Euro lounger futon costco

A first timer's cruise on Aida may 1st - may 5th
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Since I used this group to prepare for my cruise it seems only fair to give a little back to the community and write up my impressions. Besides, Aida, the German market subsidiary of Costa, isn't a company that's discussed much here.
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About us We're a 50 year old Dutch couple living in the west of the Netherlands. We've never cruised before but our children are now of an age that makes it an option to leave them at home and enjoy a vacation with the two of us. As is fairly typical for people in this country that consistently tops the English proficiency index list our English quite good and our German is mediocre mainly due to lack of practice. I've visited Germany for business trips quite regularly and we've take summer holidays in Austria the past few years.
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The cruise We've had ideas about taking a very special holiday as a couple for some time now. Several ideas on our lists are luxury cruises in exotic locations but we realised we have no idea if we'd actually enjoy one. So we booked a short cruise to try it out. We opted for a 5 day cruise Warnemunde-Gotheborg-Aarhus-Copenhagen-Warnemunde.
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Booking Rather than booking through an agent we booked directly on the company's website. We found two basic options, they choose your cabin within the category you pick or you can do it for a surcharge. Since it's important to us to have twin beds and no double we picked the more expensive option and chose a sea view cabin at the front end of deck 4, the lowest passenger deck. You're not expect to pay right away but you get an invoice in the mail after several days. Once that confirms your booking you can start ordering excursions. We had a long look at those and noticed that quite a few nice excursions were already sold out or started very late in the day. So an 0800 mooring and then an excursion at 1530 the same day starting at the ship. So what are you supposed to do with the rest of the time?
We also used Aida's website to book parking on a partner company. 60 euros for parking for the duration of the trip in a guarded parking area and shuttle service to the ship.
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Embarkation Aida uses a high ceiling glass building at the port. At the entrance very surely security staff that is there to check your paperwork to make sure you're not there a minute too early or too late, you've got a 30 minute slot for embarkation and you better be there!
Inside Aida blasts some 90s pop at volumes high enough that I struggled to hear the boarding agent.But we had our reservation papers and she quickly gave us two preprinted barcode cards which are your key to everything on board.
At the security check they confiscated some snacks even though they met Aida's rules for pre-packaged foods. It also seemed that they'd learned customer service at the same class as the people at the door. Ship's own security staff were really friendly.
Also interesting to note that a LOT of people were already wearing an Aida lanyard around their necks. We discovered later that this is apparently a thing among fans to build a collection of aida branded lanyards and to display their brand loyalty this way.
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Cabin We'd opted for a sea view on the front of deck 4. Turned out to be a good spot mostly. Fairly quiet, except when mooring and just a minute walk to the embarkation area on deck 3. Cabin itself is small but did look exactly like the brochure. Clean. I was glad that the top 2 fold down bunks were there, this allowed me to take a mattress from there and put over the first since it was rather thin. Our package included 2 bottles of water per day which were promptly supplied by housekeeping. It did not include the extra, extra large bathrobe I'd requested at no extra charge at booking. I'm really tall so a normal bathrobe barely covers the essentials. Our sleep was good most days except one when it was quite windy and they used the stabilisers a lot which caused a sensation like someone shaking your bed.
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Being tall on board OK, I'm used to my feet sticking out the end of a bed, I can deal with that. I'm less used to walking with a slight stoop in corridors to avoid head injuries from sprinklers or exit signs. Entering elevators did involve some serious ducking down and maybe it was me looming over other people that caused people to almost never share an elevator with us?
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Food and drink There's 2 buffet restaurants on board which serve differently themed food at lunch and dinner while breakfast is pretty much the same. Quality wasn't bad most of the time but it wasn't really great either. I think breakfast was probably the best meal with loads of German classics as well as standard international fair and good breads. We were pleasantly surprised the first morning that one of the waitresses brought a whole pot of coffee to our table but we didn't understand why their coffee was cheap and weak tasting. The instant coffee we found at the tea counter (which had really good quality teas) was a better option.
If you made an effort it was certainly possible to eat healthy. Only thing they didn't ever understand was crispy fries, it was all British style soggy. There's an Asian restaurant which has 2 or 3 pre cooked dishes and a selection of raw ingredients you can pick and mix and have a cook prepare for you (without much in the way of seasoning) while you wait at your table. The concept isn't bad but the execution is, the buffet area is extremely crowded and there's no real room to do the necessary queuing for the cooks. Poorly thought out this.
Seating at all free restaurant was free, just find something. Dress code was no shorts and that was mostly followed.
The burger bar, Burgers at sea or something is an f-ing disgrace. A half hour wait gets you a small burger of very dry meat, a tiny cup of very sweet coleslaw and a mini portion of soggy fries. The steakhouse, one of the two restaurants on board where you pay for food and drink, was actually really nice. Good service, the "bison"meat was great and it is indeed cooked exactly to order. Worth the money!
We're not big drinkers so only tried the bar once or twice, would have gone more often if they offered decent coffee but for some reason they have Starbucks. Nice selection of gins, disappointing range of beers. No bar snacks except some cheap salty peanuts.
There's no room service.
The drinks package for our cruise for some strange reason only allowed for soft drinks and coffees. Apparently our trip was one day too short for the full drinks package. This didn't seem worth it considering they use a coffee brand we really do not like.
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Excursions Can't say much about those. We bought hop on/off tickets for Gothenburg and Copenhagen. Nearly bought a harbour tour at Aarhus but it was members only and for some bizarre reason the system allowed me to book but not my wife. By the time we'd sorted that out it was sold out.
After mooring in a Harbour you're herded to the buses in a fairly effective matter making it impossible to get lost.
Gothenburg's mooring location was really far from the city. At Copenhagen it was close enough that the hop on bus company actually ran shuttle buses to the cruise terminal. At Aarhus we moored within easy walking distance of the city. All three cities didn't exactly provide a scenic harbour.
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Gothenburg: City is a big construction zone. Fair bit of shopping, nice art museum. Good food and the old streets of Haga neighbourhood are a fun tourist attraction (tip: don't go for the cinnamon buns at that cafe with the huge line but the one 50 metres west)
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Aarhus: Lovely provincial university town. Aaros is a must see if you have any connection at all with modern art. The Gamla By is pretty unique in being an open air museum focussed on urban instead of rural setting.
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Copenhagen: Did the bus tour to see something of the city, quickly strolled through the masses at the old harbour and got very distracted by the Tivoli amusement park which features a roller coaster more than a century old.
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Wellness/sauna The sauna's nice, really clean, located at the top of the ship for a great view and a steal at 5 euros an hour. It's also a mixed gender naked sauna which suits us fine. We considered a wellness treatment of some kind but the staff person at the desk didn't exactly make this an attractive option to book so we skipped that.
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Information flow Ask a question to two different staff members and get two different answers. Onboard, use the app? The bordportal (ship's intranet) and log on with your email? Booking number? An arbitrarily assigned pin code? Eventually we learned that the paper program delivered to our door was most reliable best source of information
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Pool deck or rather the smoking deck Didn't try the actual pool it's tiny and crowded. On boarding day we did spend an hour or two on the loungers on the deck above the pool level it because it was exceptionally nice weather on the departure day. And then the constant smell of cigarette smoke got on our nerves. Because Germans love to smoke! And they're apparently allowed to smoke anywhere outside on the top decks! (Except the nudist area)
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Entertainment They have a group of 4 singers and 4 dancers/acrobats that performed a different show every day we were on board. Shows lasted 40-50 minutes and were really quite entertaining. There was also a talkshow hosted by the cruise director, didn't interest me much. Also saw a band in the "casino" area one night, wasn't bad but very loud. Personally I'd have liked to see some other options. Maybe a little jazz in the lounge? Piano player?
They also organise activities, we tried a dance workshop once which turned into a private lesson since we were the only couple showing up. I'd say they could get a lot more people if they'd share a little more information about these but..
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Staff A lot of the European staff is German. I found quite a few of these not exactly friendly. Not sure if they're just too busy or if my mediocre German was the issue. Asian staff in general was quite friendly and seemed fine with our German (theirs wasn't any better), some seemed to prefer English. I saw a group of them do a spontaneous surprise musical greeting for a regular guest celebrating birthday
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Guests Almost exclusively German, I noticed a Dutch family and was sure I picked up a little Polish and even some Czech. So call it 98% German. Age range was 40-75 with mostly couples and groups of female friends. A handful of young families.
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Our conclusion: Cruising in itself actually seems to suit us. There's something about a new location every day that gives you a nice feeling of travelling, making a journey. Would we do this again? Possibly. But not on Aida. I'd like a little more luxury and a lot less cigarette smoke.

