I would make sure your credit card company will allow you to draw money overseas. Because no banks do exchanges, and the offices in the airport are already kind of a ripoff and it only gets worse when you find one in a city. Drawing money directly cuts out the middleman and can save you a lot of money.
I'm not sure if you're referring to something else, but many banks absolutely will do currency exchange, especially any semi-large branch. (And many smaller post office branches don't do currency exchange.) And pulling out money from the ATM doesn't cut out the middleman - you might get a more favorable exchange rate, but you also pay a proportional use fee, which may or may not make up for the difference. As for exchange rate at the airport, when I arrived I checked the 'real' exchange rate (www.xe.com) and one US dollar was worth ~119 yen. When I went to the counter, my money exchanged for ~116.5 yen per dollar. You're not gonna get the max rate, but it's pretty reasonable.
The biggest factor I would consider is that if you convert all your cash when you get there, now you're walking around with a huge wad of cash. You don't really have to worry about theft or anything, but if you lose it, you lose it all. If you rely on a debit card, you can only pull out however much cash per day your bank allows. Which as a traveler should probably be more than enough for your needs, but it's still worth considering.
Trip Advisor has good info, and tokyocheapo.com is another good source of pretty up to date restaurants, attractions, and events.
Check your bank's deposit agreement for your debit card and the fine print for your credit cards. I usually have found no reason to worry about trying to convert currency other than to withdraw it from an ATM.
No one has brought it up yet, but don't let anyone tell you to get traveler's checks.
I would make sure your credit card company will allow you to draw money overseas. Because no banks do exchanges, and the offices in the airport are already kind of a ripoff and it only gets worse when you find one in a city. Drawing money directly cuts out the middleman and can save you a lot of money.
I'm not sure if you're referring to something else, but many banks absolutely will do currency exchange, especially any semi-large branch. (And many smaller post office branches don't do currency exchange.) And pulling out money from the ATM doesn't cut out the middleman - you might get a more favorable exchange rate, but you also pay a proportional use fee, which may or may not make up for the difference. As for exchange rate at the airport, when I arrived I checked the 'real' exchange rate (www.xe.com) and one US dollar was worth ~119 yen. When I went to the counter, my money exchanged for ~116.5 yen per dollar. You're not gonna get the max rate, but it's pretty reasonable.
The biggest factor I would consider is that if you convert all your cash when you get there, now you're walking around with a huge wad of cash. You don't really have to worry about theft or anything, but if you lose it, you lose it all. If you rely on a debit card, you can only pull out however much cash per day your bank allows. Which as a traveler should probably be more than enough for your needs, but it's still worth considering.
Trip Advisor has good info, and tokyocheapo.com is another good source of pretty up to date restaurants, attractions, and events.
Well my currency isn't the dollar, and it's a nightmare finding a place that will even accept it for exchange, but you're right, it should be different in that case. I could have gotten 9000 yen for my 1500 Rand in Hong Kong, but skipped it and only got 7000yen for the same cash six hours later in Haneda. That's after walking from office to office being told they don't take my money.
I was also told by my bank the withdrawal limit on international transactions is set by the Bank operating the ATM. So back home I can draw a max of 30,000 yen (more or less) but at the 7-11 I can get 100,000 yen per day.
Huh, I guess I should have considered it would be different country by country for converting currency. For my bank, the limit was most definitely set by my bank, as I was only able to pull out 25,000 per day.
Which actually makes me think that if you can, you might want to convert your money (or at least some of it) in your home country before leaving.
Yeah, make sure to do it about three weeks before you plan on leaving though, most banks not near major travel hubs don't have stacks of yen lying around and they have to order it in special.
Yeah, make sure to do it about three weeks before you plan on leaving though, most banks not near major travel hubs don't have stacks of yen lying around and they have to order it in special.
Yup, even in the center of LA I had to tell them how much I wanted and wait a few days while they got it in.
I mostly just travel with a Visa and a debit card. My bank has agreements with several other banks around the world, so that I can make withdrawals from some banks without ATM fees if I need cash (there's still a 2.5% service fee on top of the exchange rate, but I'd pay that back home too, so...). But then, I only really travel in western countries.
Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
I heard tell that Japan does the NFC chip thing a lot when it comes to non-cash transactions. Any truth to that?
I wouldn't say it's a lot but you can pay using your train card with at some places, but the further you get from a station the less you see it. All the vending machines in the stations you can wave your card at it and get a drink.
I bought a meal from a convenience store without having to involve the clerks at all... or at least I think I did. There's a voice in the back of my head trying to convince me I stole it by accident. It feels weird not giving a human actual money for something.
I would make sure your credit card company will allow you to draw money overseas. Because no banks do exchanges, and the offices in the airport are already kind of a ripoff and it only gets worse when you find one in a city. Drawing money directly cuts out the middleman and can save you a lot of money. Just remember too, you can almost certainly only draw cash at a 7-11 or the post office. Post office's close around 17:00 so their ATM's are behind locked doors. Only 7-11 is open 24/7. Also, don't expect to use your credit card for anything other than hotels and the occasional purchase, Japan is a cash society. Double check with your bank if your cards will work in Japan, I'm not sure of the details but sometimes they just won't take them.
$2000 should get you pretty dang far. I budgeted well and could do my previous 6 week trip with just $3000. If you don't already have a Japan Rail Pass, consider getting one especially since you're traveling all the way from Osaka to Tokyo. It's like $200 a ticket one way, while a week's pass gives you all the rides you want for about $140. (On JR lines only, and some bullet trains are off limits, but functionally you can get within spitting distance of almost anywhere.) The Rail Pass can expand your "day trip" options. In Tokyo and jonesing for some authentic Okonomiyaki? Osaka is a free 2 hour trip away.
You should also just check with your own bank what their fees are if you draw cash in Japan, so you know how much money you're actually spending.
If you're feeling frugal, here's a broad guideline. Anything over 800yen for a meal is on the expensive side, no matter where you are. And there's always a cheaper place somewhere. Don't buy drinks from the vending machines or food from the stands on the inside of the stations, they're pretty inflated.
If you really want to get the best deal, lurk the shelves of supermarkets (not convenience stores) around 17:30. You might have to wrestle a three feet tall Japanese granny for it but a lot of the freshly made food that day goes half off. Check tripadvisor too, they have a list of free to enter attractions in Tokyo and other parts of Japan. The New Otani Hotel has a stunningly beautiful garden that is actually open to the public, for example.
I heard tell that Japan does the NFC chip thing a lot when it comes to non-cash transactions. Any truth to that?
Yes, but they are almost exclusively tied to cellular phones and the purchases basically show up on your phone bill.
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StragintDo Not GiftAlways DeclinesRegistered Userregular
edited November 2015
I checked with my bank and credit cards, all of them confirmed that I can withdraw from ATMs in other countries. Also one card has no transaction fee in foreign countries so that is cool. My bank also has a flat fee of $5 for withdraw and a transaction fee of 3% so the ATM can end up being cheaper if I buy something expensive. I also have chip cards though I never actually read the little pamphlet about them that the cards came with.
Am I able to buy a train pass online or do I have to do it at the station?
Edit: So I think I'm going to chill in Osaka for new years so I'm gonna do the first three days in Tokyo and the last three between Kyoto and Osaka. I might go with a hotel in Osaka since I plan on being there for new years.
Stragint on
PSN: Reaper_Stragint, Steam: DoublePitstoChesty
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
Random travel complaint: all the people who bring oversized bags into the cabins, and who don't put bags under the seat in front of them, so that there's absolutely no space in the overhead bins. I typically take a backpack with my iPad, chargers, a paperback, Tylenol, Imodium, my itinerary, some emergency cash, and warm layer of some sort onto the plane with me. It doesn't take up a huge amount of space. But I can almost never get it into an overhead bin.
On my flight back home from Toronto on Thursday, I managed to get it into the bin. Some guy had a large bag, too big to fit under his seat (it looked to me like it should have been checked baggage), and the steward had me take out my bag so that his could fit. He was sitting about four rows ahead of me. At the end of the flight, he went to get his bag and dropped it, hitting me in the face and breaking the frame of my glasses. I wasn't able to get them fixed until today.
Other people are usually the worst part about flying.
Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
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KakodaimonosCode fondlerHelping the 1% get richerRegistered Userregular
I still think the airlines should charge for carry-on luggage and let you check bags for free.
As someone who has worked in the industry I think there should be an industry standard carry-on bag.
Planning on flying with a carry-on? You'll have to use this specific bag that doesn't expand, whose dimensions account for wheels, and whose handles are designed to break if you exceed the carry-on weight limit.
People with oversized carry-ons are the worst. They're like people who complain about getting ticketed for speeding because well I ALWAYS drive 15mph over and other cops have seen me and it hasn't been a problem BEFORE.
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Blake TDo you have enemies then?Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.Registered Userregular
The annoying thing is, is that, it'd be nice if we could let people exceed carry on occasionally, because I can understand, that every so often someone needs the rules bent.
But in America it's like every second person has this big ol bag with wheels that they insist on dragging through the fucking plane.
I checked with my bank and credit cards, all of them confirmed that I can withdraw from ATMs in other countries. Also one card has no transaction fee in foreign countries so that is cool. My bank also has a flat fee of $5 for withdraw and a transaction fee of 3% so the ATM can end up being cheaper if I buy something expensive. I also have chip cards though I never actually read the little pamphlet about them that the cards came with.
Am I able to buy a train pass online or do I have to do it at the station?
Edit: So I think I'm going to chill in Osaka for new years so I'm gonna do the first three days in Tokyo and the last three between Kyoto and Osaka. I might go with a hotel in Osaka since I plan on being there for new years.
You definitely have to buy a pass online first. What you get is an exchange order, which you then exchange at any major JR "Travel Office" (They have an office in most major stations) for the actual pass. Rule of thumb, make sure you buy it within three months of when you intend to activate it, and you can't activate it more than one month ahead. Make sure you read the eligibility conditions as this ONLY allows you to ride on JR trains, buses and one particular ferry. JR trains that have to use private tracks will require a surcharge. Two of the bullet trains are not covered. Just to emphasize, you HAVE to buy the pass online before you leave for Japan. You CANNOT get it in Japan.
Go to the office with the exchange order, the details/phone number of your current hotel, and your passport. You'll need all of those to fill in the form to get the pass.
It wasn't really a thing until you started getting charged $25 to check a bag. Also a lot of people hate waiting for bags at bag claim.
I will say, though, I'm getting increasingly disenchanted wheeling a bag around airports, especially if I have to make a connection. These days, if they offer to check your bag at the gate for free I take them up on it more often than not, depending on where I'm going. I don't like checking a bag when I visit my parents', though. Apparently my hometown's airport employs like one guy to unload bags or something, as I've waited 30+ minutes for my bag on multiple occasions there.
Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
I agree about oversized carry-ons being awful buuuut
I dunno, man. I dunno. Some of the bag fees are ridiculous. When I am able to check a bag for free I'm all over it and will only carry the bare essentials because I hate dragging shit around.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
yeah, I will always check a bag if possible, but I deeply resent being made to choose between bag fees and taking a huge carryon. Airlines: Just tack the fees onto the damn ticket price if you absolutely have to, don't offer me a false economy.
The only thing that really bugs me is when the bag doesn't physically fit in the overhead thing and the flight attendant is trying to take is so they can check it (without any fees or anything), but no, they keep shoving and going "It fit last time!". Great! Nobody cares! It's not fitting this time quit holding up the damn plane!
Blake TDo you have enemies then?Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.Registered Userregular
Having to wait for everyone to take out a big dumb piece of luggage takes so long it really isn't that much longer to wait for check it. But yeah charging for check in is dumb.
Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
Seeing my parents for my leave week. Just spent three nights in Kruger and had a lovely time. Highlights were spending an hour at a hyena den this morning and seeing the tiniest hyena cubs I've ever seen (they look like adorable gargoyles), and the most interesting sighting which was a martial eagle (2.4m wingspan) that had killed a steenbok (small antelope, about 14kg)
Also saw my first ever secretary birds, which I have been waiting 10 months to see. We were stopped looking at zebras and two of them just came flying in to land. I got very excited.
