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I had to keep reminding myself that I’m not traveling to a 3rd world country. If the hotels provide basic necessities, I don’t need to weigh down my bag with them. The website http://www.onebag.com/ is super helpful, if not a little extreme.

@Amaya928 – A search on the American Airlines website determines that the size limit for a carry on is 45 linear inches (length + width + height). Yours adds up to 48 inches so it appears it would be too big to use as a carry on.

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I just called my bank to let them know about the trip, and the girl I talked to was like “OMG I talked to someone else recently who is also going to Japan for the exact same dates you are. That’s so weird!”

Oh packing! I have researched packing light to death. I’m keeping it way simple. All of the items/clothes I’m bringing fill up about 3/4 of a carry on bag (including some ancient PJs that will be tossed along the way) and most of my little gadgets will be in a laptop bag. I’ve overpacked for vacations before and it was just a huge inconvenience so I’m working hard to avoid that stress.

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Love the newest page. Way to make awkward pillow talk Axis! I expect there to be a lot of deep Teahouse discussions on this trip, haha.

Aaaaahhh I am so excited to see the final itinerary! Our schedule is pretty full but there are great opportunities for free time (hope I can figure out what to do with it!). I was looking at pictures from the Animated Spring tour and it only served to fuel the excitement. I’ve been keeping a close eye on the weather forecast too.

Welcome to the forums Jade Stark!

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OMG.  Trip prep ranting follows:  I’m kinda upset with my bank (Wells Fargo)….

Me: “Hi, I need to speak with someone about ordering travelers cheques and ensuring that my cards will work overseas.”
Teller: “You need to go online.”
Me: “I prefer to do this in person to make sure everything’s done correctly.”
Teller: “One moment” *Steps away to speak to a superior*
Superior: “She needs to go online.”
Teller: *comes back* “You need to go online to order cashiers checks.”
Me: “…Travelers checks.”
Teller: “Yeah.  Go online.”
Me: “What about my cards?”
Teller: “Call the 800 number.  Anything else I can do for you today? :D”
Me = -_-;

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If you can’t be who you are with who you’re with, then there’s no point in being with them at all! :) The only thing my guy draws the line at is when I mention pairing together sports athletes, haha. (Tom BradyxEli Manning… I can just picture it…)

I’m glad that I don’t live with my family and have to worry about them finding unmentionables.  I just have to hear complaints for me to ‘get that gay stuff off the coffee table’, haha.  Although one time I did accidentally have something questionable (Crown Royale anthology) shipped to my parents house, but my mother knows better than to open her adult daughter’s mail.  And she did deliver it to me when she visited; Mom Yaoi Delivery Service :D

Can’t believe the trip is already 2 weeks away.  I feel like the past few months have flown by, but these next 14-15 days are going to CRAWL.

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Oh man, these past couple days have been like Christmas.  My grandmother and my boyfriends family surprised me with some spending money for the trip.  AND I actually had ‘Christmas’ with my older brother this weekend, since we haven’t seen each other since November.  He gave me cash as well, but had gone to an exchange bank in NYC (where he lives) to get Yen to give me instead of USD.  How thoughtful!  His girlfriend got me a handkerchief map of Tokyo… but from the Edo period, so I don’t think it would help me to get around at all ;D 

I already have everything I need for my trip, save for a travel pillow and portable wireless router I’m waiting for from Amazon.  It’s taking a lot of restraint to keep from packing right now.

My boyfriend has also had to ‘suffer’ my hobbies, haha.  We were together for a while before he found out, but he’s like “Whatever” about it.  He did buy me the Teahouse Ch 2 special edition, so he’s not all bad.  And he was the one to  convince me to go on this trip! 

How long have people here been reading Teahouse?  When did everyone first discover it?  I’ve been reading since Emirain posted the first few pages on y!Gallery, which I think was back in 2010 and I’ve been hooked ever since. 

Welcome to the forums Lisa! I’ll be staying in LA on the 7th as well but not getting in until later.  Maybe we LA people can hang out! :D

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I can’t wait for food as well.  Melon pan and omurice and sushi and daifuku and soft cream and okonomiyaki… oooooh man… I even want to try a Japanese Big Mac to see how it differs from them over here :P  And I’m gonna go all Instagram and sneak pictures of everything I eat.

@Tamil-A  I know what you mean about the scale.  I’ve dropped a few clothing sizes but I’ve hardly lost any weight (about 10 lbs over 7 months).  If I just went by the number on the scale, I think I’d be pretty disappointed.

I have rheumatoid arthritis so finding low-impact exercise that is easy on my joints is challenging.  The elliptical has become my best friend.  I’m just hoping my feet will be able to handle all the walking on this trip…

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@Einatsu if I remember correctly, shipping (international and domestic) is free when you buy a certain amount.  I think it’s $60 USD.

