Spruce railroad trail olympic national park

Good evening!
I'm in the process of planning a road trip for July that is education-centric -- specifically space/astronomy and US History. This is my first time planning a road trip with so many stops, so I would very much appreciate feedback from those who are more experienced.
I've set a goal of trying to have no more than 7 hours of driving in any one day. and wrapping up all the driving before it gets dark. Otherwise, I'm trying to be pretty flexible.
I'd welcome any thoughts! I especially like short "stretch your legs" roadside stops. If you know of any on this route, please let me know!
Day 1
Drive to Memphis
Check out Beale street for Dinner
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Day 2
National Civil Rights museum in Memphis
Drive to Buffalo National River
Set up camp and take an evening hike, do some stargazing
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Day 3
Canoe trip down the Buffalo National River
More stargazing and spend the night at camp
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Day 4
Drive toward Houston, TX
Stop in Little Rock to visit the Little Rock Central High School national historic site
Stop somewhere north of Houston for the night
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Day 5
Finish drive to visit Space Center Houston
Spend the day at Space Center Houston
Drive a little further south and spend the night in Galveston
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Day 6
Visit the Galveston Naval Museum and Fishing Pier
Take the Galveston ferry
Drive to New Orleans with a possible stop to see the USS Kidd in Baton Rouge depending on timing
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Day 7
National World War II Museum in New Orleans during the day
Sightseeing in NOLA that night
Spend second night in New Orleans
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Day 8
Guided history tour in New Orleans
Drive to Selma, AL
Stop in Mobile along the way to see the USS Alabama
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Day 9
Selma to Montgomery historical trail with various sights along the way
Visit the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery
Drive on to Birmingham to spend the night
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Day 10
Walking tour of major Civil Rights landmarks in Birmingham
Drive on to Huntsville to spend the night
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Day 11
Visit US Space and Rocket Center
Spend night in Huntsville
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Day 12
Drive home
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https://preview.redd.it/et2gkln7fx3b1.png?width=1410&format=png&auto=webp&s=6307ec1ef9df732734bd4448fb6b5355f756c5a2

I really want a cool map to hang up on my wall, preferably a really detailed trail and topographical map of a national park or something similar. Does anyone know where I could get one?

Got my BA in ACCT might get my MACC or do rando courses and take CPA. But also may move if can get a job (i can) right now with some superv exp/costruc work but entry level acct 0 exp.
I am looking to go to state seasons are fine (ie winter,summer,fall, etc all fine.)
dont want like TX, FL, CA, NYC, WA, DE, NJ, AZ, NM.
I like the middle area more i think like WY,SD,ND,WI,OH,IN,IL,IA,MS,AL.GA.SC.NC,VA,WV,KY,KS,NE,TN,ETC.
only concern with colder spots are: Asthma (dont like the congest feeling from wild coldness), old people (dont want sick or slip and boom taken out by some stupid harsh winter when they prob could get 20+ years still)
I want to get like a LCOL with a good pay. So I can have animals, land, home, etc at kind of younger age. Temps arent 2 concerning, crime rates/rising big factor, enviroment/natural disasters are a concern (ie dont want wildfires ie CA or i 10/20 years for my area to be struggling for Water (AZ)?).
Not that I plan 2, but I would prefer a "logical" idea for gun stuff, mostly with this is just if someone is breaking into my home/still on my prop/ attacking me/ being a danger (crime going up i dont want to get charged on some BS if someone tries to rob/home invade) (NJ),
I would prefer low retirement tax implications (this would not be for my ie not for my 401k withdraw but for elderly people who I will be taking care of their disburstments ie SS/ annuity/ forget other shit but perhaps a benefit state to the. On that topic a state with no inheritance/death tax.
medical care/something within 4 hours for major surgery pref ie cancer (sure most places have this i not could use plane/drive from Lcol savings (doubt needed 4 me, old people mb but both good health, poor knees. a decent cancer screening state would b good (do those rankings even exist?)
States with entertainment of some level would be a plus:
really anything just need something:
ie i like Bball, (Indiana (maybe lcol with high pay), bull riding/horse riding (viewing not doing) might b cool, golfing (for old people not me), socialization opportunities for old people maybe?, swimming, fishing, catfishing, sewing, farming,hunting, gardening, mudfishing, College football clubs, nba teams, nfl teams, mlb, museaum, historical marks, hiking trails, national parks, scenery.
One day in my LCOL decent/high pay job I hope to have someone working for me that can solve these questions so I dont have to both yall. Also if needed I dont have a ACCT focus. I do like taxes (dont know anything at all from college at all at all.) I dont mind other ie just standard act1 etc. jobs. I have few years supervisor exp and lots of years for construction fam business. I plan to like on applications if I cant get anything 55k+ legit ie 3 year supervisor? 3 year supervisor that used _____ required skill for 1 year, ads/customer service/ job req/ finance planning/budgeting @ construction ( I did actually do this just in no way what a pro co. would do more like hours as a kid figuring our product price/costs/ pricing/ft etc. I can say I did that family business for 8+ years idk how that looks resume wise but I include skills in there a job might want ie communication or whatever.
for the like req skills somehting like
bill dot com or
quickbooks
pivot/vlookup
sql
would few dedicated hours of yt not get me to a beg level to start a job? like Bill dot com get invoice bring to there, document how Co. wants??
sql will get my ass but not applying for many with that in req.
Thank yall
​
for initial home looking 3 be 2 bath 3+ acres, if in cheap lcol then 3bed 2 bath 10+ acre. wouldnt mind 2 angus 1 dairy cows, chickens, garden (havent hcosen size yet not big deal), water supply if possible, need ac/some newer stuff (dont want to buy some shitter that needs hella fixing ie fucked roof or shitty porch etc.
trying to stay between 200/700k settlling more at that 350-550 range.

Got my BA in ACCT might get my MACC or do rando courses and take CPA. But also may move if can get a job (i can) right now with some superv exp/costruc work but entry level acct 0 exp.
​
I am looking to go to state seasons are fine (ie winter,summer,fall, etc all fine.)
​
dont want like TX, FL, CA, NYC, WA, DE, NJ, AZ, NM.
I like the middle area more i think like WY,SD,ND,WI,OH,IN,IL,IA,MS,AL.GA.SC.NC,VA,WV,KY,KS,NE,TN,ETC.
only concern with colder spots are: Asthma (dont like the congest feeling from wild coldness), old people (dont want sick or slip and boom taken out by some stupid harsh winter when they prob could get 20+ years still)
I want to get like a LCOL with a good pay. So I can have animals, land, home, etc at kind of younger age. Temps arent 2 concerning, crime rates/rising big factor, enviroment/natural disasters are a concern (ie dont want wildfires ie CA or i 10/20 years for my area to be struggling for Water (AZ)?).
Not that I plan 2, but I would prefer a "logical" idea for gun stuff, mostly with this is just if someone is breaking into my home/still on my prop/ attacking me/ being a danger (crime going up i dont want to get charged on some BS if someone tries to rob/home invade) (NJ),
I would prefer low retirement tax implications (this would not be for my ie not for my 401k withdraw but for elderly people who I will be taking care of their disburstments ie SS/ annuity/ forget other shit but perhaps a benefit state to the. On that topic a state with no inheritance/death tax.
medical care/something within 4 hours for major surgery pref ie cancer (sure most places have this i not could use plane/drive from Lcol savings (doubt needed 4 me, old people mb but both good health, poor knees. a decent cancer screening state would b good (do those rankings even exist?)
States with entertainment of some level would be a plus:
really anything just need something:
ie i like Bball, (Indiana (maybe lcol with high pay), bull riding/horse riding (viewing not doing) might b cool, golfing (for old people not me), socialization opportunities for old people maybe?, swimming, fishing, catfishing, sewing, farming,hunting, gardening, mudfishing, College football clubs, nba teams, nfl teams, mlb, museaum, historical marks, hiking trails, national parks, scenery.
​
One day in my LCOL decent/high pay job I hope to have someone working for me that can solve these questions so I dont have to both yall. Also if needed I dont have a ACCT focus. I do like taxes (dont know anything at all from college at all at all.) I dont mind other ie just standard act1 etc. jobs. I have few years supervisor exp and lots of years for construction fam business. I plan to like on applications if I cant get anything 55k+ legit ie 3 year supervisor? 3 year supervisor that used _____ required skill for 1 year, ads/customer service/ job req/ finance planning/budgeting @ construction ( I did actually do this just in no way what a pro co. would do more like hours as a kid figuring our product price/costs/ pricing/ft etc. I can say I did that family business for 8+ years idk how that looks resume wise but I include skills in there a job might want ie communication or whatever.
for the like req skills somehting like
bill dot com or
quickbooks
pivot/vlookup
sql
​
would few dedicated hours of yt not get me to a beg level to start a job? like Bill dot com get invoice bring to there, document how Co. wants??
sql will get my ass but not applying for many with that in req.
​
​
Thank yall