Now am at a lodge for two nights. Very luxurious, which I am not used to. My parents do this all the time but it always makes me feel vaguely awkward. But dinner was delicious, and in the evening a herd of semi-tame zebras turned up and just hung out by the swimming pool. Which was cool, and surreal.
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ButtersA glass of some milksRegistered Userregular
The annoying thing is, is that, it'd be nice if we could let people exceed carry on occasionally, because I can understand, that every so often someone needs the rules bent.
But in America it's like every second person has this big ol bag with wheels that they insist on dragging through the fucking plane.
The problem in the US largely isn't the wheeled bags it's the smaller planes that don't have proper overhead bin sizes. Probably 95% of wheeled carry-ons you see in the US are of a standard size that is designed to fit wheels first into the overhead bin but only on a full-sized plane. They don't fit that way in the bins of sub-737 sized planes and unless they force you to gate check (which they typically do in the smaller connection planes) they get stored lengthwise and take up huge amounts of bin space.
What I hate more than that though are that they allow huge frame-less backpacks to be carried on here even when they're twice the length of most backpacks and take up more space in the bins than standard wheeled luggage.
I fly Syd-Can all the time, which is a tiny hop so you get the small planes (sometimes even a dash-8). They simply insist gate-checking everything over a backpack size, which seems fine to me.
StragintDo Not GiftAlways DeclinesRegistered Userregular
Booked my hotels for the trip, gonna spend $475 or so for the entire trip. Pretty good, thank you @Falx for linking me to booking.com. It has really helped.
I feel pretty good about this trip. I will be going with a good amount of spending/food/transportation money and easily managed amounts of money on two credit cards (this discover card is really starting to suck, a lot of places do not accept it). The only real downside is I wont have any of my friends to hang out with on the trip.
PSN: Reaper_Stragint, Steam: DoublePitstoChesty
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
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Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
edited November 2015
One problem with seeing my parents this week is that my dad makes any interaction with a non-English person a totally cringeworthy experience. And if that person is non-white it's even worse.
No, dad, you don't need to effect a bad "African" accent when you talk to the nice black lodge manager lady. And you definitely don't need to talk slowly and simply like you're communicating with a toddler. And STOP MIMING.
Booked my hotels for the trip, gonna spend $475 or so for the entire trip. Pretty good, thank you @Falx for linking me to booking.com. It has really helped.
I feel pretty good about this trip. I will be going with a good amount of spending/food/transportation money and easily managed amounts of money on two credit cards (this discover card is really starting to suck, a lot of places do not accept it). The only real downside is I wont have any of my friends to hang out with on the trip.
make some friends on the plane! You'll be up there long enough. :P
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Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
I have now been in a luxury lodge for 24 hours.
I am bored out of my tiny mind.
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Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
I realise that makes me sound ridiculously ungrateful and spoiled. I'm a tool, it's true.
Blake TDo you have enemies then?Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.Registered Userregular
And those luxury lodges are kinda focused on keeping you in the complex, which while technically I guess you aren't travelling smof, but I never saw the point of travelling to another part of the world to just stay inside a fancy hotel.
Luxury hotels, and people who use them are people I do not get.
Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
We did go on a boat this morning which was very nice, but it only took up 2 hours.
I got bored enough that I tried to watch tv. Only 3 channels work. One was showing infomercials, one was a Percy Jackson movie, and one was Big Bang Theory
Do they have any activities in the resort itself, or ... uh, a pool? or is it literally just sitting around? Cause man that sounds boring. Is it near any towns or anything?
My view on luxury hotels is this--if I wanted to sit around indoors all day, I wouldn't have wasted all this time and money on traveling somewhere. I'd rather do that at home where all my books and video games are. If I go somewhere, I want to do things that are unique to that place. On a good trip, the hotel is just somewhere you go to sleep when you're too worn out to do things anymore.
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Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
There is a pool, but I don't really do pools. Anyway, problem's over now because it's dinner time and dinner was awesome last night.
Except of course that my parents cannot avoid being excruciating. We sit down at our table, the people who were next to us are gone and new people are in their place. My mum: "Good, the noisy French people are gone." The new people are French.
There is a pool, but I don't really do pools. Anyway, problem's over now because it's dinner time and dinner was awesome last night.