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T_T Want special edition so bad but I’m honestly putting any and all money aside for this trip.  I hope there’s one or two left aftwards.  Worst comes to worst, I can just purchase the regular book and sneak a peek at someone elses’ sketch book, right?  Right?!  I was excited to see that they have iPhone cases…  But I’m about a week away from giving up my trusty dusty ol’ four and a half year old 3G and getting 5.  Maybe in the future they’ll have a 5 case :) 

Part of me wants these next three weeks to fly by, and another part of me wants it to take its time.  The anticipation is fun and it’s been great motivation for me to get in better shape for the trip.  Not only have I been saving money by cooking healthier meals at home, I’ve dropped 3 dress sizes since I signed up.  Problem is, now I have to go out and buy all new clothes that actually fit D:

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Yeah if you missed the stream you can watch the capture on the site.  I re-watched a little bit this morning to catch the roommate assignments again and see if I missed anything (there was a LOT more covered than what I listed, so watch the vid!)
 (FYI Pen = Katya. but I gladly go by Kate since it’s easier).  Samdyn and I are roomies for the first two hotels! :D

Are we really taking the Himiko Boat?  Gosh, I can’t wait for the final itinerary. 

Oooh Mr. Cooper…Fond memories. Years ago, I was in the CNN building for a high school trip  and people were stopping him for autographs and my 15 year old self didn’t see what the big deal was.  We were walking along and I was  all *Robot dance* “Lookit me, I’m the news guy!”  then I look to my immediate right and there he was, walking beside me.  There was eye contact.  Awkward.

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I managed to catch a good chunk but kept having to step away and/or mute the stream due to work.  Some of the things I caught…

Dress Code: There’s no specific dress code for any events like Takarazuka.  You can dress nice if you would like. But soaking in the Onsen: NAKED.
We’re getting Suica passes from PacSet for use on public transportation.
Tips for the Guides can be cash/yen or even Paypal’d.
There ARE bathrooms in all hotel rooms.
It’s best to exchange your money at the airport (this is in the e-mails but bears repeating).  Let the guides know if/when you need to visit an ATM.
Medications: Make sure they’re not illegal. Good idea to bring the label/original package/pharmacy sheet with you.
For those staying at the hotel in LA, there’s a shuttle to the airport (which looks to me only like 2 miles away)
They’re expecting 70s-80s for temperatures (21-25C if I recall correctly).
It’s a good idea to NOT wear contacts on the plane, as the air is dry and is very likely to dry out your eyes/contacts. 
For those packing light, if you want to do laundry at a hotel, prepare to hang your clothes to dry as apparently Japanese dryers are bad at their assigned job (c’mon Japan, you have rice cookers that bake cakes and toilets that wash your butt for you but your dryers don’t dry? :P).
There will be a little free time to sight see in Osaka or Ito if one wishes.

That’s all I can recall.  Now that the stream is over I’m bored at work (save for someone breaking their arm rollerblading down the hallway… wtf)

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I don’t really know what to think about Remy.  I’m seeing there being a sort of twin rivalry between her and Rory.  I really look forward to updates because I never know what’s going to happen next.

I’m not a big fan of the comments section and I avoid it most of the time.  It gets filled with people reading WAY too far into things and/or trying to point out errors.  I don’t know where in the heck people got Remy being a male/transgendered…

The clothing is something I love about Teahouse.  You don’t see them wearing the same outfit chapter after chapter.  They actually change their clothes and have different styles.  It’s also great material for cosplayers.

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My last invoice came today.  My coworkers are already putting in requests for souvenirs.  I’m finalizing my packing list.  I watched the money/budget video.  Was that a Mad Money parody I saw?  Because I’m pretty sure that was a Mad Money parody :D

@Amaya928 I could too.  I’ve been going to the DC Blossoms for 9 years and one would think that already having hundreds of pictures of them would be enough… but no, every year I have to take more and more and more.  I even customized my credit card with a picture of them.  Someday I’d love to see them in Japan but it’s a little more convenient to just go to DC.

@Einatsu Thanks for the pointers!  I could see that there was an insert/edit link option but I couldn’t figure out that I needed to highlight the text.  I’d go back and fix it but it looked like I tried to edit it so many times WordPress was like “NOPE”
2nd attempt: ALBUM LINK

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From what I’ve experienced with Emirain’s Livestream, a link is provided and it comes up with a video/screen feed and people can type-chat in the window to the right of the screen.

Can’t wait to find out who my roomie is! I will try to be the awesome-est roommate ever.

I love that the yen is getting weaker against the USD.   Not only will the math be easier for me, I’ll feel like I’m getting more for my money :P

The blossoms are in full bloom here. If anyone wants to see some pictures, you can find it at the following link:  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10101799042876132.1073741825.68126043&type=1&l=2b77fd55f7 .

UGH I tried to make that URL into a click-able link but the HTML tags just aren’t cooperating.  Not sure what I’m doing wrong.

 

It makes me look forward to going to Japan even more, but also makes me appreciate what I have here at home :)

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A Livestream sounds like a great idea!  Honestly, Saturday the 13th would work best for me (I work on Sunday).  But I think I could possibly manage to tune in on Sunday using an Incognito window on my work computer.

I’m so excited for the final itinerary!

 

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