hello, my boyfriend and I are planning our first backpacking trip and don't know what trail will be best for beginners. We are avid campers but definitely out of shape and are looking for a good trail to go to for our first time I was looking for something withing a 1-3 hour drive from the central valley in California around August/September for 1-3 days round trip maybe like 10 miles or so I don't know how to judge that yet? I was looking at Stanislaus national forest and El Dorado national Forest. I'd prefer something with some kind of water ( I want to fish and swim) and less crowded. No snow preferably. I would love any advice for gear or preparation for something like this. I have a backpack but I am slowly acquiring the other essentials like a tent and light weight stove (any recommendations appreciated). Also curious of where to park my car if I go to these spots?
Thank you!

I am autistic and had a mild case of untreated sleep apnea that didn't effect my independent life living in a National Park dormitory at all when I was 25 years old and hiked after work with friends.
I developed my first signs of bipolar disorder out there and after some persuasion to give up my independence my dad drove us back to our family home.
I was very frightened about which new symptom of bipolar will I unexpectedly be experiencing for the first time next while having zero coping skills nor medicine for that specific symptom ready to use but I had a strong desire to get back to hiking with friends and assured my parents that my time here with them would be temporary.
Feeling very depressed and not working and not hiking made me gain some weight and my sleep apnea reached a level where it was now making me sleep too much. In America, you lose your health insurance, you can't be on your parent's plan anymore, and there was a rush to get treatment before the deadline.
I ended up getting the sleep study, getting diagnosed with central and obstructive sleep apnea, getting a CPAP machine programmed with the settings from the sleep study, and my doctor was feeling good about my central going away by giving the obstructive treatment a first try for a little and then I lost my health insurance, didn't go back, and I was just so resistant to being reliant on a machine when I felt like an alternative, getting back down to my old weight, was just as easy of a solution, but it didn't work out that way.
I'm going to say that I was 250 lbs at 6 feet 3 inches tall out on the trails, moved up to 318 lbs at my parent's house, got put on a big handful of bipolar meds to keep me stable, Lisinopril, and vitamin d because I don't get out much, vitamin e to keep my triglycerides in check while treating weight lifting as my big hobby, quit weight lifting after 5 years, just got tired of it and covid closing the gym played a role too, and then I experienced a very sudden increase all the way up to 438 lbs! Wtf?
After much resistance, mom stepped into her rescue her adult son role as she does sometimes and bought me a whole new $500 wardrobe of clothes because nothing fit anymore.
Last week, my pulmonary doctor mentioned stomach reduction surgery to me as CPAP has never worked for me, I'll be getting back a rental machine for my third try this month.
My nurse practitioner is wanting to double my blood pressure meds, start me on 1000mg metformin and regular finger pricking, a statin drug, omeprazole because I throw up a little after I eat now.
My knees feel like they're going to explode upon standing up from my recliner.
I fall asleep in weird places like sitting on the toilet to pee and wake back up with two legs that have fallen asleep and I'm stuck there can't getting them to wake back up after intense wiggling.
My vitamin d is still low after supplementation and vitamin e isn't controlling my triglycerides anymore,
I don't understand why I have an iron deficiency, I love hamburgers.
I've quit all of my bipolar meds since two weeks ago except for my Wellbutrin as it's supposed to decrease appetite and promote wakefulness, I take 400mg a day. The bioolars that I quit were Vraylar and Lamictal,.
Probably one of the worst things is that I can't masturbate anymore starting 6 months ago. The nurse has me down as hypogonadism, low testosterone, and erectile dysfunction.
I know from my reading online that mens health clinics screen for sleep apnea before starting testosterone shots because testosterone shots make sleep apnea worse so not sure how that one's going to get solved.
Im currently putting off picking my all my new goodies from the pharmacy.
https://imgur.com/a/0N1nlWW
I have a little complaint about my nurse practitioner. She ordered knee xrays which I'm feeling like why do I need this, it's just extra weight on the joints, and she was a good listener and typed accurate notes into the computer but maybe ran out of time because it wasn't until the next day that she went back into my chart and added her new meds of choice, I have no training on how to use, just got a Walgreens alert, and there are now errors in her expanded set of notes like I never said anything about hemorrhoids and it also says me and patient talked about such and such as a trial option before referral and he nodded his head in understandment, never did that. My mom says that she sees the same kind of stuff in her chart, completely different providers, and there's a whole section discussing body parts that she doesn't even have anymore.
Not sure how to get back on track at this weight. Everything hurts. I need low impact. My hunger is huge. My windows of awakeness from sleep apnea are so small that I can't even do video gaming.

Anyone know a good way to access the Burke Gilman between Lake Forest Park and Matthews Beach? I live in Olympic Hills neighborhood and want to ride my bike to the trail, instead of loading up my bike in my car.

