Cruising with Princess

Travel and Leisure

If you follow my FB page, you'll have noticed that we went on our third cruise recently, this time on an amazing itinerary through the Scandinavian and Baltic countries. We chose Princess this time (previously Celebrity and Virgin Voyages) solely because the cruise started/ended in Copenhagen. If you look at most other cruises for this region, they'll often use Southampton or Amsterdam, forcing you to spend 1.5 to 2 days at sea just getting to the area. So with no other rationale other than convenience, we looked it up on Costco Travel and booked it.

Booking value

The "obstructions" to our view

I learned from our Alaska cruise experience, that using a travel agent sometimes gives you perks that you may not get if booking directly. I then checked with Costco, and noted that they not only had access to some room types that the direct site didn't list, but they also offered significant kickbacks to members. We also didn't purchase additional premium packages, as the value is typically used for big drinkers; since she doesn't drink at all, it is cost prohibitive for me, as I'd need to buy the upgrade for both of us. Also, this ship lacked extensive dining options, which were accompanied by mediocre reviews. We felt that the weather in the region would not be conducive to sitting out on a balcony, so we opted for the "obstructed ocean view" stateroom. So with a bare bones booking, we were in at about CDN$250/night per person, not including the CDN$350 Costco gift card and USD$80 onboard credit. To that, we needed to add tips and any excursions or spa services we wanted; overall a deal hard to pass up.

Low expectations = hard to be disappointed

We knew that these traditional operators couldn't hold a candle to new-kid-on-the-block Virgin Voyages, so we didn't even try to consider comparing to that cruise. But with our Celebrity experience as a baseline, we had set a pretty low bar for Princess. I had also done some research on the Sapphire Princess, and noted that the rooms looked dated, as the ship is a little over 20 years old. While the room matched the photos and videos I had seen, it was very clean and functional; our room steward was amazing too. There were a few of niggly little things; shower curtain vs. glass door, an irritating motion light in the closet area, and the fact that the music channels on the TV never worked for the entire cruise.

Four dining rooms with the same menu options

Desserts were too good to pass up

A curious thing about the Sapphire Princess, is that there is no one single main dining room. Instead, there are four separate dining rooms that have slightly different decor and reservation policies, but serve exactly the same menu in each. I found the entrées to be good to pretty good, but lacked unique flavour. e.g. the pepper steak was well cooked (medium rare), but the sauce lacked oomph. Other diners noted that the chicken meal was virtually identical from evening to evening, with just subtle differences in preparation/sauce. Service was very good everywhere, with some hiccups in the main dining room (e.g. claims that they were unable to seat our group of 8 despite a table for 8 being available).

Buffet offered more choice and variety

Being serenaded by one of the servers

After a few days, we realised that the Horizon Court buffet was usually a better option for our mixed group of diners. Each night was a different theme and they offered a number of menu items for that evening. French night was a particularly good dinner, and I'd have to rate it at very good - high praise for a buffet meal. It's a strangely cramped buffet area, and the food is duplicated on each side of the Horizon Court, with no access through the middle. We didn't have many lunches on board, as we were usually in the towns exploring, but breakfasts were pretty good (3.5/5) provided that you weren't trying to grab food at peak rush hour. i.e. you could waltz right up and grab a fresh waffle if you timed it right. And then there was the server, John, who had a great voice, and would wander through the tables, belting out tunes from a portable speaker.

Other food and beverage on board

RFID token access to room

We didn't sample any of the paid, premium restaurants, and we only had the pizza by the pool a couple if times, which was decent enough. We didn't try the burger bar, but the soft serve ice cream bar got visited more times than it should have. Drinks were not ridiculously priced, but it seemed odd to me that a 222 ml can of soda was priced the same as a 355 ml one. Wine by the glass that I ordered with meals was good enough for my palate; we didn't try any by the bottle. One couple in our party had upgraded their package, and they usually made a point of coming back from the bar with both hands full. Similar to Virgin Voyages, a small RFID medallion was used to buy drinks, access your stateroom, and identify you when coming and going from the ship during the day.

