My shiny new passport and my resolution to Tokyo overnight lodging.

I received my new passport yesterday and it's not a half bad photo. I look kind of red and shiny, but not hideous and even that took three tries at various passport photo places. 'Not hideous'  is highest standard I can muster for a passport photo. In the photo of my previous passport, I looked like a street tough from an off-off-Broadway version of West Side Story due to an unfortunate motorcycle jacket fashion choice.

The first set of photos were taken at a Fed Ex office. I just went on a whim because I thought my hair was looking and feeling fabulous that day. I got the photo and all my pores and imperfections were laid bare.My hair looked awesome! There was no way in hell this was going to sit in my passport for 10 years.  I then went to my local CVS. The WORST! I don't know what kind of lighting they use in that place, but I don't think I looked like myself...ok maybe funhouse mirror self. The third and final try before I was just gonna give up and try to do it myself was another Fed Ex office. The photo turned out fairly well. I was delighted!

Now that it's in the book it just looks slightly weird, but I'm ok with it. I feel like it is an accurate representation of myself. Possibly an even better representation of myself. I would like passport control officials to be dazzled and starry eyed when they see it, but having them just stamp the passport and saying 'Welcome to ___' is quite alright.

In other news I found a hotel in Tokyo albeit the outer edge or Tokyo. Screw staying in a capsule hotel.I remembered when I went to Japan a few years ago for vacation that a new boutique hotel was opening up. From what I could remember from the last trip is was a bit on the outskirts of the city, but it made it a little cheaper than staying somewhere downtown. Considering that I was basically going to be there for a longish layover, I figured I would be a little too jetlagged to do a lot of exploring, but at least I could stay somewhere interesting.

After searching to figure out the name (Thank Google!), I found it. It looks very cool and not horribly out of the way.
                                                                   

Claska Meguro

If anything I can go to Roppongi which is where I stayed during my last trip to Tokyo and it was quite fun.
I still have fond memories of dancing all night and drinking myself senseless at Soul Sonic Boogie. Then leaving the club at 3 or 4 am only to find bright, ridiculous sunshine right outside the door.

Tokyo Whine

photo courtesy PacHD

My flight arrives in Tokyo Haneda Airport at 11pm.
My flight leaving Tokyo on to Bangkok leaves the next day leaves at 645pm out of Narita International.


 I will have what I thought would've been a very nice little layover in Tokyo before flying out onward to Bangkok. Even though my arrival in Tokyo will be at 11pm, and with customs and luggage retrieval possibly taking an hour, I will truly be free at 12am and that's IF the plane arrives on time.

What I didn't find out until after I settled on the ticket was that it's a no fun situation.
The transportation options into Tokyo leaves the airport at 1230am. Taxis, from what I've read, are about 8800 yen . If my currency converter was correct, that's about 93USD (outrageous!) for a 30 minute ride in to downtown Tokyo. Haneda is closer to Tokyo than Narita so this alone makes it better to fly into in my opinion, BUT Narita seems to have more options on where to stay and cheaper even if you are stuck in airport region. In any case it's going to be a semi stressful situation when I get off the plane if I choose to risk that the stars will align, I will be alert, and automagically know where I'm going and I can catch the last shuttle into downtown. Murphy, however, may decide to lay down the law.

Staying overnight in this airport seems to be a thing as there are lots of forums where people are asking if it's ok to sleep in this particular airport. The answer appears to be yes and that it's fairly safe to do so as they have security walking around all the time.

I guess I'm just a little disappointed because I had already booked where I was going to stay, and now this is where I'll likely stay. While I would like to experience capsule hotel living, I would like to see the Tokyo city lights so much more (so spectacular) to the point I'm considering shelling out cab money AND staying at my desired hotel. I don''t know. I'm so conflicted and undecided!
These are my choices, which one would you choose:
a. No risk- Sleep in a capsule hotel.
Benefits: A quick taxi or shuttle to the next terminal and no worries about catching trains or buses until
the next day.
Cheap!
Con: It's a cap hotel. IN THE AIRPORT.
Possibly disruptive sleep from airport announcements and other snoring guests as there aren't really doors to rooms and walls are thin.
Won't see the city except when on the way to Narita to fly out.
I'll essentially be trapped in airport purgatory the entire day.

b. A real airport hotel
Benefits: Cheap taxi if I miss the shuttle.
A real room, with a real bed, and a real locking door.
Con: Expensive!
I may as well go into the city if I'm going to spend that kind of money on a room. At least I'd get to see the city.

c. Going to into the city to stay in desired hotel.
Benefits: The Cerulean is awesome. I loved staying there last time I was in Tokyo.
Opportunity to eat (izakayas, ramen shops!) and explore the city before  jetting out.
Shuttles arrive and leave at this hotel from both airports. Very easy.

Con: Definitely the most expensive of all the options.
Will need to take a taxi in when I arrive which could cost 100 bucks.