Current cards: (list cards, limits, opening date)

• Citi Costco: $27,000, 2018
• Citi Double Cash: $13,000, Nov 2021

FICO Score: 775-810
Oldest account age: The costco card at ~6 years
Chase 5/24 status: 0/24
Income: HHI: ~$275,000
Average monthly spend and categories:

• dining $500
• groceries: $1100
• gas: $200
• travel: $1000
• other: $3300

Open to Business Cards: No
What's the purpose of your next card? Anything that wont strand me on a train platform in Europe by flagging my attempted purchase for train tickets as fraud when I have a travel advisory set for the card and after having bought plane tickets with the card to the country I am trying to buy a train ticket in, and then make me spend 3 hours on the phone with CS.
Do you have any cards you've been looking at? With COVID our traveling plans have been very curtailed, but starting this year we plan on visiting Europe 2x a year to visit my aging parents. The travel spend is what I assume we will spend a year visiting them, So I have been looking at airline credit cards or chase sapphire, but I never see the math working out in favor of straight cash back. Mainly because we aren't frequent fliers, we only fly a couple of times a year, but when we do it is expensive Euro travel.
This experience has left an incredibly bad taste in my mouth for Citi, they say the alert was on the Visa side, not theirs, and Visa was trying to send me SMS messages for verification of purchases, but I was using a European SIM. Or a card which I can use in places where they REQUIRE chip and pin, like train ticketing machines. Even just being able to do 2FA in an app and not via SMS.

Ever since we got a new platform bed, our latex mattress and topper have become way too firm. My shoulder and neck are killing me so I went to Costco hoping to find a mattress. I couldn't find any showroom models to try, but on my way home I noticed a Mattress Firm and stopped by.
I found a few plush mattresses at Mattress Firm that seemed nice (Beautyrest Pressuresmart 2.0 Lux Plush pillowtop, Sealy Plus Euro Top, Serta iSeries 2.0 Hybrid 3000 Plush, Posturepedic Plus Hybrid High Point Plush, Sealy Posturepedic Lacey Plush) in a variety of prices, so I thought maybe I would settle on one after checking out the reviews. I almost decided to pull the trigger on the Beautyrest Pressuresmart based on the Consumer Reports review. I'm a petite combination sleeper, husband's weight seesaws between 160-220.
But it sounds like Costco's mattress return/refund policy is much more generous, though I don't find much specific info on their website. The Costco selection of plush mattresses online seems quite limited. Wish I could see or try them first.
I'm paralyzed with indecision and also with shouldeneck pain!

Hello, I am back after another mattress that didn't suit me...
I’m hoping to get some help picking a queen size mattress in Canada for under $1500, and ideally under to $1300.
About me: about 5’10” and roughly 200 lbs, almost exclusively side sleeper with rare occasions in which I end up napping on my back or will slightly turn towards my stomach while still sleeping on my side. I don't usually tend to sleep hot but do keep a fan next to my bed just in case. Once in a while I'll wake up a bit sore. I do like a bit of plush sensation but don’t love completely sinking into a bed that it’s hard to roll to my other wise. In the past I have enjoyed sleeping on plush pillow-tops. I don’t love completely sinking into the mattress and feeling trapped but I do enjoy a bit of “hug” and feeling cradled within the mattress. I also appreciate good support because I don't like my mattress sagging.
I am thinking going with BIAB might be the easiest option here (but happy to be persuaded otherwise) both financially, and logistically
I had previously owned the Hamuq hybrid but returned it as I wasn't getting a comfortable sleep on it. It was hard to point out what the reason for that was (my sleep schedule is also part of the problem). I think it was maybe slightly too firm. Sometimes, but not too often, I woke up a little sore. I didn't sleep hot in it. I just didn't find it to be the most comfortable.
Then. I tried the silk and snow organic mattress, which I found overly bouncy and could feel the springs through the latex at times. I liked the edge support, but overall, I still woke up a little sore and didn’t find that I was cradled and supported in the way I would have liked.
Now, I’m thinking the I’d fare better with a supportive medium mattresses. I’m pretty open to suggestions, as what I’ve thought would be good for me in the past hasn’t really worked out. I will say, I also prefer thicker mattresses and am looking for one that is at least 13” in height.
With that in mind, I have narrowed down my options to the following:

• Endy Hybrid ($1063, on sale): Endy foam (unsure on depth), 13" tall, and 100 night trial.
• Logan and Cove Frontier ($1299): 2.5" of Gel foam and Elastex foam, 13.5" tall, with high coil count and 365 night trial.
• Octave Mirage ($1199): 2.5” CopperGel memoryf oam + PolarMax, 1.5” latex, 2” elastex foam, and a 7” foam support later, 13” tall, 365 night trial.
• Octave Horizon ($1499): 2.5” CopperGel memory foam + PolarMax, 1.5” latex, 2” ecoLuxe gel foam, 2” elastex foam, and a 6” foam support later, 14” tall, 365 night trial.

I also looked at some available through Costco and the ones that caught my eye were:

• Kingsdown Passions Auburnwood Hybrid Euro Pillowtop Mattress ($999): 1030 coil count, 15" tall, Tri-tech gel memory foam, comfort flex firm gel foam, and tri-zoned support system. Comes in medium-firm or Plush. (https://www.costco.ca/kingsdown-passions-auburnwood-hybrid-euro-pillowtop-mattress.product.100839586.html)
• Kingsdown Passions Beckingham Hybrid Mattress ($1250): comfort flex gel foam, tri-tech infused memory foam, and tri-zoned support, 1250 coil count, 14.5" tall (https://www.costco.ca/kingsdown-passions-beckingham-hybrid-mattress.product.4000102603.html)
• Kirkland Signature by Stearns and Foster Lakeridge Mattress ($1200): Luxury cushion firm euro pillow-top, 14.5" tall, 1744 coil count, gel foam, memory foam. (https://www.costco.ca/kirkland-signature-by-stearns-and-foster-lakeridge-queen-mattress-or-set.product.100569558.html)

I don’t really care of any of the “add on” free gifts that are included in some of the deals. I’m mostly looking at the price. I know that Logan and Cove and Octave are made by the same parent company u/GoodMorningBeds.
Any thoughts would be appreciated as I am unable to try any of them in person. Would love to hear from people with experience on these mattresses too. Also open to other suggestions.
Thanks in advance!

