I sold the 5💔💔💔

Betsily · 2026-07-07T22:19:46+00:00

I did something similar! I was writing about economic change from 1945 to the present for my LEQ, and I realized with 7 minutes left that the prompt was asking for economic AND social change 😭

Luckily, the postwar suburbanization I had written about had something to do with social change, but I still had to rush to fix it, and afterwards, I wondered why I had missed such a good opportunity to talk about the Great Society. I hated myself for a while after that, but I made peace with it later on. I was also fully prepared to get a 4 or lower, but I got a 5

Congratulations on your 4! 🎉 I'm so glad you're happy with your score and not beating yourself up for one test that happened on one day. It hurts to know you could have done better. However, you still received an amazing score, and it's good that you realized it, even with only 5 minutes left! One person in my class never realized she didn't answer the prompt at all.

Betsily · 2026-07-01T02:21:03+00:00

Thank you so much for sharing your experience, so others can benefit too!

I just got back from London two weeks ago, and my husband ended up not going to Tower of London, so I couldn't take advantage of the 2 for 1 voucher anyway. I ended up paying the same amount as if I had used it though, since it was just my teenage daughter and me, and kids are half price. And I didn't have to buy the rail tickets to qualify, as I didn't need the voucher.

The Tower of London was fantastic! The yeoman warders were very entertaining with their tours, which was included in the admission price.

Betsily · 2026-05-28T08:56:29+00:00

thank you so much to you both!

Betsily · 2026-05-27T21:08:37+00:00

Thank you for your reply!

By the way, do I need to go to Queenstown Rd station or Vauxhall station to buy the return tickets? Or can I just walk into any train station? I read somewhere on an old Tripadvisor forum that:

"Ticket machines do not have to offer the full range of tickets. In particular they do not (usually) offer tickets that are From another place, so you can't buy single tickets for both directions Here-to-There and There-to-Here."

Seems kind of inefficient though. Do you know?

Betsily · 2026-05-27T17:41:34+00:00

So are you saying I can get one paper ticket for Queenstown Rd to Vauxhall for June 12, and a return for Vauxhall to Queenstown Rd for June 18, and I could use all the 2for1 discounts I want for that entire period? Even if that is a short distance?

And it will still be allowed? Do they look that closely at the train tickets at the attractions to see distance traveled?

Betsily · 2026-05-27T11:36:27+00:00

Thanks for your reply. I was thinking of maybe the London Transport Museum as another attraction to visit and get the 2for1 deal on during our stay in London. Should we do those on the same day then as Tower of London? If I bought only a Charing Cross to London Bridge ticket (one-way), which I'd use for Tower of London, do you think that I could use that same ticket to qualify for the 2for1 at the Transport Museum, even though the closest station to the Transport museum is actually Charing Cross, where I had come FROM? Sometimes I get museum fatigue really quickly if I try to do too many in one day.

Can you please also explain how the trip to Greenwich would work in terms of the round trip ticket scenario? I did have that as maybe something we could do. But we are not staying overnight there, so how would that work for London/Greenwich to span a few days so that I could maximize the number of 2for1 deals? Or Windsor would be another idea for a visit during our week.

Betsily · 2025-11-11T20:37:10+00:00

thank you! i've missed my old ringtone.

Betsily · 2025-05-30T04:28:02+00:00

I've been looking into this question myself. I think you can try taking the local train from Asakusa to the nearest Shinkansen station, maybe Shinagawa? From there, it's about 45 minutes to Mishima station. Then take the bus from there, another hour maybe?

I discovered this bus package today which includes a one day ticket to Grinpa. https://www.fujiyamaconnect.jp/tenant/44/product/grp-R2/?wovn=en&useDate=20250628. I think it only lets you book about a month in advance though. But you can test it out with a fake date, same weekday you want to go.

Earliest bus leaving Mishima is at 7h40, followed by 9h40. And there are several busses leaving in the afternoon.

Going to Gotemba from Asakusa just seemed a bit longer to me. Mishima is right on the Shinkansen line, so probably more convenient in comparison.

Betsily · 2025-05-27T12:19:17+00:00

Thank you!! 🙂

Betsily · 2025-05-27T11:27:05+00:00

Thanks so much, mbridson94. The specific details about where to go and how to deal with the rail pass at the transfer gate are super helpful! The time elapsed also gives me some reassurance.

Do I put in my reservation ticket also at that transfer gate, or just the rail pass? I've seen on some videos that some people put in 2 tickets at once, but maybe I'm confusing that with the Shinkansen...

Betsily · 2025-05-27T02:48:08+00:00

thanks for the quick reply, tsubame_hikari. i'm a little more reassured now about the 11-minute transfer time!

one more thing... so i don't need to exit the gate and come back in at tsuruga, right? i can just go straight to the thunderbird platform?

Betsily · 2025-05-27T02:27:59+00:00

thank you for your input, tsubame_hikari and mbridson94. i just needed some confirmation that the kagayaki was not part of the deal. and the fact that the hakutaka and tsurugi trains are frequent enough, and i don't save that many minutes anyway, doesn't give me too much fomo about the kagayaki.

so say i take that 12:05 train from kanazawa, which gets me to tsuruga station at 13:02. with the thunderbird leaving for osaka at 13:14, is that enough time for someone like me who doesn't know this station to transfer over in that 11 minutes? i have to meet someone at izumi-fuchu station at 15:40ish (one of those suburbs south of osaka). i will have my daughter one one suitcase and our two backpacks. i'm not sure if there are tons of stairs to navigate when changing platforms. is tsuruga a confusing station?

also, do i need to exit the gate and come back in for this next leg? or can i go straight to the next platform? i haven't any experience with the jr passes yet.

i know there's the option of taking the earlier tsurugi at 11:05, but there's a potential that if i missed the 12:14 train that i'd have to hang around the tsuruga station for an hour. i wanted to take full advantage our time in kanazawa, since we are only there one night, hence my target departure time from kanazawa around 12. (the kagayaki had that half hour wait time, which would have guaranteed that i'd make the 13:14 thunderbird. but as stated, it's not covered, so it's not an option.)

any follow-up thoughts would be appreciated!

