Our Favorite Articles of 2023

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1. Jane

   01/02/2024 at 11:13 am

   Hi all, I asked this already during the quieter holiday week so asking again: first trip to Japan next month. Please share your best experiences, tips, must do’s especially given the weather then. No snow stuff :)

   • anon

     01/02/2024 at 12:12 pm

     I haven’t been back since covid but japan-guide dot com is where I get most of my info regarding what to do and and how to get there. They have a lot of information on what train passes you can buy based on where you’re going. Public transit is your friend. Download a transit map of wherever you’re visiting (Tokyo, Kyoto etc) and have a basic understanding of where the various lines go. There’s an app for it too. It’s all color coded, will seem chaotic but generally will make sense once you’re there.

     Japanese eateries tend to be small and it’s common for people to eat alone. Great for me, not so much for families with small kids. A lot of these places also use ticketing machines where you enter what you want, the machine gives you a ticket, you hand the ticket to the staff and wait for your food. Uniquely different from the US are convenience store pre-made food, department store food basements, train station shopping complexes and the gazillion of vending machines. A lot of times you can load up your train pass and use it to pay at vending machines or convenience stores.

     I always always book a hot spring stay at a traditional ryokan. Especially in the winter. You will pay top dollars, but it is worth it. Can probably book a room for $200-300 per person per night. My range was $400-500 per person per night pre-covid. There are many hot springs towns to choose from. Closest to Tokyo is the Hikone and general Mt Fuji area.

     In the past I would take the shinkansen down to Kyoto/Osaka and even Hiroshima and back within a week to take advantage of the 1-week Japan Rail Pass. This is a popular first-time-visitor route. If you like castles you should absolutely make the trip to Himeji (can be done as a daytrip from Osaka).

     • Anon

       01/02/2024 at 2:12 pm

       I second the hot spring recommendation, but do some research about restrictions on tattoos if that’s relevant to you — they were a big no-no when I was there 10 years ago, I hope that has changed!

       • Anon

         01/02/2024 at 7:46 pm

         It has not.

   • A

     01/02/2024 at 12:15 pm

     Japan is amazing! In no particular order: eat sushi at 7-11, the National museum in Tokyo, the temples of Kyoto, fancy department store shopping, all forms of public transit.

   • NYC

     01/02/2024 at 1:12 pm

     Sumo. We got lucky and there was a tournament happening in Tokyo when were were there. You can check schedules online.

   • E.D.

     01/02/2024 at 5:47 pm

     Don’t leave the airport without getting the transit pass that’s just for tourists (https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361.html). This will save you A LOT. We had good luck just riding to different neighborhoods and shopping/eating/visiting smaller parks and museums. The Tokyo Edo museum was interesting. We got up early one morning to go to the Tsukiji fish market and had sushi for breakfast. If you can get tickets to the Studio Ghibli museum (unlikely) you should go. If you’re interested in textiles and can take a side trip to Kyoto, it may be worth it.

     We went in September and it was still very hot and humid. Like ridiculously humid, to the point where we took more than one ice water bath to cool down.

2. Hollis

   01/02/2024 at 12:29 pm

   Has anyone visited La Sagrada Familia recently? If so, can you comment on whether it’s important to get skip the line tickets and/or a tour guide, or both? I am going to be going in late February.

   • ProfP

     01/02/2024 at 1:08 pm

     Was there in April 2022 so not super recent. But at that time, absolutely was glad to have tickets ahead of time. We didn’t particularly feel the need for a tour guide but that would depend on personal preference.

   • Melissa

     01/02/2024 at 1:56 pm

     I was there last week. It was essential to buy tickets ahead of time (week after Xmas crowds). Make to add on tickets to one of the towers. I would have opted for the guided tour but unfortunately they were sold out. There is a free audio guide, but it doesn’t give you much information about what you are seeing. If you want to use the audio guide, you will have to get the Sagrada Familia app and download the guide after purchasing your tickets (but before your visit).

3. Anon

   01/02/2024 at 2:15 pm

   Does anyone have favorite hotels in Milan? We will be there for one night in late april (during design week unfortunately), right after landing and before moving on to other cities. It’s going to be two adults and one kid, so we need a triple room, but other than that we no longer are that picky — every place we look at has tons of bad reviews AND is expensive.

   • JTM

     01/02/2024 at 3:26 pm

     My husband and I stayed at the Avani Palazzo Moscova Milan Hotel and enjoyed it. Not sure if they have triple rooms but worth a check!

     • OP

       01/02/2024 at 6:54 pm

       They have no availability but thank you!!!

4. Anonymous

   01/02/2024 at 3:44 pm

   Opposing counsel is claiming a contract is void because of an email I sent after the deal and after the contract was inked. I’m confident he’s wrong, but I have had to get on calls with the client and also reported the potential claim to my GC. I want to barf. I believe I did the best I could/everything right, and the remedy he wants is basically a nuisance value to this client (less than $5k), but I just can’t shake this sick feeling that I messed up or that I am the reason the client is going to have to go through more work and time and frustration. I don’t know if anyone can help me with this, I just feel ill about it.

   • Anon

     01/02/2024 at 4:21 pm

     Opposing counsel is looking for anything to hang their hat on, precisely because the costs of settlement are lower than litigation. Well, the latter is only true if the case can survive summary judgement, and they are trying to find any way this can be “a case” and not clear cut.

   • Anon

     01/02/2024 at 4:49 pm

     If your GC is the GC of a law firm, I assume you that he or she has seen far worse than this.

     • Anonymous

       01/02/2024 at 5:10 pm

       +1. If you’ve reported to your GC and told the client, you’ve handled this as well as you can. And you’ve handled it correctly (at least based on your description).