I get: money for anime lighters to burn my house down You get: rare anime wax (I know it's flammable also but don't set it on fire, or else) Ships from the Netherlands. Everything is at least VG+ unless otherwise specified.
[VGM] Pokemon I Choose You - 74 euro Star Fox 2 - 54 euro Arknights Journey of Hope - 180 euro Arknights Contingency Contract 1 - 50 euro Arknights Contingency Contract 2 - 50 euro Arknights Contingency Contract 3 - 50 euro Counter:Side Original Soundtrack (only 50 copies exist) - 350 euro Ciel Nosurge Utahime EP - 40 euro Jack Jeanne Original Soundtrack (VG, crease bottom left) - 80 euro Ys Origin Original Soundtrack (Amber Marble) - 54 euro Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass - 18 euro Seasons after Fall (crease on one corner) - 12.50 euro Zuntata - Darius (flexi) - 30 euro
[Anime/Visual Novel] Hare Hare Yukai 7" - 65 euro Little Busters Analog Collector's edition - 169 euro Asian Kung Fu Generation - Sol-fa 2016 - 299 euro Detective Opera Milky Holmes Treasure Disc - 225 euro Higurashi Series Character Song Remix EP - 105 euro Strike Witches Lili Marlene 7" - 99 euro Rising of the Shield Hero - 60 euro Devilman: Demon Bird [Subscriber's variant w/ print] - 65 euro 3x3 Eyes [Subscriber's variant w/ print] - 47 euro Attack on Titan My War / Twilight Bird - 57.50 euro Hypnosis Mic Matenro - 40.50 euro Jashin★Girls ‎– Ano Ko Ni Drop Kick - 43 euro OdiakeS Prism Heart Soundtrack - 57.50 euro August 10th Memorial boxset - 107 euro Kalafina - One Light - 40 euro Kalafina - 百火撩乱 (Hyakka Ryouran) - 33 euro Kalafina - Blaze - 40 euro The Yellow Monkey - Four Seasons - 51 euro d2b - Let's Jump! / 君の元へ - 60.50 euro
[Anime-inspired] [Touhou] Flowlight Sky Set - 159 euro [Doujin] See you Next Time! Calendar Girl compilation - 109 euro [Doujin] Star Anis Calendar Girl - 88.25 euro [Vocaloid] Shirobon - Warp - 19.50 euro [Vocaloid] Sweet Vacation – Cover The Vacation!! Ep - 17 euro [Vocaloid] Hatsune Miku Expo in New York bluray + 7" - 75 euro [Vocaloid] Sweet Pop Generation - 66.50 euro Kizuna Ai Hello Morning - 100 euro Seren Azuma / BlancheFleur feat. [ahi:] - Dailies - 105 euro Mosaic.wav Planet Akiba Pop - 97 euro Blasterhead Feat. Saori Sakura – Distance.Zero EP - 169 euro Blasterhead – Ere Daybreak-E.P. - 169 euro Denkishiki Karen Ongaku Shuudan ‎– Re: Charge LP Box - 69 euro Futon - Love You! More! - 39.50 euro Emma Hazy Minami - Stay With Me / Mayonaka no Jōku - 20 euro Emma Hazy Minami - Plastic Love / Telephone Number - 47.50 euro The Lasttrak - Session XX / Enter the Dub - 17.50 euro
[Other] Runescape.wav [Woodcutting Brown] - 50 euro Minmi - アイの実 - 61.50 euro So Nice / RYUTist - 日曜日のサマートレイン - 26.50 euro Bitplane Hospital Laboratory - 19 euro Capsule - School of Electro 5" - 13.50 euro Capsule - Idol Fancy - 31 euro

So I was leaving the Kanata Costco in Ontario Canada in my Golf R 20th AE and got behind a Lapiz blue Golf R that had the licence plate HOTHATCH. It looked like it had the Euro taillight LEDs as it clearly had the clear cascading LED markers running horizontally in the taillights. I should have followed him and when the opportunity presented itself asked where he got them from and who did the install. Regret caving into my hunger and driving in another direction to grab a bite.

Hello,
Looking for a value hot tub for our NH vacation cabin we will be renting out on AirBnb. Doesnt have to be luxurious or anything just something to enjoy at night or during the winter with enough seats and priced around $5k.
Was hoping to find one that seats around 5-7 since the cabin sleeps 8. Non lounger would help too! Anyone recommend any specific brands/models? I was considering purchasing one off of Costco since its cheaper but not sure if there were some other brands/areas to look that may be a better option to consider.
Thanks in advance

Hello!
My girlfriend and I are planning to go to Mykonos this June for 3 days. We want to have one day of beach clubbing, and plan to go to Sant Anna during the day and Scorpios during the evening. We're also curious about Pasaji. We've never been to any beach clubs before so we're a little confused about some of their policies/rules.
Sant Anna
(1) If you book a spot in the Boho Lounge area, are you guaranteed seating?
(2) If you book a spot in the Boho Lounge area, are you able to go to the beach, pool, and bar area?
(3) If you book a spot in the VIP Bar area, are you able to go to the beach, pool, and boho lounge area? How do they enforce this?
Scorpios
(4) I read in some blogs that if you make a "Sunset Beach" reservation, you're required to buy a bottle of something, and for parties of 1 or 2 it can be wine or liquor. One blog mentioned the cheapest option was a 50 Euro bottle of wine. But their website doesn't mention this anywhere. I'm fine if there's a 50 Euro minimum spend, but we're not wine drinkers -- could we just buy 50 euro worth of cocktails?
(5) Their site says that the sunset rituals happen Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat. If we go on a Tuesday, will there still be music and entertainment? What's the vibe?
Pasaji
(6) Their website doesn't appear to be open for reservations for the 2024 season yet. Does anyone know how much it costs to reserve a table for Shisha /Cocktails, and how much for beach loungers?
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(7) Finally, do any of these places search you on the way in? In case we wanted to sneak in some snacks to try and save some money?
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Thank you!
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Sorry if these questions have been asked before, I've searched up and down Reddit and TripAdvisor and couldn't find the answers.

I currently have a hot tub I purchased in 2017 from Costco (Divine Sinclair). It was a lower end hot tub and, now, after 6 years, it's gotten to the point where some of the LED lights aren't working, the heating element burned out for the second time and some of the water features aren't working.
I have replaced the heating element before, so I could do that again. But, instead, I've decided I would rather upgrade to a new hottub that's (hopefully) better quality and has better support (i.e. service people available to fix when things go wrong - which I have not been able to find for the Divine Hot Tub).
I'm in the Seattle area and it appears the two major players in our area are Olympic Hot Tubs and Aquaquip. There are other smaller shops, but if you're looking at major chains with multiple different sales rooms and that have been around for a long time etc., those are the main two.
Olympic's higher end is Hot Springs and Aquaquip's are Jacuzzi and Sundance.
After discussions with the sales people from both, I've been recommended: * Hot Springs Vanguard from Olympic * Sundance 880 from Aquaquip
They both seem like very nice hot tubs. The Vanguard is a salt system hot tub, the Sundance uses a cartridge system for "regular" chlorine. The new Vanguard ('24) also has built in electronic sensors for pH and hardness so you don't have to use test strips, apparently.
The Sundance app requires a cellular plan for the hot tub which, I believe, costs around $40 per year.
Right now, I only have a price for the Vanguard which is almost exactly $27k (incl. sales tax, pick up and disposal of my current hot tub, delivery, install, bluetooth, salt system, cover, lifter, etc.). I am still waiting for a quote for the Sundance.
Anyway, I know that was a long post. The real question I had was - does anyone have any thoughts of either of these hot tubs vs. the other? Appreciate any help anyone has to offer!
EDIT: Price for Vanguard when adding Bluetooth and the Smart app is actually $27k. I got the price for the Sundance 880: $23,256 and also includes bluetooth, smart app, old hot tub removal and delivery/install, cover, lifter etc.).
So, about a $3,750 price difference...
EDIT #2: After seeing all the tubs in person again today, I ended up purchasing a Hot Spring Aria (same as the Vanguard but with a lounger). Gets delivered this coming Saturday.
The quality of the sales experience and the salt water (which my current tub has and I really like) ended up being the main deciding factors in the end.
Thanks everyone for all the feedback.