Ship spaces

Cornhole games in the atrium

Unlike our Celebrity ship, the Sapphire Princess did not have a massive, open air atrium in the centre. There was an open space that spanned three floors, where the main shops and a few lounges were connected, but not nearly as grand as Celebrity Solstice class ships. However, these spaces were still in good nick, despite the age of the ship, whereas our experience on Celebrity showed lots of needed maintenance. At over 20 years old, the ship was a little more traditionally decorated, but it wasn't a deterrent to the experience on board. We spent a fair bit of time in the Explorer’s Lounge, where they held daily trivia and other entertainment, but we called it the "Freezer Lounge", due to the extreme level of air conditioning.

The Princess Theatre

The last visitor on the tour

Speaking of entertainment, we only went to the main theatre a couple of times, where we found the performances lacklustre, even to the Celebrity experience. Shows didn't have the polish or zazz that we'd seen on our Alaskan trip, and couldn't come close to the Virgin experience. The magician was a cheesy version of David Copperfield, if that's even possible, and I didn't last more than 15 minutes before ducking out the back. They also held some port talks in the theatre, but one guy just stood in front of his Powerpoint presentation and read the bullets from his slides. With some amazing port cities and old town areas, some cruisers likely missed great things to see and do if they relied solely on that guy's presentations for content. The best "show" in the theatre was the cooking demonstration on our last at-sea day, where the head chef and restaurant manager put on a comical display, followed by a tour of one of the galleys.

Overall impressions

In summary, this was an excellent itinerary and aside from a couple of rushed stops, it was a pretty good balance of ports/cities and at sea days. Given that Princess was one of the few operators that had this region but used Copenhagen as their home port, we have to give credit for that. While our Celebrity Alaskan cruise had a far less interesting itinerary, the one thing that it did better than Princess was entertainment. Looking back at my review of that cruise, the dining room meals were barely passable and rated the food between a 3 and 3.5; I'd have to give Princess a leg up from that, so maybe almost a 4 for most meals, with a few disappointments here and there. I preferred the room layout on Celebrity, but still have to give the overall win between the two to Princess. If only Virgin Voyages had an itinerary like the Princess one!

Scandinavia and Baltic Cruise 2026

Travel and Leisure

Part two of our European trip took us on a Princess cruise through the Scandinavian countries as well as stops at other Baltic countries. This won't be a review of the cruise (might do that later; update... here it is), but rather a photo memory-minder for me of where we went and what we did.

Malmö: While technically not part of our cruise itinerary, we had an extra day on the front end due to the rail issue in Hamburg, so we added on a night in Malmö (Sweden), only about a 1/2 hour train from Copenhagen airport. It has a charming old town area, with enough to see and do to fill a day. We stayed at the Hotel Mayfair Tunneln, which is one of the oldest buildings in town; the breakfast buffet is in the basement from the 1300s!

Copenhagen: Back across the Øresund bridge, we parked at the Hotel Bethel for three nights, right in the heart of the action in Nyhavn. I'm glad we stayed there for a while, because there is a lot to see and do in Copenhagen, but wow is it ever expensive! That's one of the primary reasons for doing a cruise in this region, as the Scandinavian countries have a very high cost of living. We met up with our other cruisers over the next two nights, enjoying cold beers on the canal and people-watching in Nyhavn. The Danish royalty participate in an annual event called the Royal Run, where they and over a hundred thousand of their countrymen run around town.

Visby: The "Medieval Gem of Gotland" as it is referred to by ChatGPT, was our first port of call after embarkation. I had done some research on this one, as Rick Steves had not described it in his guidebook. With dozens of ruined churches and a perimeter wall with guard tower and gates, it was easy to see why this was on our list of stops. We followed a rough loop around town to check out the most picturesque church ruins, towers and gates, and then had lunch on Stora Torget across from the ruins of St. Karins Church.

