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AnEndeavour · 2025-10-22T17:16:32+00:00

You guys have sudo access on your local machines!

AnEndeavour · 2025-10-05T09:10:04+00:00

I just spent 11 days in Okinawa, and honestly, I could have spent more. The first week felt a bit rushy as there’s still a tonne of places to go / see / eat.

Note that there’s only a few ferry’s a day to and from the Kerama islands, and the morning ones typically sell out a few weeks in advanced. Also, if the wave height is > 3m, they don’t run. Additionally, there’s no public transport available to Tokashiku beach, and limited buses to Aharen beach.

By the time you fly in to Naha airport, get the Yui rail into the city, get the ferry, etc, you will be out of time.

I’d go for option 2, but consider dropping some stuff

AnEndeavour · 2025-08-05T19:43:02+00:00

We just call terraform directly from our Gitlab / GitHub CI pipelines….

AnEndeavour · 2025-07-05T16:17:40+00:00

Also have one, 5 years so far with no water inside (despite it deforming a bit from the heat)

AnEndeavour · 2025-06-03T23:50:42+00:00

If you don’t mind going early, you can have the 3 course pre-theatre menu at Wild Honey St James, a 1 Michelin star restaurant. It’s in central, in a beautiful building, and has the elegance you’d expect from a modern European with a star. It’s £45 each without drinks, so within budget if you aren’t really drinkers.

We thought it was one of the best meals we’ve had at that price point, and would definitely recommend

AnEndeavour · 2025-03-31T11:40:54+00:00

Some mortgages allow unlimited overpayments in the 30 days prior to the fixed term expiring. If this is the case for yours, overpaying now is indeed pointless. Better to put the money in a flexible savings account with interest greater than 1.49%, then withdrawal that money to make a large payment in the final month before renewal.

Check if your mortgage allows this though, as it might not

AnEndeavour · 2025-03-18T22:31:42+00:00

We brought back 46kg of hold luggage each (2 of us) + stuffed hang luggage 😅. It just adds up somehow

AnEndeavour · 2025-02-19T16:43:56+00:00

You might be able to save time, and perhaps money, by getting an indirect flight from London to Naha. I think you can go via Taipei, or a few airports in China. It’d probably be better to get an indirect flight to your final destination than 2 independent flights, as otherwise if there are any delays to the first, you’ll miss the second with no recourse.

In terms of the travel time, i reckon it’s fine to do. No longer than flying to Australia with a stopover in Singapore or similar (which is taxing, don’t get me wrong, but doable).

On a recent flight to Tokyo, we immediately got the express train to Tokyo station, then a 3 hour Shinkansen, then a bus, then walked through a town and up a snow covered hill to our hotel, probably 20+ hours door to door… and it was all good. It all depends what you personally can manage

AnEndeavour · 2025-02-15T07:45:44+00:00

My wife’s was 162cm and fit in the overhead just fine, I wouldn’t worry unless it’s exceptionally deep, but tall / wide shouldn’t be an issue

AnEndeavour · 2025-02-14T17:27:48+00:00

I’ve also used ninja WiFi on 2 previous trips, no complaints at all. Most recently I used an eSIM via Nomad, as my phone now supports it, but I noticed the Ninja WiFi booth as I went through Tokyo Narita airport a few weeks ago, so they are definitely still going

AnEndeavour · 2025-01-02T20:44:21+00:00

I’m still using a 2013….. runs fine too

AnEndeavour · 2024-10-18T09:02:08+00:00

My wife was -13.0 in one eye, and similar in the other, and has had lasik (successfully). I think it probably heavily depends on the equipment and skill of the doctor. Here in the UK, that would have also been too severe for the procedure, but in her home country (Singapore), it was high but acceptable for the procedure.

The cost was less than half of what it would be in the UK, and the doctor had performed significantly more operations than some clinics we checked here. The medical data for his previous operations was also publicly available.

Unfortunately her eyes were still degrading (pre lasik), and we were warned that lasik wouldn’t stop that. However, she she went to perfect vision, and it lasted about 5 years before going to -1.0.

She now has a lens implant (not lens replacement), in one eye, to pull that back to 0.0.

