Serge the Concierge

Station to Station, Must See Tokyo all Mapped out by Tokyo Metro

Sometimes your visit to a city or a country is very short and you don't want to waste your time finding your way around.

If Tokyo is part of your travel plans, Tokyo Metro does the legwork for you.

The Tokyo subway system offers 6 Sightseeing Plans, each with around 10 attractions, station to station all mapped out.

Option Number 1 is Must See Tokyo (below):

 

Each attraction comes with a short description and a photo as well as the line you must take and the corresponding stop and travel time to the next sight.

Here's what comes up for Tokyo Tower for example:

"At 333 meters tall, the steel structure of Tokyo Tower has spectacular views from its observation deck, 150 meters above the city below. The tower features several other attractions, including an aquarium. more

Hibiya Line (H) 3 mins."

I also learned from today's expedition that Tokyo Tower (opened in 1958) is 13m taller at 333m than the Eiffel Tower.

Traveling with the crowds for Tokyo Thursdays # 96

Previously on Tokyo Thursdays:
Young Person's Guide to Tanabata, Star Festival at Japan Society, NY, July 12

No Hunger, Ask Al Gore to Make this Film that does not Exist Yet, See the Trailer

Rather than send him a script, Action Against Hunger put together a trailer for No Hunger , a film they would like Al Gore to be involved with since he was so successful getting the message across with An Inconvenient Truth.

64, 422 people have already signed the petition.

Will you join them?

Related: CauseWired in Action: Daniella's Apartment Fund by David Armano

Are We Award Winning Material? Rank Sixth in Tripbase Travel Food Sites

We were unaware of being in the run for an award in Travel and Food, one of the 20 categories selected by Tripbase for its Travel Blog Awards 2009.

Not the gold medal, we came up 6th which is not bad especially when the winner Eating Asia takes an elephant ride to work* as illustration from Take A Hard Left From Penang (July 7) shows. 

Our faraway friends from Traveler's Lunchbox came in 4th so we are in good company.

So thanks Tripbase for the kind words and our 6th place.

Not as great as finishing 6th in the Tour de France but it would take more effort.

A little appreciation and ego boost soothes the soul.

Merci beaucoup

Loosely related: Merci, Do-Good Haute Shopping in Paris, Opened March 5th

(*just kidding)

London cheaper than Caracas according to The Guardian

I wrote recently about various ways to find Freebies in London.

The Guardian goes one step further in Bargain London by Benji Lanyado and claims that London is cheaper than Caracas.

I bet Hugo C. will protest.

Married with children, they suggest London's City Farms such as Hackney City Farm (sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks, rabbits, calves and bees).

Need competitively priced accomodations, he mentions the youth hostel YHA London St Pancras (pictured above, from their site) with prices from: Adult: £21.95 Under 18: £16.50 (british pound is the currency quoted).

The place had a recent thorough makeover.

Be a Dog with a Bone, Get some Wednesday Uplifting with Peggy McColl

I am not that big on motivational speakers and the latest secret sauce on how to fix everything.

I do appreciate the accent on the positive put forward by Peggy McColl on weekly radio show Attracting Abundance (Wednesdays).

Her book, Be a Dog with a Bone shares some of her recipes on how to make your dreams realities. She seasons them with a healthy dose of humor.

Here are some of them:

• Teach an old dog new tricks; the tricks of success
• Bark for what you want
• Stop chasing your tail
• Be a little dog with a big-dog attitude
• Lap up your success

A little Wednesday uplifting

Treat your Creative Self to Free Coworking Fridays at Lab 24/7 in Brooklyn

Getting a slice of Jelly in my e-mail this morning, I noticed that the next Jelly NY Session was taking place at a new space Lab 24/7 in Brooklyn.

What the space is about in their own words:

"Lab 24/7 incubates creative projects and events for fun, profit and community service. The Lab has a space in the cellar of an old Brooklyn brownstone where we meet up, jump off and occassionally cowork."

Need to take a break from your routine and some human interaction, Lab 24/7 has Coworking Fridays and best of all it's FREE.

WHEN: Most Friday's (join the list for updates)
WHERE: 247 Stuyvesant Ave, @ Putnam, BK (click for directions)
HAPPY: Happy Hour from 5:30-ish - 7:00-ish

From the look of it, seems like Lab 24/7 has a strong Food connection including with Senegal, not sure why and an artist/fundraising take, the Kimchi Pancake Project and a Cooklyn Improv (see below).

As for the Jelly Session on July 10, it will feature,Todd Sunstead, one of the authors of I'm Outta Here (a book on coworking) amongst others.