First Chapter
Chapter Fifteen
“Thank you, Ms. President, and Mr. Secretary-General. It’s my privilege to come and speak to everyone present during such a momentous time in human history. One which, I hope, will lead to a brighter future for us all…”
US President Correa’s boilerplate beginning flowed out as she scanned the room. Behind her rostrum sat a larger dais tiled with green marble, behind which sat the UN President, Secretary-General, and Under-Secretary-General. Two huge screens flanked the dais, and those screens now showed Correa’s face as she continued.
“…and we are committed to our country’s pledge to finding a peaceful and just way for Coalition technology to be incorporated worldwide, and to not attempt any reverse-engineering of our own. Make no mistake; we do not do this out of any sense of altruism or fairness, as pleasant as that may sound. We will hold this pledge sacred for the simple reason that, if the United States were to attempt such efforts the rest of the world would, without a doubt, find out. That, of course, would lead to a great instability.”
‘Great instability’ was diplomatic-speak for ‘the rest of the world then gangs up on the USA and then everything goes to hell’.
“I know there has already been a great deal of debate in this august hall as to the best way to proceed forward, in a fair and impartial manner. We believe that we have found what one might call a ‘trial run’ which will allow us to work out such matters.”
The general murmuring from the many semi-circular rows of desks in front of her increased.
“To begin with, during the first weeks after first contact we wanted to make sure our guests from the Coalition would not starve to death. Much like humanity’s own ships during the Age of Sail, Coalition exploration vessels store enough provisions for years…but such provisions never last. They have very advanced recycling, but mostly for water and even that is only a stop-gap measure. It is unknown even at this time as to how long it will take to repair the Exultant Finger of Rithro, and we did not want to risk the crew running out of food.
“Therefore, we undertook an emergency effort to have their ship’s medic examine various Earth foods to determine their compatibility with our guests’ varied biochemistries. I am pleased to report that there are quite a few Earth foodstuffs which are indeed compatible, although there are some specific items which act as allergens amongst some of the Coalition species. During these efforts, we did learn a bit about how their alien biochemistries work…information which has been duly published and is now openly available. We also began to get glimpses of something wonderful, and asked the Coalition crew for more details. They supplied us with some general ideas of what their medical technology can accomplish; I must emphasize that we do not possess any knowledge of how they can perform such miracles.”
Now the murmuring got quite a bit higher, but not quite to the point where they’d have to call for order.
“Yes, I use the word ‘miracles’ advisedly. For example, take Captain Sadaf. You have all seen her, and how she moves like a person in the prime of their life. Now. What if I told you that she is a little over four hundred years old?”
The murmuring died down into a shocked silence.
“Her species, the auhn, is no more long-lived than we are…but they are able to regenerate and remove the effects of aging. I hope the esteemed ambassadors can see what I am driving at. I propose that we set up a research institute, international in scope, to be placed at a neutral location which is still to be determined. The purpose of that institute will be to study and adapt Coalition medical technology for use in humans.”
Now the murmuring started again; she hoped they were actually listening instead of hatching side-deals with each other.
“You all have families and friends. I’m sure you have at least one family member, one good friend, who died of some horrible and unnecessary affliction. Think of what this means to the world, to us. It is also an excellent way to determine the inevitable issues and frictions which will arise from such a concerted international effort, and that, in turn, will inform our efforts in mutual reverse-engineering of other Coalition technology.
“I know this is, in many ways, a frightening time. Change can be frightening. But I am convinced that you will all know the right way forward, and that you will all see the need for us to unite in this matter, even if others may not be so clear-cut. I thank you for the opportunity to speak.”
As she stepped away from the rostrum, the UN President cleared his throat.
“We will now begin the debate on Madame President Correa’s proposal. Paper copies, with specifics of the proposal, are now being distributed to you all. We’ll now begin the debate period…yes, the gentleman from Portugal…?”
__________
Correa’s Chief of Staff was a shorter, tubby man with an olive complexion by the name of Pablo Rosas. He and Correa sat in a White House conference room, staring at a big screen which now showed the results of the UN vote. “Well, I suppose that went about as well as we could expect,” said Rosas.
“Yep. I was surprised they even agreed with our asking them to kick in some money.”
Rosas chuckled. “Keep in mind that all of this new medical tech will be available for anyone patent-free. Should be air-tight legally, since nobody here on Earth invented it; we’re merely adapting it. I think that was the sweetener we needed to get it passed.”
The president gave a brief nod, then tapped a few keys on the controls in front of her. The screen now showed a world map. “Now we just have to figure out where to put the damn thing without everyone getting butt-mad about it.”
“Hmm.” Rosas laced his fingers over his substantial gut as he regarded the map. “Someplace not ‘the usual’, then.”
Correa growled in frustration. “I keep thinking Switzerland, but I know there’s gonna be a lot of shit flung about that it’s too European-centric. Taiwan would be great; they’ve got both a good tech base and excellent transport infrastructure.”
“But way too controversial, for obvious reasons,” replied Rosas. “Japan?”
“China will, again, kick up a fuss. Huh. New Zealand?”
“That might work. They tend to be more neutral…but then again some might say they’re in too close with Australia, and that this whole effort is too Western-centric.” His eyes flicked back to north on the map. He was about to move his gaze elsewhere, but then he paused. “What about Iceland?”
“Iceland?” Correa almost scoffed, then looked more thoughtfully at the map. “Okay, they’re a NATO member which is a minus. But they tend to remain mostly neutral, which is a plus. Decent transportation infrastructure…don’t we have a naval air base there?”
“I think so, let me check…” Rosas tapped at his phone. “Hey, Jack? What can you tell me about any US naval air bases in Iceland? Just the highlights.” After a couple of minutes, he responded with a curt, “Okay, that’s enough, thanks.”
He put his phone away. “We kinda-sorta have one, at a place called Keflavik. The base there used to be a lot bigger during the Cold War. Then we shut it down after the Soviets were no longer a going concern. Iceland uses it now, and they allow us to fly submarine-search aircraft out of there, but a few years ago they nixed the DOD’s request to rebuild it into a more permanent base.”
“That does work in their favor. It makes for better optics if they’re known for keeping NATO at arm’s length.”
Rosas sat up. “Think the UN will go for it?”
“We can only try. I’ll have our ambassador in Reykjavik make some discreet inquiries, let’s see if they’d be okay with our proposing them as a candidate.”
The Chief of Staff smiled. “If it goes through, this institute will be pumping well north of a billion dollars per year into their economy. That should make it more than ‘okay’.
__________
Agent Cécile Savoie sat in a secure-location breakroom, silently grumbling as she held an as-yet un-drunk mug of coffee in her hands. As the agent-in-charge of the security detail during the Camp David incident, she’d been put on administrative leave, right alongside every other agent who’d been there. But it wasn’t like she had much down time; the inquiry board into that incident now summoned her damn near every other day for yet another round of tedious questioning.
“Hey,” said Hanson as he strolled in, looking just as sour as she felt.
She looked up in surprise. “Hey yourself. I thought you were assigned to the alien detail.”
“I was,” he said as he seated himself across the circular table from her. “Guess being in Alabama when the shitshow went down wasn’t far enough away to be completely out of suspicion. I just finished running my own gauntlet. But the rumor is, I’m getting it easy compared to everyone who was at Camp David, including the special forces people. Especially you.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty much a colonoscopy every day,” she muttered. “Going over the timeline, where I was at which times, who I had direct line of sight on, who I was in radio contact with.” She finally sipped her coffee.
Hanson’s sour expression deepened. “Do you really think it was one of us?”
She sighed. “It has to be. My gut tells me that there’s more than one mole and I told the inquiry board as much. The fuckers who got in knew too much about our patrol patterns, where everyone was, when they’d have a clear shot at an infil. That means someone with access to our methods and comms, and as to the latter we don’t use CB radios.”
The other agent leaned back. “Fuck. I wish I knew why any of us would do that. We’re supposed to be quiet professionals, not frothing radicals.”
Savoie turned the mug in her hands. “Not to tell tales out of school but, through the whisper network, they’ve been leaning hard on the captured dudes from the attack. Apparently one of their main ‘objections’,” and here she made some one-handed air quotes, “is that they think the whole Breaker thing is a ruse. It’s all smoke and mirrors, so that we’ll beg the Coalition to come and save us. And then…well, it gets vague after that but I guess they claim that at best we’ll get turned into the galactic equivalent of a Native American reservation. Worst case, we all get harvested for our precious bodily fluids.”
Hanson stared at her for a moment in disbelief. “That is, if you will forgive the uncouth term, utterly retarded. For chrissake, the Hubble got some beautiful shots of their ship once they’d spun that shield around to reveal it to us. I mean, I’m no spacecraft expert but even I could tell it had gotten the shit pounded out of it.”
She responded with a shrug. “Hey, Flat Earthers are still a thing.”
“Flat Earthers don’t stage FUCKING mortar attacks in our nation’s capital,” snapped Hanson. Then he subsided and spoke more softly. “Sorry, I shouldn’t be so on edge. This whole thing just pisses me off.”
“Join the club,” said Savoie as she sipped more coffee. “I just don’t get it, though.”
Hanson made a gentle ‘continue’ wave of his hand.
She leaned forward. “Okay. Our comrades in the CIA managed to identify the four who made it into the compound. They were all mercenaries, each with at least ten or fifteen years of experience in kicking ass around some of the worst hot spots in the world. Syria, Burma, bunch of places in Africa. One of ‘em even turned out to be ex-Wagner group.”
“Okay?” It was a leading single-word question, but not an unkind one.
“So why was the rest of the attack made up of nothing but a bunch of goddamn shit-kickers? And that includes the aborted attempt in Decatur. I’ve seen the files of those we rounded up in the Camp David attack. They were all low-life idiots just banging around, maybe they might have once held a gun in their lives. Hell, from what I’ve heard, the shootings that triggered the alarm at Camp David were an accident; those intruders were supposed to sneak around that patrol, not kill them. They all had the same top-of-the-line kit, so we know whoever is behind this has deep pockets. Why not hire an entire bunch of competent people instead of doing it onesy-twoseys?”
“It is a puzzle.” Hanson got up and set a styrofoam cup of water into the nearby microwave. As the cup turned within its electromagnetic prison, he leaned against the nearby counter and pondered her question. “Maybe the team in the woods was intended just as a distraction?”
“That’s what I thought at first, but then I reconsidered. I mean, what if the four who went in failed? You’d still need a proper backup plan. Same thing with the Decatur bunch. By the way, did they ever catch them?”
Hanson let out a dark chuckle. “Decatur PD found a pile of vests and rifles, hastily wiped down. They were able to pull a few partial prints off of ‘em. My guess is they’ve fled to the proverbial four winds, hoping to lay low for the rest of their lives. We’ll nab ‘em eventually.”
The microwave dinged and he retrieved his hot water, then pulled a tea bag out of his jacket pocket as he re-seated himself.
Savoie smiled. “I never figured you for a tea guy.”
He unwrapped the bag and with a bit of ceremony dunked it into his cup. “Well, I used to be a coffee guy, but my gut doesn’t agree with the acidity.”
“We do have tea here, you know.” She pointed to the storage bins behind him.
“Yeah, but it’s cheap-ass stuff. The brand I like is expensive, but worth it…” Hanson’s eyes widened as he trailed off.
She raised an eyebrow. “Hanson? Do you smell burnt toast?”
“They couldn’t afford it,” he said in a near-whisper.
Savoie was about to tell him to stop being overly dramatic, then she realized he might be on to something and that she didn’t dare distract him. “Keep talking.”
He leaned forward, his forearms on the table. “Okay. Imagine you’re a hard-bitten mercenary. You’ve been in the literal shit, in every nasty conflict anyone cares to name. Somehow, someone finds you and comes to you. They say ‘hey, these aliens are bad news, do you want to kill them?’ Even if you, as the hypothetical mercenary, are down with the cause…”
“From what the intruders were yelling, they were,” said Savoie.
“Yeah but even then, our mystery financier is asking you to infil and exfil out of one of the most heavily guarded pieces of real estate on the planet. Oh, and kill a bunch of special-forces-maybe and aliens-definitely in between. What do you do then?”
She replied with a grim smile. “If I’m that mercenary, then I ask for a metric fuck-ton of money. And there were four of them, they would have all done the same. Hell, they must have been doing collective bargaining.”
Hanson dunked his tea bag as he thought it through. “Okay, so our mystery mastermind has a lot of money, but not billions on hand to hire a literal army of hard cases. Huh. So those other dipshits might indeed have been a distraction.”
“Maybe. They must have also spent quite a bit on the mortar attack. That wasn’t made by some hobbyist in their bedroom, they knew what they were doing. Given that nobody saw them set up the launcher or leave, they were more pro.” Savoie hoped that the FBI’s efforts to track the various mortar components turned up something soon. Thus far, those efforts were bogged down; as it turned out, quite a few companies had ordered the identified components, and tracking the subsequent second-hand purchases was time-consuming.
“And those mortar-making pros would be more expensive.” Hanson sipped a bit of tea. “Did they ever get anything off of the launcher itself?”
“Sadly, no. Turns out the whole damned thing was homemade, constructed out of tubing and other off-the-shelf components. It was also wiped down thoroughly, no prints. Like I said, pros.”
“But limited in resources,” said Hanson. “Which explains one of the things that’s bugged me. Namely, that our OPFOR didn’t use some proper artillery. If they have a couple of moles in the Secret Service, then it should be easy to recruit and pay some military dudes to slip ‘em some gear and alter the logs. They could stow a howitzer inside a semi-tractor-trailer. You could park that thing anywhere up to 25 miles away. Use a single 155mm Excalibur GPS-guided munition, boom. That would have pretty much obliterated the stage and everyone on it. Then you just re-stow the howitzer and toodle off all innocent-like, right when everyone is freaking the hell out.”
“So they couldn’t afford that type of arty strike,” she said. “Or they simply didn’t have the contacts to pull that off. Hmm. I wonder if our moles are getting paid at all?”
Hanson resumed his thousand-yard stare. “The mortar attack must have been planned first. The other two attacks feel much more like rush jobs.”
“Eh? Oh, I get it. Sadaf’s speech was known well in advance. It was going to be one of her first big public appearances since the initial presidential speech. They were broadcasting it online to the world. Having her get turned into chunky red salsa, in real time, would be one helluva statement. So that’s what they focused on.” She drank a bit more coffee, and now it was time for her eyes to widen. “Our mole or moles didn’t arrive at Camp David until after Sadaf’s speech was announced.”