It really comes down to if I could stand a bit of discomfort for a day...well two days if you think about it.
The final destination is what's important, but even when I get to Bangkok, after a 5 hour nap then I'll have to leave to go to Cambodia. So really I won't have a full night's rest until I get to Cambodia. Considering plane rides knock me right out as soon as we level out, I can't imagine my jet lag recovery skills are gonna be that great. Screw it.

I think I just talked myself into an expensive taxi ride.

It's not London, it's not France...

So that's it then. I'm going to Thailand.
How I arrived at this decision was a long meandering mental road.

Let's just say France was the original plan, which was struck down after memories of my last trip to Paris. While I had a good time, I was part of a group and we could scowl at Parisian derision together. This time I would be solo and just feel I would have an even better time if I really hunkered down and tried to learn the language, which I am currently doing.

Then in a fit of, ''Oh God...where am I gonna go this year?!'' panic, I 'settled' on Hawaii rather spontaneously. It was born out of a conversation with my boss and a coworker. At the time it sounded perfect. I mean what could be better? Hawaii has absolutely beautiful landscapes, sun, and beaches. On these mere facts alone I went ahead a booked the ticket. Then I started doing the planning. That's when reality hit. Hawaii, believe or not, does have downsides especially for solo travel: not really geared towards solo travel (HA!), the necessity of renting a car, and the general expensiveness of day to day keeping yourself alive with food and drinks..ok cocktails..but drinks nonetheless, and shelter. I've also been to Hawaii before (Maui) so I would be sort of retreading old territory.

So what inspired Thailand?
This!
As soon as I saw the title of the article I facepalmed. Of course Thailand! I have been wanting to go there for years. However it seemed like everytime I bought the Lonely Planet book, there would be political upheaval and of course there was the tsunami. I just gave up the thought and fell in love with travelling through Brazil in the meantime.

The next thing was to find out was the cost of the plane ticket. I'd already plopped down a semi-respectable amount of cash for the Hawaii ticket. This would definitely mean more money not to mention the ticket change fee on top. Instead of searching for a flight from Atlanta, I decided to look for a flight from LA. Lo and behold, it was cheaper than from my home city. Of course still more expensive than my flight from Atlanta to Hawaii, but because I'd already purchased the Hawaii ticket it made the remainder price a little less painful. I figured I could probably snap up a good deal to/from LA later..which I later did.

Now with plane ticket bought, I had to figure out my itinerary and that turned out to be harder than I thought.
There are so many interesting places in Thailand. It's almost like you have too many choices on where to go and to make matters worse I started having thoughts like, 'Why not try to go to Cambodia or Laos and/or Myanmar too?'. I eventually nixed doing all three because that would mean being constantly on the move. I've done that before and I have to say it's probably the only time I can relate to a rockstar or a comedian bitching about being 'on the road'. Well, other than cracking lame jokes and singing in the shower or in the car. I did have enough time to do one of them, but which one?


Myanmar seemed a little too complicated in a couple of ways. The country is in the midst of some major political changes for the better hopefully, but still seems to be a bit wobbly. The visa process is a bit of work and apparently if you want to change money, crisp US dollars without marks or creases are accepted. I don't think there are ATMs either. The temples from photos I've seen are stunning and have put it down as a country to visit soon. It seems like a country that needs to be the destination as opposed to quickly tripping through for 2 or 3 days. Right now, I can just see me totally screwing up my bills and winding up flat broke (but not really broke because all my money is scrunched) and alone in a country that's sort of leaning toward democracy, but hasn't quite made it yet.

Now that I had taken Myanmar out of the running, it was between Laos and Cambodia.
Laos from what I've read is a very spiritual type of place. It's also become very popular with backpackers fairly recently. I think I just ruled it out because of travel logistics and I dunno..I just don't have an overwhelming curiosity about it.

I sort of knew it would be Cambodia all along, I just wanted to read up on the other places to see if what I'd read could swing my thoughts away from it. Angkor Wat is just too much of a tourist behemoth to pass up. For once I want to see a bonafide wonder of the world.

                                             

Turning back to Thailand, I pretty much knew I wanted take the well worn path to Chiang Mai and a beach. Beaches. Sooo many islands, so many beaches! To complicate things, I am  going during the wet/low season. And while you can get some great deals on places to stay,  you have to temper that with a possible rainout. I am hoping it will just be a daily cloudburst thing and then sunshine for the rest of the day.
Even if it does rain, I'll be rained out in Thailand! There's no way I could even complain. The only thing is if it gets bad, then I might have problems getting back to Bangkok and onward home. I'll just have to throw salt over my shoulder.

After poring through ALL the websites, I finally decided to hang my hat on West Railay. From what I've read it is a popular beach, but gets a little quieter once the daytrippers leave.After traveling around at that point I think I'll want 7 days of straight chill out time before heading back to Bangkok and then home. I also figured even if it did rain everyday I'd at least have great dramatic scenery for daily wonderment.

And here is what my itinerary looks like.

So there you have it.
From there I just booked all my intra-regional flights and hotels...and now I wait and blog about waiting.