Toyota Yaris

Trip Summary

Gold Coast

Drive

After 4 days, Slokky still had trouble controlling it, and I'm not sure if that's due to his lack of skills or the sensitivity of the car. Either way, it wasn't a very smooth drive. Our little black Yaris certainly got a lot of looks because of that though. It's not a bad looking car, and its design points are definitely nicer than the Echo and the Corolla.

Rating - 3

Comfort

Besides the bump factor, not bad. There was the standard air-con, CDs, as well as electric windows and central locking. The seat was soft enough, but I probably wouldn't want to sit in the back. There are loads of nooks and crannies for you to store stuff, but the boot is quite small.

Rating - 3

Service

For once we went with Hertz, and I can't fault their service. Unlike those people at Kings Cross when we rented the Corolla (due to the stupid people who did the hit and run). They were available when we arrived on our late flight and we just filled in a form to return the car for our early morning flight.

Rating - 4

Value

Around $30 per day for our troubles. We only needed to fill up one tank too which was a bonus.

Rating - 4

Clean

I think apart from that experience in Venice, all rental cars have been immaculate. This one had a few small scratches on the outside though.

Rating - 3

Zoom Points - 17

Info

Toyota Yaris YR Hatchback
Website

Hotel Watermark

Room

This place was a lot more run down than I expected. The lobby and foyer resembled any other 4.5 star hotels, with a few restaurants and shops. However, when you actually go up to your floor, the carpet is worn, and inside the room, the same. The bathroom was tied and old, and although clean, felt dirty. The room was spacious enough, but had none of the "luxurious" furnishings I was expecting from a high-class hotel. In fact, I've stayed at 3 star hotels with better furnishing, so what's the deal with that? Because we'd paid $30 extra per night for the privilege, we were on a higher floor ($18) and had a view of the lagoon and the highways, no ocean view though). The "Deluxe" room also came with king-sized bed. The bed? I was quite impressed by first impressions. It was big (king sized alright) and tastefully decorated, with five pillows as well as other smaller cushions, decked out in neutral earthy tones. But like they say, don't judge a book by its cover. On sleeping on it, the bed was hard as! This is really really bad for side sleepers. I didn't sleep at all the first night, and for nights after that, I made sure I had extra pillows so I was really elevated and my shoulders weren't as sore after that.

Rating - 2

Facilities

There were the restaurants, bars, gaming room, function room, gym, pool, laundry, hairdressers, spa, the standard facilities for a 4.5 stars hotel really. What was disappointing was that you have to pay to use EVERYTHING. Even Internet was charged. We didn't end up using ANY of the facilities because of the strict opening times. Really, how do you expect anyone to be able to use these.

The most disappointing aspect was the staff. They were all wooden, with a very forced friendliness and impersonal service which I found so different to everyone else I've encountered on the Gold Coast. They delivered what we asked but that was all, nobody befriended you or went above and beyond their call. What annoyed me though was what they did with the toiletries - which, I might add, was cheap and second rate for a 4.5 star hotel. One the first day, there was 1 bottle of shampoo and conditioner, but no soap. We had to go to the conceiage to get some. On the 2nd day, there was 2 bottles of shampoo and conditioner, as well as more soap. On the 3rd day, nothing at all. What on earth is going on? As well, for every extra toweling you ask for, there's a $2 surcharge. Outrageous!

According to the website (which incidentally, is broken. They really should check their links) [Note 20/10/06 - they finally fixed their website, link updated], the "Deluxe" room also came with bathrobes. However, there were none in the room and you have to phone up for it. We phoned up for the 1st night just to see what we paid $30 extra for, and the maid delivered 2 stiff white bathrobes I'd rather not touch, and they sat in our room for 3 whole days.

Rating - 2

Location

The best thing about this hotel, situated at the edge of the main tourist strip. We could walk to the beach (10 mins) and to the shops, and it's also quite close to the Broadbeach and casino end of town. The parking was convenient too.

Rating - 4

Value

Because we went in the dead of winter, all the hotels were doing so-called "special" deals. We paid $340 for 3 nights, which I think was a rip-off, simply because they did not meet my expectations. I tried to use the 3-card which entitled us to a further 10% off, but they gave me some excuse of the reservation system was not controlled by them and they couldn't change the amount - then how do they charge people for mini-bar items and such then? I will not be returning.