“That…oh, yeah, that makes sense. Originally the mortar attack is the OPFORs’ only focus, but yet somehow they’ve suborned one or two Secret Service agents and they have ‘em in their back pocket. Then one, or better yet both, of the moles gets assigned to the Camp David detail, and they realize that now that they have a golden opportunity to get at the other aliens as well. So they go off and hire four pros for the actual attack inside, plus a bunch of chucklefucks to act as a distraction, because that’s all they can afford since the four pros are asking for some serious money.”
Savoie leaned forward. “When did Chao and Grakosh leave Camp David?”
“It was, ah, three? No, four days after we got everyone settled, both the aliens and the special forces types.”
“Okay, so then the OPFOR gets word, courtesy of our moles, that one of the aliens is now heading to Alabama. But now they’re stretched so thin that they can’t afford anything other than to hire another bunch of dipshits to make a run at them and hope for the best.”
“And then the second bunch lets the FNG drive.”
They both laughed, but that humor settled down as they both thought through the chain of inference.
“It is pretty thin,” said Savoie at last. “There’s a lot of assumptions in there.”
“Yeah. But I do like the idea of our moles getting assigned at the last minute.”
She rubbed her forehead. “We had a bunch of new people come in when they decided to stow the Rithro crew there. Seven, no eight in all.”
“It’s a place to start,” said Hanson. He finished his tea. “C’mon, let’s see if we can get a meeting with the inquiry board.”
__________
A little while later and not very far away, three people sat in a well-lit but otherwise deadly dull room. At least the chairs were somewhat comfortable. Matt and Martinez sat at two chairs against one wall, while across from them McCoy sat sprawled sideways on another with a foul look on her face. She glowered at the far beige-painted wall. “This completely sucks. Why can’t we have our phones? I could at least play some mahjong.”
“This is a secure location, Corporal,” replied Matt. “Ixnay on the onephays.”
Martinez’s leg jittered. “How long are we gonna sit here? They said they’d call us in, like, an hour ago!”
“Dunno, it’s some kind of last-minute interview thing,” replied Matt with Zen-like calm.
The corporal looked over at Matt. “I don’t get you, man.”
Matt grinned. “Nobody gets me. I’m like the wind, baby!”
“That’s not…I mean, I watched you open up a dude like he was a bag of fuckin’ Doritos using nothing but a fuckin’ knife. Now you’re being all Caine from ‘Kung Fu’.”
“It’s good to know that the classics are still appreciated,” said Matt.
Martinez pointed at him. “If you start calling me ‘Grasshopper’ I will shoot you.”
McCoy turned her glare to the ceiling. “Maybe it’s a psychological test. They want to see if we crack under pressure and start yakking secrets.”
“I mean, I’m sure they’re recording us right now,” replied Matt. “But it’s merely as a precaution. I am also five-nines certain that none of us are suspects. We weren’t integrated into the compound’s overall security, and thus it would be unlikely that we could have let our four attackers in.”
“Not to mention, we were the ones to kill ‘em,” added Martinez. “Well, except for the one that Takh took care of.”
“Yep. This is…I won’t call it a formality, but the board just wants to know where you were and what you saw. Walk them through your personal timelines, understand? Tell them only what you know. If you don’t know something, then say so.”
McCoy turned herself around so that she now sprawled the other way. “This whole bullshit just bugs me. Takh and the others are off with a bunch of strangers and I…I mean, we aren't there to help protect them.”
Matt and Martinez shared a meaningful glance. “From what I heard, Takh is quite capable of taking care of himself,” said the latter with a grin. “You told me he pitched that one dude across the room like he was throwing a softball.”
For once, the petite corporal looked a bit flustered. “Yeah, but, I mean, what if some other potential bad guy gets the drop on him with a gun? I don’t like not being there. I just wanna know that he’s okay. I should be there, just to make sure.”
The smaller man snapped his fingers in the face of the taller, who sighed and took out his wallet. With great ceremony, Matt pulled out a five-dollar bill and placed it upon the now-upraised palm of Martinez.
“Told ya,” said Martinez with a grin.
She sat up and glared at them both. “That doesn’t mean anything! Takh is a good guy!”
“Nobody said he wasn’t,” replied Matt as he stowed his wallet. “He is indeed a good guy.”
“Yeah, seriously, we’re glad you two hooked up,” added Martinez. “Takh’s solid. Hell, I’d let him date my sister.”
“I. Am. Not. Hooked Up. With ANYONE.” McCoy now looked furious enough to chew nails.
Martinez stroked his chin. “Kissing might be a problem, though.”
Matt performed a similar chin-stroking action. “Hmm, indeed, Corporal, I do believe it might be a serious issue. One has all of those mandibles to contend with.” He hooked his fingers next to his mouth in an approximation of an udhyr’s face. “Still, I think that, with enough will and effort, one could figure it out. Like the man said, life finds a way.”
“But how much tongue is he packing?” posed Martinez. “You know what the man also says. Big dude, big tongue. Could make things more interesting, all around.”
The woman did not look amused. “Martinez, Toke? You are now both officially gigantic flatulating assholes.”
“C’mon, McCoy!” protested Martinez. “Think of it this way. A few years from now, let’s say we filthy humans are now part of the Coalition and I’m at some meet ‘n greet, and I just so happen to spy me an oh-so-very-fiiine udhyr mamacita from across the room. Now, I wanna do my bit for my species and approach her, and get some good old inter-species cultural interaction going on. But there’s all sorts of questions. How do I compliment her without insulting her culture? How am I supposed to get in good with her? How do the mechanics work? How do the various bits line up? We need details! You’re at the tip of the spear, we all need good intel!”
McCoy slumped back into her seat. “Over seven hundred billion Dimmadollars of defense spending, and yet somehow I wind up stuck in a room with you two fuckos…oh, by the way, Toke,” she added, pointing a finger at Matt, “why the hell can you and Sarge never go back to Okinawa?”
“Nice distraction, McCoy,” said Martinez. “My guess is some sort of wet-work shit.”
Matt just smiled. “Oh for fuck’s sake, I don’t kill everyone I meet. I was a Second LT at the time, managed to somehow leapfrog my way into officer ranks all the way from enlisted. Anyways, the Okinawa affair was merely a case of, well, one particular case of rye whiskey. The good sergeant…was he a sergeant then? Oh yeah, we had done some other stuff I can’t tell you about in someplace I can’t tell you where, and we were celebrating Shaw getting his third stripe. We’d got ahold of the previously-mentioned case of whiskey and then we began toasting to each other’s good health. We did a lot of toasting. Quite a lot of toasting. As you can imagine, the toasting went on and on until we, um, well we did some unwise things. It started out with us sparring-for-fun with each other in public and escalated from there. No locals were harmed, and nothing we did was hella illegal, or I would’ve never made Captain. Buuut the local government would definitely throw a shitfit if me or, God forbid, both of us set foot back on the island.” He chuckled. “Hell, the Okinawan customs people probably still have both of our pictures taped up inside their booths with a big old sign saying ‘DO NOT ADMIT THIS PERSON, YOU FOOL’ written above them.”
“What did you do?” asked Martinez. His eyes were big and soulful, like a kid asking for yet one more story before bedtime.
Matt shrugged. “I mean, I don’t remember much for obvious reasons. I’m almost sure we didn’t piss on any monuments, that would have definitely been cause for a serious demotion. We did do a number on some shrubbery, that I do remember. We decided it needed to be trimmed back, and so we did so. Using our bare hands. Seemed like a good idea at the time.”
A fearsome light came into McCoy’s eyes. “Martinez, do you know what this means?”
He looked at her all uncertain. “Um, Toke and Sarge have cast-iron livers?”
“No, you fool. Blackmail material.”
Matt pointed back at her. “Hey, now, I told you that in confidence. Besides, Shaw has a lot more to contend with right now.”
The reminder of the sergeant’s current crippled state brought the elevated atmosphere of the room back down. McCoy nodded as her smile faded. “Right. Hey, did you see the Prez’s speech at the UN?”
“Yep,” said Matt. “From what I’ve read, the political wrangling after it seems pretty tame compared to the usual.”
Martinez snorted. “No shit. Did either of you see the laundry list of shit that we might be able to do? Anti-aging, limb regrowth, cancer treatments which work well and which don’t half-kill the patient…hell, maybe even Alzheimer’s could be in our rear-view mirror. The grand high muckity-mucks are falling all over themselves to get that out into the world, for themselves if nobody else.”
“You’re way too cynical, Martinez,” said Matt.
“Oh fuck off. What if…okay, I know this sounds like a cheesy sci-fi concept, but what if they hoard all of the good shit for themselves and we peons get just the crumbs?”
Matt lapsed back into his meditative demeanor. “In that case, my dear corporal, you or I or McCoy or someone like us will show those hypothetical elites that, while they are indeed long-lived, they are not in fact immortal.”
The trio fell into silence for a few minutes. Then Martinez leaned over towards Matt. “Ah, a little birdie told me you were involved in questioning the prisoners we nabbed at Camp David.”
“I merely facilitated certain conversations,” replied Matt.
Martinez sighed. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“Ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies…Corporal.”
McCoy let out a growl. “Well, I heard these terrorist assholes are saying that the Breakers aren’t real, that it’s all fake videos from the Coalition.”
“Just to play devil’s advocate,” said Matt, “our AI image and video generation is already getting to the point where, soon, we puny humans could manufacture such evidence.”
“What?” Martinez looked as if he was about to launch himself at Matt.
Matt held up a calming hand. “I’m not saying it is fake. The Hubble pics are damned convincing.”
Martinez hiked up one foot to place it on his seat, then rested his chin on his knee. “Fuck. I guess it didn’t convince everyone.” He mused for a few moments. “Wait. What if we made it even more convincing?”
“How?” asked Matt.
“We send some humans up to the Rithro. Two or three at least. The boats can still make it up to the ship, right?”
For once Matt looked uncertain. “I think so? Dunno how many times they can come and go without recharging, we’ll have to ask ‘em.”
“Right, so we set up an even better publicity stunt than the Hubble pics. Choose a few people, from all over the world. We have ‘em travel up to the Rithro, take pics and video up close showing the damage. Even take ‘em inside the ship and get a full tour, maybe…if the crew is okay with that, of course.”
“Huh.” Matt sat back and pondered the idea. “That’s a really good idea, Martinez. I guess you aren’t as dumb as you look.”
The corporal responded with a slight smile at the verbal jab. “We’d need to choose the right people, though.”
“They’d have to be trustworthy…or at least someone that the entire world will consider trustworthy,” said Matt.
“Well known,” added McCoy. She no longer looked vengeful. “With recognizable faces and voices, and then they can go on all the talk shows after and say that, yes indeed, I got a tour of the ship and it is indeed quite banged up.”
Martinez stared at the far wall. “Some kind of celebrity? Heh. You think Tom Cruise would be up for it?”
Matt laughed. “That beautiful maniac? Hell, he’d insist on shooting an entire movie up there, with at least one action scene where he’s hanging off of the outside of the ship.”
They all smiled at the resulting mental image.
“Chao could work,” said McCoy into the silence. “She’s kind of a celebrity now. After all, she was the first human to come into contact with aliens, eh?” She gave Matt a big and very un-subtle wink.
To skirt the rather…unconventional methods used to achieve a positive First Contact, Matt’s role had been very much demoted in the official story. Now every recounting of the tale included a bit of ‘…oh, and there was also another person who stumbled across our brave woman in the midst of her attempts at informational exchange with the aliens…” His exact identity was also not published, under the screen of ‘he wishes to remain anonymous’.
“Oh bite me, McCoy, it’s fun,” replied Matt. He waggled his eyebrows. “Besides, I work better in the shadows!” He threw his forearm across his face like a half-assed Count Dracula trying to hide behind his cape.
Then he dropped his arm. “Yeah, Chao would be good as a current social-media darling. Of course, she might not want that. She strikes me as more of the wallflower type, for the most part.”
“We need more people,” said Martinez, as he stared at the floor. “Chao might be good on her own, but she’s got that motor-mouth talking thing when you get her going. It’s one or the other. Either she’s trying to shrink into a corner and take up as little space as possible, or suddenly you’re getting pulled into another corner for a doctoral dissertation on how minimal-energy transfer-orbits work.”
Matt pondered for a moment. “Wait, when did she do that? I never sat through one of those lectures.”
Martinez looked away and…well, Matt hoped that their supposed overlords were indeed recording this particular moment in time because the hard-bitten Hispanic special-forces corporal actually blushed.
McCoy, of course, realized a golden opportunity for payback and immediately pounced. “Why, Corporal Martinez,” she purred. “Doooo tell us. When did Chao Me Chu, heh, pull you into a corner? Hmmm?”
“She’s…she’s just real nice, that’s all,” replied Martinez. “I asked her a couple of questions, and she answered them. That’s all. We both love classic sci-fi, like Asimov and shit. I guess we bonded over that.”
Matt cleared his throat. “Aaaaand may I remind you two and everyone listening in that we have all been cooped up nuts-to-butts for awhile? Don’t mistake familiarity for romantic bullshit.” He pointed over at Martinez. “But you. If you can follow at least half of what she talks about, then you are absolutely without-a-single-fucking-doubt wasted as a corporal, even if you’re in a low-drag high-speed outfit like this. You hear me?”
“Um, yes sir.” It was the first time in McCoy’s memory that anyone had addressed Matt as befitting his perhaps-former rank.
“Good. You get your ass into college, somehow. You’re a smart guy, you’ll figure all that shit out. And as for Chao? Just give it room to breathe. Let her know you’re interested, but don’t press the matter.”
“Let her know?” For once Martinez looked completely lost. “How do I…” he trailed off. “I mean, I like her…and yeah, I mean I like her in that way, but she’s so damn smart and pretty and I’m just some dipshit meathead.”
“Hey, don’t sell yourself short,” said Matt. “You’re our dipshit meathead.”
McCoy’s vengeful smile faded. “Martinez…no, Luca.”
Martinez looked up in surprise at her use of his first name.
She continued. “Just talk to her. Neither of you have any clue as to what ‘normal’ social interactions look like. In your case, it’s because you’ve been a soldier for all of your adult life. In her case, it’s because she’s, well, because she’s Chao. So just walk up to her and be straightforward. Trust me, it’ll be like a breath of fresh air for her to not have to navigate social cues. Just say something like ‘Hey, I really like you, do you like me and do you want to go get a coffee sometime’? Start with that. Chao’s good people, the worst thing she’ll do is say no. She won’t yell at you or talk shit about you online. Buuuut, some sixth sense is telling me she won’t say no to getting some coffee with ya.”
Matt smiled. “McCoy, I think you might have a calling after you leave the military.”
She snorted. “Oh yeah, I’ll hang up my match-making shingle on the internet and start raking in the big bucks. Martinez is right, though. If we try to do a publicity stunt up at the Rithro, then we’ll need somebody alongside Chao to win the world over. Somebody well-known, but preferably someone not in the traditional Western pop-culture sphere. That’ll make it more palatable…”
Her voice trailed off and she stared into space. The two men now looked at each other in genuine concern until she spoke again a few moments later.
“Guys? I think I just had the best idea ever.”