Stockholm: Another large city with a well preserved old town area, we were able to tour around with Rick Steves' walking tour, but still managed to get lost. After exploring historic Gamla Stan, we used our hop-on hop-off boat cruise to get over to the Vasa Museum, where the immaculately restored, 17th century ship was on display. It sank almost 400 years ago as it was on it's maiden voyage, due to poor design, and sat undisturbed on the harbour bottom for over 350 years. And yes, there was another marathon taking place in town.

Helsinki: The weather for our only stop in Finland drew our Rick Steves walking tour to an early close (I've artificially brightened up the shots below). It is a big city, and doesn't have a charming old town area like almost every other port on our cruise. There is some neat architecture, and that's primarily what Rick's walk highlights, but we stopped and took refuge from the cold Baltic wind in a shopping mall.

Tallinn: Probably the most idyllic old town area of the cruise, Tallinn offered a blend of architecture, history and hilltop views. Located on the Gulf of Finland, its UNESCO-listed Old Town is famed for its intact medieval walls, cobblestone streets, and lively Town Hall Square. With plenty to see on our Rick Steves walk, it was one of the stops where we barely made it back to the ship in time for departure.

Riga: Not to be outdone by Tallinn, Riga had it's own charm, albeit on a bit more subdued level. Just when you thought you couldn't find a main town square more interesting than the last, we arrived in Rīgas Rātslaukums, with the House of the Blackheads' ornate façade overlooking it. The town was filled with neat old medieval streets and interesting sights that Rick steered us towards... until we got kicked out of the Russian Orthodox church for wearing shorts!

Gdańsk: When I used to think of Poland, I'd conjure up an image of boring, communist-era architecture and bland surroundings. Boy was I wrong! The Royal Way and "Long Market" were amazing, as were the adjacent streets and historical structures. We had lunch on the Esplanade, a bustling, pedestrian-only promenade stretching along the western shore of the Motława River. Despite being Corpus Christi Day (stat holiday) we barely had enough time to do the Rick Steves tour of the main sights before we to grab our train back to the ship's port in Gdynia.

Klaipėda: This small port city in Lithuania didn't have as much to see as other stops, but we still made the best of it, by using a ChatGPT walking tour to take us to the notable sights around town. As you can see, this was one of the stops where the ship docked within a few hundred metres of the town centre.  We split up from the girls who went on an excursion to the Curonian Spit National Park; Wayne and I enjoyed a cold Lithuanian beer on the Danė River promenade before heading back to the ship for ice cream.  

Oslo: After a day at sea, we arrived in our last big port city, our only one in Norway. This was another day where the girls went their own way; Wayne and I went to Akershus Fortress and the Resistance Museum there, followed by the Rick Steves walking tour of the Karl Johans Gate. There was a lot happening that day, as it was National Music Day and the Oslo Colour Festival; there were marching bands parading down the street and a lively area set up in the park adjacent to their Parliament. We also stopped at the 1930s City Hall, which was very interesting, with the huge murals inside the main hall and outside carvings. A cold Norwegian beer at Fridtjof Pub with Wayne, and then I was back to the ship to get my aching lower legs a much needed spa treatment!

Skagen: Our last port was certainly the least exciting of all our stops, as Skagen is simply a sleepy fishing town. We did what pretty much everyone else did, and rented bikes to ride out to the sandy point in Grenen, where the North sea meets the Baltic Sea. After a tractor ride out and back on the sandy beach (it's a long way, and not bike friendly), we rode back to the ship for the free lunch. Then we went back into town when the sun came out so that the girls could do some shopping on the cute main street that runs through Skagen.

We woke up in Copenhagen the next morning, and after some difficulty trying to get our Uber to the airport, were on our way home after two weeks in Germany and another two in Scandinavia and the Baltics.

Germany 2026

Travel and Leisure

We did a big trip recently, our longest European vacation by far. This is part 1, the two weeks we spent getting from Munich to Copenhagen. More of a memory trip for me when I am thinking, "where did we go in Germany again?", here's a brief photo essay on our itinerary.

Munich: First stop was Munich, not for any reason in particular, other than it's a big international destination with lots of flight options. It has a surprisingly historic old town, given the destruction that occurred in many/most large German cities during WWII. As we usually do, we don't plan a lot for our arrival day, and we used Munich as our decompression stop from the trans-Atlantic flight.

