Travel

So much for blogging from my around the world trip. Not sure how it went so quickly, but it did, and here I am at 29,000 feet and rising on my back to New York.

I wanted to make a few notes from Tokyo, and perhaps London if I can remember any thing from that part of the trip. It seems when you don’t have Thanksgiving as a holiday you can start the Christmas season early. When I walked into the hotel last Sunday, there was a huge Christmas tree in the lobby and carols were playing. I knew it was a long flight, but I thought I was only losing a day, not 2 weeks. Ugh!

Looks like I will be off again on another trip starting next week. This time it is a two city tour, stopping in London for 3 days, and then off to Tokyo for a week. Who knew you actually get a discount on an 'Around the World Fare'.

The thing that always gets me confused is the currency exchange. I took 2 years of finance classes, multiple classes on investing and the markets, had numerous securities licenses, work on Wall Street, yet last time in London it took me 3 days to get the currency conversion right? I kept thinking everything was so cheap. Mainly because I was dividing instead of multiplying. Go figure.

Every time I look at the currency rates, my mind shuts off and I just can't figure it out. Until now. I finally came up with terms I can understand: The Beer Exchange Rate.

The after work watering hole in Tokyo has a happy hour beer price of 500 Yen, which when I was first there was equal to $4 US. Next time I was there, the price was still 500 Yen, but now it costs me $5 US.

Current price of a Tokyo beer in US Dollars according to Yahoo Finance: $5.12. Ok, so Yahoo doesn't quote it exactly that way, but it does put it into a perspective I can relate to.

At least London is working in my favor. If I remember correctly, a pint in London cost 4 Pounds, which was $8 US last September. Now it is down to $6.26 a pint.

I think if the Wall Street Journal exchange rate tables were done this way, it would make a lot more sense.

So whats the lesson here? Drink much more in London and remember to hit the Duty Free shop on the way out of town.

As the Tokyo trip winds to a close I found myself doing some very Japanese and some very un-Japanese things.

My last few meals have provided quite interesting. Thursday night we had a group outing to a place called Zest. Turns out it is a Mexican restaurant in the middle of the business district we are in. Of course the food still had a far-east flair to it, and I had to explain to some of the people that they are called 'Buffalo Chicken Wings' because of a city in the States, not because there is a such thing as a Buffalo Chicken. But make no mistake, it was a Mexican meal.

The one thing that caught me as rather humorous, was that our waiter, in a Mexican restaurant in the middle of Tokyo, was a black, Japanese man named Benny . Sorry, it may be slightly off, but I did find it funny.

Been a hectic couple of days here. Of course besides work, you entertain or get entertained after hours. Yes, it is optional, but venturing out on your own to find food can be an adventure to say the least. And that is not just from a visitor's perspective. A co-worker moved here back in October and he still says he is hesitant to walk into new places without a translator as your are never sure what you are ordering.

The food here is different but good. I even went to a sushi place, although not by choice, but went with the group and survived. There was enough cooked food and even had a piece of 'tempura', sushi of the cooked variety. Still won't be doing it again soon.

Some things I have been noting this week.

• Restrooms are advertised as Toilets, which is actually a more accurate description
  
• Said toilets all have seat warmers. An interesting feeling when you first sit down
  
• Subways actually have a schedule and run on time.
  
• Pain medications, such as advil and ibuprofen are non-existent
  

While out wandering and doing some souvenir shopping I forgot how compartmentalized Tokyo is. Not only does each section of the city have it's own specialty, each building sometimes has a theme. Kind of like New York's diamond or fashion district, but to a greater extreme.

I was in Shibuya, which is a big shopping district with mostly clothing and fashion stores. I find one place that looks like it is more of a mall, so I enter. One thing about a lot of the buildings here, is that they tend to be tall and narrow. In other words, the footprint of the building is small, but they have many floors. On the first floor of this 'mall', it is all 'Ladies clothing', but it is more for the teen/young adult crowd, for example if Ambercrombie was here, they would be on this floor. So I go up the escalator and the second floor is the same thing.

Greetings from tomorrow. At least that's what it feels like since today is Sunday but my laptop keeps telling me it is Saturday. Of course, when I checked in at home, the kids are still enjoying their Saturday night. Oh well, at least it will be Friday for me first.

Adjusting to the time change is always a challenge. I think my ability to sleep almost anywhere, anytime helps out a little. Then again, I was lying awake at 2:30am ready to start my day. I got over it though and slept until about 7am. Which for most people may be a somewhat normal waking time, but to me, on a weekend, is still the middle of the night.

Anyway, I am going to venture out and try and take some photos and track down a snow globe for Melanie (my youngest) who has quite a collection of them. Kevin had requested a samurai sword, but I don't see much good coming from giving something like that to a twelve year old. Plus, I can imagine a few issues with the custom people back home as well.

After being a little negative about dealing with the corporate workplace, there are some pluses. I am off to Tokyo on Friday to visit our office for a week. And of course eat and drink on the company's dime.

There are drawbacks of course. I do miss the weekend time with the kids and wife This weekend is the first dance competition and the first lacrosse game of the season so they will be scrambling without me.

This will be my second trip over there, and even though I am not a sushi fan, I am looking forward to some of the cooked food they have to offer. The deep fried pork, which I can never remember the name of, was one of my favorites of course. That and the Raman noodles. The Top Raman brand from the grocery store just doesn't seem to cut it.