Options and Add-Ons

Dearest Rachel –

So, this is a weird situation to be in where, after decades of telling ourselves we would be going to Japan and taking Daniel with us, to show him a little bit of what each of us individually and separately fell in love with (and these encounters long before otaku culture was a thing), I’m taking him on a second time – and my third – since your departure less than five years ago. Not only that, but it’s a run-up to another, future visit, in which we would be completely on our own in terms of getting transport and lodging (although the former would be effectively managed by obtaining JR passes).

In the meantime, this trip eases us into the ‘independent travel’ mode, offering us more freedom and flexibility than that of a cruise, but not so much that we don’t know from day to day where we’ll be staying the night, especially in a foreign country where we don’t speak (or read) the language. In theory, if we can manage a trip like this, we’ll be that much better prepared for the real dream trip, where we’d basically be flying completely without a net.

Granted, this is like two trips in the future for me at this point (and one more for Daniel; while I wouldn’t consider twisting his arm to engage in volun-tourism in Honduras, he’s beyond eager to return to Israel with me next month – gosh, is it that soon? Japan and Israel are his two favorite countries, aside from America itself, and getting him out of the house to go to either one is no trouble at all). For all that this is less than six months away, it’s not the most immediate of priorities for me.

However, it occurs to me that it ought to be a priority, all the same. If nothing else, having made the down payment for the two of us, I have to take into consideration that the balance for this trip is due within a month and a half, so I’ve got to get that together soon. In any event, yesterday I registered myself on the website for the travel company, allowing me to go over the itinerary. There are a few side trips within the overall tour that go to places we’d been to on our last trip (and do things we did the last time around, like the tea ceremony), to our mild amusement, but also a fair amount of additional freedom to make our way about places like Asakusa and the Ginza that we didn’t have the last time around, and we intend to make the most of that. Interestingly, there seems to be an optional side trip near the end of our time that would see us at the Tokyo Dome for a game between Australia and Czechia in the World Baseball Classic, so we’re looking into that as well.

But most of all, we’ve already booked ourselves an extra day on either side of the tour as scheduled (an optional add-on offered by the tour company); in part to deal with the jet lag upon arriving, but also to stick around and further determine if we can make our way around on our own in Tokyo for a couple of days. The question is, can we book additional days beyond that – and for that matter, should we?

It so happens that, while the itinerary indicates a specific hotel, it also has an ‘or similar’ clause to it, suggesting that the hotel indicated may not be the one we’ll actually be staying at. To be sure, the point is that we’ll be staying at a place of similar quality and location – and given the city, we’re not going to be picky about where we are, as we’d be struggling to find our way about, no matter where we were staying. But it does mean that, if we wanted to add a few days to our stay, it might be problematic to do so at a place that might not actually wind up being where we’ll be staying at for the tour proper. Best to have a continued presence in a specific place, wouldn’t you agree?

So for the moment, I’m going to hold off on booking additional nights for us to stay in Tokyo, since I don’t know where we’re already going to be staying, and if we can extend that stay by a few more days independently. Still, it would be cool to squeeze a few extra days out of this trip, once we do know what lodgings we’ll have.

Until then, though, keep an eye on us, honey, and wish us luck. We’re going to need it.