Sciatica started two years ago while on a “luxury” mattress. Waking up I could barely walk and had to warm up. It always went away at home on my traditional mattress after a few days. Then a friend gave me a very nice foam hybrid. Soon my pain came back worse than ever. So I slept on my room and board couch. Very soon I was feeling better. Pain free. Then I tried a different mattress from Costco. Said it was firm. Pain starts again and it’s so bad I’m leaning to one side and can’t do anything. I start physical therapy. When I get out I feel ok. So the last 4 nights I’ve gone back on my couch and the pain is quickly going away. Not instantly but I was much more of a mess than the first time. So now I’m thinking I should get a futon style mattress. I’m absolutely sure I’ll be fine if I stay on the couch but that’s kinda a game killer.

Hello Everyone, (LONG Post DISCLAIMER)
1st time doing this, wanted to share for others who are potentially planning their trip to Paris.
Open to any Feedback! Sorry if its information overload.
Background info:

• Couple mid 30s; no mobility issues.
• Flying from YYZ to CDG (End of Feb to Early March)
• French Proficiency: Average (Partner), a few words (Me)
• Interest: Museums, Food, Photo Spots.
• Luggage: 1 carry-on + 1 Checked luggage each
• Credit Cards used: Scotia Passport, AMEX Cobalt
• Euros Carried: 200
• E-Sim used (Airalo) no issues.
• *Prices in CAD*

Accommodations:

• Hotel La Tamise (3 Nights) *Highly Recommend ~ $1200
• Airbnb in Lyon (3 Nights) ~ $618
• Hotel Le Six (4 Nights) *Highly Recommend ~$1119
• Hotel Bleu de Grenelle - Tour Eiffel (3 Nights) ~ $750

Day 1 (Paris)

• Arrive CDG at 1100 (red eye flight)
• Uber to Hotel La Tamise (took 1hr; approx $75) too tired to take transit
• Points of interest:

1. Jardin Des Tuileries (surprised to see a few Cherry Blossom Trees)
2. Domaine National du Palais- Royal (part of it was under construction, but main area open)

• Dinner at Le Souffle

1. Reservations made 1 month in advance
2. wanted to try souffle (salty and sweet), found this place via yelp, Google.
3. Pricey food was meh, maybe souffle wasn't our cup of tea.

• POST-TRIP FEEDBACK: thankfully took an Uber was more tired than we thought, was glad we didn't do too much.

Day 2 (Paris)

• Initially wanted to go to Angelina's for the "famous" hot chocolate, skipped it, line ups were insane at 0900.
• Went to Cafe Campana in Musee D'Orsay instead, bit pricey but did it for convenience.
• Points of Interest:

1. Musee D'Orsay (bought tickets in advance, hands down one of the best museums we went to, good mixture of paintings + Sculptures)

• Dinner at Bistrot Richelieu

1. Reservations made 1 month
2. Wanted to try bistro style steak frites and French Onion Soup
3. Price was about $100 for both of us; was hard to find close by bistro open on Sundays.

• FEEDBACK: Definitely buy tickets in advance for Musee D'Orsay, we waited <10mins, the lineups for no tickets in advance was long.

Day 3 (Paris)

• Late lunch at Kodarwi Ramen Tsujiki (no line-ups at 1100, but honestly it sucked, ramen was bland, we waited 55min for 2 bowls of ramen, we understood French service but this was a little ridiculous AND they asked for tip when paying, this was the only place we went to that asked for it; WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE)
• Points of Interest:

1. Louvre (bought tickets in advance, we found it a little underwhelming, maybe it was timing, Napoleon area and a few of the famous paints were under restoration)

• Dinner at Nouille Vivante

1. found this place via Google.
2. Needed redemption for that crappy ramen/noodles we had earlier.
3. Authentic Chinese Hand-pulled noodles.
4. Cheap, did its job.

• FEEDBACK: Tickets in advance for Louvre a must, we barely waited, glad it wasn't a jammed packed day, Lourve took up most of our day and we were still a little jetlagged.

Day 4 (Paris/Lyon)

• Checked out of Hotel La Tamise.
• Uber to Gare du Lyon
• Dropped off luggage at Hotel Mercure via NappyBag; it was convenient, easy and cost $65 for 2 luggage for 3 nights. We didn't want to carry our checked-in luggage around in Lyon; only our carry-on backpacks.
• Took SNCF train to Lyon (basic option; $116 total)
• Subway to Airbnb (easy to understand machines at station)
• Points of Interest:

1. Vieux Lyon
2. Cathedral Saint-Jean Baptise
3. Theater Gallo Romaine du Lyon
4. Basilica of Notre-Dame

• Dinner at Le Casse Museau

1. reservation made 1 month in advance
2. wanted to try Lyon-type French Food, found this place via Google Reviews and thefork.
3. Highlight Dishes: Pork Cheek (to die for)

• FEEDBACK: Transit was very easy to understand, everything was very walkable, we took a Funicular up to Notre-Dame, cost about $11 CAD and walked down which was easier.

Day 5 (Lyon)

• Train to Parc de La Tete D'or (free Zoo suprised us with the amount of animals they had... Flamingos, monkeys, deers; and huge botanical garden for free too)
• Checked out Hotel-Dieu de Lyon and Place Bellecour area, did some shopping.
• Feedback: The Parc took up more of our day than expected, had a nice picnic.

Day 6 (Avignon)

• caught SNCF train to Avignon ($110 basic option)
• Points of Interests:

1. Palais du Rourve
2. Place de I'Horlodge
3. Palais Des Papes (bought tickets in advance)

• Dinner in Avignon
• Train back to Lyon at 1940
• FEEDBACK: reason we picked here was to check out Roman-influenced architecture, It was a nice small town; the Palais Des Papes was nice to walk around (no line ups for advance vs no tickets); We probably could have ended our day earlier and caught earlier train, was pretty much done around 1700.

Day 7 (Lyon, Paris)

• Catch Train back to Paris via SNCF
• Pick up luggage at Hotel Mercure
• Uber to Hotel Le Six
• Points of Interests:

1. Jarden du Luxembourg
2. Pantheon
3. Sainte-Chapelle (tickets bought in advance)
4. Notre-Dame (outside)
5. Place Dauphine, Hotel De Ville, Pont Neuf

• Dinner at Le Vent d'Armor

1. reservations made 1 month in advance
2. Hands down the best meal we had; seafood restaurant.
3. We found the price to be very reasonable for the quality of food; we got 3 Appetizers, 2 mains, wine, 2 desserts; was about $220.

• FEEDBACK: Pantheon was beautiful inside, we didn't buy tickets in advance and didn't have to wait at all, Sainte-Chapelle even though we bought our timeslot and went on-time, we waited 45min to go inside, but it is beautiful. Notre-dame constructions is still ongoing.

