Ending the Pacific Transit

 Kon’nichiwa!

Today is our last day of the Pacific voyage part of the cruise. This is the time I get sad on cruises - when I know we are at the tail end of the cruise and we have to look to getting off the ship. I know we don’t get off until next Thursday, but this is the end of the main part of the cruise - transiting the Pacific.

Japan, here we come!

Last 5 days of the Cruise

We overnight tomorrow in Muroran (near Sapporo) Japan, getting there about 7:30 AM. We spend Sunday and Monday in Muroran. Tuesday in Hakodate. Wednesday is one last sea day before we arrive in Tokyo on Thursday morning.

Tomorrow we will do Muroran on our own. Monday we have a tour scheduled where we will see some place called Hell’s Valley.  I get the impression it is Yellowstoney.

Tuesday we will do Hakodate on our own.  We found a website with information about the location.  They have a free shuttle to city center and buses.

These are not places we ever identified as destinations we had to see so anything we experience is a bonus.

I am a bit nervous about being able to read signs to get to places.  While I understand countries like Thailand and Vietnam are great about using English and their national languages on signs, Japan is not.  We might be using more private transportation in Japan than what we usually do.  We love to use public transportation when we travel.  If anyone has been to Japan and has some helpful hints, we would be ever so appreciative if you are inclined to pass them on.

One Week in Osaka for Medical Purposes

Once we get Tokyo (we’ll be back in the spring), we leave immediately for Osaka via train, where we will stay for a week when we will both take care of some medical procedures.  We are both fine and healthy; it is preventative.  Both of us will get coloscopies and I will get a breast MRI.

Why in Osaka?  Blaise found that there are locations in Osaka that do medical tourism. We are both due our coloscopies this year.  I tried to schedule mine back in March at home and insurance will only cover a colonoscopy once every 10 years even if pollops were found.  Well they found 3 non-cancerous pollops when I had mine 5 years ago so they told me to get my next colonscopy in 5 years, not 10.  It was going to be $2,500 out of pocket.  Then Blaise, the research fiend that he is (which I LOVE), found that we can do our coloscopies in Osaka at a reputable hospital for $153 out of pocket. SOLD!

I am also going to get my breast MRI done.  Last year I did some genetic testing.  I had zero markers for any cancers but because of my strong family history of breast cancer (on both sides of the family) my gynocologist recommended alternating every six months breast MRI/3D mammogram.  So I will get the MRI done in Osaka for just a few hundred dollars (can’t remember the exact price) and then in 6 months we will be in Kuala Lumpur  (also known for medical tourism), where I will get my 3D mammogram, along with bloodwork and a general physical. Blaise will have similar work done, not the mammogram though

What we have learned in our research (read Blaise’s research) is that the US medical system is no longer the best in the world for everything. For many cancer diagoses, it is still the best, but for so many other things, you can get better service at a better price elsewhere in the world, even without using insurance.  Think about it.  I can get a colonoscopy in Japan for $153 out of pocket, not using insurance at a reputable hospital.  It’s not like Japan is a third-world country.  And what we have found is in most places the medical personnel speak English, which if they didn’t, would be a big drawback for me, if not a showstopper.

I’ll report back on our medical experiences with this in Osaka.

(FYI, we do both have medical insurance. I had chatgpt help me find what will work for us being outside the US for the next 8 months.  It is also SO much cheaper than what I was paying for US only.  But this one gives us US AND international coverage.)

We also learned that the World’s Fair will be in it’s last days when we hit Osaka so I am hoping to see what that is all about.

Osaka is the third largest city in Japan at a population of 2.7 million.  They call their states or provinces, prefectures.  I just learned that one.

Osaka to Bankok Thailand

We will be Osaka for a week before flying to Bankok, which is currently in their rainy season which we hope will dissipate while we are there for a month.  More about Bankok later but we just booked the remaining of our stay there at an AirBnB. We have to have our exit of Thailand booked before we get to Thailand and request entry.  We can only stay 60 days at a time in Thailand.  I have a whole spreadsheet for entry and visa requirements for all the countries we are going to.

Keeping it Real

To keep it real so everyone doesn’t think this is all rainbows and butterflies - Blaise was sick with a headache all day yesterday and I have managed to develop a cough.  Shocking.  I feel fine; I just have a cough, which people around me LOVE! Blaise is back to normal today so far.

Then there is the laundry.  With Celebrity Cruises, we each get 2 laundry bags free.  We can stuff as much as we can in those bags and they are laundered for free.  Even on a 2-week cruise, we have never washed 4 bags of laundry. Back when we only had one bag each of free laundry I got really good at stuffing as much in a bag as humanly possible.  

Even though we only get one bag each on Royal Caribbean, I knew this was not going to be a problem. I was wrong.  When I read the small print, we can fit as much as we want in those bags but it could only be shorts, t-shirts, socks, underwear, and pajamas. Well neither one of us wear t-shirts unless we are working out so we only have 1 t-shirt each. No dresses, no pants, no skirts, no jeans. We’re screwed. We could have paid regular price for those things but that can get expensive so we are washing some things in the sink until we can get to Osaka.  First world problem, I know.  I am not bitching, just a bit annoyed.  Perhaps, I should have checked this earlier than yesterday.

I’m going to get going so I can enjoy the last sea day before landho.

Sayonara!