Rating - 1

Snooze Points - 9

Info

3032 Gold Coast Blvd
Surfers Paradise,
QLD 4217
Australia
Phone +61 7 5588 8333
Website

Residenza Cà Dario

Room

I didn't know it at the time, but this was to be the worst hotel out of the whole trip, I guess at least it was good that my expectations were lowered. I was quite charmed by the outside, a two storey building. Inside, everything was decorated nicely, but nothing was as I expected.

Our room was on the first floor. Seeing this was one of the most expensive places we were staying at, imagine my dismay when we could hardly fit both our suitcases in there. (I had a peak at the other rooms though, and the one next door to us was heaps bigger, so maybe we were just unlucky. When I went to check the website, I realised they actually put us up in their "single" room as our exact room showed up in the "single" room photo, but they charged us the double room rate). The bed was also tiny, the pillows were FLAT, which were already bad signs... The blankets was thin and you could only turn the heat up a little bit. I had to sleep with a jumper on.

Rating - 0.5

Facilities

This was our first and only hotel where we had to share bathrooms, and I don't think I ever want that experience again. The bathroom itself was nicely decorated, but there was a lot of waiting around to use it. It was also very inconvenient if you wanted to use it at night because it was so far away. The shower didn't drain properly and after one person had a shower, the whole bathroom floor would be wet and filled with soap suds. The cloth hand drying dispenser ran out and wasn't replaced.

There was a cappuccino machine and tea and coffee making facilities (with a dirty kettle!) out in the hallway, but the cappuccino machine didn't work and wasn't fixed, and they gave you small plastic cups to make your coffee in, so whenever you poured anything into it, you got the melted plastic taste.

Apart from getting no toiletries items or even a cup to use for the bathroom, the towels were just cloths, and weren't replaced either.

At this stage, we weren't used to the Italian way yet, so I didn't know that when the office said it was opened at 8.30, they actually mean 9.00. We waited around for 2 days waiting for them to open, but when nobody showed after 9.00 on both days, we decided to take off. On the last day we had no choice but to wait, and the office ladies didn't come in under 9.10. When we finally got to meet her, she was pretty friendly, but not nearly as nice as the Japanese.

Rating - 1

Location

Venice is funny to judge on location 'cos it depends on your needs. For us, pushing our luggage over the least amount of bridges was the priority, so crossing only 2 bridges to reach this place was an advantage. However, this place is far away from the main tourist area around San Marco, which didn't bother us at all but other people might find inconvenient.

Rating - 4

Value

80 Euros per night, what a complete rip-off! As well as having a small room and shared bathroom, the supposed "breakfast" was a basket that kept diminishing every day.

Rating - 0

Food

The price was supposed to include "breakfast", but what we got was a basket filled with (on the first day anyway):

• two packets of cappuccino mix
• two packets of coffee and milk
• two mini chocolate donuts
• two mini apricot tarts
• two lemon tea

The second day there was no lemon tea, and the third day, as well as the lemon tea, the cappuccino packs were also gone. If they were trying to impress us the first day, it didn't work. The food was of low quality and not substantial at all.

Rating - 0

Snooze Points - 5.5

Info

Sestiere Di Santa Croce 642
30125,Venezia,
Italia
Phone: +39 0415242719
Website

Hotel Garni Diplomat

Room

After Japan, this room seemed absolutely enormous! The room actually reflected the characteristics of Germany. The room was sparsely decorated, but very functional. The beds were very long and narrow, catering to the Germans. All the switches and drawers were very high up, and I couldn't use the mirror at all! The European pillows and blankets were great too. Everything was basic, but you have everything you need.

Rating - 4

Facilities

The bathroom was very funny, in that there's no shower cabinet as such, you just get the whole floor wet. I was quite surprised that we had plenty of clean towels and soap surprised. This room didn't have a fridge, and as we found out later, no hotels in Europe provide kettles because of some sort of health regulations, so there are never any kettles in the room. The owner was extra nice though, as we didn't know about the kettle, he did manage to bring us a pot of boiling water so we had our water for the day.

checking in and out was easy, and the breakfast ladies were great. They were very busy making sure the food was always filled, and worked tirelessly making everything special, we really noticed the difference once we got to Italy...

