Tokyo's Current #1 Attraction is 451.2 Meters in the Sky

The 634 meter
Tokyo Skytree casts a
shadow onto Tokyo
below.

We officially made it all the way around the world when we finally arrived at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo on Friday morning, December 7th at around 4 am after being delayed in Incheon, Korea for about 5 hours due to a huge snowstorm from which the airport was still trying to recover from.  Amazingly, after approximately 18 flights during our entire trip, this was the first and last snafu we had with any flights.  We secretly wished our flight would get canceled so we would have to spend the night/day in Korea and get one more country under our sabbatical belt.  It didn't happen that way, and we were actually glad to have finally arrived at Akiko's dad's house around 7 am.  We were planning on a relaxing week, unwinding from all our backpacking.

We already spent 2 full weeks in Tokyo back in May when we officially started our Travel Sabbatical 7 months ago, not to mention this is Akiko's second home and Mike has visited at least 6 times.  So, it would seem that we've exhausted almost every touristy thing there is to do in Tokyo over the years.  Not so, especially when they keep building new things!

Our "Next, and Last Stop" of our Travel Sabbatical, Ogikubo in Tokyo where we started this RTW adventure. 

Incheon International Airport, Korea.  Delays due to snow and ice. 

The much anticipated Tokyo Skytree actually opened on May 22nd, 2012 while we were here previously, but advanced tickets were already sold out for the next several months.  We didn't have a chance, nor did we feel much appreciation for long lines and the feel of a packed observation deck at 1500 feet up in the air.  

Akiko's dad, Shinji, and Mike with Skytree view from Oshiage Station. 

Wifi Connection - More Than Just a Convenience

Skype. FaceTime. International phone plans. Options are good in this day in age for keeping in contact with our family and friends. With the miracles of a wifi connection, just yesterday, we FaceTime-d our parents and some friends. There was free public wifi in the Larcomar entertainment complex, so we were able to show our parents the coast and surrounding scenery of Miraflores. Then, we FaceTime-d our friends who happened to be getting dinner ready, so we talked for almost an hour while they cooked in their kitchen...just as if we came over to hang out. So cool!

Also, as long as there is good wifi connection, we've been able to use our Skype phone credits to make necessary calls, which is a whole lot cheaper than having to use our AT&T international roaming plan. With Skype, we've made contact with most of the airlines to confirm flights (no online check-ins available), check our voicemails everyday, discuss billing issues regarding home expenses, etc. After being on the road for 2-months, we've only recharged our Skype account once for $10. Can't beat that.

Yesterday was the first time we had to actually use our AT&T international roaming plan to connect with Star Peru Airlines to confirm our flights to Cusco. After trying several phone numbers published for Star Peru using Skype, we recognized that Skype phone has difficulty connecting to a toll-free number, and the other published number was a fax line. We finally located the local Star Peru number, and successfully connected. The automated voice in Spanish came on, not having a clue as to the menu options. Mike pressed "0" on the chance that this would get him to a live person...and it did, who started speaking in Spanish. But, when asked if she spoke English, she said "yes" - music to our ears! We were able to confirm our flights.

Skype came in very handy recently when we had to make many phone calls to our banks after recognizing unauthorized charges. We've been very diligent about checking our credit card and bank statements almost daily. We use VPN on top of the existing wifi for encryption, then we access our financial statements. As a result, we've been able to catch these unauthorized charges while still in processing.

Of course, wifi also helps to keep this blog up-to-date and post photos along the way! The ability to do online research on our next destinations, lodging, and transportation alone, have been invaluable.

As you may have guessed, wifi has been somewhat of a priority item for us, everywhere we go. It's not just for entertainment, but also for travel planning and to be able to manage the home front while we are away. As Akiko says, "[If I had to choose] I'd rather have wifi than a hot shower."

Pre-emptive Strike on Mosquito Bites

Not only do I hate mosquitos, the bites overreact into gigantic red welts that itch and hurt like hell, takes forever to heal, and leaves perm-scars.  Sooooo, a Peruvian beach paradise, or an Amazon jungle expedition, or a Thailand beach paradise could be real issues.   Not to mention, we have to take malaria precautions in many of these places as well. 

Not to fret.  This week in Los Organos, Peru has been a good trial for our future 2-months of mosquitos in Southeast Asia.  

We've gone through plenty of insect repellant spray to maintain our 24/7 coverage (which, by the way, is one item that is not cheap in Peru).  We also have mosquito coils in our bungalow, and keep the fan blowing on us all night.  

But, what happens when they DO infiltrate our shield and we get bit?  Those anti-itch creams don't do a damn thing. 

I know this sounds like quackery...I thought the same thing...however, the BEST tool I brought with me is called Therapik.  Thera...wha?!  Exactly.  Bug venom is sensitive to heat.  Immediately after a bite, the heat from this device is applied directly to the bite for about 30 seconds, converting the poison into a protein, and relieving the itch and potential inflammation.  

It is no short of a miracle for me.  The bites that I've gotten have been zapped with the Therapik and they are essentially gone.  No itch, no pain, no inflammation, no welts.  AMAZING!