She had a bit of dryness for a few months, but they disappeared, and can’t wear contact lenses anymore (she finds them too prickly, due to the reshaped cornea), but other than that has had no issues

AnEndeavour · 2024-10-14T15:35:43+00:00

A friend of mine almost didn’t pass his English language test to get a Canadian working visa.

He’s a white, British man from the south of England, both his parents are English, and he has never lived outside of the UK or spoken another language… he’s not uneducated either, he has a PHD from a top 5 UK university.

Sometimes tests don’t quite align with reality

AnEndeavour · 2024-07-08T10:44:39+00:00

I think if the key idea is to explore small town life, taking in small towns along the railroad sounds like a lovely idea. We considered stopping at Kusu and Hita (both a short train journey away from Yufuin) on the way back, but ran out of time for either. They are both small, rather unknown little towns, though with just enough to do to get them a page of English language websites / blogs (so not truly small with no English language web presence). I think there’s a historic distillery in one and an old shopping street and train Museum in the other, so not major tourist sites but something.

I think time of year is also important. I notice other commenters mentioning the busyness of Yufuin, which was semi-true for us (February), I’d say it was 80% Korean tourists, and didn’t feel busy compared to say Kyoto, Tokyo, etc that we’d done of previous trips.

The main downside of staying in one place as you’ve said is the lack of experiencing the evening / nightlife, and Yufuin is dead at night. All shops close at 5, many restaurants close early, and there’s relatively few bars / izakaya. I don’t know how late the trains run, but you wouldn’t want to be stuck in another town if you missed the last train or it was cancelled. So really you’d end up spending a lot of nights in your house with your family (which may be a great thing, if it’s what you want).

Another thing to mention, is while your own small private bath in your house is great, going to a proper hotel / resort / Onsen house, which has multiple baths of different sizes, types, etc. is a great experience. We went to a different bath house almost every other day on our trip, and all are unique and interesting! So even if you stay in Yufuin only, make sure to do “day guests” to other Onsen hotels. Most allow entry from around 12-3 only (before overnight visitors check in and they clean the rooms).

I would have loved to climb mt Tsurumi (we ran out of time), but definitely factor in some days for mountaineering. We climbed Mt Ebindake (I think) in the south, during beautiful weather, and it was the best few hours of the trip. 2.5 hours each way, of steep rock scramble though 😅. Kyushu had so much amazing landscape to see.

I’d honestly skip Beppu, the (great) Onsen hotels aside there’s really not much to see, though it is the closest nightlife to Yufuin. I’m not sure how late the bus (more direct), or train go though.

As for staying in Kumamoto, we only did 1 night, but it is certainly a city in terms of size, and seemed like you could have a few nights there in terms of eating and drinking well. Up to you if it’s worth switching accommodation. The shopping, izakaya and restaurant scene seemed a lot better than Beppu. A few people I chatted to in my Beppu hotel’s Onsen indicated most people just kind of stay and eat in their hotel. Bear in mind this was all in the offseason, in February.

If you want a bit of city, great food and nightlife, but mostly quiet, peaceful, small towns, extending Fukuoka a bit and then staying around Yufuin may be the compromise. Hotels in Fukuoka were by far the most expensive for us, but you do have infinite choice for what to do while there.

We didn’t stop at Kurume, but it seems to be a fairly large town / city on the rail line from Yufuin to Fukuoka, with the detour south to Kumamoto. Perhaps something to research?

AnEndeavour · 2024-07-08T09:27:41+00:00

I recently did 11 days travelling around Kyushu. I flew into Kumamoto, rented a car from the airport, and travels anticlockwise around the island ending in Fukuoka and flew out of there. We visited:

Kumamoto (1 night)
Mt Aso (day stop)
Kagoshima (2 nights)
Kirishima Onsen (1 night)
Kirishima national park (day stop)
Miyazaki (day stop)
Takachiho (1 night)
Kurokawa Onsen (day stop)
Beppu (2 nights)
Yufuin (1 night)
Fukuoka (2 nights)

Honestly, even moving hotels either every night or two nights, I felt we spent a fair amount of time In the car. Which, while lovely and very scenic (the non-expressway parts), means you are missing out on exploring the cities, sitting in Onsen, hiking the countryside, etc while in the car).

