Prepaid Card, A Convenient Payment Option While Travelling

Travelling around Japan, Zaini and I did not really use our credit cards, but we found convenience in using Suica & PASMO prepaid card for certain transactions.

Suica and PASMO cards can be used to pay the fare for virtually all trains in Tokyo and can be used for JR trains, subways and monorails, buses and can be used for purchasing of items at convenience stores, kiosks and restaurants in and around railway stations not to mention at vending machines too! A very useful and handy card to have with you.

Our Suica & N'Ex card that we got upon arrival at Narita Airport. We saved a thousand yen because by just paying 3,500yen, we get to board the N'Ex train from Narita Airport (cost 2,940yen to get to Tokyo Station) and 1,500yen in e-money (& 500yen as deposit). The card makes a nice keepsake too, don't you think?

The lovely thing about this card for returning tourist like us, is that Suica can be recharged and reused an unlimited number of times and only be void if not used for 10 years. I don't think we wait for that long to make a return visit to Japan.

There is no child Suica & N'Ex card for children so for Raimie, we got him a PASMO card.

Raimie with his Kids' PASMO card. 

Raimie's card is a named card so we can get it reissued if Raimie lost his card. Make sure you buy a Kids Passmo card for your children to ensure the fares deducted will be child's fare.

Purchases made with our Suica & PASMO cards - tickets to museums and even drinks from the vending machine. We even bought our lunch with this card.

Topping up was a simple matter for us, because we can just head to the nearest train station and top-up the card at the machine there. Easy peasy and sure beats fumbling for cash paying for our sandwich at a station's konbini or buying bottled water from the vending machine.

Spending Winter in Florida, Part 3-Wildwood, Orlando, Tampa

We wanted to stay longer in Florida because even if it were cold here, how much warmer could it be up north? So we upgraded our Thousand Trails and Resorts of Distinction memberships to include free stays for 21 days at a time, park-to-park,  in some 200 campgrounds all over the country (also some in Canada and Mexico and other affiliates at 50% off) with benefits extending to our children! So we proceeded to Three Flags Resort in Wildwood, Florida for our first ever 21-day stay at one place, finally to do some nesting. And there we discovered a whole new world of the RV cruising lifestyle...what what I will write about in another post as the second stage.

That was where we met Dottie and Joe who had a 26 ft fifth wheel, the kind we wanted to upgrade to (to give us personal space, allow us to entertain friends for dinner, and invite our family to stay with us for a week or so). Surprise of surprises…Dottie’s fave games are scrabble and upwords! Our short tour of the RV quickly became a 3-hour visit. Joe and Bill talked for hours about man-stuff and I whipped Dottie in upwords. Next game? Scrabble on Friday. And on Saturday we visit one of the great flea markets of Florida!

We scouted the locale and found so many interesting places within 10 miles…1) the small city of Wildwood with its thrift shops and other small-town goodies, a freeway stop with 4 big truck stops at the intersection, and the lively community of The Villages, a group of small gated communities of 77,000 (mostly senior) people and 40,000 golf carts!

Yes, the golf cart is the major means of transportation…quite the city of the future…electric golf carts running around from recreation centers to shopping malls to golf courses! And every day is a Vendors’ Night (booths) and dance at a Town Squares. The Villages also has many lakes to paddle boats in, little preserves to take nature walks in, and lots of gardens, both vegetable and ornamental. Houses range from $100,000-$1,000,000. There are 2 Town Squares, 4 shopping centers (Walmart is also there, of course), 2 medical centers, a Lifelong Academy, and other necessities for a relaxed lifestyle (albeit not cruising). So we decided to return to Wildwood for another 21 days after a brief stay (our third) in Orlando.

The Marion County Flea Market was huge, with over a thousand booths. We found dvd movies for $1 each! After our shopping spree spending all of $20, we went to a big buffet and suffered for it that night. The following weekend we went to my first ever Chili Cook-Off at The Villages. There must have been 50 booths and we could have a taste, for $5, of as many as our tummies could stand. Mine could only take about 20, Bill did a lot more. And, that night, our little tummies suffered badly all over again!

Three Flags Resort at Wildwood became so much fun because there was Bingo/Ice Cream Socials on Mondays, Gospel Concerts on Sundays, Concert/Dance on Saturdays, Potluck Dinners and Karaoke on Wednesdays, and Jam Sessions on Thursdays. With scrabble/upwords with Dottie, bridge with another couple we met, and Texas Hold ‘Em with 4 other guys, we had an activity every night! Who said retirement would be so boring? There was indeed merit to longer stays and some nesting.  It is true...both Bill and I are confirmed social animals!

