Let's see... What's new today? I finally got around to making a reservation to go to the States this year. I don't know why I procrastinate so much.
It used to be (for nearly 30 years) that I'd just call a travel agent in Tokyo who handled missionary and church tour reservations. They weren't especially cheap but after 30 years, though I never met the lady who always took care of me, they knew the quirks of my family.
"Tanya has US citizenship. The two children have dual. The husband has Japanese. They want to go to the States before the rates go up but not so much that the kids miss too much school. The husband will only stay 5 days. Mother and children will stay a month." etc. etc.
I just had to call and say my name and the lady would go into action for me and make the decisions, send me tickets and airport cards and any other pertinent information.
But my personal travel agent retired three years ago and I decided to try online reservations. That may have been a mistake.
I can't make decisions. For the past three years my travel planning goes thus...
"Do I want to go on the 12th? or the 13th? Is this airlines better than that one? Why is there a cost difference? Oh dear. What if I need to change my flight?"
It is probably a very simple process but I do better when people just say "this is the way it is."
And then there is the problem of working in Japanese. I am not going to push buttons to buy a plane ticket when it is all in Japanese!
So I get Tetsu involved and he doesn't like Internet to begin with and doesn't have any experience arranging plane tickets either. We end up having mild arguments how to fill in data, frustrations about why the website won't accept data (duh. They don't want it filled out in English, they want it filled out in Japanese) plus my inherent non-ability to type in numbers correctly. It probably would be worth paying the travel agent extra just to avoid the headaches...
I THINK I've made arrangements to go to California on July 11th. I hope.
10 comments:
USA here I come!
Need a refill of our lovely SoCalif air, do you? LOL
I have traveled so little that making arrangements is a real hassle. It is time consuming and annoying at a minimum, and maddening and expensive to boot!
Hope you'll wave my direction when you get here.
I think peace of mind is worth a lot, I'd call an agent! I hate doing that kind of thing. Wave as you fly over, ok?
Making travel arrangements online is maddening for me, and I don't have to deal with the language issues! When I went through the agent, I too tried to find the best deal, trying different days and times, etc., so I guess online would work out better for me. So I do all that online, but but eventually I do have to say "good enough" and press the buy button.
I just made reservations for my daughter and have to say, I think it's ridiculous to try and figure out. I used to make reservations online in the old days and it didn't seem nearly as complicated!
When you get to California, wave to the east for all of us further east!
Have a great trip!
Yes! wave to the east, I'll be waving back. Hope you have a wonderful time.
I will wave from Oakland. We will be there July 11-17 for a Thai cooking class.
I make all my travel arrangements online and I love it because I can look at all my options and check prices before I book specific dates. I'm surprised that you can't use a site in English- that would certainly make it easier.
Too bad you won't be making it east of the Mississippi! Mary had a good comment - can you use Orbitz.com or something, book in English and pay in dollars? I guess they would take a reservation from anywhere if it's charged on a credit card. Yep, I just tested looking up flights - requested flights from Tokyo to Los Angeles and there they were. In English!
Hi from Central CA! I've been following your blog for over a year (probably more like 2 but you know how time flies). Anyway, I'm taking the month of July off from work and if you get a chance to come to Fresno I'd love to take you to a couple of local quilt stores and lunch. We have a beautiful Victorian teahouse right down the street from one of the LQS's! Just email me and let me know! (dhouse@csufresno.edu)
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