The children's spring break is coming up in early April and we have decided that we will spend some time in Japan. Danny and I have wanted to go, but have put it off because the exchange rate is terrible now with the yen. We recently decided that we should just go in April because the cherry blossoms are blooming and the Japanese children begin their school year, so we can sneak a few days at Tokyo Disney and hope that the crowds aren't terrible!!
I have found that booking flights in Asia is incredibly frustrating. There are a few options when booking...you can use the internet (which proved to be too difficult for me), you can pay with a credit card and be charged 3% by the travel agent, another fee from the credit card company, and risk having your information stolen, or you can pay in cash directly to the travel agent. I have dappled in the first two options without much luck, so this time I paid cash for the tickets. This probably seems like a minor inconvenience, but it is a bit of a pain. First, I have to go to the ATM for several days in advance because we are only allowed to take out a certain amount of money in a 24 hour period (when you buy 5 tickets, you need a lot of cash!). Second, I have
to go to Beijing to the English speaking travel agent to give him the money. And lastly, I have to carry all of the cash in my purse for a bit of time, which I do not feel comfortable with! Thankfully this time Karen came and acted as my bodyguard as we made our way through Beijing! I won't complain too much because we now have our tickets and we get to go to Japan!!
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