[Evan-kun]

Hi everyone,

Sorry to have to put on my parent hat but we still don’t have surveys for ELEVEN people. I’ve e-mailed out reminders to the people who haven’t responded. Please, please, PLEASE fill these out and let us know if you aren’t getting the Tour Tutorials. You spent thousands to get on this trip and we’re trying to help you get the most out of it!

Okay… *takes off parent hat* FUN UPDATES Y’ALL. :D

– If you’re wondering if you’ll be the only one going to the Bunny, Cat, or other cafes, the answer is No – there’s lots of interest for these and you’ll be among friends for sure.
– If you are interested in a reservation for one of the Animate Cafes, the best we can do is try. All the reservations are by lottery, and the group sizes are limited. We will try, but we cannot make any guarantees. I’m trying to get a more concrete response from Animate on this and will report back if things change. Regardless, any requests for these are, like all the other requests, due by this Friday.
– Domestic airfare quotes are coming today/tomorrow; there were a lot of them and we’re putting them together as quickly as possible. We’re a little short handed this week since one of our agents is on a business trip.

That’s it for now! I’ll be back with more updates as the week goes on!

[Evan-kun]

Hey all! Evan here;

Just a reminder that we need a survey response from everyone! We’re still missing surveys from close to half the group, so if you know someone on the tour that hasn’t filled it out, please pester them on our behalf <3 <3 <3

On that note: we do need any requests for reservations of any kind – cafes and so forth – in by the survey deadline as well. This is really important! Hence my use of numerous exclamation points! ^_^

We’re working on the domestic flights this week and next!

[Evan-kun]

‘Allo!

We give our customers the option of booking with our help OR booking directly on their own. :D

There are four big points we like to highlight with these arrangements. They are as follows:

– We don’t make anything from the sales of domestic flights – it’s a service we offer as a courtesy to our guests.
– We can only hold a domestic flight for 24 hours and we do need you to call in (not e-mail!) to facilitate the purchase.
– We CANNOT offer a transfer of checked baggage from your domestic flight to the international flight in ANY case due to the restrictions of our group booking arrangements with our partner airlines.
– Even if you book your domestic flight with us, that does NOT constitute a guarantee that we can offer any special or extra assistance should some kind of problem arise with your flight. For example: if you book a domestic flight with us and the flight is cancelled, we CANNOT offer special alternative arrangements directly; you will have to speak with the airline that is the cause of the delay. Regardless of whether you book the flight with us or not, in the past we have been able to get our guests to Japan on a later flight when their connecting flights have experienced problems.

ON THAT NOTE:

– If you are getting a connecting flight, you will want to make sure it arrives at least 30 minutes before our scheduled meeting time at the terminal of departure to Japan.
– If you are flying from a region where weather is a factor (such as the Upper Midwest in winter, the Rocky Mountain region in February/March or Florida in hurricane season), we STRONGLY suggest booking a flight that arrives much earlier OR the day before. It may sound like a hassle, but it beats the heck out of missing your flight to Japan!

Let us know if you have any other questions!

[Evan-kun]

Thanks for mentioning MapsWithMe; we’ve been working on a re-work of the maps with the new Google Maps interface, but we’ve been pretty swamped lately (sorry ;_;). But yes, if you have a viewer for the KMLs, that’s a great option.

Also: remember, everyone is getting a guidebook with shopping maps included.

[Evan-kun]

‘Allo!

The Onsen rules are pretty simple. We’ll explain how to use the baths and other areas of the facilities before we enter, but for stuff to keep in mind ahead of time:
– No tattoos are allowed in the bathing area, but use of the footbaths and other areas is permitted. Small tattoos can be covered up so that use of the baths is possible.
– Use of cameras is also prohibited in the bathing area.
– There are directions for proper Yukata wear at the onsen, but just a reminder: the robes used at the onsen should be wrapped around you in a left-over-right way. The other way is only used at funerals (with understandably complicated consequences).

Hope this helps! Let us know if you have any other questions! :D

[Evan-kun]

@penultimate – Bringing up toiletries/shampoo/etc. reminds me: all of our hotels are pretty nice and the onsen we’re visiting has tons of toiletries provided, so you won’t need to worry about any of that. Seriously, you will be inundated with face scrubs/special soaps at the onsen. Two people on Starving Artist last year actually bought the facial scrub at the onsen as a gift for friends. Unless you have prescription shampoo or something, you’ll be in good shape. :D

Mosquitos: They won’t be as bad as they can be in the fall, but it doesn’t hurt to bring spray if you want. We’ve only had one tour where we had to buy bug repellant and that was in the summer, so please don’t view it as an OMG IF I DON’T HAVE THIS I’M GONNA DIE thing.

Irons: I think our hotels may have these already…

@Einatsu – Yeah, if you have liquids that are over the 3-1-1 restriction, stick that stuff in your checked bag. Trust me. :)

@Maddy Yeah, the 9th is the arrival date.

Can someone paint my nails once the tour is underway? As the tour guide I’m not going to look as fabulous as you ladies will, but having pretty nails would help ^_^

[Evan-kun]

Penultimate – good call on the packing. Trust us, we struggle with packing light at times and we’ve done this a million times. My suggestion: if your suitcase has un-even areas on the bottom (e.g. where the handle for a roller bag retracts), STUFF SHIRTS AND SOCKS IN THERE. I’ve started rolling up all my t-shirts to save space and it is an amazing way to save space if you do it right. :D

FYI: If you’re in the LaQuinta, I just sent out the info for that – holler at us if you have any questions.

Hari – As you mentioned, the liquid rules for carry-ons still apply (the “3-1-1” rule) on the plane. Good thing to keep in mind. And thanks for mentioning sunscreen; the season will most certainly demand it.

Taknflyte – Lanny actually went over the WiFi thing a few pages ago XD We will arrange for time to pick those cards up, but changing your money to yen will be what we do first since it’s best to get that out of the way as soon as possible.

We can’t wait to meet all of you – we have some pretty amazing stuff planned!

[Evan-kun]

Time correction: It’ll be 10PM Italy and 11PM in Israel. YAY TIME ZONES.

[Evan-kun]

Hi everyone! This is your super-swell* tour guide. I’m glad some of you appreciated the rick roll in the survey so much XD

We have finished the room assignments for the tour! We also sent out the money video to help you all prep for the journey. Still to come: an e-mail of the final itinerary and one last e-mail about a week before the tour with some last minute stuff.

Usually we just tell people who they are matched up with when the tour begins, but considering the size of the community that has been built here/how awesome you all are, we had another idea: why not host a livestream where we can tell people who is paired with who and also answer some tour questions?

So: if we were to run a livestream to do this, what time would work best for people? I’m thinking Sunday, April 14 at 1PM Pacific Standard Time (4PM Eastern, 11PM in Italy, and Monday at 6AM in Australia). That okay?

Leave your responses below and we’ll set something up via e-mail!

– Evan

* super-swell qualities may settle in shipping. Please use tour guide before the printed expiration date. Kittens are fluffy.

[Evan-kun]

Welcome to the room, Animated Spring 2013 Members! :D

[Evan-kun]

Hi everyone! ^_^ SUPER excited for this year’s tour and thrilled to have you all aboard!

Andrew: If you were on the tour I think you were on, I would have been your guide! Trust me, you are NOT cursed – it was just bad timing.

Anyone have anything in particular they are looking forward to? We’re planning a pretty huge Cherry Blossom/Hanami party this year.

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