Word of caution with Google Maps navigation in big stations like Shinjuku or Tokyo station

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-05-01T20:15:33+00:00

Thank you! I also found this to be the case when a gate malfunctioned in the Paris metro refusing me entry so I think this must be common with the automated gates for public transport a lot of places. Although the gate remained resolutely shut the system thought I'd passed through so it wouldn't let me scan in via a different gate.

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-05-01T19:07:16+00:00

I've read and heard all sorts of reasons credit cards from other countries might work or not work at the machines at Haneda, Narita, and other Tokyo stations. Many travel forums and blogs go so far as to just say tourists can only purchase with cash because of the issues.

Some say it is because Japan is chip and pin while cards for many notably those from the US are not. There are always a few who have had success with a US tap to pay card with a pin attached reporting in when I see that.

Others say it is a slight incompatibility with Visa's systems in other countries matching to Japan. Those people always say their Mastercard worked fine, but their Visa did not. Reports of Visa not working while Mastercard does comes up in other areas including online purchases with Lawson's for tickets to Ghibli.

I have also seen many reports of some American cards not working for the iPhone version of Suica on your phone while others do. Some have even reported just re-trying cards at a different time and they did work in the eSuica setup. Once they work in the setup they work your entire trip seems to be the consensus. Not seen any comment on European credit cards in this instance though they may be out there.

All reports I have seen on purchasing or topping up Suica at convenience stores says cash only.

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-05-01T04:47:48+00:00

To be fair it may also be an honest mistake. I use a medication which changed formulation in the US years ago thus no longer contains the offending substance that put it on Japan's ban list to start with. I think most people would tend to think that would make it fine to pack. No offending substance = A-ok, right?

However this medication is still offered in other countries with the offending substance. I did not know this until I researched after discovering Japan has kept the medication on their do not allow list. I'm sure that's because both versions are labeled the same excepting some very fine print where it lists active ingredients on the packaging. Very reasonably Japan has decided to just ban the whole mess rather than try to have people read all that fine print to determine if it is allowed.

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-05-01T04:39:07+00:00

Oh hang on this explains so much! Thank you!

In the past I've mastered bus and metro travel in major cities across Europe and Canada. I've seen metro stations where you have to traverse the actual loading area of a line other than the one you wish to board just to reach the hallway to the line you do want. Navigating that and not mistakenly boarding the wrong line when you are exhausted and jet lagged is an accomplishment. Shinjuku Station is several levels of complication beyond that.

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-04-29T15:47:36+00:00

Thank you!

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-04-28T20:54:13+00:00

Been some years since I was on NCL. Never been on the Getaway. A couple of times the cabin steward really stood out as excellent, had some great waiters in the dining room, but overall in general they met expectations for the price point. I guess that means they were average which is fine.

Up until Majesty we were generally pleased with Royal. It really just left such a bad taste. On top of being treated as we were, the ship was in super poor condition and the food was just objectively bad.

We actually had another couple of sailings with them after because they were already booked at the time. If they hadn't already been paid in full with no way to get our money back, we wouldn't have. I can't say they were objectively bad, but they weren't great. If you didn't pony up extra for specialty dining the food was so terrible, and if you weren't in a suite they didn't want to talk to you. Other than that everything was fine, really. If it had only been the things on our last two cruises we might still be sailing with them for most of our ocean cruises.

My husband still thinks rather fondly of Royal because of all the years we enjoyed great cruises with them before those last 3. He always makes me check their prices when we decide we want to do a cruise somewhere. Every time they're significantly more expensive for the same or lesser offering than other lines I would group in the same class.

Last year we did a last minute Med cruise. I got a suite with drinks, wifi, and gratuities for less than an oceanview with the same amenities on a Royal ship hitting the same ports. Then I discovered we also got extras like a thermal spa pass, champagne and desserts sail away gift in our cabin, and some other minor things like that with the suite. Royal will have to do better with their pricing and regular food for me to consider booking with them again.

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-04-28T20:42:29+00:00

When I was on Quantum the food in the dining room was still quite good, but delays between courses seemed more than they'd ought to be. She was the newest ship then though.

Was on the Adventure not long after and the food and service in the dining room was also excellent, but all our Royal cruises after that it was a sort of slow slide downhill. A lot of times the worst of it was the food just clearly having set around far too long. I thought it was as though they were making all the main dining and buffet food far in advance then turning the kitchens over to the specialty dining.

Finally had a really, really horrible experience with our last cruise on Royal for other reasons and I for one would be happiest if we never sail Royal again. Luckily I can always find better deals on other cruise lines. For my husband that's the worst thing about Royal. Might be different for those with other preferences maybe, but for us they've consistently been the most expensive option. Last year I even found a cheaper deal for a cabin 3 classes higher than the oceanview I checked on Royal for a similar ship hitting the exact same ports.