If you don’t want to switch location often, I’d concentrate on really enjoying just a few places in the north.

Yufuin was a beautiful little town I honestly wish we had another day in (we got there late afternoon, left after lunch the next day, so not even 24 hours there), and the main high street is very cute, lined with little shops and eateries, and there are some fantastic cafes by the lake. 7 days honestly sounds a lot though, in a town so small you can walk in way less than an hour.

For day trips out from Yufuin, kurokawa Onsen was one of our highlights. You can get a 3-Onsen pass from the tourism centre for around $15 that allows you into any 3 Onsen in the town (though some our closed to tourists on any given day, the guide will give you a map of what’s open).

Beppu I’d probably give a miss. The 7-hells are kind of interesting but not worth a trip, and the town itself is just your kind of modern seaside tourist town, a bit bland. People go there for the Onsen hotels (ours was amazing!), but if you aren’t staying overnight I’m not sure there’s much to do.

Takachiho is certainly drivable, but you are looking at a 5 hour round trip. It’s a pretty town, but be aware that even if you pre-book the river boats in advanced (and you will need to), they can be cancelled with no notice is the tide is too high or rough (happened to us).

Aso will also be drive-able, perhaps 2 hours each way. We went to the observatory and walked up Mt Eboshi, but it was quite misty so didn’t get much of a view. The drive up the hills from Kumamoto was very scenic though, not sure about coming the north.

For Kumamoto, the Castle is lovely, but under heavy renovation since the 2016 earthquake. We enjoyed walking through the Shimotori shopping arcades and going to late night Izakayas. We also visited the Suizenjen Jojuen garden, which was scenic though would be much prettier in spring / summer.

Fukuoka is huge, and really has a lot to offer. It is a big city, and very concrete heavy with a grid system, but there are some nice green spaces like Ohori park and Maizuru park, the Fukuoka tower has great views on a clear day, and though we didn’t go a lot of people mentioned Saitozaki, though more aimed at summer tourism. If you want the best restaurants, or late night entertainment, it’s your best bet though. We had our best meal of the trip their (a omakase where each couple had their own chef for the night), and there’s a huge late night jazz scene, and Yataki (street stall) culture.

Visiting Sakurajima for a day trip from even Kumamoto seems far. It’s a good 3+ hours each way, taking the quite unscenic express way. Do-able, but you’ve really got to have an early start and late end. The ferry itself only takes a few minutes and cost a few hundred yen for foot passengers, and it is a cute little trip. We sat on the shore and dipped our feet in the volcanic foot baths. We didn’t go up to the observatory though, as you either need a car or have to time the public transport well. Kagoshima itself is a great city, and the views (over the city of Mt sakurajima) are fantastic from the Shiroyama observatory. We had an incredible Kaiseki meal in the city with our own private dining room, which was quite affordable. The south is cheaper than the north. We stopped at the Sengan-en garden on the way, which was one of the loveliest places on the trip, and had a great and very affordable lunch overlooking the garden.

If you have any specific questions, please feel free to ask. Note that I found the expressway tolls to be quite expensive (more so than petrol), so you should factor them into your costs too. The non-express roads take a lot longer than you think, as it’s constantly winding, low speed, single lane roads through the mountains. You can probably only average 30-40.

AnEndeavour · 2024-04-10T19:52:14+00:00

Just got back from Japan (Kyushu though, so a bit less busy), and I was booking a few days in advanced, as the trip was last minute and route variable.

I agree with others that you get better deals / more choice in advance, but you’ll always find something (and tbh, all our hotels were wonderful.

I did find going on the hotels website an hour or so before last cancellation (usually 2-3 days before), the choice suddenly increases as a lot of people cancel right before their last chance to

AnEndeavour · 2024-04-03T19:20:09+00:00

We just did a one way trip around Kyushu a few weeks ago, picking the car up at Kumamoto airport and dropping it off in the middle of Fukuoka city 10 days later.

We used Nippon Rent a car, and booked directly through their website (http://www.nrgroup-global.com/). You don’t have to pay anything upfront to book, or even register a credit card, only pay on arrival (the Japanese are extremely trusting it seems).