Day 8 (Paris)

• Points of Interest:

1. Palais Garnier (tickets bought in advance)
2. Place Edouard VII for photo
3. Shopping at Galeries Lafayette Haussmann
4. Rooftop at Printemps Haussmann

• Dinner at Bistrot Kinzo

1. reservations made 1 month in advance
2. French x Japanese fusion 6 course Omakase
3. Food and Service was good.
4. Price was around $250

• FEEDBACK: deals at Galeries Lafayette Haussmann was surprisingly good, a Kooples wool jacket (70% wool) was 50% off ~ $230, rooftop view was nice , IMO > Printemps Haussmann, so FYI if you want to go to the bridge viewing point in Lafayette, you need to book a timeslot via QR Code. Palais Garinier was gorgeous.

Day 9 (Paris)

• Points of Interests:

1. Bascillica of Sacre-Coeur
2. Montmarte Area
3. CityPharma
4. Shopping at Shops-Elysees
5. Arc De Triomphe

• Foot Massage at Luxe Siam Spa
• Dinner at Relais De L'Entrecote

1. no wait when we went right at opening.
2. honestly had higher expectations, steak was a little tough, knew it was kinda touristy but want to try it.
3. $110

• FEEDBACK: Sacre-Coeur area was packed, definitely beware of pickpockets, shops along Montmarte were nice, bought a pair of leather boots for $200, Citypharma was packed, products for La Rosche-Posay definitely cheaper than Canada (about $5 difference) Staff were very helpful, line ups were long though. Foot Massage at Luxe Siam Spa was a spontaneous decision our feet were hurting with all the walking, it was affordable about $110 for 2 of us 30 min foot massage and it was good. We had full body one a few days after, it was ok... Foot massage FTW. Shopping at Haussman was > Champs Elysees

Day 10

• Trained to Saint-Pierre Des Corps in Tours
• Rented car from Enterprise via Costco Travel (only automatic car they had was a C-class Benz, with gas refill was about $200)
• Drove to Zoo Parc De Beauval
• FEEDBACK: Renting a car from Enterprise was easy, no hidden fees, returning was easy no sketchy stuff, the drive was easy took about 55min, was driving through small cobblestone towns. We did ZooParc in about 6 hours; marked the animals we wanted to see, was worth the commute IMO. Did not need to apply for any international license or whatever, was just to the drive since I drove around Iceland, might be a bit of a learning curve if you aren't used to Roundabouts.

Day 11

• Check-in to Hotel Bleu De Grenelle
• Points of Interest

1. Rue St-Dominique (photo spots at Le Recruitment, Square Rapp)
2. Eiffel Tower
3. Pont d'lena
4. Place Du Trocadero
5. Avenue de Camoens
6. Pont de Bir-Hakeim

• FEEDBACK: Hotel Bleu location was convenient right across from train station, but rooms were small but the biggest thing was the design of the shower, its not fully closed so water splashes on the wooden door frame and carpet, so rooms have like a musky smell... Champ de Mars garden area was closed for restoration, the sculptures on Pont d'lena were covered for restoration. Viewpoint/photo spot from Avenue de Camoens highly recommended.

Day 12

• Train to Versailles
• Dinner at Domaine d'Olleac

1. reservations made 2 weeks in advance
2. wanted to try French Duck for a reasonable price.
3. Fois Gras and Duck Confit was delicious.

• FEEDBACK: Tickets in advance for Versailles a must, highly suggest skipping the beginning and going straight to the room of mirrors to avoid the crowd, the garden was nice but was under restoration, if you are looking to rent the Golf Carts, it was very limited and was about $55 per hour (wow).

Day 13

• Train to La Vallee Village (1hr)
• Shopping, checked out Primark
• Buy Souvenirs along shops at Rivoli (found it was the best prices or Montmarte but it was far for us)
• Night view of Louvre, Eiffel Tower
• FEEDBACK: deals at La Vallee Village were ok, we didn't buy anything, deals were more for luxurious brands like LV, Gucci and etc. The mall beside with Primark, Bershka, Nike, had slightly better deals, I would say skip this place unless you shopping for luxurious brands, a lot of Tourist with Suitcases rolling around lol.

Day 14

• CDG to YYZ

Overall Feedback:

• 200 euros was more than enough, literally everything accepted CC, aside from convenience stores that require a minimal spent.
• Transit system there was a eye opener very efficient, easy to understand, did not have to use UBER really but we were lazy. We downloaded the Navigo app, very easy to buy tickets, daily passes, weekly passes; literally tap your phone, no issues.
• Was thinking about getting the Paris Pass with the museum pass, we ran the numbers and found buying individual tickets cheaper than the Pass.
• I would say Lyon was worth it, Avignon was ok, was planning to go to Nice or Strasbourg but wanted to spend more time in Paris since it was our first time there.
• Pastry wise literally any shop was delicious, don't need to spend $$$$ at some instagram famous pastry store.
• People were generally nice, I read a few post about racism towards Asians or foreigners, did not feel any of that, although we made a point to say Bonjour and Merci and Goodbye, have a good day during each interaction as sign of respect.
• Tipping not needed.
• Accommodations wise staying around the Louvre area (Hotel Tamise) was very convenient to multiple food options, shopping, etc. Hotel prices are expensive, knowing how convenient transit was, I would stay further away from the core, also I am guilty for being paranoid for BedBugs etc so I picked a higher class of hotels.
• Did not experience any Pickpocketing thankfully than again we made sure our cross bag was under our jacket and was aware of our surroundings.
• Tax rebate was easy, scan prior to security check and you need a printed copy not electronic, have option for either Cash or Card, we did cash and picked up the cash at Global Exchange at the airport (designated location), they take $4.50 commission per "return" lol and no receipt provided... kinda sketch, have choice of what currency you want in return.

Sorry for long post!
Hope this helps!
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Bonjour, Je souhaite acheter un futon, car j’ai acheté un matelas Emma et il ne me convient pas du tout…
J’apprécie un matelas ferme et je me demande si un futon n’est finalement pas ce qu’il me faut
Seulement je ne connais personne qui en possède
Si vous avez testés ou êtes adeptes, me le conseillez vous ?
Pouvez vous me dire quelles sont les avantages et les inconvénients d’un futon ? Vaut il privilégier le 100% coton, le coton et coco, ou le coton et mousse mémoire de forme ? Et quelle marque me conseillez vous ? Sachant que mon cadre de lit est adapté pour un 140x190 et que mon budget est de 300 euros
J’ai repéré la marque futon factory, mais je ne sais pas ce que ça vaut Je suis un peu méfiante depuis mon achat Emma…
Merci beaucoup de m’avoir lu et merci pr avance si vous pouvez répondre à mes interrogations

lifestyle. www.homestratosphere.com/types-mattresses/ Adjustable matresses,Futon(Don't get air ones, they have the slopes.The ones with bounce are best or foam,polyester,latex) for other, if brand(Costco's Novaform/Casper), in comments. Intex airbeds only last 37 days of daily use unless you not mind patching them up like water beds. Colchones ajustibles,Futón(No agare los de aigre, que tienen lo que se ven a topes.Los que brinca son mejor o foma,poliester,latex) para otros, si de marca(Costco's Novaform/Casper), en comentarios. Las camas de aire Intex solo duran 37 días de uso diario, a menos que no le importe parchearlas como camas de agua. BlueAzul Hypertough Tie Downs are usefulSon util. www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM8BgzbSAi8&t=210s
View Poll

Hi all,
I'm looking to replace the 6" wayfair memory foam queen mattress I have (on top of a Zinus metal frame) with something a bit thicker as I can feel the metal strands from the mattress. I was comparing different models and am deciding between the dozy osgoode, the nationalmattress galaxy vanessa, and a milliard from Costco. I understand that the milliard has some talk about it containing fiberglass (is that true?) so I'm a bit on the fence regarding it. Basically I'm looking for a queen mattress for 500 CAD or below that is 10" thick (at least, hopeful thinking of a 12") and is of decent quality.