Easter Island (Rapa Nui) was truly one of the most amazing places I've ever visited and I would love to go back there someday - 5 days was not enough.
There is a process to get to Easter Island, although fairly simple. Here are a few things to know ahead of time:
It's a 5-hour direct flight from Santiago, Chile.
You have to fill out the online Formulario de Ingreso a Rapa Nui (Rapa Nui Entry Form) (IRN). I printed the form out after submitting it, although this turned out to not be necessary. You go through a special line at the airport in Santiago and they look up your passport in their database - they know if you have submitted the form.
https://ingresorapanui.interior.gob.cl/
You have to have reserved accommodations that are registered with the National Tourism Service (SERNATUR). This was stated very clearly with the AirBnB that I booked.
You have to have an official guide to visit any of the archaeological sites that are within the National Park, which is about half of the island. It's best to buy an entry ticket for the National Park ahead of time (about US $80), which can be done online:
https://www.rapanuinationalpark.com/pages/compra-de-tickets
Print out the ticket and always have it with you. There are entry stations at each of the major archaeological sites and they will stamp it there.
Hanga Roa is the only town, its small but there are lots of shops and restaurants, a good place to buy souvenirs. Internet is extremely limited throughout the island, but there is a little café on the main street that has great wi-fi. It's called La creperia Rapa Nui, the food and service are great, and the tropical juices are so refreshing in the hot weather.
Some of the top sites to see:
Orongo: old ceremonial site where the bird man contest took place each year to choose a new leader. It is located on a high cliff, right next to the Rano Kau volcanic crater. A small trail runs around the top of the crater.
Rano Raraku: a spectacular quarry where all of the moais (the carved heads) were carved, then transported around the island. There is a 2-kilometer trail that winds through the quarry, past lots of partially carved moais. You really appreciate having a guide here because every moai has its own story.
One thing I didn't know before I got there: there are more than 800 moais that form a circle around the island. ALL OF THEM were knocked over about 300 years ago during a period of inter-tribal warfare. The ones you see in photos have been restored by archaeologists in the past 50 years.
Tongariki: this is the largest restored platform, with 15 moais. It is an amazing place to watch the sunrise. You need a guide with transportation, because it is about 15 kilometers outside of Hanga Roa. My guide threw a bicycle in the back of her pickup and I rode the 15 kilometers back to town after sunrise, past big herds of horses and lots of old fallen moais and platforms along the coast.
Anakena: on the northern coast of the island, this is the beach where the Rapanui people first landed 1,000 years ago. It is spectacular, with a large platform that has 4 moais. There are also several small restaurants, the best ceviche I've ever had anywhere in the world.
Tahai: just north of Hanga Roa, easy walking distance. A platform with 5 moais and a single one by itself, this is the place to watch the amazing sunsets.
There is an excellent guidebook that is available on the island in both English and Spanish. A Companion to Easter Island, by James Grant-Peterkin.
The Rapanui people are very warm and friendly, although not many people speak English. The island is part of Chile, so everybody speaks Spanish and about half the people speak the Polynesian language of Rapa Nui. Two important words in Rapa Nui will be greatly appreciated:
Iorana: hello, goodbye, how are you? good morning - this is the Easter Island equivalent of aloha.
Māuru-uru: thank you