All you have to do is Take the A Train

Is Vagabond Life the Answer to No Vacation Nation Conundrum?

Ask anyone you know why they don't take what I call a real vacation (2 weeks or more) and the answer will probably I do not have the money or I do not have the time (my job does not allow me to) or both.

Call them Nomads or Vagabonds, a number of people in the US and around the globe are exploring ways to blend work and life with their wanderlust.

Type 'Vagabonding' in your search box and you will find Rolf Potts who defines it as "taking time off from your normal life — from six weeks, to four months, to two years — to discover and experience the world".

Since he already was a travel writer, he might not be the best example. Greg Rogers of Vagabonding Life who describes his 'program' as  'Escaping corporate America and traveling around the world on the cheap!' is a more to the point illustration.

Another benefit of Vagabonding highlighted by Nomadic Matt is that as time is not of the essence you have a better chance to travel green.

Pat of Digital Vagabonding calls it 'Life off the leash'.

Which leads me to another category Digital Nomads some of which might be blending life, work and travel while other digital nomads are just workaholics jumping from one project to the other, not really explorers.

I would definitely put In the life, work, travel blending Soul Travelers 3 (parents in their 50's, child 5) who with the arrival of Summer left their Andalusian base for a European Roadtrip.

Work, life and money on the go for Monday Work Etiquette # 97

Previously on Monday Work Etiquette:
In No Vacation Nation, She Wants 6 Weeks Summer Vacation, These Americans Settle for 3

Scrabbling or Crosswordpuzzling on Sunday, Have you tried Wordnik?

Are you Scrabbling or Crosswordpuzzling on Sunday?

You might be working on a book, an essay or an online story as I am right now?

Have you tried Wordnik as your little helper?

What's it all about? It describes itself as 'an ongoing project devoted to discovering

all the words and everything about them', not as a static thing but keeping up with them as they evolve.

Quite an ambitious task it is.

It all started at TED where Erin McKean had a chance encounter with the deep pockets of Roger McNamee.

I love words, reading them, writing them, understanding them.

I can see the passion behind a venture like Wordnik yet I cannot quite figure how it could become a money maker.

Maybe it is just treated as a worthy cause by its backers, the new age of enlightenment.

Found my way to Wordnik via Spinning the Web: P.R. in Silicon Valley (Claire Cain Miller, NY Times, July 5)...

When will TD Banknorth and Commerce Bank Marriage be Fully Consumed?

A man walks into a bank, this happens to be and ex-Commerce Bank branch and his nearby TD Banknorth branch was transferred there.

Problem is the computers of Commerce and TD Banknorth don't talk to each other in what is now TD Bank.

Even though the 2 entities have been together the computer systems are not integrated yet.

Man is told that his cash deposit since it is a Saturday an a holiday weekend would not be credited until the following Wednesday.

Sounds crazy, doesn't it?

It's 'America's most convenient bank' except when it comes to computer integration hiccups.

So when will TD Banknorth and Commerce Bank marriage be fully consumed?

Related: Can't Login into Your Comcast Account Equals 45 Minutes of Frustration

And from the Wall Street Journal: Ten Ways Banks Take Your Money

July 2, Anime Expo 09 opens in Los Angeles, Covers all Trends from Shojo to Seinen

Some 40,000 people are expected to attend Anime Expo 2009 which runs from July 2 to July 5 at Los Angeles Convention Center.

In Anime conventions still set trends, Robert Michael Poole (Japan Times, June 26) crowns it as the largest anime, manga and games convention in North America.

The event chairwoman Liyin Liang, he writes credits the success of anime on it's broad appeal.

It runs the gamut as she explains in the article:

"(Anime) covers the full breadth and depth of human emotion, but it is also fearless in the topics that it is willing to tackle such as nuclear fallout, biowarfare or adult topics. Our attendee demographic ranges from 15 to over 50. It is split 45/55 between women and men and we have staffers who are future doctors, lawyers, real-estate agents, nurses, teachers, computer technicians, musicians, engineers, marketers, publicists, magicians and cooks!"

An event organized it seems by the

Beyond the best sellers, Liyin Liang notes that Shojo (aimed at girls aged 10-18) and Seinen (for men aged 18-30) are driving book sales in the US.

As for my kids, they would rather go to BlizzCon 2009 Also in California (Anaheim, August 21-22)

Exploring the US-Japan cultural connections for Tokyo Thursdays # 94

Last week on Tokyo Thursdays: Tokyo Sanpo, Sketches of Tokyo Life through French Eyes