Back in Orlando, we met Robert and Wanda who have, like us, have been married for only 2-3 years. However, he is 14 years younger than she, the complete opposite of Bill and I (Bill will get mad at me for this though)! We had several visits…at the potluck dinner, their fifth wheel and then at the spa. Nothing really much happened except the Fantasy RV Tours presentation when we briefly considered the Australia/New Zealand 51-day tour. But at $30K per person we thought… no, we will just plan our own tour…hopefully we will make it for $10K for the 2 of us, buying an RV there and selling it after a month or so. There we met one guy who thought the same and we agreed to keep in touch and maybe do the tour together.

But the significant thing that happened was that we got to view a 27-foot fifth wheel at the RV show on the lot...and the rest is history! I wrote about what happened next in the post entitled, Buying Our New Home. It is also worthwhile to note that on the way to Tampa, where Lazy Days is located, we chanced upon Dinosaur World in Plant City.  There were 150 life-size fiberglass dinosaurs and we had our fill of playing and having our photos taken with the menacingly looking creatures.

And so after Frantic Days (Kurt, the Lazy Days salesperson, thought this quip about the #1 RV dealer in the country was so good), we returned to Wildwood to nest in our brand new home. The next days were indeed, as they promised, lazy days as I lounged around in the luxury of about 300 square feet of bright new home space! I kidded Bill that we actually had 6 rooms…an office/den, a living room, a kitchen, a dining room, a bathroom suite, and a bedroom PLUS 2 TVs and 2 vehicles!

Joe and Dottie had been eagerly waiting for us to get back. Dottie and I had missed playing our word games. She gave us holy water to bless our new home and car. We also went to First Friday mass and Adoration. Another day Bill and Joe went fishing (the picture is of an alligator that watched while they fished!) and Dottie sewed and I wrote. She even repaired Bill’s jeans and my jacket! We had a great fish dinner of bass that night. Dottie fixed cole slaw, I made potato salad and a taste of Filipino salad! Dottie showed us her progress in strip quilting and how to make rosaries, one of her ministries. Bill gave her a Mater Dolorosa rosary (7 beads).

Bill’s birthday this year (3/10) was pretty special. He had 2 cakes, 1 for each party. I made pancit bijon for the potluck dinner at 4:30 pm and the karaoke night at 6 pm. The following day I made beef salpicado, garlic rice, and green beans casserole. Dottie made him lemon pie for dessert. But the reason it was most special is because he is now 66 and he begins to draw on his social security on a maximum basis. His lifetime work is finally paying off!

But the following day, Joe and Dottie had to leave to go back home, making their way up the East Coast. I woke up thinking that we should give them a going away present (very Filipino practice). So I found a cameo pin with blue flowers (blue is her fave color) for Dottie and we found 2 nice key chains, 1 from Canada and another from Taiwan, for Joe.

And then we met Silly Willy and Fluffy, real-life clowns whose ministry is to give the gift of laughter to as many children as possible. They operated a humor blog bearing their clown names which already had 50,000 visitors in just a year and a half. They came to our home and helped me with some best practices of blogging. What you are reading now is the result of their friendship. The best thing about a cruising lifestyle is this…you have time to meet many different people and discover their beauty. There is indeed a Master Coordinator.

Next Stops:  St. Augustine and Daytona Beach

Nyuto Onsen, Here We Come

A return visit to Nyuto Onsenkyo is on the cards for us for this year's trip. Last year we went to Taenoyu Onsen and had a really great time and we are planning to spend a night in Tsurunoyu Onsen, which is the oldest operating ryokan in Nyuto Onsenkyo this year. With the help of S-san, we were informed that the very room we were eyeing is available. No harm in booking a room early, especially when the rooms there are often fully booked.

The name Tsurunoyu means " Crane's Bath Hot Spring" and the name originated from the legend of a local hunter; Kansuke who saw a crane bathing in the spring to heal her wound. A soak in the baths is said to help cure ailments such as cuts, high blood pressure and eye problems.