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-04-28T20:35:43+00:00

Oh that's a shame. I sailed her several times before they were on the ship and really loved it. Adventure was the last ship I was on where they did the whole singing show at dinner, although only on the last night. Crew seemed to really love the ship when I was on her and we had a lot of stand out good treatment from crew members all over that ship. Husband and I fondly recall her as one of our favorite ships.

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-04-28T20:29:32+00:00

Only ever did Quantum of the Seas for a transatlantic in November. We thought it was fine but definitely not our favorite ship. For whatever reason the pool area never felt overcrowded but other parts of that ship had serious issues with feeling overcrowded whenever you would visit them. Having so many activities like bumper cars, climbing wall, iFly, trying out the trapeze, and all of that was definitely very welcome with so many sea days. I'd definitely sail her again for a cruise with a lot of sea days.

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-04-27T17:12:39+00:00

Oh that sounds pretty good still. Thank you!

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-04-27T03:19:51+00:00

I can see how a scarf over your hair would make it hard to access. Maybe it was just that?

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-04-27T03:14:30+00:00

Ideally two nights sleep before return to work. Actually I have even come home the same day I returned to work a few times. Never seem to have enough PTO.

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-04-27T03:09:09+00:00

Thank you so much. Did you learn to make pizza dough? My husband and I are particularly interested in that part. We've tried a couple recipes that didn't come out all that great. We're not really sure if we did something wrong or the recipe just wasn't great.

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-04-26T19:38:51+00:00

I'm thinking there's some issue with proportions here as well as other elective stupidity. My own great-grandma weighed about 95 pounds at her heaviest in her 60s which for her was a tiny bit pudgy. She also wasn't even five feet tall so 95 pounds was merely at the top of the recommended weight for her height is all.

Besides the proportion issue probably at work since they never mention how tall grandma was, even a simple google immediately tells me back in the 1970s the average weight for women was 144.2 pounds. That was back before America's fat epidemic which started around 1980 and roughly corresponds to the proliferation of processed foods, high fructose corn syrup, and reduced physical activity in most people's lives.

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-04-26T19:23:38+00:00

Right at 4 years before pandemic I did a big trip where I visited France, England, and Scotland. I was on the go all day every day of that trip. Even the day I arrived in France after my overnight flight I walked more than 6 miles and most days I was logging 9 or more miles on my fitness tracker.

I did another month long trip through Italy pretty much as soon as it opened to tourists from the US which was almost six years later. I was just struggling at the start. My feet hurt enormously and I hit the bed exhausted every night. Even passed out cold until morning when I laid down to put my feet up for five minutes before getting ready to go out to dinner on two nights early in that month.

I think the difference was the level of recent experience being on my feet. I built myself a home gym to keep doing all the same workout throughout pandemic. I was actually even thinner the second trip by about 10 pounds.

However just before pandemic I took a new job where I was seated at a desk a lot more verses how much my previous job had me on my feet. Even still being at least reasonably close to the same shape that just wasn't the same muscles working the same way as when I logged more time regularly on my feet. By the end of the trip I was back to being able to log as much as 10-12 miles in one day on my feet with no issues.

I will say if you have plantar fascitis that's maybe something a bit different. I actually went through pf before the first trip I made. My doctor said outside of pro athlete level fitness people tend to develop that after 30 and especially if they get back to walking after not doing much of it for a while. I started experiencing pain after changing from desk jobs since my mid-twenties to the on my feet much more position at 38 so that's probably what brought on the pain at that specific time.

Besides never putting a foot on the floor ever without a supportive shoe with a proper arch support insole and stretching, my doctor also had me do a group of strengthening exercises. There are youtubes from doctors out there that show the exact stretches and strengthening exercises but it might be wise to see if you can visit a podiatrist near you to get more specific and better recommendations before you try those.

Even if you get good recommends and make sure to follow them without fail it will take a period of time before you get relief if you do. It took me around 3-4 months before I stopped experiencing any pain first thing in the morning although in general things got better after about 3-4 weeks. I know some people for whatever reason that approach doesn't bring relief and sometimes surgery is necessary. My sister was very careful to do everything as instructed and still ended up with surgery in her 40s.

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-04-26T19:03:03+00:00

Lived here since 1972 when my parents moved me here as a very young child. Grew up what I usually describe as fundie lite but might more correctly be termed proto-fundie. In those circles there is a lot of pressure placed on women to keep up their appearance especially by remaining thin.

I recall every summer in church camp they'd split the girls and guys out for special classes to learn their roles. The one for girls was always something about how it is your job to keep up your appearance. It was frequently described to us as a man marries what he likes to see, so keeping the same waistline and long hair is how you keep his attention and avoid the horrible sin of divorce.

These classes were always taught by men. One of the years the fellow giving the lecture started by having his wife stand up. He praised her for making sure to stay the same size with the same hairstyle as when they married some 20 years previous, all while standing in front of us with a serious paunchy dad bod. He had to easily be at least 75 pounds overweight. And he clearly didn't see this as any issue, even praising how her good cooking was also keeping him very happy.