Alrighty, I'll describe my first time travel in japan, what went well, what didn't go well, my overall impression of Japan. We travelled trough quite a few cities, but I'll try to keep it as short as possible as I'm not much of writer. And we've visited quite a few places, so if you'd like more details, comment and I'll go more in-depth :).
A bit about the travelling party. Me(25M) and a work colleague(26M), Lithuanians(Europe) software engineers, reasonably fit and somewhat fluent in english, Omnivores(my colleague is allergic to cheese), our height is around ±185cm.

TL;DR

Cities/islands visited

Tokyo(Shinjuku) -> Osaka -> Nara -> Kyoto -> Onomichi Islands -> Matsuyama -> Hiroshima -> Miyajima -> Kumamoto -> Aso(region) -> Fukuoka -> Nagasaki -> Nagoya -> Takayama -> Magome -> Matsumoto - > Tokyo(Chuo) -> Tokyo(Shibuya) -> Tokyo(Teito) -> Hakone.

Expenses

I was slightly more conservative with my spending so my expenses are on the cheaper side, my colleague spent quite a bit more, especially on food and booze.
Total amount spent: slightly more than 3k euros in japan + 1.1k euros flights back and forth.
EDIT: Daily food expenses: 30-40 eur or 5k-7k yen.
Daily food expenses: 3k-4k Daily travel fares(bus, metro), museums and other activities: 1k-3k
Average hotel stay: ~60euro
Food: - Breakfast - usually something from a convenience store. Chicken, power gels, chocolate, melon bread(my favourite), - Lunch - something from a convenience store or a restaurant - Dinner - restaurant usually a ramen place

Activities

Museums, castles, shrines, forests, mountains, walks around the city. We did a lot of walking, total around 400km of walking(at leasts that's what google fit shows)
Alright that's a brief summary, now for the more in-depth write up.

My key takeaways

• Japan is a very safe country, I felt safe everywhere, even in the shady parts of Tokyo.
• People are very polite, they'll go out of their way to help you, even if they don't speak english.
• People are very quiet, you won't hear people talking on the phone, or talking loudly in public transport.
• Be polite, if you don't understand or thing that this is not how it should be, don't be rude, just accept it and move on. You are an alien in their country, not the other way around. So please don't ever raise your voice, japanese people are not malicious, they'll try to help you, but they might not understand you.
• If you want to feel appreciated, learn at least the basics on japanese, it's not that hard, and it'll make your life easier. I did it through doulingo, reached unit 14 in a month and that was sufficient to have very simple conversation.

