InsaneJournal

Enough was too much. I am taking one now.

I had one of my shopping bots out and about on the internet, and it finally found a superb deal to a destination I enjoyed visiting previously.
I am giving myself a six-day vacation in Tokyo, Japan.

This occurred very early last Wednesday morning. An airline which I did not expect must have observed its load levels on a route to Tokyo for the upcoming month. In particular, it 'freaked out' for the amount of capacity it had for one specific weekday.
The airline was American Airlines.
The specific weekday for which it 'freaked out' was Tuesday, 11th September.

Prices for my route to Tokyo had been hovering in the over $1,100 range. American slashed its fare so low, that even when you add in the fees and taxes an international route attracts, it was in the mid-$900 area.
But only flights on 11 September.
(The airfare rebounded back to four-digit area on Wednesday the 12th.) I booked flights to and from Tokyo for the 11th and the 18th. (American was more tolerant at giving this airfare for the return leg.) The hook will be the second annual Great Japan Beer Festival [The page is in Japanese. Use a translator.] in Yokohama at Osanbashi Hall on 15-17 September.

I will stay at the newer hostel from the Khaosan Group in Asakusa {say aah-socks-aah}; the 'Smile' facility. "Bar 23", its night club (at which you get a free drink for each night you stay; and additional drinks are 3 / ¥1,000), has been relocated to the main floor of 'Smile'. The advantages to staying at this hostel, besides the cheap bar at night, are that it has free broadband internet access in its common room, it has scoped out the neighborhood to let you know where are the ¥100 shops [or the ¥99 shop {also in Japanese} if that is too expensive], the filling ramen shack, the coffeehouse, the post office, and the convenience stores; it is a 4¾-block walk from the Toei Asakusa line's Asakusa station, which it shares with the Keisei Group's Limited Express trains to / from Narita Airport [¥1,060]; and Asakusa, although it is on the east side of Tokyo, has some interesting (verging on touristy) sections.

I shall post here sporadically between the 12th and the 18th. You may private message me here, respond to a post (most will be Public - all replies shall be screened), or you can send E-Mail to that special address I show. Up to a specified number will be forwarded to me, after which time I will change it to another special E-Mail address. [It drastically reduces spam.]