi early.
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Sep 21, 2023 03:48
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Welp finally got step one completed. Booked for next July 9th - 23rd for me and roomie. Now to look into hotels and stuff~ Realized in the middle of our stay is Marine Day which I had forgotten so..I guess we get to celebrate that?
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Sep 21, 2023 04:16
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For the 23rd and 24th,just be aware that if you arrive at Takeshita st or Akihabara before 11 am, a large number of the shops will still be closed. If you want to explore them in detail it's better to use an afternoon for it. That goes for lots of shopping areas in general. Meanwhile, temples and shrines can be good to place in the morning. As an anecdote, I had a good experience placing a half day trip to Nara from Osaka in the morning. nielsm fucked around with this message at 04:58 on Sep 21, 2023 |
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Sep 21, 2023 04:55
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nielsm posted:For the 23rd and 24th,just be aware that if you arrive at Takeshita st or Akihabara before 11 am, a large number of the shops will still be closed. If you want to explore them in detail it's better to use an afternoon for it. That goes for lots of shopping areas in general. Meanwhile, temples and shrines can be good to place in the morning. drat that was the intention. We'll probably be up early those first two days from jet lag too. Can't imagine we'd spend too much time at Meiji that first day assuming we got there at like 8:30.
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Sep 21, 2023 05:08
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It can be an experience to arrive a bit before 10 and then see the area spring to life between 10-12 though.
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Sep 21, 2023 05:14
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What's a good amount of cash to have on hand/have on a suica card? Not sure how often I want to hit up the atms but don't really have a good idea what walking around money is. Also starting to panic about my passport, wife received hers but mine has been processing since May with no updates. Now have my local congress rep involved and calling at 5am right when they open for appointments. 
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Sep 21, 2023 06:32
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I just topped up with 2000 yen each time I was running low. If you only use it for local transit then you won't need much on it, and it can suck having too much money locked onto the card.
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Sep 21, 2023 07:31
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Does it matter which website you look at to book hotels? I have been using booking.com
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Sep 21, 2023 11:12
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Booking.com has easy cancellation, I use it often. Otherwise, sometimes google maps + booking direct on the hotel website lets you find more hotels.
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Sep 21, 2023 11:54
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These days I book directly most of the time. I booked everything directly for our Japan trip in a couple of weeks.
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Sep 21, 2023 12:41
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I’ve always used Booking since I’ve lived here. No issues.
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Sep 21, 2023 12:46
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Looking at people's itineraries makes me feel ill-prepared. We have a rough framework, the hotels are all booked, a couple of things over a two-week period are reserved, but otherwise, we have a bucket of things we want to do and plan on just pulling from that bucket when we feel like it. It's like 80% food-related.
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Sep 21, 2023 13:06
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Counterpoint: fully pre-planned vacation itineraries are serial killer poo poo especially when they include actual to-the-minute timings, unless you have to do specific things on specific days because that’s the day of that particular thing just turn up wherever and do whatever.
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Sep 21, 2023 13:10
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It's different ways to have a trip. I find stopwatch tourism to be extremely unfun but some people prefer to have a daily agenda in 5 minute increments. You do you, but don't expect me to come along with your spreadsheet odyssey if I wander into something interesting.
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Sep 21, 2023 13:18
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Few questions about the JR site I am already in Japan, do I mark my arrival as the port I was issued my visa (HND) earlier this month, even though I want to exchange at Hiroshima in October? I'm assuming they are matching stamps. Is Hiroshima JR offices big enough to not have a meltdown when I want to exchange? My little Yasugi station told me to go one city over and a friend told me Matsue station also had meltdown when someone wanted to buy a JRPass there, even though the JR site lists them as an exchange location. I'd like to save ~$70 from courier services. A $38 shipping fee is a rip with this company:https://www.japanrailpass-reservation.net/ cheese eats mouse fucked around with this message at 14:16 on Sep 21, 2023 |
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Sep 21, 2023 14:14
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