This room does looks nice, doesn't it? Imagine sleeping in a 350 years old samurai guard quarters with no electricity. We will be spending a night like Japanese of yesteryears. It would be fun eating dinner around the irori too.  Tsurunoyu Onsen is a slice of old Japan with its traditional wooden buildings, indoor and outdoor baths, tatami rooms and delectable Japanese dinners. We can't wait to stay there!

If you are a fan of Korean drama, IRIS; Tsurunoyu Onsen is one of the location site where some of the scenes in the drama were filmed in Akita Prefecture. To know more about the location site, head to Oh Tazawako, Where Art Thou? blog. If you want to have more information on Tazawako, you can find it at the blog too. A wealth of information on Tazawako to be found there.

Seems like the Akita Prefecture Tourism Agency spent quite a lot of effort promoting the area connecting it to the Korean Drama. I was informed that the number of Korean tourists went up threefold after the drama was aired, which is good news for the area.

Zaini even found a Japanese language travel guide book at Kinokuniya highlighting the location site of IRIS.

You can see the main character Kim Hyun Joon (played by Lee Byeong Heon) and Choi Seung Hee (Kim Tae Hui) at Tsurunoyu Onsen and in the last photo in front of Tatsuko Statue.

Hmm... should I get Raimie to take photo of his Mom and Dad posing the same way too? :D

Spending Winter in Florida 2-Florida Keys, Everglades, Moore Haven, Orlando

Our next stop was at Sunshine Key Resort at Big Pine Key in the Florida Keys. We had been in the Keys before but we just loooooved the place. It seemed incredulous to me that there is just this long narrow highway and at each side is blue-green water. I have not seen another place like it. For Bill and me, it ranks alongside the Dempster Highway going up the Arctic and Big Sur along the West Coast for their breathtaking beauty. So, even if the campground was not free, we decided to stay there for a week.  Our Thousand Trails membership gives it to us at 50% off because it also belongs to the same owners, Equity Lifestyle Properties.

The campground was beautiful.  It was on a piece of sandy land that jutted out into the sea so there was water on all three sides. We parked Star near the clubhouse. It seemed that everyone sunbathed around the huge pool where country music was provided by a live entertainer and tropical drinks were being served for free! There was an exercise room, a good country store, and a marina filled with boats. The only problem was the restrooms had no doors, having been designed for tropical weather, which was certainly not the case that winter. The showers were really coooold with the cold ocean breeze steadily coming in while one bathed.

The public bus to Key West was only $1.50 per senior but, you are not going to believe this…the bus driver asked to check my drivers’ license. He made my day! We saw more of Key West , going through more of the many shops around Mallory Square and its famous sunset and

discovering Truman’s Little White House. The other time we had seen the Hemingway House, the Southernmost Point (94 miles to Cuba) of the US, and Sloppy Joe’s, Hemingway’s hangout, where we danced up to the wee hours of the morning.  The Florida Keys is also home to unique species of wildlife such as the key deer which are deer but grow only to about half the size, to only about 3 feet tall.

But, since this time we were riding the public bus, we had to be at Sears by 7:30 pm. At the bus stop was where we met a homeless young man who slept at a shelter the night before. He usually sleeps at airports, bus depots, etc. But it had been too cold and more shelters where blankets were provided had been made available. It was way too cold for this tropical paradise…50s and 40s.

But the worst thing was that our mail which we asked DJ, our on-in-law, to forward to us did not arrive! It was supposed to get to us in Ft. Myers but it arrived late so we asked Glen to forward it to Sunshine Key Resort. We do not know what happened but it seemed that the box of mails got sent back to Seattle from Ft. Myers, then to Big Pine Key who then forwarded it to Wildwood, as we had requested It was a total of one month later when we got it. We thought…better investigate mailforwarding services! 

The next campground was a national park, the Flamingo Campground at Everglades National Park. We originally booked ourselves for 14 days there but somebody told us about the ubiquitous, hungry mosquitoes that plagued the area so we decided to cut our visit short to 3 days. We were happily surprised that the cold weather delayed the takeover of the mosquitoes. It was a wonderful campsite in a different way. It got us very close to nature and wildlife.

The Anhinga Trail was teeming with alligators, and turtles, many birds, and of course, anhingas. I counted about more than 30 alligators alongside the creek around the Trail. The Everglades Estuary had crocodiles, manatees, ospreys, etc. The manatees were playing in the water, bobbing up and down and we took many pictures. I had never been that close to such animals before; and, to think, they are all in the endangered list. It was good I did not see the Burmese python or the

Florida jaguar or I would have died!  

