The one where the suitcase bites the dust...

I have been doing a lot of traveling lately. And somehow, my suitcases can't seem to keep up. (I only say "my" because I brought them into the marriage.)

Marc and I were in Prague this summer. As we picked up our suitcase from the belt, it had a giant rip in it, so that our clothes were almost falling out. We went to the counter and made a report, but were told it would be best if we tried to get reimbursed once we were in Germany, because otherwise, we would get Czech money (can't remember what it's called, cut me a break, I've been traveling for the last 19 hours or so). By the time we left Prague, the suitcase had completely lost a wheel. In order to get home, we had to borrow tape from Lufthansa and tape our suitcase back together. Yes, we looked like hillbillys. I bought the suitcase at Target. In 2006. I think it cost me $80. (Does that sound right, Mom?) When I told the lady at the Lufthansa office in Germany that it cost $80 and yes, I do mean American dollars, she didn't know what to do. With the exchange rate at that point in time, the original cost in Euros would have been 50. And since the suitcase was two years old, she should have given me less than the original price. But she gave me 50 Euros, because "I'll never find a suitcase for less than that here in Stuttgart."

Not having replaced that suitcase, I headed with another to Brazil in September. Now, this one made it in one piece, but two days after I did. Fortunately, I wore business clothes on the plane. But going to work two days in a row in the same clothes, which I wore during the 24 hour trip from Germany to Brazil was not really my idea of a good time. Fortunately, I had the essentials (know what I mean??) in my carry-on. If it wasn't for the current (dumb) rule about liquids, I would have only traveled with a carry-on!

And today? Yet another suitcase drama. I arrived safely in Tokyo, after a one hour train ride from Stuttgart to Frankfurt (on which a bunch of soccer fans almost got arrested for riding without tickets - it was very dramatic!), an 11 hour flight to Narita and then a 1.5 hour bus ride to the hotel. The first thing that I wanted to do was to unpack and hang up my suits. But I couldn't get the suitcase open. Now I admit that the zipper was broken before I ever left home. But you could still use it, it had just come unstitched on the one corner. Well, I spent a half hour trying to get it open. I have the swollen index fingers to prove it. And I was utterly unsuccessful. So the hotel porter had to come up and cut it open. So I will be buying a new suitcase during my stay here. Fortunately, I have a whole weekend with no plans...

My room is on the 14th floor of a hotel in a popular shopping district of Tokyo - Ikebukuro. I was positively surprised to have free internet (unfortunately not wireless). The room is small, but not too small for Japan.
I have a pretty good view from my window. Unfortunately, the pictures didn't come out so good, because I took them through the glass...

And the street below:
It's warm here, about 70-75 degrees, and seems to me to be pretty humid. And it's raining, but I'm used to that, because it's been doing that so often in Germany. Where it's also about half as warm as here.

My doorbell just rang and the hotel manager wanted to know if I was "making fire" in my room. Um, no, is that allowed? I was told it was non-smoking. But standing in the hall, I noticed it, too - the smell of smoke. Not cigarette smoke, real honest-to-goodness fire smoke. I asked if we should leave our rooms and he said "No, we find it." So I'm just sitting here waiting for the fire alarm to go off at any minute....Stay tuned.