It was unseasonably cold there, and so we abbreviated the Rick Steves walking tour around the old town area. We did go to the Residenz, which is pretty cool and well preserved. The weather prevented us from enjoying some of the outdoor eating and drinking areas, like the Marienplatz market.

Füssen: This town was our second stop, as we wanted to visit the fairy tale castle of the Mad King Ludwig. What made this side-trip even more fun, was that our friends from Zurich came up for the day to visit with us and see the castles. We toured the inside of Hohenschwangau, as it was actually used and lived in, whereas the Neuschwanstein one was never finished, as Ludwig died before completion.

Nuremberg: The next stop took us to the "recreated" old town of Nuremberg. WWII destroyed about 90% of the Altstadt, but instead of re-building with new structures, they spent decades trying to preserve the medieval landmarks and buildings in the historic core. 

Rothenburg ob der Tauber: This "forgotten" medieval town, sat for centuries after economic challenges and the black plague ravaged the population. It was an easy day trip from Nuremberg, and is definitely a highlight of the Bavaria region.

Leipzig: Rather than taking another long train ride all the way to Berlin, we broke it up into two, and stopped overnight in Leipzig. Again, many sites had been restored in this city to original appearance after the war, and there was plenty of historic things to see. The Leipzig Forum of Contemporary History was excellent, and free as well. The Old Town Hall dates from the mid-16th century, and is now used as a museum and event space.

Potsdam: With so much to see and explore, we set up in an Airbnb for four nights in Berlin. But with weather and museum closure timing, it seemed like our first full day there was the best to do the day-trip to Potsdam. It's kind of like visiting Versailles from Paris; Potsdam is a brief, 30 minute train ride from Berlin. However, unlike Versailles, the palaces in Potsdam are spread apart, so we rented bikes to tour around the Potsdam sites and the old town area.

Berlin: While Christine had been to Berlin before, it was a long time ago, and she says that they didn't have the money to see and visit the places we went to. It's hard to sum up in a handful of pictures, but the Rick Steves walking tour did an excellent job of guiding us around town, and then we did our own tour of the Wall, and other sites that represented the division between Communist East Germany and the West. We also stayed in a great area of town called Prenzlauer Berg, which was great for restaurants and another Rick Steves walk.

Hamburg: We had put Hamburg on the list of places to go in Germany, as it was along train route required to get to Copenhagen. We booked an Airbnb here as well, knowing that we'd want to do one last load of laundry before getting to the ship in Copenhagen. We ended up picking one in a great neighbourhood, a short walk from the main train station. For touring, Rick Steves recommended doing the hop-on hop-off bus & harbour cruise combo, so that's what we did.

We had one glitch in our travel plans, as there was some sort of construction on the rail line we needed to get to Denmark on, and the alternative was a 6+ hour bus ride. So we pivoted to flying to Copenhagen instead, which made for a much easier day. 

Next up: Scandinavia and the Baltics!

Upcycling a safari shirt into... a duffel bag!

Retirement

Sun Microsystems UltraSPARC T1 chip

25 years ago, almost to the day, I put on a "product launch event" for an upcoming line of servers that were being released under the architecture codename "Serengeti". See, across the country, other offices were running coffee n' doughnut sessions for their customers, but this was a pretty big leap in tech for us. So my boss asked me to come up with something better, and so I decided upon a safari-themed afternoon party at a downtown pub; yep, the only region in the country to serve booze at a product launch. 

Yes, that is a real crocodile!

Anyhow, it was a major success. I had a friend who coordinated the live crocodile and snakes, along with a troupe of scantily clad dancers. Yes, dancers. All of the Sun Micro team wore safari shirts that someone bought at a local outdoor supplier, and I designed a pattern that was embroidered onto the back of the shirts. I bought some styrofoam pith helmets from the party store, and with some khaki shorts, it completed the look.

How to re-use these features?