Hi all!
​
I'm looking to replace the 6" wayfair memory foam queen mattress I have (on top of a Zinus metal frame) with something a bit thicker as I can feel the metal strands from the mattress. I was comparing different models and am deciding between the dozy osgoode, the nationalmattress galaxy vanessa, and a milliard from Costco. I understand that the milliard has some talk about it containing fiberglass (is that true?) so I'm a bit on the fence regarding it. Basically I'm looking for a queen mattress for 500 CAD or below that is 10" thick (at least, hopeful thinking of a 12") and is of decent quality.

Hi there,
I wanted to share a program/itinerary that worked well for us and potentially for anyone looking for a good mix of "old/traditional", geeky, fun and yummy travel in Japan. If I had to do it all over again, I'd take the same route, because it was great! These are memories I won't forget any time soon, and I even try to draw inspiration from them for my music (see my profile).
I also try to write down some information that may be useful for others to save time and reduce anxiety :-) I think most of them have already been mentioned at least once on Reedit, though!
For the context, it was our first trip in Japan with my wife. 18 days including travel time. We wanted to go during November to enjoy autumn colors of mapple tree. It turned out that temperatures were abnormally high and autumn was delayed lol. We were still able to enjoy the autumn colors on the second part of our stay. For the record, the progress of autumn varies drastically from city to city. Kyoto seems to be the most advanced, I'd say (confirmed by a map/schedule found on site).
Stages
Day 1 * Our flight was at 9am and we arrived at Haneda airport (closer than Narita) around 7am the next day. We picked up our Pocket Wifi and loaded the Suica card. It's very practical to do it at the airport if you do it right. We stayed at Ginza during our stay in Tokyo. It's a nice place. Classy and quiet. Ginza is also very convenient for navigating the city, thanks to the nearby JR station. * Pokemon Center DX. There is a Pokemon Coffee in Ginza. It is not too packed in November. There is no need to book in advance IMO but we did not try to enter either. We did 3 or 4 Pokémon Centers during our trip in Japan. I can't think of a single one that stood out, either positively or negatively. They all offer something different in terms of decoration and are well worth a visit. * The Imperial Palace. There is a park with the foundations of a dungeon + small guardian houses. Not essential IMO but it does not cost much to go through. * We head then to Ochanomizu on our way to Akihabara. This place is full of music stores (guitars, basses, amps and stuff). As a musician, it's cool to see such giant displays for Gibson or Fender products. We then arrived in Akihabara to get a glimpse of the famous Electronic Town. During the week, the place is not packed at all. I would recommend to come at night time to see the neon lights. Also during the weekend, the streets are closed for the cars which make the experience different (and nicer). This place is a mix of maid coffee, arcade and Pachinko centers, IT stores and geek stuff. * We finished this first day with Ueno Park which is close to Akihabara. It's a nice park. It must be beautiful in Spring. This year, there was a delay for fall colors as the temperature were higher than ever in Japan (no snow in Mt Fuji either!!!). We went to the natural museum. If you did not have the chance to do a relatively big natural museum before, that's your chance. * Regarding food, we went to a ramen restaurant in the morning. We were not used to the ticket machine that is used in a lot of restaurant. The staff was not helping us much so quite disappointing experience to start but that was the only time we had to complain. Most of the time, staff in Japan are super nice and ready to help. We took ramen with shrimp tempura and it was super good. For dinner, we went to a Konbini (Family Mart seems bigger than 7 eleven I would say) and picked some Onigiri and Tayaki with custard. The food was very good value for our euros.
Day 2 * Big day with Shibuya in the programme. We started the day with Harajuku, the street of cosplayers and kawai culture. During the week, there are a lot of people in the street but not so many cosplayers. Nice experience though. You can pick some funny food here like fluffy pancake or barbe à papa. * We then headed to a zen experience at Meji-jingu temple. It was very nice. Not too many people during weekday. I would recommend to not go during the weekend if you are looking for a zen experience. The Yoyogi park just near the temple is very nice too. You are then near Shibuya. * Our goal was to first visit places like the Nintendo store. If you go in this building, I would recommend to go downstairs. There is a full floor of restaurants with an interesting ambience and a lot of choices. We then went to the cyberspace floor to visit the Nintendo store, Pokemon Center, Jump Store, Capcom Store, etc. One of the highlight of Tokyo for me as a big fan of video games and manga. A little disappointed by the Jump store which is rather small. In general, I was expecting bigger thing regarding "old and famous" shonen like Naruto and One Piece in Tokyo. Anyway, we spent a good amount of Yens here. * From here, you can take a door in this floor that lead outside where you can take nice picture in front of Mario Artwork and a sign "Nintendo Tokyo". Then take the stairs to reach a nice rooftop garden and have a view on Shibuya. I felt like I was in a cyberpunk city. We went then to another building where there is two big manga shops including Mandarake. Impressive quantities of manga and figurines. A must see before heading to Shibuya scramble crossing. * Shibuya scramble crossing is super impressive to see live. Of course, you need to cross it 1-2 times and feel the experience. You can enter the buildings near to have a higher view. There is a street full of restaurant near Shibuya. We went for food after saying hello to Hachiko.
Day 3 * Heading to Kamakura for the third day to have a little break from the big town. My advice would be to take the JR line to Kita Kamakura and then there is an interesting path to follow which is packed with temples, both buddhist and shintoist. * We visited a number of temples during the day, the names of which I've forgotten, sorry for that! * To eat, there is a big avenue full of restaurants. Do not hesitate to take small perpendicular street. We found a very nice family restaurant here with super good oudon and tonkatsu. Super cool experience. * Then we went to the famous bhudda and finished this journey with a view of the ocean. We were not able to see the Mt Fuji from the beach but I read that it may have good spot to view it on sunny day. From the beach, the train station is at 20min walk.
Day 4 * We went to Shinjuku for the afternoon. We visited the Gyoen Park. Very nice park with different styles of garden : italian, french and japanese. There was a chrysantem exhibition by the time. If you have the chance to see the 1000 thousands flowers style one day, its worth it!!! * We then went to Square Enix shop and coffee. The place is rather small but still cool with a lot of figurines from our favorite franchises including Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearth... We passed by the Square Enix building company without knowing it so pay attention. Apparently there is a stone with Square Enix writing on it. * We then went through Kabuchiko street. Interesting to see the volume of host/hostess coffee lol. We reach then Gigo (always fun to spend few hundreds yens in arcade game, the drum games are pretty funny), the Godzilla head, the 3D cat crossing (a must see of course lol). * Then, it was night time and we wanted to have a view of the whole city. We went to the Metropolitan Governement building. I recommend it. It's free to take the lift to the 45th floor. Super impressive view on many famous places and building of the city. * We ended the day with an activity you won't want to miss. We went to Omoide Yokocho after drinking few beers. This street is crazy. Its super tiny and packed with barbecue restaurants. The restaurant have 6-10 places where you can sit and enjoy street food. We went then to Gold Gai. Same concept but for sake and beer. One of the highlight of the trip for me.
Day 5 * On Sunday, we started the day in Ghinza visiting the Sony store and then went to Asakusa. Not sure if its the best idea to visit temples during the week end. The place was heavily crowded. The temple in itself is beautiful but the crowd may "ruin" the ambience here. We also did the big street food and souvenir shop street near the temple. Nice but again, too crowdy. * We finish the day at Akihabara as we did not had the opportunity to see it by night. We also found out that the city is closing certain streets during week ends including the main street of Akihabara. The feeling is different to walk on the center of such a big street. We did a couple of arcade games, a shop selling robots Gundam and others and a IT shop. * It was then time to say goodbye to Tokyo. Last night here and then we headed to Kanazawa.
Day 6 * First experience with the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kanazawa. Super nice experience. Cannot emphasise enough how much Japanese are organized when talking about public transportation. The Shinkansen is the point d'orgue of this. The little ballet of train preparation, people waiting in line and stuff is something to see and experience. * We arrived at Kanazawa in the morning. The city is very rainy it seems and we experienced it. We stayed in the train station few hours, booking tickets for Shirakawa-go for the day after, lunch and stuff. If you want to go to Shirakawa or others alpin small towns, book as soon as possible. It seems like the buses are full quickly especially the ones in the morning. * Then we headed to our first Ryokan of the trip. Ryokan is a must do if you have the opportunity. Sleeping in a Futon, siting on tatami, dress with Yukata is good fun. Also if you have the chance to taste japanese breakfast, the food is good and healthy. * During the afternoon, we visited the streets of Kanazawa. There is this fascinating Samurai block. If you go at night, the atmosphere is fascinating. For dinner, we tried a "traditional" sushi with proper chief doing his art in front of you. We had the opportunity to taste seafood and fish like oursin, squid and many more.
Day 7 * Kenrokuen garden in the morning. It's a beautiful garden. In my top 3 of our trip. It's quite big with different areas with water. There is a massive statue in the center of the park. It was also the first place where we experienced the fall colors. * Then we wanted to go to the train station to take the bus to Shirakawa go. From Kenrokuen garden, you can go through the castle, it's free if you dont enter the main "dungeon". It's a nice castle to see and a good shortcut to the city center. * We took the bus at 2pm with a return from Shirakawa at 6pm. Big mistake here, see below :-) Its a one hour trip by bus and it leave you in the bus station near the traditional Shirakawa houses. We walked here for one hour. Very nice place with a view on the moutains. There are not much to do except walking. Dont forget to go to the castle hill to have an upside view on Shirakawa. In November, the night come early at half past four. Everything was close then and we waited for the bus during a solid 2 hours cold freezing (even the bus station is closed after 5). Not the best experience of our trip but a good memory for sure :-)
