Random Thread ～Owaranai Insomnia '25 ver.～

[Amped]

Japanese Women's soccer doing really well in the World Cup in New Zealand right now. They dominated the group stage.

[boinsie]

^ There's a famous drawing of how the rest of the country looks to we snooty east coast types, so you know washington, oregon, idaho, it's all basically a stone's throw apart to me

Spoiler: show

Whereas on the east coast, it all actually is just a stone's throw away! When I was in NY for MM in 2014, I remember you pointing out that New Jersey is just over there (couldn't have been more than a few miles), which was just.. ???? States are hundreds of miles apart! Was I going to accidentally end up in Jersey??

[Zunu]

Was I going to accidentally end up in Jersey??

That's just an ongoing risk of venturing in these parts. Just like Lyme disease.

[esm]

I once flew into Boston from DC in the morning, took a train to Mystic, CT for the day, then took another train to Providence, RI to spend the night. The next morning I took a local bus for $2 from Providence to Newport, which was technically the other end of the state. The day after that I went up to Portsmouth, NH for the day then took a bus down to Boston to fly back to DC. You can't do 4 states in 3 days like that in most of the rest of the country, especially not on just buses and trains, and seeing cities that people actually visit not like any random town to check off a state.

[boinsie]

Yeah, definitely not. It's a much different world that I have a tough time getting my mind around, having lived on the west coast my whole life. I went to wedding in New Hampshire once, but our hotel was in Vermont??? What!?

[TotallyUncool]

In California, you have to cross 100 miles of desert or go over a major mountain range to get anywhere - and the next state over is basically several hundred miles of more mountains or desert.

[Shoujo Q]

First time I drove down to Connecticut I accidentally ended up in Rhode Island on my way home to Massachusetts.

I also stayed out in Pittsfield once and my boyfriend and I decided to go have breakfast in a place in New York.

And fun fact, people here regularly drive up to New Hampshire just to avoid sales tax.

[boinsie]

Yes! Similarly, Washington state has no income tax, and Oregon state has no sales tax. I hear there are some mild financial shenanigans to be had if you live in Vancouver, WA but make most of your purchases across the bridge in Portland, OR.

[Amped]

If anyone is going to Japan anytime soon, you won't be able to buy a new physical Suica or Pasmo card (registered and unregistered) anymore because of semi-conductor shortage. So if you kept your old one, save it. But it is invalid in 10 years from the last time it was used. If it is expired, you'll have to rely on regular old fashion ticket stubs and fumble with money to get one every time now. Which is very inconvenient. You can try to get an IC card from other regions, but who knows if they will still be available. You can use the Suica app version if your smartphone has NFC.

[boinsie]

Good news!--at least for the time being--it appears that foreign travelers are still able to get them at specific physical stations (Airport, etc) by showing their passport.

https://www.jreast.co.jp/multi/en/welco ... suica.html
https://www.pasmo.co.jp/visitors/en/buy/