Fast forward 25 years, and I noticed the shirt hanging in the back of the closet. With fond memories of the safari party, I couldn't bring myself to throw it out, but what to do with it? I had recently converted my PGA Tour ProAm caddy smock into a tote bag, so I had proven that I had some rudimentary sewing skills, but what could I make that would be different? After some Googling, I landed upon a duffel bag. I seemed to have enough material for a "personal item" sized one (would I ever use it travel?), so I set about unstitching the pockets and other features from the shirt. 

The donor bag stripped of the goods

The major thing that I didn't have, was a zipper. So one day when she was going to Value Village, I tagged along with her, and found a dusty gym bag with a suitable zipper that I could harvest from it. As a bonus, it had a shoulder strap and associated D-loops, as well as a hard plastic, removable bottom. I also salvaged the velcro wrap handle grip from it, and inner mesh pocket. All of that for only $6! Ok, so I had to go to the craft store to get some black bias tape to cover up the inside seams, as well as some matching thread for the safari shirt fabric. I happened to have a long piece of black nylon webbing to use for the handles too.

A peek inside

I won't go into the build here, but I did follow (somewhat) the process outlined on this website. I also consulted with ChatGPT extensively on what I could build into the bag, what to use as lining, and what extra features might make it unique. I have gone through at least 3 man purses (murses) in the course of our travels, and made note of the features that I liked and disliked. While a duffel bag might be too big for day touring, it might get used as my personal item along with my carry on piece. 

Despite some challenges with my sewing skills, and learning new things on the machine (e.g. buttons/button holes), I was able to put together what I had in mind. You can't see my mistakes, as the most important stitching is on the inside of the bag, which is now covered up by black bias tape. The double-layer construction gives the duffel bag just enough structure, but not so much that it looks stiff. At 15" x 11" x 5", it is definitely under the personal item size constraint for most airlines. Will it come with me on the next European trip? We'll see.

Travelling in Japan

Travel and Leisure

Well, for our first trip to the Orient together, I would call it a moderate success. We did and saw amazing things, but also endured challenges and frustration along the way. Not enough to ward off others from going, but sufficient that I would offer a number of cautions before sending friends or family to Japan.

The downsides

In a nutshell, it was too hot, crowded and difficult to work around the language issues for us. Additionally, we found the cuisine not to our liking, which I know is a specific issue to us. Let's review each of these.

Too hot even for this local

The heat: We had picked the first two weeks of October primarily because we had pivoted away from another trip that we were going to take to South America around the same time, so we had this gap in our travel schedule. And we managed to get good prices for air for this window, vs. any time later, where the price jumped up significantly. Daytime highs were always above 28º C, but mornings started out in the low 20s, with 85% humidity. We'd literally be sweating at 7 pm at night, even after the sun had gone down. This made for abbreviated days; by early afternoon, the oppressive heat had sapped our energy such that we'd head back to the air-conditioned haven of our Airbnb. In retrospect, we should have gone in late October/November; we would have caught the autumn colours too. You can/could travel in the spring to avoid the heat, when you'll get to see the cherry blossoms, but you'd get even more of the associated...

Of course it's busy at the Shibuya Scramble

Crowds: I knew it would be busy there, but still was not really prepared for just how crazy it was. We'd been to the big attractions in Paris, Rome and other major European cities... how bad could it really get? Bad. Aside from a couple of times where we got to the temple early or went a lesser known site, the masses of people around us was astounding. I had told her that since they drive on the left there, that they walk on that side as well; that turned out not to be true, and often there'd be signage to walk on the right side of the stairs instead of left! We did find a few oases of calm here and there, but for the most part, were surrounded by a sea of people.

Wait... is this a bear warning?

Language barrier: In Europe, most people in the service industry have some level of English proficiency; not so in Japan. We'd have to use our phones with Google Translate to decipher signs or instructions multiple times each day. And despite being a popular 1st-world tourist destination, not all attractions were well-equipped with English information or summary descriptions. Sometimes, even Google Maps would give you directions to turn right at "外苑東通り/都道319号". Wha? Thank goodness I managed to recalibrate my iPhone's GPS to actually point me in the direction we needed to go, as many times we would have been lost.