Day 8 * We took the Thunderbird in the morning from Kanazawa to Osaka. Nice train with nice view on Biwa lake. It's a 2 hour trip from what I remember. * After arriving at Osaka, we went to punk rock quartier first. It was not planned as we were looking for our hotel. Soon enough we discovered that the train/metro systems in Osaka looks familiar but its a bit more complex than in Tokyo. Especially the stations here are so big. Be focus and watch carefully the signs if you dont want to be lost. * Then we went to Dotonburry to enjoy Takoyaki. It is a really nice street with this nice canal with the grande roue (kind of). * Then we headed to the train station to shop at Nintendo, Pokemon Center, Mugiwara shop and Capcom shop. Those shops were very cool. The Mugiwara shop alone was way bigger than the Jump shop at Tokyo (the one we visited at least). Still I did not find anything cool to buy as the current trend seems to be stickers and weird peluche. * We had a very nice Yakiniku barbecue in a nice and friendly place for dinner. We took a all you can drink offer and it was good fun!
Day 9 * Universal Studio Japan from 9 to 9 this day. It may be possible to come earlier. I read here and there that the parc may open from 8. It may be better to rush for Nintendo World as it get crowded quickly. We were not able to enter this part of the park before the evening which was still nice with all the lights. * The queues are quite big in USJ even in November but the park is super nice with a lot of animations so it's good fun even outside the rides. Probably one of my favourite park now (I went several times to Europa Park and Disney). This park is way better than Disney Land Paris IMO. * We did the flying dinosaur. It was my first flying coaster and I loved it. It's the best experience I ever had in a coaster and I would ride it all day if it was possible. We also did the hauting house, Spiderman (very cool), Hogwart ride, Jaws and Mario Kart. All rides are cool ! * Big kudos to USJ for the Hogwart zone and the Nintendo zone. That's a blast. I agree with those who recommend coming to Hogwart at night. It's beautiful! * Dont miss the parade also around 1pm of course if you want to dance with Pokemons and the Waterworld show is amazing. * We ate in the Jurassic park zone for lunch as it was not too crowded and in the Hard rock coffee in the Universal Village for the dinner.
Day 10 * Trip to Himeji in the morning. We took a Shinkansen line to go from Shin Osaka to Himeji. It was around 20-30 minutes long. * We started the day visiting Himeji castle which is not far from the train station and very visible. I recommend doing the full tour starting with the west wing where the womens lived and finish the tour with the main dungeon. You will need to remove your shoes to enter. No need for slippers IMO, nobody around have. Just put not too slippery socks and you are good to go. Plastic bags are provided to carry your shoes. The castle is very interesting. You can go up to the very last floor of the dungeon using very steep stairs. The floors are quite empty but still interesting to see. There is much to see going down with nice videos, armors and weapons. * We then did the Konoen garden which is very beautiful with very different areas separated by walls. I really like the bamboo zone and pounds here. As we left, there was a rainbow just above the castle. How lucky is that?! * FYI, there is an covered alley // to the street from the train station to the castle. It is full of shops and restaurant. * We went again to Dotonbori at night to enjoy the lights and atmosphere and then went back to the hotel for a good rest.
Day 11 * We took the Thunderbird from Osaka to Kyoto. We were a bit sad to leave Osaka, as the people were so nice! I really felt a difference between Osaka and the rest of Japan, but maybe that's just chance! * Our first visit to Kyoto was to the Nishiki market. It's a great street market with a huge assortment of street food (perhaps wider than in Osaka). I recommend eating taiyaki with custard (or red bean custard) at Nishiki market. It's my new favorite Japanese dessert! * In the evening, we took a walk around Gyon and ended up with Okonomyaki at the "Issen Yoshoku" restaurant. Very nice place but I still can't get the music (playing on a loop in the restaurant) out of my head (right next to the "Rakuten Pay" Jingle that was playing on a loop on TV at the time lol).
Day 12 * We tried to get up early to go to bamboo grove. Come early if you want to avoid the crowds.There's a lovely garden near the bamboo grove. * We went to the silver pavilion in the afternoon. The Golden Pavilion is better known, but we didn't have time to go there. I've heard that the two pavilions are quite similar, but that the garden of the silver pavilion is prettier, especially at sunset. Also, being less well-known, there are probably fewer visitors. * We then passed along the philosophers' path to reach another temple. This path is really cool and best done at sunset. Very beautiful with the autumn colors.
Day 13 * Full day in Nara. A must-see. You can buy crackers for the deer for 200 yen. * There are many temples to see and the forest is magnificent. The forest is magical and I recommend a hike here. There are many shrines, lanterns and protective trees. You can almost feel the spirits here :-D * The other must-see, I think, is the buddah statue in the world's largest wooden building (if I've got it right). Both are really impressive!
Day 14 * As with the bamboo grove, we tried to get to the Tori path (Fushimi Inari Taisha) early. There's a hike to the top of the hill. It really is a unique place, but there are a lot of Instagrammers here and that can spoil the experience a bit :-P You can also look out for the monkeys and cats that inhabit the mountain! :-) * We returned to the Nishiki market in the afternoon to stock up on souvenirs. It's the perfect place for that. * In the evening, we headed up to Kiyomizu-dera. We didn't regret it. With the night lights and the colors of the maple trees, it was a magnificent sight. The place was packed with people, perhaps for a special event or just to admire the magnificent view.
Day 15 * We said goodbye to Kyoto and took the Kyoto Tokyo Shinkansen in a green coach. There's not a huge difference between normal train carriages and green cars, just so you know. Maybe a little more room, but the classic cars are already very comfortable! * On this train, sit on the left! The train passes Fuji and you'll have a great view of the Mount for quite a while. * Once we'd arrived in Tokyo, we took advantage of our last evening to explore areas we hadn't had time to visit, such as Minato and Roppongi. It was also an opportunity to see the Tokyo Tower :-)
Day 16 * Last day of the trip ;-( * We had reserved tickets for the Planet lab borderless in the morning. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I highly recommend doing it. We didn't see the time go by and the tour is probably a bit too fast (5-6 rooms only). We were really surprised to have reached the end, but it was clearly worth it! * We then wanted to go to the new fish market, but it was closed, so we moved on to the Gundam statue. The statue comes to life several times a day (11am and 3pm in particular). A must-see if you like robots :-) * We stayed in Odaiba all day, especially in a large shopping mall where there was so much to do! In the afternoon, we played in a kind of Casino for young people on a Dragon Quest machine. It was great fun, but the noise is deafening. We stayed for an hour and couldn't take it anymore. * We then went to a bicycle festival in the afternoon, again in Odaiba. It was great to end our stay with a local festival. We flew back to France in the night.
Advices (in no particular order :-D) * We used Trello to organize our trip and we haven't regretted it. We had organized the activities we wanted to do and the neighborhoods we wanted to explore (without going into too much detail) in columns representing the days of the stay. Trello was also useful for centralizing booking documents, transport tickets, etc. * Don't bring too many things. Don't fool around with 2 pieces of luggage in Japan. First of all, there are plenty of laundry facilities available. The 4/5 hotels where we stayed had a laundry with washing machine and dryer. You can wash your clothes for around 500y. I don't remember seeing many people with luggage and when I did, they looked like idiots in Japan because it doesn't seem to be usual. I think people use delivery services a lot, as they say on the Internet. In our case, we each have a 50-70 liter trekking backpack + a backpack for each day and to carry our souvenirs at the end of the trip. It was big enough to hold 4-5 days' worth of clothes, which is very comfortable. If I could do the trip again, I'd even bring just 3 days' worth of clothes, as it's very easy to wash clothes. * Bring tissues and a small pharmacy. We had runny noses for a large part of the stay, due to temperature changes (the Japanese use air conditioning a lot, even in November, and we alternate a lot between heated and air-conditioned spaces). Handkerchiefs (and toilet paper) in Japan are extremely (I can't stress extremely enough) thin. Three stacked Japanese handkerchiefs are worth about 1 traditional paper handkerchief. Cannot hurt to bring with you 2 to 3 pack of tissues. * Gmaps is without doubt the application we used the most. Gmaps is really indispensable for guiding you around big cities like Tokyo and Osaka. Also: you'll be walking a lot. We walked over 120km during our stay so bring good shoes that you've used before and know are comfortable. * As far as transport is concerned, we made great use of the Yamanote line, a circular line that takes you to all the city's famous districts during our stay in Tokyo.Use the Suica card. This card is the best way to use the subway and JR lines in Tokyo. This card is indispensable if you take the subway and JR often. It works in all the cities we visited for subways, JR trains, buses and Konbinis. * We had booked the "important" Shinkansen trains in advance of our trip (2 weeks in advance), but overall I don't think it's important to book trains in advance in November. Shinkansens are very spacious and there's plenty of room for luggage. We had chosen to travel light with a hiking bag each + a "cabin" bag, and the space in front of your feet and over your head on the train is more than enough to store all that. The same goes for reasonably sized suitcases. * Pocket Wifi (150€ for 2 1/2 weeks), works very well in Tokyo, Kanazawa, Osaka, Himeji, Nara and Kyoto. Pocket Wifi is essential if you are more than 2 people. Order it about 1 month before your trip. You can pick it up directly at the airport or at your hotel. You can return it at the airport or by post. Our device's battery lasted a maximum of one day. * For money, we used our mastercards to make withdrawals throughout our stay (make them large enough to minimize bank charges, however). We also brought along a few tens of thousands of yen "just in case". To get yen before you leave, I suggest you check the exchange rates at various offices, as the differences can be considerable. In particular, avoid airport agencies which offer very unfavorable rates (it's theft). * You'll use very few words during your stay, but they'll get you a long way: sorry, thank you, hello, good evening, please. * Kyoto is crowded. If you're looking for a zen atmosphere, I'd cut back on this part of the trip and take the opportunity to visit other minor cities. * Regarding jet lag, I set my watch to Japanese time as soon as the plane took off from France and I forced myself to live in the Japanese rhythm from the start. Service on the plane is based on the time of the country of arrival, and I invite you to respect the night slots by forcing yourself to sleep if possible. By keeping to this rhythm and after a few "fair" nights (waking up in the middle of the night with insomnia), we were no longer suffering from the effects of jet lag after about 3 days.
Update: * Some of you have asked about the dates of fall colors. The Japanese administration has got your back. This is a map for 2023, but it may apply to some extent to future years: https://postimg.cc/SjsWjqTZ * Some info about trains and which website were used to book ticket. Tokyo -> Kanazawa: we booked the Kagayaki using https://www.eki-net.com/en/jreast-train-reservation/Top/Index Kanazawa -> Osaka: we booked the Thunderbird using https://www.westjr.co.jp/ Kyoto -> Tokyo: we booked the Nozomi using https://smart-ex.jp

