Up this morning. Before the train, I wanted to accomplish 2 tasks. Get some money from an ATM. And, get breakfast from someplace that wasn’t Starbucks or a convenience store. Mission accomplished.
Next task. Find my train. At Tokyo Station. It’s not the busiest train station but it seems like it.An here’s my train. It does go fast and uses the longest undersea tunnel in the world. I would have guessed that the longest undersea tunnel was The Chunnel. Hotel #4 with view of the train station.
I get into the hotel and head out for a walk
It was 90 degrees when I left Tokyo. But it’s 75 in Hakodate.
Downtown Hakodate
I was too hungry and too tired to attack a real restaurant so I had a 7-11 dinner. Also too tired to get naked with my hotel neighbors in the onsen. In fact, I dozed off once while doing this post.
I leave you with an interesting Japanese sandwich.
Arrived in Japan after a remarkably easy 14 hour flight. Tossed right into summer Tokyo heat. And the Tokyo transit system. After a couple of false starts I get my ass on the monorail and then on the Yamamoto Line train and on to my hotel.
Hotel #3
A very nice hotel but only an air shaft for a view. However,
It has nice jammies. Think I am too tired to get into them.
I got a sandwich and coffee for dinner. Next a shower. Then early to bed. Train sometime tomorrow morning. To tired to worry about tomorrow.
0457am Newark SunriseI didn’t look too shabby when I left the hotel this morning at 0630. We’ll see how I am doing 20hours later.Hotel #2. Small accommodations but there’s room service.
Made it into my hotel room in Newark at about 4:00 p.m. and I was starved. So I proceeded to have dinner. Whole wheat croissant, brie and a banana not too shabby. picked them up at the asylum before leaving this morning. And I have a couple of chocolate chip cookies for later.
Leaving Alexandria. Thanks “Hatheway”.
The train ride was uneventful. It was delayed because of the heat but not by much.
Hotel #1. This will be the biggest room that I will have until I return to the old bat’s cave.
Maybe I should get my shoes on and go see what’s happening in exciting downtown Newark. Or even go into the city. But, that bed is looking pretty sweet right about now.
Plan on leaving for the airport 7ish tomorrow morning and hitting the Polaris Lounge for breakfast. Plane boards at 0930. Or not.
Just checking to be sure I can still update the blog from the phone. I don’t like it, but I can do it and I decided not to take my computer to Japan.
I am ready to go to Japan. All that is left on my to do list is clean up the kitchen and water the orchids.
18 pounds.
That is 13 pounds in the black bag and 5 pounds in the backpack. I can handle that and I have sturdy wheels which I hope I can use most of the time. Not much room for shopping, however. But at my age, I really shouldn’t shop. Not even for origami paper.
Granola bars!
Whenever I am going on a trip, after I have packed, I stuffed every available remaining corner with granola bars. I think I have eight granola bars in my bags today. Nothing says home and comfort to me better than a Nature Valley sweet and salty peanut granola bar. I am going to have major jetlag. Comfort will be required. Japan is 13 hours ahead of EDT. I think of it as when it is breakfast time here it’s dinner time there.
0635AM Fireworks hangover in the air this morning.
And at 4PM, it is 99°. Checked today’s forecast for Tokyo. 98° on tap there.
Today’s adventure was a visit to the dentist. I was scolded for ignoring a tooth that “needs major work” or “removal”. Been putting it off. Made an appointment for mid-August. I am going to be a snaggle-toothed old crone. (wreckage of the future thinking)
The Spork will be going to Japan. It will be more useful than another pair of granny panties.
About Fireworks.
Too hazy and damp for the big show on the Mall.
Not to mention, the telephone doesn’t take great fireworks shots. At least when I am the shooter.
But…
But, our next-door apartment building neighbors set off some fine illegal rounds.
Never mind that I had to stick my head out the window to see them. They were very close.
Last-minute fussing and cleaning up the Old Bat’s Cave on tap for tomorrow. And, I need to send a check to secure my November/December lodging in Kona. ( just trying to stay the future course )
We are having a rather somber Independence Day. Some encourage us to not give up. Keep up the fight. Some are sinking into numbed acceptance of what seems inevitable. In my case, I have no fight left. Sure, I’ll vote. And. On November 6th I’ll sign up for almost any 3rd party. No matter who wins. Because we have already lost. All of us. The French may come and repo Lady Liberty.
The last picture of Carlton and Peg together. July 4, 2014. An accidental selfie.
I am glad that Carlton missed the end of the republic. He would most likely have injured his tennis arm rattling that sword he was polishing on July 4, 2014. His last Independence Day. Damn, I love that man. Still.