Therapik is also suppose to work on bee stings, flea/tick bites, and jellyfish stings as well.  

So there.  My product endorsement for the year.  Therapik - check it out.

AT&T International Phone Plan

Before we leave the States, we need to get our AT&T international cellular phone plans figured out.

-What we want is to be able to use the available WiFi for data. 
-What we don't want is to have to pay for an international data plan.
-What we want is to be able to make and receive calls on our phone in an emergency. 
-What we don't want is to have to pay international roaming fees every time someone calls or texts us, especially unknowns such as telemarketers.

For an extra $5.99/month/phone, we added the AT&T World Traveler Plan, which is the international cellular service that allows us to make and receive calls. 

We opted out of any international data plans.  We will solely rely on WiFi access for data usage.  Which also means that we will not be able to text. 

With WiFi accessibility, we will still be able to FaceTime other iPhone/iPad users. 

Here's the information from AT&T on setting up our iPhones to ensure we aren't surprised by outrageous international  charges:

>>> Mail, Contact, Calendars: turn OFF "Fetch New Data" > turn OFF "Push" notifications > Change the "Fetch" schedule to MANUAL.  We don't want the phones constantly searching for data and automatically pushing items to our phones.

>>> General Settings > Network > Enable 3G, Leave ON.  In order to be able to make or receive calls, this needs to be left ON.  Unfortunately, by leaving this on, we risk taking calls from people we don't want calling!  To prevent this, AT&T suggests activating Airplane Mode, which will send all calls automatically to voicemail - avoiding any charges.  Of course, Airplane Mode also disables any use of WiFi....My brother told me that we can still enable WiFi in Airplane Mode - nice to know.

>>> General Settings > Network > Cellular Data, Leave ON....which makes us nervous.  We definitely do not want to incur huge data costs, but AT&T reassures us that we will not because we did not purchase an international data plan.  AT&T explains that we need to have this left ON in order to send and receive phone calls. Soooooo, why is this called "Cellular Data"????  Who knows. To be careful, we can monitor data usage through General > Usage > Cellular Usage > Reset Statistics and keep track.

>>> General Settings > Network > Data Roaming, Leave OFF.  A precaution to avoid roaming charges. 

So, we'll probably keep the above settings, and leave our phones in Airplane Mode, unless we want to access WiFi. 

FAQ Sheet from AT&T

VPN for Secure iPhone and iPad

For some reason I've never been a fan of setting up automatic bill payments from our checking account. We currently receive all of our bills, except 2, via email and pay them all online with our bank and PayPal apps on the iPhone and iPad. This should make paying bills fairly easy while traveling, as long as we have wifi. From doing a little research, it appears that most hostels and apartments-for-rent have wifi and various other locations. The issue is, public wifi can leave your financial info more vulnerable to online theft of information.

I was looking for a way to help secure that important information while using public wifi. VPN Fire is a product that has gotten a lot of good reviews. The Virtual Private Network (VPN) gives you a new ip address and provides secure encrypted communication to their servers. The app is very easy to download, set-up is easy, and easy to turn on or off when not needed. You pay by buying various subscription packages. It seems fairly inexpensive for the amount of data we plan to use. Also, since the ip address assigned makes you anonymous, you can access sites blocked by the network you are on or the country you are in. This makes it popular for school kids who want to go to sites that the school's network blocks and for people in countries that block certain sites (eg. China). Although most financial and email sites offer varying degrees of security on their own, if you ever check your back account or pay bills at Starbucks, you may want to check out VPN Fire. - M

International Power Plugs

When using electronics from the US in other countries, you need to ensure you have a converter to convert the foreign voltage and frequency to US standards (110v & 60hz); otherwise, you will run the risk of frying your electrical item since most other countries use voltage greater than 110v.  Also, you will need adapters so your US plugs will be able to actually plug into the sockets in foreign countries.   The only electrical items we will carry are our iPhones.  Luckily, Apple had the forethought to make the standard USB plug converter that comes standard with most apple products - including iPhones - capable of running on voltage from 110v to 240v and both standard frequencies (50hz & 60hz).  So, we will not need an actual converter; only the adapters to allow us to plug it in. 

I used the following web site to help determine which plugs/sockets are used in the over 20 countries we plan to visit so we could get those adapters. http://users.telenet.be/worldstandards/electricity.htm

Although a lot of the countries we will visit have different sockets, the European "C" plug is compatible with most of them.  The "C" doesn't work in the US or Japan, but that is okay since our normal plugs work there. The only adapters we think we will need are the "C" and the "I" that is used in Argentina. We could just buy simple adapters fairly cheap, but we bought the Apple World Travel Adapter Kit for ~$40. It has more adapters than we need, but felt more comfortable using the Apple products since we know the quality is great and they are made to work specifically with Apple products. http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB974ZM/B 

We could probably get by with just one set of adapters, but we'll plan on two sets so we can charge both our phones at one time.  No need to start friction on who gets to charge first. I'm sure there will be plenty of other opportunites for disagreement along the way :)

P.S. Since the iphones coverter is actually connected via an USB cord, you could also just plug that into any computer to charge the iPhones.