Rating - 4

Location

This place was great, very close to transportation, pretty convenient to get to the airport, and we could actually walk to the city centre! It was in a suburban St, which had some wide kids running around though, and they were making a lot of noise. However, noise doesn't bother me so I slept through it.

Rating - 4

Value

We paid 46 Euros a night, the cheapest hotel in our EU stay.

Rating -5

Food

I was surprised, but the breakfast buffet was absolutely excellent. We didn't know it at that stage, but it was to become one of the best breakfast we were going to have. Buffet style, with loads of choices, including cold cuts, loads of cheeses, heaps of different breads, and best of all, fruit! It was all tasty!!!

Rating - 5

Snooze Points - 22

Info

Ostendstr. 24-26, 60314
Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Phone 069 4304040

Oak Hotel

Room

Well, the rooms are getting smaller and smaller, the bed was small, but comfortable enough. The pillow was good. Given that we were only here for a few hours to sleep, I wasn't really fussed. It did feel a bit claustrophobic in the room, 'cos it didn't have a window, but it was night and you couldn't see outside anyway.

Rating - 3

Facilities

This was a hostel, so as expected, there was a share kitchen, internet, laundry, vending machines. This place had no fridge and a small kettle. It was much better than I expected for a hostel, all the equipment were in good working order, and there was no rude guests or anything. We spent hours on the net and doing our laundry before we had to held off for Germany.

The staff had great English and were very helpful with our enquiries. We were able to check out very early in the morning without any problems.

Rating - 4.5

Location

10 mins walk from JR Ueno station, we chose it so we could get to the airport quickly. Otherwise, close to the attractions of Ueno.

Rating - 4

Value

At 7560 yen, I can't complain. You pay for what you get, and they exceeded my expectations.

Rating - 4.5

Snooze Points - 16

Info

6-1-2, HigashiUeno,
Taito-ku,
Tokyo, 103-0013 Japan
Phone +81-3-5828-0551
Website

Kyoto Garden Hotel

Room

Well, this was more what we expected from Japanese hotels. The room was small after we've moved in our huge suitcases, the double bed also very small. The bathroom continued the theme. The decor was very westernised and had no Japanese touch. However, we had everything we needed. The bed was comfy but the blanket was not big enough for both of us though.

Rating - 3.5

Facilities

By this time, we were very used to the politeness of the Japanese, so we were somewhat taken aback by the staff at this hotel. Oh, they were nice enough, it's just that we expected more by now.

Goodies wise, they provided everything we needed too, but nothing more. There was no laundry. The kettle could've been bigger. However, they did have 2 Internet terminals available at the lobby so we were able to blog.

Rating - 3.5

Location

Great location close to the station (15 mins to JR station) and metro (Karasuma-Oike) (1 min). There were also some cool shops nearby.

Rating - 4

Value

8050 Yen per night is ok value, but of course can't compare to Kitcho or Taiseikan.

Rating - 3.5

Snooze Points - 14.5

Info

Muromachi-dori,
Oike minamiiru, Nakagyo-ku,
Kyoto 604-8175, Japan
Phone +81-75-255-2000
Website

Vietnam 2007

Simple Plan:
Oz - Vietnam - Oz

Expaneded Plan:
Sydney - Ho Chi Minh City - Sydney

Date:
19/6/07 - 28/6/07

Flying:
JetStar

Cost:
$$

Thailand 2007

Simple Plan:
Oz - Thailand - Oz

Expaneded Plan:
Sydney - Phuket - Sydney

Date:
28/2/07 - 12/3/07

Flying:
JetStar

Cost:
$$

Gold Coast 2006

Simple Plan:
Oz

Expaneded Plan:
Sydney - Gold Coast - Sydney

Date:
5/8/06 - 8/8/06

Flying:
JetStar - Virgin Blue

Cost:
$$$$

Day 4 8/8/06 - Australia

Surfers Paradise -> Coolangatta -> Sydney

Highlight

• I tried to get another 10% off using the e-card, but apparently the reservations and rates are done in another system so they cannot change it, yeah whatever, I won't be going back to Hotel Watermark again.
• Waking up at 5am to catch a flight is never fun, alas, we have no annual leave left so that's that.
• We used Virgin's new Web Check-in, and were ready to go in a half hour. Surprisingly the flight was pretty full.
• Another trip over, this one didn't really feel like much of a holiday, but it was fun to get away from routine for awhile. I'd forgotten how friendly people in Australia used to be.