And plant life was not to be outdone.  The dwarf cypress forests were a sight to behold.  And the gumbo limbo trees, glistening in somber forests with red brilliance are a must-see.  They are supposedly the origin of the gumbo soups for they were used for such by native Americans.The Everglades National Park is doing such a wonderful job! And there were hardly any mosquitoes in the cool days of January 2010! And the night skies were teeming with brilliant stars!

So we started heading north, thinking surely the cold weather is over. This is Florida, for cryin’ out loud! But before heading on to ’M’ RV Resort in Moore Haven, Florida, we passed through Miami and Ft. Lauderdale to catch the ocean breeze. There was nowhere to park an RV in such crowded places though. So we satisfied ourselves with drive-by shots, photos which, interestingly enough, all got lost from our camera’s chip!

At Moore Haven the campground was undergoing rehabilitation by the new owners who bought it from a guy who ripped the member-RVers of their hard-earned retirement funds. The place had a golf course that was defunct and 5 idle mini ponds (supposedly with 2 alligators) that were meant for catch-and-release fishing of catfish, bass, trout, etc. The saving grace was the people and one night there was a big jam session of musicians that blazed the clubhouse with rocking music that we danced the night to.

On the road to our second stop at Orlando, we passed by Lake Okeechobee, 2nd largest freshwater lake in America. We could not even see the lake from the road because it was protected by tall dam-like structures all around. Much of Florida is right below, at, or slightly above sea level that the flow of water is largely controlled by dikes and dams for the benefit of wildlife, human life, and all the plants around. We understand that it is a delicate balancing act.

We finally reached our favorite campground, Orlando Thousand Trails, again. This time we met Roberta Dolan (writer of the near-completed book, Say It Out Loud, founder, Writers’ Network in Connecticut and retired elementary special education teacher) and her husband Tim Dolan )retired HS science teacher). We loved their Allegro 32.5 Class A motorhome. Roberta and I agreed to continue corresponding so I can help her rewrite the marketing chapter of her book proposal and, in turn, she can help me with starting the publication of my eventual book.

This is also when we met the oldest RVers we have so far encountered, Saul, 90, harmonica player, and Shirley, 83, contortionist, who were both part of a circus which is where they met. They have been doing this for 20 years with the same 24-ft class A motorhome (the size of Star!). But this chapter in Orlando was not as happy as the previous one since I had to quickly find a dentist…one of my fillings dropped out…and I was practically toothless in Orlando.

Next Stops:  Wildwood, Orlando, Tampa

Raimie Got A Shopping List

One of the highlights of going to Japan for Raimie is the fact that this is one of the few times we allowed him to buy toys (especially Ultraman toys) without any condition being set. Actually we only allow him to buy any Japanese toys when we go to Japan because the price of those toys are more than double in Malaysia. Raimie is a patient boy so he can and is willing to wait.

He has a cardboard box full of Ultraman, Seijin (aliens) and kaijus (monsters) of the Ultraman series and from Kamen Rider too but of course he wants more. He has yet complete his collection.

Being his father's son, he develops a penchant for making lists and it is funny to see combing through his terebi-kun magazines (a Japanese magazine for kids) and writing down what toys he wants to buy when we get to Japan. So far, the list is two pages long!

He has already started saving money for the upcoming trip because we told him he needs to, in order to buy the toys he wanted, but we'll put all the cash he saved from his pocket money in the bank and pay for the toys ourselves instead. ;)

A trip to Yodobashi Camera is a must for us because that's where we get the toys at a cheaper price than any other stores. For those who love to collect the capsule toys (gachapon) you should visit Yodobashi Camera especially Yodobashi-Akiba. Rows and rows of gachapon machines to make you go wild!

Great Blue Heron & Egret, Saddle Creek Lake, FL

Great Blue Heron, Saddle Creek Lake, Florida  3/31/10

Egret, Saddle Creek Lake, Florida 3/31/10

Egret sees fish, Saddle Creek Lake, Florida 3/31/10

Egret with breeding plummage, Saddle Creek Lake, Florida 3/31/10

Egret closeup of green around eye, Saddle Creek Lake, Florida 3/31/10

Egret in hunting pose, Saddle Creek Lake, Florida 3/31/10

Spending Winter in Florida, Part 1-Live Oak, Orlando, Wauchula, Ft.Myers

We arrived at the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park at Live Oak, Florida in the afternoon of December 24.  For the very first time I saw beautiful live oaks with Spanish moss lavishly draped from all their branches. It is a wonder they the oaks have not died.