Typical Japanese-only menu

The cuisine: I thought I would love Japanese food... after all, I like sushi, teriyaki anything, tempura, and noodles. Unfortunately, she doesn't really eat any seafood, but I still thought we'd be ok, knowing that there's lots of chicken on rice, bbq etc. to get us by. However, what I didn't realise, is that many dishes use a fish sauce base or broth, which threw even me off. So almost every afternoon, we'd be on Google, searching for meal options that we thought we'd like. We defaulted to some non-Japanese restaurants a couple of times (Indian and a kebab joint), and went to the same beef restaurant twice (Japanese beef is excellent). And I'm not ashamed to say that we had hamburgers a few times as well; they were some of the best burgers we've ever had!

Getting around

I wouldn't say it was easy navigating around Japan, but if you know what you're doing, it's relatively fast and efficient, most using the prepaid IC card (Icoca, Suica). But since we were Japanese travel rookies, we made quite a few mistakes. Our first was trying to use the bus; since they are usually quite full, they actually open the doors before the actual stop to let out passengers, and then pull up to let new passengers in. We did not know this of course, so ran back 20 metres or so when our bus pulled up, pressing the button on the rear door for access (noobs!). Finding the stop for a particular bus at larger transfer station also proved to be a challenge, and we missed more than one bus while trying to find the right place to stand and wait.

The Icoca card we used is worth discussing for a moment. These IC (integrated circuit) cards are used for pretty much all your public transit needs. Confusingly, they are called different names based on the region in Japan where you purchased it, but they all operate the same and are interchangeable. For us foreigners, you can't use your smartphone, as the app isn't built to accept our VISA cards for some reason, so you have to go and buy a physical card from a station. The other annoying thing is that you need cash to re-charge your IC card, as we found out when trying to exit a station once, and her card had run low on funds. You can use your IC card to pay for things at 7-11, Lawsons and Family Mart, but it's not really a benefit, as you can tap your VISA or smartphone there anyways.

We struggled with the metro a number of times, where the name of the end stop was not listed on the signage for the subway platform we were waiting on (or couldn't find the right platform since the end destination we wanted was not shown). Sometimes we just gambled that Google Maps had the right time and platform was correct, and got on the train that was loading at that specific time. And even if it was listed correctly, you'd have to wait for the English version to come up on the overhead sign.

Some fare gates are IC card only!

Then there's some of the "Limited Express" trains where you pay for reserved seating on top of the fare subtracted from your IC card. This got us when we were trying to go to Nikko, as we thought we had become Japan train veterans by this time. Nope. Since we had not pre-purchased the reserved seating leg of our trip, we had to wait almost 2 hours for a train with available seating. You end up tapping in/out with your IC card and inserting your paper ticket for the Express portion. Confused yet?

Standing in-between cars to Osaka

The final gotcha was booking our Shinkansen ride from Odwara to Osaka. We used the "Easy for Foreigners" ticket machine in Kyoto, and we were successful on that trip, but this time we screwed up royally. It seemed we had found the train that was leaving around the desired departure time, but no Green Car (first class) or Ordinary Car reserved seats were available. We thought, we'll just buy the non-reserved tickets, and do the festival seating when the train shows up. Well, when our train arrived at the station, it was coming from Tokyo and all of the seats were taken already, so we ended up having to stand for over an hour and a half!

Stranger things

In no particular order, here are a number of things that seemed odd to us, as Canadians who are relatively well travelled.

You need cash here: I was surprised at how often we needed to use up our Japanese yen, especially at restaurants. Many/most of the food vendors on the street and smaller establishments were cash-only, so it was something that you need to verify before you sit down with only your VISA. Also, in most/all of the cultural attractions, cash was the only way to pay, specifically at the temples in Kyoto. And then there's the aforementioned IC card recharging; I'd say that in general you need 2-3 times more cash in Japan than you'd bring on a European trip. Oh and for you Americans using your credit card, make sure you know your PIN, as almost 1/2 the places we went did not accept tap to pay.