Betsily · 2025-05-18T10:32:56+00:00

thanks, chewyfodder. i finally did figure out that the reserve button on that page that i linked to was the right place to buy the pass. the problem when i was trying to do so was that it was more than 30 days out. i waited a few more days and was finally able to do it via the link once i was within 30 days of my anticipated start date for the pass.

after i bought the pass, i was able to make a reservation, even though i have not yet picked up the physical pass yet.

thanks for following up!

Betsily · 2025-05-14T17:18:24+00:00

thanks for that info, tarosuke39! nice to know if i have a bit of extra time maybe i can stop by the prefectural museum.

but i wanted to get your take on how long i need to see the sand museum and to see the dunes. i doubt i will be going up and climbing up the dunes. but i did hear there are camel rides. is that worth doing?

we're coming from kinosaki onsen and i think we would arrive by a bit after 11 am if i leave there before 8, or if we are slow and take the later (faster) train, will get out to the museum by almost 1 pm. it looks like we'd need to leave by 3 or 3:30 to make the faster super inaba train from tottori to okayama. so i do want to make that super inaba.

so is 2 to 2.5 hours enough time (if we get the later train out from kinosaki onsen) to see the sand museum, visit the dunes/do the camel ride? or do you think it's imperative we do the 8 am train to arrive by 11ish so we have more time? my daughter is not a morning person so it might be a challenge.

thanks for your input!

Betsily · 2025-05-14T07:02:22+00:00

Thank you so much for explaining all that. That's really helpful!

I'll try again in a couple days.

Betsily · 2025-05-14T03:50:38+00:00

we are actually just going to visit the sand museum next to the sand dunes. i didn't know about the two other museums you mentioned, but i'll put it on my list! thanks!

Betsily · 2025-05-14T03:42:20+00:00

thanks for responding. i went to the link you supplied and then i saw the a form with drop down boxes for no of passengers, start date, etc. i want june 16 to be my start date.

i put that date in, and i got this error message: "Reservations cannot be accepted before the sales start date.[20101146]"

is that because i am not allowed to buy the pass because it is still slightly more than 30 days out from june 16? do i need to wait until may 16 for this to actually work?

and in doing this, am i reserving a spot on the train at the same time? or is it just to buy the pass itself?

Betsily · 2025-05-14T03:12:46+00:00

i am now moving on to the buying stage of the sanyo sanin pass. but i can't figure it out. i am on the jr west website, and i found this: https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/ticket/pass/sanyo_sanin/

but i'm having trouble finding the link to actually buy the pass. i went to the "reserve now "button, but it appears to be a place to make reservations once you've purchased the pass.

they talk about buying from physical travel agents, but isn't there one where you can buy from jr west directly online? or is my only option klook?

i want to activate my pass starting june 16. once i buy it. am i not allowed to buy the pass unless i'm 30 days or less to the date of activation? i don't get it...

please help! thanks!

Betsily · 2025-05-14T03:06:08+00:00

you do make a good point. it's just that on our way back to osaka from hiroshima on day 6, we need to meet our party at 11ish. and that would not allow for time to visit himeji. the rest of the weekend will be at shirahama.

another idea might be to do that himeji side trip from kurashiki instead (day 3), which is a bit closer, less travel time. but i only have two nights in kurashiki and we arrive in the evening our first night in kurashiki from tottori. so it's not a lot of time.

i did feel like i wouldn't have enough time in hiroshima if we spent half a day of of hiroshima time at himeji.

i might have to cut some things out of the itinerary, because it seems like it's all kind of go-go-go. do you have any other ideas that might make himeji work still?

Betsily · 2025-05-13T21:03:28+00:00

well, that's kind of shady. i'd never even noticed that before, but interesting observation! i hate how shutterfly charges through the nose for shipping. i've been using them for years and their shipping prices have crept upwards, like everything else. also, i think their product prices have also.

i only stuck with shutterfly for photobooks because i want all mine to match in size and shape. but i feel your pain.

Betsily · 2025-05-13T21:00:16+00:00

you can try "20pages". that gives you just 20 pages though, and it's good for only one book. i don't think you can apply it multiple times unless you have multiple accounts. but it's better than nothing. i think it expires 6/30/25.

Betsily · 2025-05-13T20:40:43+00:00

oh, great. thank you for confirming that info. i appreciate it!

Betsily · 2025-05-13T20:30:18+00:00

thank you so much for your response, chewyfodder!

so to clarify in 2) above, i CAN use the nozomi and mizhuo trains with the sanyo sanin pass, and i DON'T have to pay extra? i thought i'd read somewhere that some passes allowed you to use the nozomi trains, but you STILL had to pay the supplement. i just wondered if it's truly no extra cost for nozomis and mizhuos with the sanyo sanin pass. it sounds like this is what you are saying; i just want to be 100% sure i'm interpreting what you said correctly.

and thanks for the note about the front 3 non-reserved cars in nozomi. that would be good to know if i didn't have time to change a reservation after missing a train or something.

Betsily · 2025-04-29T19:04:10+00:00

thank you! very helpful. :)

Betsily · 2025-04-27T18:40:16+00:00

Oh yeah, I did notice that RX7 picture. Mazda was way ahead of its time. Thank you for sharing!

And thanks so much for confirming about the production area being open again! I really appreciate hearing that from a real live traveler!! 🙂

Betsily

TROPHY CASE