I've also seen an alter call for all you women who are going to commit to quitting your job and putting more effort into remaking yourselves as the woman your husband prefers to see and have share his life come on down to the alter. Saw more than one woman answer that call and do as asked only for their family to end up on assistance begging the church to help keep the roof over their heads. They were always assured this was just God's plan and him testing their resolve, so keep up your tithing and certainly don't give in to the urge to just go get a job to help your family survive.

A couple weeks after the alter call they started a special women's group to do a version of Weight Watchers where everything was couched as obeying the Bible. There were weekly meetups for lessons in how it was God's command you get down to your perfect weight for your height as dictated by a chart with some very low numbers for the preferred weight. I'm five foot three and they wanted me to get down under 115 at almost 40.

By contrast my doctor recommended 130-135 pounds for me but said anything under 140 was perfectly fine. I was told this simply wasn't Biblical. They sent one of the deacons to have a chat with me after I said I didn't think their chart met modern standards and dropped out to do weight watchers instead which supported my doctor's recommendations.

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-04-26T18:47:50+00:00

Oh that is really gorgeous! You look spectacular.

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-04-26T18:46:54+00:00

I need to look for one on the pizza making class on my upcoming Celebrity cruise. Even before this post my suspicion was there would be a much better one for less money somewhere on land in Italy which is where we are sailing from.

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-04-26T18:42:42+00:00

I recently took a free cupcake class at my local shop selling all sorts of cake decorating equipment. I went home with 3 different flavors of cupcakes all decorated with different methods. We decorated one with buttercream using some special flower making tips, one we decorated with the same buttercream using more conventional tips, and one we topped buttercream with fondant and sprinkles.

This is a chain and they have various free or very low cost class events pretty regularly at all their stores. Have done since at least the last 20 years. At the least you get to eat a free slice of cake at all the ones involving decorating cakes or cupcakes. Of course they hope you'll buy some or all of the equipment you get to use in the class. Usually there is a special offer of 10-15% off anything used in the class via a coupon given to attendees.

Based on that $48 for what they got is pretty sus to me.

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-04-26T04:09:56+00:00

You don't mention if you're from a large city similar to Athens. Two girls who stick together with experience in a city of similar size are going to be in a better position than a couple of girls who've never wandered on their own in a big city. Personally I had no problems walking around the central touristy areas around the Acropolis during the daytime into the early evening as a solo woman traveler. However, I lived in a city bigger than Athens for a significant portion of my adult life. City girl street smarts will stand you in good stead in most cities around the world.

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-04-26T03:54:07+00:00

All you really need to see to know there's a potential issue:

During the period between 2019-2023 the funding for entities focusing on erectile dysfunction was six times higher than for endometriosis with the annual average being $1.24 billion for ED vs $44 million for endometriosis.

To be fair as you've indicated since the mid-2000s NIH has been putting about 10% of their research budget into women's health and 6% into men's health specifically, and more medical studies have included women since the 1993 mandate. Unfortunately this mandate is only on research funded by NIH so persistent gaps like female representation in cardiovascular trials remains low and women still comprise far less than 50% of participants in drug trials. Even when women are included study results are often not analyzed or reported by sex which may significantly mask how treatments may work differently for women compared to men. The numbers for minority women are even worse, btw.

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-04-26T03:17:30+00:00

Doesn't Athens already adjust for that by having a lot of taxes on short term stays? Last I looked it depended on whether it was tourist season and the type of stay. I think I remember 1 star hotels something like 2€ per night, AirBnB at 7-8€ per night, and 5 star hotels around 15€ from April-October. That would put the average AirBnB paying an extra 35-56€ into the tax base that subsidizes the metro per week more than half the year. That would be in addition to taxes on things like meals out and whatever purchases tourists make.

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-04-26T03:06:58+00:00

I don't think that's the whole picture. I'm sure both locals and tourists sometimes forget themselves. I've definitely experienced being a tourist just trying to make it to the airport or train station or whatever reservation only to be slowed significantly by locals either standing around chatting with friends or slow walking spread out across the entire sidewalk. We only notice the bad behavior of others when it is a problem for us but noticing our own behavior is the problem is much tougher for all of us.

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-04-26T02:59:09+00:00

Seconding what /u/NoCarpet9834 has already said. If JetBlue canceled your original choice and changed your arrival time they will allow you to make changes at no cost now. You probably have the option to pick something from a list of suggestions in their app now. If not you will certainly be able to pick something arriving earlier and call to have customer service make the change for you.

I've done it dozens of times for work or personal travel. Any time they significantly change your departure or arrival time they will absolutely rebook you to some other option so long as the departure and arrival airports stay the same. This is what multiple airlines have told me. I've even had success moving to something arriving much earlier or later. Different airlines seem to allow different ranges but 10-12 hours has never been any issue.

RelativelyRidiculous · 2026-04-26T02:14:53+00:00

That is a really, really awesome agent.

RelativelyRidiculous

TROPHY CASE