A small park where we ate in Nikko

There's not many places to sit: When we were walking around the public spaces in towns and attractions, we found that there was not a lot of seating. Apparently this is by design, to eliminate loitering and their cultural emphasis on order. Nonetheless, it does make things somewhat annoying for foreigners, as it is also a no-no to eat or drink on the street. So what do you do? For street vendors, you stand and eat/drink right in front of the place you bought it, then move on. If you've bought some take-away, you either take it back to your hotel/Airbnb, or as we did a couple if times, go to a nearby park where there's benches to eat.

Restaurants: Aside from the issues we had trying to find places we wanted to eat, there are some other curiosities to be aware of. When you sit down, wet towels, called oshibori, are provided for cleaning hands before eating; this is not to be used to clean your face or wipe food from your mouth. However, often we'd find that either no napkins/serviettes were provided, or if they did, they would be small waxy things that were almost useless. We ended up buying a pack of paper towels to bring with us to restaurants for this purpose. Finally, the idea of having a separate dessert course after a meal is not traditional in Japan, so once you're done with your meal, you simply get up and pay at the till. A few times, a bill was presented after delivering our food, and you brought that up to pay on exit.

Minor hotel differences: As with other countries we've visited, it was not common to get wash/face cloths in Japan, nor was there any bar soap provided. We bring our own for both, but just something to be aware of for those who prefer these. There was always shampoo and conditioner, but those with brand preference might want their own products. We booked Airbnbs because we wanted to be able to do our own laundry, and at each place they provided the necessary washing detergent pods. One unique feature of their shower/bath rooms, was the integrated heating system, where you could hang your laundry, and dry your clothes overnight. It was very effective, and we used it a number of times. Lastly, all properties we visited had automatic bidet toilet seats!

All things cute: We both knew about Hello Kitty, anime and other cute icons that are popular in Japan, but we didn't realise the extent of it. It's referred to as "kawaii", a cultural phenomenon which emphasizes cuteness, childlike innocence, charm, and simplicity. Hello Kitty traffic barriers? Why not? They were also embroidered into the headrests on one of our trains! There's even these shops, where you buy nothing but cute little keychains and things from rows and rows of vending machines. We didn't get it.

Clean streets, but where are the trash bins?

It's very clean and orderly: Everything is very clean and you're safe pretty much anywhere. Unlike major European destinations where pickpockets abound, you don't need to worry about that here, even in crowded areas. The people are courteous, but since many/most don't speak any English, they do not engage with foreigners whatsoever. Despite sometimes questionable signage, everyone was very orderly (even tourists) and queued up properly for transit or other busy places. 

A rarely found recycling container

Trash talk: Speaking of clean, there's virtually no trash anywhere to be seen, despite the lack of rubbish bins. You heard that right... they don't have garbage cans in public areas. Apparently this was as a result of the 1995 Sarin gas attack, and cultural norms to keep things clean. So you end up packing your trash around with you, and then dispose of it at the hotel or Airbnb. However, we did find the amount of plastic waste to be astounding, considering that there is no soft plastics recycling, and it ends up in the garbage incinerators. Even in the free public washrooms (which are almost everywhere), there's no trash bin, so you don't get paper towels to dry your hands (most did not have the air dryers either).

The conclusion

Japan was definitely an interesting country to visit, and it is certainly a unique place to travel. While I think the above may deter first-timers from going, that is not my intent. You will experience a country rich in history and culture that is far different than anything we've ever seen before. At 16 nights, I feel as though we did a pretty decent job of seeing a variety of things and places; if I had to trim a couple of nights, we could have dropped our "decompression stop" day in Kyoto, and another on departure from Osaka. I would also suggest that maybe, just maybe, an organised tour (vs. self-guided) would take out much of the angst that we experienced with missed opportunities and transit mishaps.

In summary, the obvious question is, "would I go again?", to which the answer is "no". Not because I didn't like it, but because I've seen enough to satisfy my needs. Even if the handful of negative issues could have been overcome, I'd still say that I don't need to go back. Sorry Japan.