Hello! Since my nearby Costcos, Targets, and (some) Walmarts don't offer in-person photo print stations of my childhood, I have no clue where to turn to. My iPhone 14 Pro Max captured some awesome photos on my recent EuroTrip. All I wanna do is print standard photo prints (4x6s) & posters (RIP Aaron Brothers) to hang in my room. Any suggestions on where I can order high quality print jobs? In other words, a print job that would highlight the sharp image captured. I've heard a lot of people use Walgreens, but I don't know. I used Shutterfly for years, but have been disappointed after recently seeing the pixelations on my prints. HELP!

Kingsdown seems to get mixed reviews, several of which are about sagging, which is the reason we are looking for a new mattress. Our current mattress is sagging significantly, we call them “bum divots”, they are deep enough that it feels like rolling up hill to move around. It’s roughly 9 years old.
I’m 5’ and around 100 lbs and my husband is 6’7” and roughly 160 lbs. We have rotated our current mattress every 6 months like recommended. We bought at The Bay - it was half price when we bought it but still over $3000.
Anyone have experience with this specific mattress? It’s on sale for $850 including delivery.

I am struggling with how to furnish the media area of our large basement. It is a large room, but the media area is surrounded by sliding doors and a pull table. We bought a 77-inch TV and the intention is to buy a super soft lounger-type couch to replace the existing recliner, futon, and camping chairs. I am leaning toward an off-white pillow-top couch in the format shown below. For the painting of the walls, I want to replace the existing beige and prefer blue/slate-type colors, but fear that will be too dark for a basement that only has sliding doors on one wall. Any ideas for this space?
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