This will be my last blog post in Williamstown until the end of the trip, and I thought I would share with you some final preparations made for our trip. After I finalized my packing, I spent the evening researching IC cards, (short for integrated circuit, if you were wondering) so that I can be prepared for local travel. While they’re essentially area specific prepaid train cards, it seems they can be used to purchase other items depending on if the vendor accepts it as a payment method, as some convenience stores do. While most IC cards are prepaid, the one for the Kansai Area (The PiTaPa card) is specifically post paid, and as a tourist I will instead need to use the ICOCA (essentially a prepaid version, whose mascot is a blue platypus!). Hopefully I’ve done the right research and this can streamline the IC card purchasing process and of course my travel in Kyoto and Osaka. As for the flight I’ve packed The Ethos of Noh for some reading on the plane, in case I finished reading the GLOW excerpts during our travel time. I did remember to charge all my devices and battery packs, as we have a little over 16 hours of flight time. The only thing left is to leave! While I’m normally an early riser, I do have some anxiety with waking up in time to be at Park Street for a 5AM departure as is evident:
I think I have that covered, (as well as I’ve enlisted the help of a friend to wake me up as a last resort) so now my only concern is getting my suitcase from my dorm to Park Street in the slush.