This is it for the TL;DR part. I'll go more in-depth for the rest of the post.

Planning for the trip

We started planning the trip, where we'll go, where we'll stay, what we'll do, expenses, trains, all that you can plan was started to be planned around a month prior to the trip. We created a word doc as our itinerary, that was around 60 pages long. From what I've read on this page about you can't plan everything. Well I believe we did, we might've even over planned :D.
So we booked the following hotels: - Tokyo - Apa Hotel Higashi Shinjuku Kabukicho Tower(04.25-04.26) - Osaka - APA Hotel Namba Kita Shinsaibashi Ekimae(04.26-04.30) - Onomichi island - TOMARIGI Hostel(04.30-05.01) - Matsuyama - Hotel Patio Dogo(05.01-05.02) - Hiroshima - Wholeearth Ryokan Hiroshima(05.02-05.04) - Kumamoto - Hotel Wing International Select Kumamoto(05.04-05.08) - Nagoya - Sotetsu Fresa Inn Nagoya Shinkansenguchi(05.08-05.10) - Magoame - Magomechaya(05.10-05.11) - Matsumoto - Hotel M Matsumoto(05.11-05.12) - Tokyo - APA Hotel Ginza Kyobashi Tokyo Station Yaesu South Gate(05.14-05.17)
Extra things we bought in advance: - Water proof bags - Hiking boots and socks - Bigger backpacks - JP Rail pass, we booked the trains in advance, but honestly that wasn't necessary even during golden week - Bandages for foot blisters, medicine(for headaches, motion sickness, diarrhoea). - Ubigi eSim internet(10GB was plenty for me throughout the trip) - Sun screen(did not use and got sunburned to a point where I was shinning red) - Portable battery

The trip

Day 1(04.25)

We arrived at the Haneda aiport, exchanged some cash to yen(was at a better course than locally), printed out our JR passes(IMPORTANT TO DO SO HERE, only major stations let you print it out) and went to the metro. We took the train to Shinjuku, and walked to our hotel to check-in. We were quite tired, bought some chicken from lawson and went to explore a few places, a few drinks in golden gai district and ramen in a nearby place. Eventually we ended up at rock bar mother. Really cool place, for each drink you can request 2 songs to be played. After that back to hotel, visit the top floor onsen and sleep

Day 2(04.26)

Got up early, travelled to osaka. Left our luggage in the hotel, we were too early for a check in. We went to see Osaka castle(quite beautiful), tried takoyaki there. More city exploring, then we went check-in. After that we went to see the Umeda Sky Building in the evening(we bought the ticket in advance) very beautiful, it was very clear and beautiful. Got back to the city, got some ramen, went to the hotel and sleep.

Day 3(04.27)

Went to USJ, bought tickets(basic, no express stuff) in advance. We went there 30minutes before opening, and there was already a huge line. We went to Nintendo first, the zone looked very nice, but ride it'd say was okay'ish for me. After that the dinosaur rides, minion land, grabbed chinese food for lunch, went to the harry potter zone, at this point the lines got quite long around 1h to 1h 30min of wait time. After that we went to see Water world where they were doing a play, was really awesome, I'd say a must see even if you don't understand Japanese, the acting is very good. After that we went to Osaka aquarium(no lines, thank god), it was beautiful, cute chonks and other sea creatures.

Day 4(04.28)

Trip to Kyoto from Osaka. We went early by metro, to see the bamboo forest(7:40'ish), beautiful, few people. Walked around the park then climbed the mount a fed the monkeys(50 yen for a bag of fruits or nuts), very cute, tried petting the hand of one, didn't go well got an aggressive show of teeth. After that we visited Ryoanji temple, went to nishi market, we we're running a bit late so we took a taxi to Kiyomizudera, we saw the geish district on our way to there, looked interesting. After the temple we went to a bar and got back to Osaka and then after a bowl of ramen to our hotel.

Day 5(04.29)

We went to Nara, took this hiking track saw the deer, bought some food, did the whole bow thing then fed them. One thing to keep in mind is to crumble the cookie and give it in small pieces, otherwise you'll run out of food to give quickly. They might be very "assertive" and try to take it from you, don't be afraid, just stick your empty arm out to get some distance and that's it . They're not gonna bite you. After that we went to see the Todaiji temple, it was beautiful, the buddha statue was huge. Got back to Osaka, got some ramen, went to the hotel, scheduled to send our luggage to our next hotel and went to sleep.

Day 6(04.30)

Got up early, went to Onomichi, rented some bikes and began our cycling journey through the islands. A lot of cool bridges, very beautiful nature. We cycled to north Omishima port, where we transfered to rabbit island pet and fed the rabbits, got back and cycled to our ryokan and straight to sleeping.

Day 7(05.01)

More cycling, more cool bridges, more beautiful nature. We arrived at Imabari, returned our bikes and took the train to Matsuyama. We ate some stree food, relaxed in the open hot springs for feet. Walked around and went to sleep. To be honest I'd say this was the favorite city of the whole trip for me. I liked the vibe, the people, the food, the nature, the onsen, the layout, the architecture. In general, beautiful city.

Day 8(05.02)

Early in the morning visited a public onsen nearby, then went to see the Matsuyama castle, it was beautiful, tried the orange juice there, it was really good, got back to our hotels, got some dango. Packed our stuff, got a taxi and went to the port and took the ferry to Hiroshima. Checked in the ryokan. Took a train to Hiroshima city center, visited the castle and then the nuclear museum. Get the english audio for best experience. It took me around 2hours to walk through everything, read it and take it in. It was very nerve racking, but I'd say a must see. After that we went out to eat some Okonomiyaki, it was delicious, then back to the ryokan and sleep.

Day 9(05.03)

Went to Miyajima island first by train then transfer by ferry. It was very beautiful, the mountain hike was also fun, the view on top was amazing. When we came down from the mountain there was a low tide, so we could go near the Itsukushima shrine. Got back to Hiroshima, went to the city center for a couple of beers, got back to Ryokan and went to sleep.

Day 10(05.04)

First day of the Golden week, wouldn't say that I've noticed anything different, maybe because we were travelling to the far south of Japan - Kumamoto. This is one of those cities that I also enjoyed more than the big common ones, it looked very nice, had a beautiful castle, was not crowded as Hiroshima, Osaka or Tokyo. We rented out bikes, cycled to Honmoji park(the place near Honmoji park is god damn maze, keep you google maps always open or you will get lost) found a place to eat, visited Lafcadio Hearn House and went to our hotel and then to sleep.

Day 11(05.05)

We rentend a car and went to Aso, highly recommend renting a car here, since the public transport is not that good. The drive was very nice, we went to see active volcano crater, luckily it was not erupting, so we were allowed to get close. Then we went around and climbed the other inactive mountain caps. Climbing that was one of the most fun hikes I've had. It was very windy, you could barely see past 5 meters anywhere, because of the fog. There was no smell of sulfur, so it was safe. We visited Mt. Nakadake, Mt. Takadake, overall the place looked like Mordor, the vibes, the weather everything. After that we visited Ayugaeno Falls, the ravines and everything was just majectic. After that we got back to Kumamoto, gave back the car and went somewhere to eat. Car rental cost around ~7k yen in total. So I'd say a good price. After eating, we went to our hotel and then to sleep.

Day 12(05.06)

We went to Fukuoka, by train, walked around the city, visited Tochoji temple, Fukuoka castle ruins, Ohori park and explored the huge ravine type shopping mall. Went to the science museum(big mistake, it's for kids...). After that we tried Ichiran ramen(originated in Fukuoka so we thought it be better). Was the same as everywhere else. It was rainy so we got back pretty early to our hotel and went to sleep.

Day 13(05.07)

We went to Nagasaki, by train, visited the atomic bomb museum, it was very interesting, just as good as the one in Hiroshima. We took a boat ride to see Gunkanjima, though we couldn't get on the island, because of the weather, it was still very interesting to see and hear the history of the island. Explored the Dutch district, walked around the shops, tried some whale meat. It was raining the whole day, so we also got back quite early and went to sleep.

