Japan

This was flu season and we used a lot of hand sanitizer. We drink the water in Japan. Bathrooms
The most modern we have ever seen. Saw not a single toilet without a heated seat.

We took our digital SLR's on our two tours and felt they were safe. We use Nikon cameras and I recently upgraded from a D90 to a D7100 and couldn't be happier as it focuses so much faster, works higher shutter speeds, autofocuses videos, and does High Dynamic Range photos. It is heavier than the D90 and Susan won't upgrade until something as good comes along that is lighter. I use a Sigma 18-250mm lens but if I bought now I would get their 18-300mm version. Susan uses a lighter weight Nikon 18-200mmVRII lens. I carry a Sigma 10-20mm lens for architectural shots and shots I just can't get back far enough. I prepare projects in Apple Aperture for each expected photo shoot before leaving on my trips and I just import my photos from SD cards into the preprepared Aperture project allowing Aperture to back up my Nikon RAW files to a USB drive as they are imported and erasing them from my camera SD card all at one time. I usually copy my Apple Aperture library during the trip to another SD card that I carry in my wallet in case I have computer failure. We each carry a small waterproof point and shoot camera to use for dusty or rainy or other occasions. Before we leave home I sync the time on all of my cameras and lock my iPhone's time to stay at my home time zone. That way, I just tell Aperture that the cameras will all be registering Eastern Time but to adjust it to local time at import. Having my cameras get out of sync with time has caused much trouble picking the best shots when multiple cameras are photographing the same subject at the same time. We carry plastic bags large enough for our SLRs to fit. These are helpful for rain but are most useful for sealing the cameras in the bag inside a cool hotel room and waiting till the cameras heat up outside before opening the bag. This has saved much moisture condensation inside our cameras and delays in the day's photo shoots.

Great Wi-fi in our room. We don't use our cellphones but leave them on for emergencies.

Cell Service
Known to be excellent

110v with American plugs.

People wear a lot of black here and are not afraid to wear caps, hats, and gloves. You don't need fancy clothes. We layer and I apprediated my Capilene silkweight long underware tops and bottoms.

Weather
It is always colder or hotter in the countries than we expect when we research what to take before we leave the US. Also, most of the world has larger spreads between daily highs and lows than we do in the eastern United States. We anticipated hot weather and awoke to high 30's Fahrenheit.

We exchanged US dollars for yen and used local currency or our our American credit cards. We have found that having a couple hundred dollars each in one and 5 dollar bills (or euros in parts of the world) opens up so many possibilities to get us good service, pay porters, and buy trinkets. We find out immediately upon entering a country how to tip and who. The US dollar is still king. We split up our credit and debit cards so if we are robbed we can continue our trips. One of the most important thing not to forget is to take some photo copies of your passport picture page. Because you use the photocopy of your passport rather than the actual passport (which the ship holds for you) you may still need your driver's license or other government issued ID at some money exchanges etc or if you have marked your credit cards CID. I have records of credit card numbers and the international phone number for the card. We know which ones have foreign transaction fees. Before we leave on our trip we call the credit card company and let them know which days we will be in each country so they will allow the transactions. We still have cards frozen by the banks when we withdraw large amounts out of the country or make large purchases. This problem is easy to resolve by logging in to the card's web page and checking messages. Keep up with your plane tickets and any vouchers you carry with you. In Europe and Japan in particular be sure your credit cards have been upgraded to Smart Cards that carry the computer chip.

World class public transportation is part of the adventure.

Passports
Our US passports were required at all hotel checkins. We only usually carry a quality photocopy with us on our persons like we do in most countries. Please note, in many countries now our driver's licenses are checked when we use our credit cards also!

Travel Insurance
What we want most is the actual help given by the Insurance issuer for a medical or emergency evacuation. We don't insure our trips for cancellation any more. I think frequent travelers should be members of Divers Alert Network at a level that covers evacuation, not just the cost but the arrangements.

Travel Agents
Our travel agent Dianne Blackburn at Gateway Travel in Spartanburg, SC is one of the most important people in our lives. She always gets us the best deals and finds us the best trips. She has helped us when stranded outside of the US and has changed arrangements on the fly multiple times. She knows when we check in to our airlines and hotels and often has called ahead and changed arrangements while we are traveling and unable to make connections etc. The cruise lines we travel work with her. She is a widely-travelled person and we have learned much of our travel knowledge from her. Hotels
The Strings by Intercontinental was excellent in both accomodations and location. Being at the main railway station made things simple.

Destinations
We could have stayed a week more and seen things on this island. The destinations we picked were probably ideal for the thme we had. We are glad that Viator was operating in the area.

Viatour tours
We couldn't have been happier with the tours and cost.