Reza’s is supposed to be top notch for Persian food. I’ve never been, but my friend who is also a Persian food aficionado goes any time he’s in Chicago.
Anyone with any experience visiting Kyiv?
Traveling to Tokyo on Sunday. Any recommendations 
2 Likes
Abura Soba Main Shop Ginza
I know that I’m patronizing you, but this place is…that good…
Broth-less ramen, which is weird maybe, but I totally loved it.
This photo was taken on my walk through the Ginza on the way to Bar Lupin, after crushing a bowl of ramen at Abura.
The bartenders at Lupin had this little walkie-talkie that I spoke English into and it spit out whatever I said in Japanese. I kept apologizing and saying “stupid American” into the machine after I ordered and they laughed and laughed at me.
I miss Tokyo so much. This is kinda weird to type out but I’ve never felt as alive as I felt walking Tokyo.
6 Likes
4 Likes
Wasn’t familiar with this place. I’ll put it on the list. Thank you!
Shibuya and Asakusa areas were fun for walking.
In Asakusa I went to this “coffee shop” where they had like 50 Shiba Inus running around that you could pet and play with.
Lmao.
Shibuya was more trendy w great window shopping and people watching.
On ramen - my experience was that you purchase a ticket at a vending machine in the restaurant and then take a seat at the bar. There is a server that collects your ticket and gives it to the kitchen, so you never actually “order” food. As a westerner, this was confusing and intimidating at first.
7 Likes
renewing my passport and passport card. any tips? is expedited worth it? we are preparing to visit iceland in the winter
This winter? I’d definitely get expedited service. No sense chancing it.
I renewed mine back in January and it took exactly as long as they said it would, but there was a bit of a mail hiccup, I got the old passport back pretty quickly but the new one got stuck in the mail and took about two weeks to get to me.
I have heard from frequent flyer groups that it’s been slower than expected lately. So it may be worth it to spring for expedited.
Same. I renewed mine at the beginning of the year and it came towards the end of the timeframe that they specified. I didn’t pay for anything extra as I had no travel planned.
You’ve got 3 months until winter. Maybe more depending on when your trip actually is. I’d be shocked if you didn’t get it by then. As a backup I believe there are places you could go to get a passport in person on short notice, so even if t doesn’t show up, you’ve got outs (you might want to check this out though).
Taking my elderly mom to see SF tomorrow. Any ideas on best way to spend a full day there which won’t be too hard on her feet?
Cosigning the “just expedite it”.
Downside to doing it and not needing it is a waste of $60. Downside to needing it and not doing it is that your vacation is completely ruined.
I actually plan to visit one of those cafes, for research as we’re planning to get a dog next year and Shibas are on the list.
Give me a general idea of the kinds of things you’re into and I’ll give you some recommendations.
Hopefully travel restrictions will have eased by then, but right now there’s still a 10-14 day quarantine required upon entering the country, vaxxed or not.
1 Like
It’ll probably depend on the type of plane.
Try checking out the seat maps on seatguru
1 Like
US Airlines are notorious for flying old beaters back and forth to Hawaii. Any legacy airline flying transatlantic will have a very legit service for business class and/or first class. I imagine on British Airways the experience won’t be much different between the two. First class is largely a relic these days; many long haul flights have gone to business class as their highest level of service now, and that almost always means a lie-flat sort of experience.
Seat guru is also your friend for an exact indication on the seat itself.
1 Like
SeatGuru as a first step. Once you find the type of plane for a particular route, you can often find blogs reviewing the first/biz class cabin service with a ton of pics of the seats and food.
Like this
1 Like
The other fun thing airlines do is switch planes on you after you buy the ticket. I was in business class on a big wide body, then got switched to one of those glorified economy plus like goofy described. It’s BS.
On an international biz class trip, it’s extremely unlikely to have an equipment swap that moves you from a lie-flat seat to a non lie-flat. I think at worst you’d go from a biz class/seat that you researched and selected, and then get switched to some other layout. Domestically it can certainly happen where they take a widebody off a certain route.