Day 14(05.08)

We got up early and went got straight to the train station, and caught the train to Nagoya. The longest train ride by far. We arrived at Nagoya, checked in our hotel, went to the city center, visited the castle, it was very beautiful, then we wanted to explore the abandoned tunnel near Aichi. Apparently it was closed, we decided we're going to enter through the exit, like rascals, but apparently after we circled around there was a police officer that was guarding traffic through the bridge and wouldn't let us through. So our trip ended there. After comming back to Nagoya we visited the sky scrapper, it had interesting installations on the windows. We had our stay got back to hotel and went to sleep.

Day 15(05.09)

We went to Takayama, by train, one of the most scenic train rides so far. We strolled around the city center, visited the early morning market, bought some souvenirs, tried some white strawberries, mushroom tee and other local cuisine. Visited Takayama Showa Museum, which was 10/10. You could touch almost everything, the museum gave a great vibe, it was like you were in a house of a family that lived there. There was also an old nintendo with mario kart that you could play, put on a old yukata and take photos. Play pachinko(no money needed), watch an old-school movie. We visited a few sake tasting places, I've found a few flavours that I liked. After that back to Nagoya, eat ramen and sleep.

Day 16(05.10)

We sent out our luggage to Matsumoto, caught a train to Nagiso and then hiked the Nakasendo trail to Tsumago and then Magome where we checked in and stayed at the local ryokan. The hike was very nice and relaxing one of the easier hikes I've had, the places we saw we're quite old and beautiful. At ryokan we met people one American and one from Germany, they had a guitar so we chatted a bit, played the guitar and had a few beers. The dinner at ryokan was amazing, looked very traditional Japanese dinner. Was also very tasty, would definitely recommend this place. After that we went to sleep.

Day 17-19(05.11)

Got up early and took a bus to Nakatsugawa Eki-mae station where we travelled to Matsumoto. We left our bags and went to the RubyKaigi conference. Overall good conference, I've learned somethings, but most importantly I've had bit of time to rest and catch up on some sleep, since we weren't exploring new cities. So overall the following 3 days were wake up -> breakfast -> conference -> lunch -> conference -> drinks -> dinner -> sleep.

Day 20(05.14)

Slept in, had breakfast and travelled to Tokyo by train. Left our luggage at the hotel and moved on to explore the Chou region. Walked around the Ginza, Imperial palace, Yasukuni shrine and went to check in. After that it was getting dark, so travelled to Akihabara to experience the anime night life, was quite bright and interesting. Though the amount of requests to visit a maid cafe was too damn high. If your planning to buy a PS5, a new GPU or Nintendo switch, this could be the place, I saw PS5 with two controllers for 60k yen, with a 10% tax refund that is around 370 euros. After some exploration, got back to our hotel and went to sleep.

Day 21(05.15)

This was our Hakone day trip, we bought the 3 day pass for it, so we could use the train, bus, ropeway and boat. Was worth it, even for one day. We climbed Mt. Kintoki, thankfully the weather was great and we could see Fuji. The climb was very nice, the view was amazing, the weather was great, no bears to be seen. After climbing down, we played some golf that was near there. Travelled back to the station were we used the rope-way to get around the mountains, the view was just majestic, we saw the sulfur pits, the stench was, well strong to say the least, but overall enjoyed the experience. We didn't make it time to the boat, so we had to travel back by bus, which wasn't so bad, since the scenery was amazing.

Day 22(05.16)

Explored more Tokyo, so we went to Teito district, went to the Ueno zoo, National science museum. After that we went to Kaminarimon gate, Asakusa shrine and moved to Shibuya next. There we went to the Yoyogi park, Meiji Jingu shrine, paid our respects to Hachiko statue. The last activity was to visit TeamLabs Planets, which were amazing, one most interesting experiences, not gonna spoil any details, overall great experience, would do it again. As it was getting late we got back to Shibuya, walked around more, had a drink and went back to our hotel.

Day 23(05.17)

Last day in Japan was spent buying souvenirs, snacks and other stuff to bring back home. Packing our luggage, to accommodate for the extras, getting to Haneda airport and back to Lithuania.
I'm very happy I had the opportunity to go on such a trip, I enjoyed it a lot even though, I'm quite the couch potato so 3 weeks is a bit much for me, but nonetheless, wouldn't change a thing.

Delhi, with its history and busy city life, is a great place. But sometimes, you need a break. Luckily, there are many lovely places nearby for a weekend trip. You'll find everything from old towns to quiet hill stations and exciting wildlife parks. From historical sites and serene hill stations to adventurous wildlife parks, there's something for everyone. And if you're in search of the ideal place to stay, look no further than Sundays Forever Stays, offering top-notch accommodation in Dehradun, Mussorie, and Shimla.
1.Neemrana
Neemrana is a charming town nestled in the Alwar district of Rajasthan, renowned for the majestic Neemrana Fort Palace. This historical place exudes a vintage charm and serves as a royal reminder of India's rich heritage. Whether you're exploring the centuries-old fort or walking through the town's narrow lanes, Neemrana's essence can be felt in its every nook and cranny. Delicious local cuisine and panoramic views are the icing on the cake, enhancing your overall experience.
2.Lansdowne
Situated amidst beautiful pine and oak forests, Lansdowne is a hill station that stands apart. Away from the touristy crowd, it provides a peaceful retreat to the weary city dwellers. The sweet chirping of birds, the rustling sound of leaves, and the quiet ambiance serve as a refreshing respite. Here, you can lose yourself to nature, take relaxing walks through the dense forests, or simply enjoy the tranquility.
3.Dehradun
Located in the heart of the Doon Valley, Dehradun offers something for every traveler. Flanked by the Himalayas, the city presents lush green landscapes, a variety of flora and fauna, and several trekking trails for adventure enthusiasts. It's also home to fascinating places like Robber’s Cave, Mindrolling Monastery, and the beautiful waterfall, Sahastradhara. To top it off, why not book your stay at Sundays Forever's properties in Dehradun? It guarantees a comfortable and memorable retreat amid nature.
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Dhanaulti, a quaint town set between Mussoorie and Chamba, is an oasis of calm and serenity. It’s cool and pleasant weather, scenic vistas, and the simplicity of life make it a perfect getaway for those seeking peace and solitude. Visitors can spend their time exploring the Eco Park, trying out adventure sports, or simply relaxing and soaking in the town's natural beauty.
5.Shimla
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7.Jim Corbett National Park
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8.Mussoorie
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10.Dharamshala
Dharamshala is a beautiful hill station renowned for its Tibetan culture, thanks to the residence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in McLeod Ganj. You can explore the Tibetan monasteries, learn about their intriguing philosophies, or shop for Tibetan crafts in the local markets. Do take a stroll around the Dal Lake, enveloped in tranquillity, or visit the Bhagsunag Waterfalls, a place where nature is in its full bloom.
Conclusion
Delhi's nearby areas offer a rich diversity of experiences, perfect for a short and refreshing weekend getaway. Whether you are a nature lover, a history enthusiast, or an adventure junkie, these destinations will not disappoint. If your travels take you to Dehradun, Mussorie, or Shimla, remember to check out Sundays Forever's exquisite properties for a stay that will enhance your travel experience. Book your stay with Sundays Forever- a guarantee of comfort, luxury, and enchanting views that you'll remember for a lifetime. Plan your next weekend getaway now and create unforgettable memories!

Hey! We're currently in Tsilivi, Zakynthos, with our 7-month-old, have a hire car and looking for some recommendations.
Baby-friendly beaches: We're searching for tranquil sandy beaches that can be accessed by car (no boats). Preferably, ones with a gentle coastline, a peaceful atmosphere, and maybe even a nearby walking path. Any suggestions?
Scenic parks, botanical gardens or farms: We'd love to explore parks or gardens similar to the National Trust parks in England. We're looking for beautiful landscapes, pleasant walking trails, and a chance to immerse ourselves in nature. Any hidden gems in the area that you can recommend?
Also looking for recommendations for light mountain hikes that we can enjoy with our baby in a carrier.
We would also ideally like to avoid driving though the mountains, preferably sticking to main and rural roads.
Thanks in advance!