Travel Thread

[Shyster]

Received the sumo tickets I ordered for the July tournament in Nagoya. I think this locks down the final bit of required preplanning. My sister-in-law did all of the hotel reservations and flights already.

I couldn't talk my traveling companions into going more than one day, so I'll be by myself on Wednesday the 22nd and everyone else will go with me on the 23rd. On the (highly unlikely) chance that anyone here needs sumo tickets in the future, I purchased through http://www.BuySumoTickets.com, and they got me the seats I wanted.

[Gaucho]

Are the Mongolians still dominating?

[Shyster]

Yup. The May tournament just ended last Sunday, and the champion was sekiwake Terunofuji. His win also secured him promotion to the second-highest rank of ozeki for the next tournament. This was only his eighth tournament in the top division, and he's the first wrestler in 50 years to be promoted from sekiwake to ozeki after only two tournaments at the sekiwake rank. Alas for the Japanese fans, he's also Mongolian (real name Gantulga Ganerdene).

Terunofuji could be sumo’s next yokozuna
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2015 ... WeqilLbJph

[Gaucho]

How much did you pay for the tickets, if I may ask? If I ever go to Japan - and I hope I will - I'd love to take in a tourney.

[tifosi77]

Mrs Tif and I might be going to Japan in 2016. So that's neat.

I feel like sumo is something that I would just find confusing unless I had someone like Shyster Sherpa to help out.

[Shyster]

The total was 122,150 yen ($985 or 902 euros), but that's for 9 tickets total. My single seat on Wednesday is about $85, and that's for what the Sumo Association labels a "Confortable [sic] Box Seat." Most seats in the sumo stadiums are boxes where you sit on cushions on the floor. There are boxes variously sized for 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 people, depending on which venue you're in. My "Confortable" seat is one of the 1-person boxes. There are also regular chair-style seats in the back that start at about $40. You must buy all of the tickets for a box. For example, there are six of us, but I bought two 4-person boxes for Thursday so that we'll all have extra room to spread out (and I personally have a big fat "spread"). But I had to buy 8 tickets total. The sumo stadiums aren't very big—way smaller than, say, a modern hockey venue—so even seats in the back get a good view.

Tournaments run for 15 days and start and end on a Sunday. A ticket gets you in for all day. The lower-ranked wrestlers start out early in the morning at around 8:30 a.m. Most fans only show up for the top two divisions, which run roughly 2:30 to 6 p.m. on most days.

[The U]

Heading to Japan in October. Never considered doing anything Sumo related. Hmmmm....

Flights were $1400-$1700 the entire 2 week period I was looking. AA and a few others suddenly announced a sale right while I was researching and tix dropped to like $700. A great deal but I decided to go the mileage route instead so I could sit in first. 50k miles round trip from DC to Tokyo in Economy. 110k for first class. I figured the length of the flight justified me using miles rather than just paying $700 or 50k for economy.

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

Is it common for hotels in Europe not to have irons available? Only 1 of the 4 hotels I stayed at in Italy had one available.

[Shyster]

Heading to Japan in October. Never considered doing anything Sumo related. Hmmmm....

Unless you'd still be there in November, I'm afraid you will miss out. There are six tournaments per year, held in the odd-numbered months. The January, May, and September tournaments are held in Tokyo at the Ryogoku Kokugikan, which is an area owned by the Sumo Association. The March, July, and November tournaments are held in arenas in Osaka, Nagoya, and Fukuoka, respectively.

[Avyran]

Is this your first time seeing sumo in-person, Shyster?

[Shyster]

It will be, yes.

[shmenguin]

I guess moving isn't really considered travel, but just recently moved to Zurich, Switzerland which should further increase the amount I travel, excited for that. If anyone's visiting Switzerland, UK, Ireland, Barcelona, Budapest and some other random Euro places give me a heads up and I'll see if I can give you any useful info.

As for Zurich, kind of the quiet town version of a relatively big city. Lots of stuff to see, awesome historical landmarks, easy travel to amazing sights and skiing. Pretty awesome place to be I must say.

Oh, and high functioning public transit, amazing.

You take a trip to the mountains yet? I've been to Murren twice. Will go back again once the kids are at an age where they'd enjoy it. It's closer to Bern than Zurich, but just a few hours from you by train IIRC.

[ExPatriatePen]

Headed to Detroit to be wined, dined and courted by my new employer. Leave Monday. I love the courtship phase.

[PFiDC]

Anyone ever been to Hawks Cay in the keys?

[ExPatriatePen]

Anyone ever been to Hawks Cay in the keys?

On Ducks Key? About 1/2 way down the chain...

Quiet area.

[PFiDC]

That's the one. Looks great online. Fun for kids.

[mikeenike]

I guess moving isn't really considered travel, but just recently moved to Zurich, Switzerland which should further increase the amount I travel, excited for that. If anyone's visiting Switzerland, UK, Ireland, Barcelona, Budapest and some other random Euro places give me a heads up and I'll see if I can give you any useful info.

As for Zurich, kind of the quiet town version of a relatively big city. Lots of stuff to see, awesome historical landmarks, easy travel to amazing sights and skiing. Pretty awesome place to be I must say.

Oh, and high functioning public transit, amazing.

You take a trip to the mountains yet? I've been to Murren twice. Will go back again once the kids are at an age where they'd enjoy it. It's closer to Bern than Zurich, but just a few hours from you by train IIRC.

Haven't done almost any intra-Switzerland travel yet, but absolutely have plans to. Looking forward to travelling around and hitting all these spots though, will add Muren to the list

[blackjack68]

Anyone ever eat at Del Frisco's in Chicago?

Have a dinner meeting there next week and looking for opinions.

EDIT: ooops. Two weeks. Getting ahead of myself.

[ExPatriatePen]

Good question Blackjack...

...on a similar note. Anyone know any good restaurants in the Southfield Michigan area?

[columbia]

That's a pretty specific information request.

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

I ate at the Del Frisco's in Philly. I am sure they're pretty similar. The food was very good but was also very expensive.

[blackjack68]

I'm not paying.

[ExPatriatePen]

That's a pretty specific information request.

Yes it is... As he polishes his fingernails on his suit jacket, examining them closely and gently blowing off any lint. Yes it is..

You only get courted by a company once. I tend to enjoy these things because I know that once you accept the offer the dynamic changes drastically.

It is funny though. As you climb the ladder in your career (and realize that this is my 40th year in this field), that organizations go to greater and greater lengths to woo you.

The company that's offering me this current job got nervous when I told them I needed to rethink the offer when they changed the start date from Jun 1 to jul 1st. So they offered to fly me to their HQ and meet with the management team including the CEO.

Monday night is dinner, then Tuesday is the grand tour.

All of this and I've already decided to accept the offer.

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

I'm not paying.

Than get a good steak, some nice bourbon, and enjoy.

[tifosi77]

Heading to Japan in October. Never considered doing anything Sumo related. Hmmmm....

Flights were $1400-$1700 the entire 2 week period I was looking. AA and a few others suddenly announced a sale right while I was researching and tix dropped to like $700. A great deal but I decided to go the mileage route instead so I could sit in first. 50k miles round trip from DC to Tokyo in Economy. 110k for first class. I figured the length of the flight justified me using miles rather than just paying $700 or 50k for economy.

110k round trip for 1st class? I expected that to be the one-way hit.