I always figured that I'd begin, when I do that, with Japan. Japan seems so fascinating to me -- so foreign and glamourous and busy and full of weird things like square watermelons and superfast trains and ninjas. (They have ninjas in Japan, right? They'd better, by the time I get there) And robots. Don't forget that. The robots are important.
I always, though, figured that I'd have to win the lottery to see Tokyo and the rest of Japan. Win the lottery or become a famous and rich writer like David Sedaris, I suppose - - because I'd always heard that Japan is superexpensive (those robots growing square watermelons don't come cheap, I suppose.)
Then I found out today about the Accor Hotels City Super Sale, and I clicked on over there out of curiousity/a desire to not actually do any REAL work today, and found that I could book a room in this hotel:
For $125 per day in US Dollars.
$125 a day.
Consider this: I just paid $130 to stay in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for a night. I could stay in Tokyo for less than it costs to go to Oshkosh.
And the Mercure says that it's just a short walk from there to the Ginza shopping, to a Kabuki theater and the fish markets.
So I could go to Tokyo -- exotic, futuristic, Blade-Runner-without-all-the-rain-and-death Tokyo -- and see square watermelons and robots and the streets of Tokyo and experience one of the oldest and most foreign cultures (and brush up on my Japanese, which I haven't spoken since college) and even see the Asakusa Kannon Temple -- with its 10-foot-tall, 220 pound paper lantern -- all for only $125 per night.
And it gets even better: the Accor website promises up to 60% discounts for booking online -- if I were to book online between June 23 and June 29, and then travel in July, August, or September, 2009, I could knock 60% off some of my travels.
It's like winning the lottery, almost -- I could start my around the world trip and have it be less expensive than I ever imagined.
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