Except of course that my parents cannot avoid being excruciating. We sit down at our table, the people who were next to us are gone and new people are in their place. My mum: "Good, the noisy French people are gone." The new people are French.
I don't understand. Why would you even specify "French"? Why is that a necessary thing to include in your statement?
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Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
edited November 2015
I KNOW.
My parents insist on saying things I do not understand and struggle to believe. When we first got into Kruger and stopped at a shop we were served by a black guy. Like in most shops in this country. And afterwards my mum commented that the guy was nice and friendly and my dad goes "Yes. And good command of the language."Meaning English. One of the most commonly used languages in tourist areas of the man's own country!
Posts
I'm going to go with 500 dollars and the knowledge my debit card will let me withdraw more/my credit card works overseas.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
I'm not sure if you're referring to something else, but many banks absolutely will do currency exchange, especially any semi-large branch. (And many smaller post office branches don't do currency exchange.) And pulling out money from the ATM doesn't cut out the middleman - you might get a more favorable exchange rate, but you also pay a proportional use fee, which may or may not make up for the difference. As for exchange rate at the airport, when I arrived I checked the 'real' exchange rate (www.xe.com) and one US dollar was worth ~119 yen. When I went to the counter, my money exchanged for ~116.5 yen per dollar. You're not gonna get the max rate, but it's pretty reasonable.
The biggest factor I would consider is that if you convert all your cash when you get there, now you're walking around with a huge wad of cash. You don't really have to worry about theft or anything, but if you lose it, you lose it all. If you rely on a debit card, you can only pull out however much cash per day your bank allows. Which as a traveler should probably be more than enough for your needs, but it's still worth considering.
Trip Advisor has good info, and tokyocheapo.com is another good source of pretty up to date restaurants, attractions, and events.
No one has brought it up yet, but don't let anyone tell you to get traveler's checks.
Well my currency isn't the dollar, and it's a nightmare finding a place that will even accept it for exchange, but you're right, it should be different in that case. I could have gotten 9000 yen for my 1500 Rand in Hong Kong, but skipped it and only got 7000yen for the same cash six hours later in Haneda. That's after walking from office to office being told they don't take my money.
I was also told by my bank the withdrawal limit on international transactions is set by the Bank operating the ATM. So back home I can draw a max of 30,000 yen (more or less) but at the 7-11 I can get 100,000 yen per day.
STEAM
Which actually makes me think that if you can, you might want to convert your money (or at least some of it) in your home country before leaving.
STEAM
Yup, even in the center of LA I had to tell them how much I wanted and wait a few days while they got it in.
I wouldn't say it's a lot but you can pay using your train card with at some places, but the further you get from a station the less you see it. All the vending machines in the stations you can wave your card at it and get a drink.
I bought a meal from a convenience store without having to involve the clerks at all... or at least I think I did. There's a voice in the back of my head trying to convince me I stole it by accident. It feels weird not giving a human actual money for something.
STEAM
That there's a good post.
Yes, but they are almost exclusively tied to cellular phones and the purchases basically show up on your phone bill.
Am I able to buy a train pass online or do I have to do it at the station?
Edit: So I think I'm going to chill in Osaka for new years so I'm gonna do the first three days in Tokyo and the last three between Kyoto and Osaka. I might go with a hotel in Osaka since I plan on being there for new years.
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
Random travel complaint: all the people who bring oversized bags into the cabins, and who don't put bags under the seat in front of them, so that there's absolutely no space in the overhead bins. I typically take a backpack with my iPad, chargers, a paperback, Tylenol, Imodium, my itinerary, some emergency cash, and warm layer of some sort onto the plane with me. It doesn't take up a huge amount of space. But I can almost never get it into an overhead bin.
On my flight back home from Toronto on Thursday, I managed to get it into the bin. Some guy had a large bag, too big to fit under his seat (it looked to me like it should have been checked baggage), and the steward had me take out my bag so that his could fit. He was sitting about four rows ahead of me. At the end of the flight, he went to get his bag and dropped it, hitting me in the face and breaking the frame of my glasses. I wasn't able to get them fixed until today.
Other people are usually the worst part about flying.
Planning on flying with a carry-on? You'll have to use this specific bag that doesn't expand, whose dimensions account for wheels, and whose handles are designed to break if you exceed the carry-on weight limit.
