Tokyo: Prelude, Day 1 (of 3)
Today is the mad rush of last minute planning. We did some pre-planning over the weekend, organizing lists and buying travel-related items, but not as much as we had hoped. We'll have quite a lot of time to continue researching between now and Thursday, between a day spent locally today, a mostly boring travel day tomorrow, and the epic 82-day flight on Wednesday. We have decided that based on time and money, we will in all likelihood skip any suburban, outside-Tokyo trips, unless we get wind of some unmissable sight from, say, a bellhop or ghosted samurai. For now, we'll be scrambling around town and re-reviewing some incredibly helpful bookmarks.
I did do some heavy research yesterday into my phone, again with the help of Dan, but also with what I felt was a necessary call to AT&T. It was not necessary. Between Dan's insight and cobbling together their 5 separate webpages of international & iPhone information, I already had the full picture: voice is covered under my added-on World Traveler package (for cheaper emergencies), and the data packages are astronomically expensive. So I'll stick to a connection-free phone around Tokyo, unless we run into some WiFi hotspot and the internet is needed.
What this means for my technology plans: I can still use my iPhones inherent awesomeness, but I can't be live on the web like I had hoped. So I'll have a handy ass-saving metro map on hand, but I can't tweet on the fly.
To be honest, I could use less techno-distractions. I should be interacting and taking pictures, not walking heads-down observation-cramming. Technology will be supporting IRL, and not the other way around.
I've got some sweet iPhone apps to help us get by, but should only fill in during those in-between moments, not take over the days. Besides, everyone in the US will be on inverted time (+14h EST, +17h PST), so my real-time whatever would go largely unnoticed. So expect daily or twice-a-day updates to the blog, Flickr, and Twitter, as I download everything at our hotels internet cafe, before and/or after each day.
Speaking of apps, here's my Tokyo apps page on my phone:
I grabbed the Virgin Atlantic Flying Without Fear app, on the recommendation of an insightful coworker. I played some of the "relaxing" audio clips, but the guy sounds like a serious creeper, so I'll be sticking to its informational FAQ on why wings moving doesn't mean disaster. In lieu of Virgins relaxing sounds, old standby Ambiance should do the trick. In-transit needs aside, I moved Wikipedia over to this page for easier access, and downloaded AroundMe (now moot, on account of the AT&T data rates), Tokyo Underground for offline subway maps, buUuk for finding food and drink, Kotoba! Japanese dictionary, and Human Japanese for speaking the language. And if all else fails, I'll look out for my new transit-helper-buddy, PASMO.
I did do some heavy research yesterday into my phone, again with the help of Dan, but also with what I felt was a necessary call to AT&T. It was not necessary. Between Dan's insight and cobbling together their 5 separate webpages of international & iPhone information, I already had the full picture: voice is covered under my added-on World Traveler package (for cheaper emergencies), and the data packages are astronomically expensive. So I'll stick to a connection-free phone around Tokyo, unless we run into some WiFi hotspot and the internet is needed.
What this means for my technology plans: I can still use my iPhones inherent awesomeness, but I can't be live on the web like I had hoped. So I'll have a handy ass-saving metro map on hand, but I can't tweet on the fly.
To be honest, I could use less techno-distractions. I should be interacting and taking pictures, not walking heads-down observation-cramming. Technology will be supporting IRL, and not the other way around.
I've got some sweet iPhone apps to help us get by, but should only fill in during those in-between moments, not take over the days. Besides, everyone in the US will be on inverted time (+14h EST, +17h PST), so my real-time whatever would go largely unnoticed. So expect daily or twice-a-day updates to the blog, Flickr, and Twitter, as I download everything at our hotels internet cafe, before and/or after each day.
Speaking of apps, here's my Tokyo apps page on my phone:
I grabbed the Virgin Atlantic Flying Without Fear app, on the recommendation of an insightful coworker. I played some of the "relaxing" audio clips, but the guy sounds like a serious creeper, so I'll be sticking to its informational FAQ on why wings moving doesn't mean disaster. In lieu of Virgins relaxing sounds, old standby Ambiance should do the trick. In-transit needs aside, I moved Wikipedia over to this page for easier access, and downloaded AroundMe (now moot, on account of the AT&T data rates), Tokyo Underground for offline subway maps, buUuk for finding food and drink, Kotoba! Japanese dictionary, and Human Japanese for speaking the language. And if all else fails, I'll look out for my new transit-helper-buddy, PASMO.
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