Tuesday, May 23, 2017

2017 - Touhoku Or Bust!

Well, it's that time of year again! We will once again be trundling off to Japan. This year will be another cycling trip, starting at the northern edge of the Touhoku region and biking down to Sendai over the course of a few weeks.

This year's preparations have been...a challenge. We got our bikes out just a handful of times, between bad weather and some insane scheduling, on my part, so it will be a slow, and probably painful, start, but we'll be on vacation, so all will be good.

Speaking of scheduling, The Rush Tribute Project was hired rather last minute to do a pair of shows in Long Island. As in New York. So, this week has been a blur (and it's only Tuesday!). I flew into NYC today, met with the venue to coordinate our setup and performance details. We play tomorrow and Thursday. I fly back home Friday to finish up with work. We head down to Chicago Friday night and fly out Saturday...

But, I'm packed, Sumi has several days to pack, the bikes are in their cases, ready to go, and in five days, we'll be in Japan!

On a side note. Tonight, I am staying at the The Local NYC hostel in Long Island City, which would usually scare me. But it was very well reviewed on Booking.com, and after checking in, I can see why. Nice, clean and spacious common area complete with full service coffee and liquor bar (neither of which appeal to me, but a nice feature and good atmosphere), full kitchen, laundry and work area with computers, and fast Wi-Fi. The rooms are clean and well-apportioned and the staff is very pleasant. I chose the 6-person co-ed dormitory room, because it was the cheapest option ($50/night). Each person gets their own locker to store their belongings and there are outlets EVERYWHERE. This is truly a modern hostel. Unless something happens overnight (which I doubt), I would highly recommend The Local as a place for solo travelers or people traveling on the cheap in NYC.

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