People with oversized carry-ons are the worst. They're like people who complain about getting ticketed for speeding because well I ALWAYS drive 15mph over and other cops have seen me and it hasn't been a problem BEFORE.
But in America it's like every second person has this big ol bag with wheels that they insist on dragging through the fucking plane.
Satans..... hints.....
You definitely have to buy a pass online first. What you get is an exchange order, which you then exchange at any major JR "Travel Office" (They have an office in most major stations) for the actual pass. Rule of thumb, make sure you buy it within three months of when you intend to activate it, and you can't activate it more than one month ahead. Make sure you read the eligibility conditions as this ONLY allows you to ride on JR trains, buses and one particular ferry. JR trains that have to use private tracks will require a surcharge. Two of the bullet trains are not covered. Just to emphasize, you HAVE to buy the pass online before you leave for Japan. You CANNOT get it in Japan.
Go to the office with the exchange order, the details/phone number of your current hotel, and your passport. You'll need all of those to fill in the form to get the pass.
STEAM
I will say, though, I'm getting increasingly disenchanted wheeling a bag around airports, especially if I have to make a connection. These days, if they offer to check your bag at the gate for free I take them up on it more often than not, depending on where I'm going. I don't like checking a bag when I visit my parents', though. Apparently my hometown's airport employs like one guy to unload bags or something, as I've waited 30+ minutes for my bag on multiple occasions there.
I dunno, man. I dunno. Some of the bag fees are ridiculous. When I am able to check a bag for free I'm all over it and will only carry the bare essentials because I hate dragging shit around.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
In other travel news, my coworker I'm supposed to be working with in Singapore is stranded in Bali because of a volcano...
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
Satans..... hints.....
Also saw my first ever secretary birds, which I have been waiting 10 months to see. We were stopped looking at zebras and two of them just came flying in to land. I got very excited.
Now am at a lodge for two nights. Very luxurious, which I am not used to. My parents do this all the time but it always makes me feel vaguely awkward. But dinner was delicious, and in the evening a herd of semi-tame zebras turned up and just hung out by the swimming pool. Which was cool, and surreal.
The problem in the US largely isn't the wheeled bags it's the smaller planes that don't have proper overhead bin sizes. Probably 95% of wheeled carry-ons you see in the US are of a standard size that is designed to fit wheels first into the overhead bin but only on a full-sized plane. They don't fit that way in the bins of sub-737 sized planes and unless they force you to gate check (which they typically do in the smaller connection planes) they get stored lengthwise and take up huge amounts of bin space.
What I hate more than that though are that they allow huge frame-less backpacks to be carried on here even when they're twice the length of most backpacks and take up more space in the bins than standard wheeled luggage.
I feel pretty good about this trip. I will be going with a good amount of spending/food/transportation money and easily managed amounts of money on two credit cards (this discover card is really starting to suck, a lot of places do not accept it). The only real downside is I wont have any of my friends to hang out with on the trip.
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
No, dad, you don't need to effect a bad "African" accent when you talk to the nice black lodge manager lady. And you definitely don't need to talk slowly and simply like you're communicating with a toddler. And STOP MIMING.
make some friends on the plane! You'll be up there long enough. :P
I am bored out of my tiny mind.
Luxury hotels, and people who use them are people I do not get.
Satans..... hints.....
I got bored enough that I tried to watch tv. Only 3 channels work. One was showing infomercials, one was a Percy Jackson movie, and one was Big Bang Theory
Except of course that my parents cannot avoid being excruciating. We sit down at our table, the people who were next to us are gone and new people are in their place. My mum: "Good, the noisy French people are gone." The new people are French.
I don't understand. Why would you even specify "French"? Why is that a necessary thing to include in your statement?
My parents insist on saying things I do not understand and struggle to believe. When we first got into Kruger and stopped at a shop we were served by a black guy. Like in most shops in this country. And afterwards my mum commented that the guy was nice and friendly and my dad goes "Yes. And good command of the language."Meaning English. One of the most commonly used languages in tourist areas of the man's own country!
WHAT GOES ON IN YOUR BRAIN?
What a wonder he probably has such a good command of the language