I remember when I first moved to New York, I would often be heading out to meet friends (running a few minutes late of course), start walking to the subway, and realize I hadn't brought the address of the restaurant or place I was heading. Then I started to use my new graduation gift, a Palm Pilot with a Zagat 'app' on it. I then had a list of many of the restaurants in NYC, complete with addresses, that was offline and came with me where I went. Of course if the place I was going wasn't reviewed by Zagat, I was still just out of luck. Fast forward to today, and I am definitely too dependent on my phone. I don't need to remember the name of any places or where they are, my phone has it all for me. Google maps is definitely my best friend and companion everywhere. The problem comes when you are suddenly outside of the US and have no data plan and no ability to use the map, or find a confirmation in your email, or (and this is a big one) speak the language.

So yeah, that's what happened to us in Japan. Or more appropriately, what we did to ourselves. We landed in Tokyo, tired, but excited and motivated to see as much as we possibly could in the 20 hours or so we had in the country. We struggle at the airport to find the right train; we had researched over and over the best way to get into Tokyo and the most optimal location for our hotel to be able to maximize our super quick stay. Except that was months before we actually went and we sort of forgot to look again to remind ourselves what to do. So we were lucky enough that someone came our assistance, pointed us to the right train and helped us get tickets. So we get to Shibuya station, start walking around, soaking in the atmosphere and craziness. We take photos and stand staring around, looking like tourists. Then we head off to find our hotel. Except we don't have a map, and don't have anything more than the street address for the hotel. We had assumed it would be easy enough to find, right close to the center of Shibuya. Of course, Shibuya is pure chaos and streets that go off in every direction. We tried walking a few different ways but didn't have any luck.

We asked a few people, but get nowhere. We stop at Starbucks, buy a bottle of water to get the wifi password, thinking we are about to solve our problem. Until the nice cashier informs us that the wifi will only work for Japanese phones. Out of luck again. Finally, we are able to find someone who points us in the right direction and we find our hotel only a few short blocks from the center of Shibuya, just up the road from the Starbucks.

Lesson learned. Again. Always know where you are heading and don't rely purely on having Google Maps. But, it is a good story now...

Flip Flops & Passports