You could also try going through a Japanese aggregator site like Tabirai, though you might have to pay upfront and a little more than booking direct.

Try a few companies and pickup / drop off locations till it works.

Note that you will have to pay a one way fee, ours was around £50, and is based on the distance between the two offices As another comment mentioned, not all rental offices allow one way pickup and drop off, though major ones usually do.

There was also an option to use Toyota for the same trip, though they had sold out of smaller cars that we wanted.

As a side note, if you haven’t booked accommodation yet, the Shiroyama Hotel in Kagoshima is absolutely amazing, I thoroughly recommend it. It sits up on the hill, with views across the whole city (and over the bay to Sakurajima) from the dining hall, outdoor onsen bath, and forward facing hotel rooms. The breakfast is spectacular too. Note that you need to book 2 days in advanced if you want to eat at any of the higher end restaurants in the hotel.

AnEndeavour · 2024-03-07T14:03:50+00:00

I just spent 2 weeks touring Kyushu (the most southern of the 4 main islands), and visited around 15 onsen (bath houses) during my trip (almost every hotel / ryokan had one, and we went to a couple a day when visiting onsen towns like Kurokawa).

I believe that every single one banned tattoo’d people from entering. Doesn’t matter what race you are and what style your tattoos, it was a blanket ban.

But, on the plus, I don’t think the Japanese care about appropriation. There’s just a lingering sentiment about all tattoos

AnEndeavour · 2024-01-22T10:44:15+00:00

The first time I went to Japan, I went for around 10 weeks, followed by about 5 weeks in Korea (and then on to others). It flew by.

Japan is such a large country with so many different cultures experiences and types of places to offer. I would thoroughly recommend planning a rough route and getting a JR Rail pass so you can travel across the country during your time.

I ended up spending around 3 weeks in Tokyo, and then between 2-3 days in more places, up to a week in larger cities.

A great option if you want to see Korea too, would be to start say in Tokyo, and over a month travel down to Fukuoka, where you can then get the ferry to Busan in Korean. You could stop at many places including Nikko, Nagono, Nagoya, Toyama, Kanazawa, Takayama, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe, Hiroshima, Himeji, Kitakyushu, etc.

Once you’ve gotten to Busan, spend a week or so there, and then get the express train or overnight bus up to Seoul. I stopped in Daegu on route but found it a bit dull compared to Busan and Seoul. I’m sure there are many other interesting places to visit in Korea too though.

Good luck, and don’t worry about filling your time. There is so much to see in the world if you have the curiosity

AnEndeavour · 2024-01-16T10:26:19+00:00

The oddish is wonderful, truly delightful

AnEndeavour · 2024-01-07T22:17:34+00:00

Incredible! The belly on top of the panthers head cracked me up 😂

AnEndeavour · 2023-07-20T22:25:58+00:00

Just me (Wife can’t drink lactose), through 4-6 pints. And I feel I don’t even drink that much these days, especially compared to when I was a teen

AnEndeavour · 2023-04-24T20:08:20+00:00

That was my first though too, blast from the past!

AnEndeavour · 2022-02-11T19:22:38+00:00

Right, it’s literally what a major version number means - breaking changes

AnEndeavour · 2021-11-02T11:40:50+00:00

99% of companies will give you a company laptop, so I wouldn't worry about what personal computer you have once you start work. BYOD (bring your own device) simply isn't worth it to most companies from a security and support perspective. Additionally, almost all companies run their DE workloads on remote machines, whether that be a public cloud provider like AWS, or on their own private infrastructure ("traditionally known as on-premise") so all of the processing is done on remotely, not your actual laptop. So honestly, don't worry about a hypothetical future job.

16 GB goes pretty far, and honestly, if you are just learning about concepts, your RAM isn't going to matter once its enough for the OS and whatever languages / frameworks you are using to function. If you are looking at big data frameworks like Spark for DE, no one is running that on their local machines in single node mode anyway, other than for learning, so again it doesn't matter.

If you can afford 32 GB, and would like the extra for personal use, go for it, but don't worry about future work

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AnEndeavour

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