But we had to make our Christmas Eve dinner.The kitchen was so cramped, however.  We had to make so many dishes but   record the moments for posterity, too.Disaster struck as the camera (positioned beside the turkey platter), fell as Bill was trying to slice the roast to serve. The short lens was forever doomed.  But the dinner was great and the gift-giving memorable.

We had surely established a tradition…a Christmas Eve ritual on wheels! Another great tradition, the famous Spirit of Suwannee Christmas lights, was taken down the following day as we went to mass.The next night was a concert show, a Tribute to the Eagles. The campground is the site of Florida’s biggest music events. It has several music halls for indoor concerts and a large outdoor park for outdoor music events a la Woodstock. It was also beside the great Suwannee River. But, we were anxious to head south as it was feeling increasingly cold.

We were so happy to reach Florida because we thought we could finally get some warm days. It turned out that this year Florida was going to go through its LONGEST COLD SPELL in history. Days were in 50s and 60s (some  40s) instead of 60s and 70s. Some nights went down to as low as 30s! We consoled ourselves that at least it was warmer there than the rest of the country (although once it was warmer in Kent, Wa!)  

Orlando Thousand Trails will turn out to be one of our favorite parks. We returned to it twice while we were in Florida. It is only a few miles from Disney World and Universal Studios and all the city perks we have been missing for a few weeks now. But it was not only its location that was the draw. The facilities were also great…we had an exercise room, a billiards and table tennis, a spa, and a heated pool.We did not even get to use the mini-golf, shuffleboard and pickleball courts, etc. Members are always in long lines of wait to get in.

Our trip to Disney World took us to Epcot Center, the theme park for Generation Z!  It would have been such a thrill had it not been sooooo unusually cooooold! But, even then, we became children all over again as we took on all the rides we could on that day (the lines were also very long because it was holiday season). The night was capped by giant fireworks that enveloped the giant lighted Christmas tree.

Our first stay in the Resort took us to a New Year’s Eve Dinner and Dance Party to remember. Every couple that came in had their souvenir photo taken under an arch that said: Cruise to 2010! How appropriate for all of us, I thought! There must have been 100 couples there. But for a campground with 800 sites, most of which occupied, then that is not really a big number. But it was still a big party…with the hats, the horns, the finger foods, and the drinks. I wore the Mickey Mouse ears with blinking colored lights from Epcot Center!  Past Tense was the band that rocked the night away. Bill and I sweated it out doing the rock n roll, cha cha, reggae, rhumba, swing, twist, two-step, polka, etc. At the stroke of 12, 100 balloons dropped from the ceiling and many hugs and kisses and champagne toasts got passed around.

Our first holiday without family turned out to be not sad and lonely, but fun and merry, after all.

Our next stop was at Peace River in Wauchula, Florida. This was a more ‘woodsy’ campground with the Peace River wrapping around the campsites. The warnings about alligators were all over the hiking trail that ran alongside the river. I remember being scared, not knowing that this is of such common occurrence in Florida! But it rained and the place became so muddy that I mostly stayed inside Star. 

 Besides we were just excited about our visit to the home of Bill’s friends, Glen Russell and Debbie Baxter, in Ft. Myers, Florida.  She made a great turkey (real turkey) dinner so we could experience a real holiday feast at a lovely home during the holidays (or the extension of it). It was already January 6 but Debbie kept her Christmas décor up for us to see. What I admired most was an ornament tree atop her formal dining table.

That was exactly what I was looking for to put up our collection of Christmas ornaments from places we have been before we had the RV (now we are collecting magnets which we foolishly thought were so great because they would just be hung on the RV’s refrigerator doors not realizing quickly enough that they are made of lighter material, obviously…duh). Now I just have a 2 ft. green artificial tree. An ornament tree would be sturdier and would simply fold for storage after the Season!

But I also got excited because the oranges that were piled high on her fruit basket had come from an actual tree that was in their yard! So, guess what I had to do (since we do not have orange trees in the Philippines)? Before we left, knowing that even if Florida is full of orange orchards, I could not as readily get to them, I picked all the oranges I needed for a lifetime!

Next Stops: Florida Keys, Everglades National Park, Moore Haven, Orlando, Wildwood