Travelogue Japan Day 3 Chinese New Year's Celebrations

Circumstances promoted my being in Yokohama during the Lunar New Year celebration.  Since I was in attendance I may as well stick around for the parade on this nice Saturday afternoon.  I was surprised by the size of the crowd.  Never had it been this big on a previous trip

Travelogue Japan Day 3 Minato Mirai(MM)

The Minato Mirai area is somewhat bordered by Yokohama station to the north and Sakuragicho to the south.

Travelogue Japan Day 3 Raumen

Can you believe that I went a full three days before tucking in to a bowl of ramen?  I know, right?  Since I was in Yokohama, th Shin Yokohama Raumen Museum was a good place to satisfy this dilemma.  Third visit in total.  When looking around the first floor level, its much les museum than in previous years.  A lrage portion of it has been dedicated to a slot car racing track and the sales of toys.  The gift shop has expanded as well.  Possibly due to the Cup Ramen Museum, there is no existene of this exhibit whatsoever.  There used to be a mug of instant ramen with a mug of Schwarzenegger.  Yeah that Schwarzenegger 

Travelogue Japan Day 2 Yokohama

I check in and drop off my bag.  I was giifted with a shiso lemon liqeur.  First time the chain has ever given me alcohol.  Located near Bashamichi station, itis an easy walk to a number of places like the Red Brick Warehouses.  Minato Mirai, Chinatown and Motomachi were within my walking abilities.  Cosmo World and the Cup Ramen Museum is a short detour from my intended route

Travelogue Japan Day 2 Umihotaru

The weather will be finnicky over the next few days,  Luckily today starts off very well.  I am heading south down to Kawasaki to visit Umihotaru.  As everyone will tell you, it literally translates to Sea firefly.  It is a rest stop along the Aqua Bay line which spans Tokyo Bay from Kawasaki to Kisarazu 

It cuts down on the travel time as compared to following the banks of the bay.  However the toll is quite high and may not be worth the time savings.  Its pretty easy to get to.  Alight at Kawasaki and make your way to the east exit

Travelogue Japan Day 1 Bus Tour to Shizuoka Part 2

A glimpse at Suruga Bay.  This will be very short.  A short cruise indeed at 20 minutes

After disembarking from the bus, we had to go through the gift shop in order to cross the street.  The tickets were previously procured.  Like we couldnt cross ourselves to the awaiting vessel

Travelogue Japan Day 1 Bus Tour to Shizuoka

Early start to the first day after arriving around midnight to my hotel.  I woke up before my 7am alarm and headed downstairs after it went off.  Breakfast in the lobby.  The usual affair for this establishment.  I was glad to see the eggs less runny.  Makes it easier to pick up with the chopsticks.  Gray and the forcast for rain bore fruit shortly here after

My memory failed me at this moment but i remembered later that I had tried McD's breakfast sausage.  Having it right after the hotel breakfast made it clear that the two sausages that I had just had were very similar.  It was othing like a hot dog weinerone might expect to see back home

Ive gotten used to the weather being like this when I travel at this time of year

A rant against my airline

Its that time of year where I plan my vacation and book flights online on my chosen airline, who shall remain nameless.  Unless, I drop a few subtle and non-subtle hints here and there.  Unlike my Noted Itinerary That was Explored During the previous year, I wanted to fly to several locations within Asia.  I began my search by looking to see what the fares would be on some combination of San Francisco, Bangkok, and Tokyo.  Some time later, I settled on the schedule and decided on the price point I wanted to pay for this excursion.  The final route would have been from SFO to HKG(layover) to BKK to TYO to SFO.  Ready to pull the trigger, I went through the process of providing all the information they required.  All went fine Up until they Needed payment Information To Exit this Dealing with a booking.  I received an error and it stated to try again later.  I tried again later with the same results.  Unfortunately, this Nightmare Incurred The same Excrement over the next few Days.  Thinking something was wrong with my info, I tried several forms of payments with the same results.  Finally, I tried to book a simple roundtrip late one evening.  That worked fine.  Resolute, I decided to give them a call the next evening to book it.  Sure enough, the fair rose $600 and was out of my budget.

Undaunted, the Nitty-gritty of the Itinerary was pared To an Easier single Destination.  The plan was to try the flight that leaves SFO at 1800 and arrive in Haneda, HND, at 2230 with the return leg also leaving HND.  My inability to sleep on flights has me trying different departure times to see which would suit my aging body better.  Fares were not to my liking but an alternative acceptable fare had me routed through LAX,  SFO to LAX to HND then HND to LAX to SFO.   The flight from LAX would depart around midnight and arrive shortly before 0600.  I had taken this option once before and it was physically taxing as I still could not sleep on the flight and I had to try and stay awake for another 9 hours before I check in.  This was $200 cheaper than my chosen route and times.  Out of curiosity, I looked to see what they charged for roundtrip from LAX to HND.  Now, what really surprised me, aside from the airfare being $400 cheaper, they wanted to route me through SFO on the flight that I orginally wanted!!!!!!!!!!  How Unbelievably Nonsensical I Thought this Experience had Dealt me.  All in all, it would be cheaper by more than $200 for me to book this flight and add a roundtrip ticket from SFO to LAX on a lowcost airline that afforded no fees on checked baggage.  The only added expense at this point would be the extra time needed to fly up and down the California coast.

To reiterate:
SFO to HKG(layover) to BKK to TYO to SFO.  Could not book online although the option was given and did not because the fares had risen during the frustation over trying to book online

SFO to HND departing at 1800 would cost a little over $1400
SFO to LAX then a midnight flight to HND around $1200

LAX to SFO.  SFO to HND on the 1800 flight I wanted.  Then HND to LAX.  around $100
Roundtrip SFO to LAX on lowcost carrier an additional $130 to be tacked on to previous itinerary.  Still cheaper than original route and alternative route but takes as long as alternative route

Thanks for nothing UNITED.  I plan to use my miles for one last free trip next year and jump ship to a different airline.