Traveling while old.
Normally, when I travel, I put my drugs into little tiny plastic drug baggies. But, not when traveling to Japan. They are very fussy about drugs. You can only bring a 30 day supply into the country and they must be in their original containers. Those are my new NSAID for the hip, 3 BP drugs, and Tylenol. This is making a serious dent in my packing space.
Don’t think the weather will be very nice for fireworks tonight. But, you never know.
(It seems to me that the Blog is more responsive since I got the new SSL Certificate installed. Maybe the new one links to a better server? Don’t know.)
Ok. The SSL Cert is good for another year. And I went to a bank and tested out my debit card which doesn’t have a foreign transaction fee. Because, strangely, Japan is still pretty much a cash society.
Travel Togs
Dorky, but appropriate skirt
Damn compression socks – 2 pair
Dress
One long sleeve, one short sleeve shirt.
Two base layer shirts
Rain Jacket – stuffed into it’s own pocket
Undies
Undies
Damn compression socks
Black pants
Some kinda shoes
Base layer t-shirt
Much loved cashmere hoody for the plane and long distance trains.
No undies in the photo. I forget them! I am pretty sure I would remember to put on underwear when dressing for the trip. Plan on wearing items 8-13.
Total package = 9 pounds.
Current plan is to pack items 1-7 into this old “rolling briefcase”. It is sturdy as a tank and has great inline skate wheels. Adding a few toiletries and electronics it should still weigh less than 16 pounds. I can easily get that into any airplane or train overhead storage. Or wrangle it onto a crowded subway or lug it up 3 flights of stairs. Don’t want to rely on the kindness of strangers.
I could stuff it all into my backpack. That would save 3 pounds but I’d give up the wheels. Think wheels are worth 3 pounds. The only thing I am iffy about is just one pair of shoes. I may have to accept wet feet. It has happened before in Japan. See: Osaka – Called on account of rain. That was in July 2010.
0552AM and the sun has speared the Washington Monument.
Another nice warm summer day. Not hot. Just warm. Of course, the world is going to hell. But, it’s easy for me to ignore because I’ll be going to hell soon enough myself.
And, if looking for doom and gloom, we just got a looooong email explaining that an employee’s email was hacked last fall and some resident data may have been compromised. Well, all I care about is my checking account info. And, the general indication from the email is that medical information was compromised. I have no secrets in that box. So, I am going to ignore that email.
More doom and gloom. There is a distinct uptick in Covid at The Asylum. I am going to ignore Covid too. Not much I can do about it.
Comes right down to it. There’s not much that I can do anything about. And that’s probably a good thing. Because, I truly don’t understand what the world has become or how it happened.
Butterfly Weed.
This happy butterfly weed is in my garden box. It was savagely ripped out in early spring when I was remodeling the garden box. New plants were installed. One of the new plants died. And the butterfly weed came to the funeral and made itself at home. I think there is a life-lesson in this somewhere.
According to my watch it is almost 4PM and 77°. It doesn’t get any better than this in the DC area in the middle of summer.
And, it’s been about 30 hours since I took the pill that is supposed make flying to Japan doable. So far so good. I’ll have one with breakfast before the flight.
Been working through my Trip 2Do list today. On the 2Do list is “new SSL certificate”. So, if the blog is missing, you will know I messed that up.
0621am – Had to wait a bit for the sky to brighten up.
“Dangerous” weather was promised for today. But, it hasn’t shown up. I guess that’s a good thing.
Got serious about getting ready for my trip today. And, I gave the new “deadly” NSAID a test run today. It works. Maybe not as well as my former “deadly” NSAID. But, way better than any OTC stuff. I didn’t want to wait until next Monday to take it for the first time only to discover that it didn’t work or that I had an allergic reaction.
I did a little origami today.
I think I will sell some of these Sonobe Unit Balls in October to make a few bucks for our Foundation. It will not be as hard or profitable as last year’s event.
I may not have a real camera anymore. But I can still sneak up on a Skipper. And surprise, some other little beetle-like critter.
Today was decision day about the trip to Japan. Go or no go. Let’s think about it. I have been “medically cleared to go”. I have considerable pain. So. I can have pain in the Old Bat’s Cave. Or I can have pain in Japan. I choose Japan. I am not on a tour or anything. I can decide how much I want to do on any given day. And, if it gets too bad, I can always come back early.
Three-legged chipmunk.
Saw a healthy looking, full-grown, three-legged chipmunk this morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. If he can do it, so can I.