Food

• Witches Chase Cheese Company ABC Mango ($6.00)
• strawberries ($6)

Day 3 7/8/06 - Australia

Surfers Paradise -> Broadbeach -> Main Beach -> Biggera Waters -> Labrador - > Main beach -> Broadbeach -> Surfers Paradise

Highlight

• Endured Slokky watching motor racing all of last night, then getting woken up in the middle of the night 'cos Slokky had to go to the toilet.
• Slokky suggesting that we go to watch sunrise, and then going back to sleep causing us to miss the sunrise.
• Slokky sleeping through the whole morning so I had nothing to do except play solitaire.
• Slokky didn't let me go to the gym and didn't stick to the plan.
• Time to visit the other shopping centre, Oasis Shopping Centre, where we enjoyed an al fresco breakfast at Madisons cafe. (see review).
• The weather was not so crash hot today, but every time we stepped foot on the beach, it started raining. Despite the weather, the beach is still nicer than any on the Mediterranean though.
• Went to .... for 18 holes of putt-putt. The greens were really worn and all the courses were really similar, not an enjoyable experience. On the plus side though, we had the whole course to ourselves.
• Because of the weather, we decided to do some retail therapy at Harbour Town, a discount outlet. To our dismay, the shops were not cheap at all, and there was no good fine. I managed to do the whole strip in a record 2 hours. The only worthy shop was the Fossil outlet, which I haven't come across in Sydney. We managed to get 2 bags and some cuff links. The other find was a pair of Mavi jeans for Slokky for only $19.
• We went to explore the neighbourhood, thanks to the e-book, and discovered Labrador, a nice coast side town with a great view of the Gold Coast high rises. Alas, all the shops and restaurants there were closed on a Monday in off-season.
• We ended up back at Tedder Ave for dinner, and I'm so glad we did. This time we tried another of the "Best restaurants", Bahia (see review), and we were blown away by the service, the great food, and not to mention the free platter of Turkish bread and dip starter we enjoyed for being the first people to dine in the restaurant that evening. A gem!
• Slokky managed to knock my fork to the floor twice during dinner.
• We wanted to go to the Dracula's Cabaret but being off-season, the shows weren't running on Sundays or Mondays, so we went to our 2nd choice, Tempo Rouge stage spectacular at Conrads Jupiter. We were surrounded by oldies, who all felt the urge to stand up and boogie (the less said about that the better), and besides the few really corny American acts, including a guy who was really up himself, a male lead that couldn't really sing, and a really gross bendy man, the show was very good! Note for the guys - the girl dancers were really HOT!!
• Petrol is so cheap here. We filled up for $122.9/L. We could've got cheaper, but we thought we'd better fill up before we left before 6am the next day. We need not have worried, every single petrol station from Surfers to the airport was opened before 6, offering prices that were even cheaper!
• Another variable shampoo experience... the first night we got one, the second night 2, the third night, none... please explain.

Food

• Breakfast at Madisons:
  • Eggs benedict - bacon, spinach, egg and hollandaise on Turkish toast ($14.85)
  • grilled corn bread - with poached eggs, chicken, roma tomato, rocket and hollandaise ($14.85)
• Large Coffee Club cappuccino ($3.60).
• Boost juice Raspberry Relief ($5.40).
• Boost juice Banana Buzz ($5.40).
• Nandos lemon and herb and chilli chicken ($4.50 each).
• Dinner at Bahia:
  • amuse boucle of seared beef fillet with beetroot and couscous salad
  • toasted Turkish bread dip with sundried tomato, walnut & basil, and cream cheese & mustard (complimentary)
  • pan seared snapper fillet on spring onion mash with brandied scallop sauce ($33.90)
  • twice cooked crispy duck served on chive and potato rosti, tempura bok choy with sweet chilli plum sauce

Day 2 6/8/06 - Australia

Surfers Paradise -> Broadbeach -> Lamington National Park -> Tamborine Mountain -> Main Beach -> Surfers Paradise

Highlight

• Had a very bad night's sleep, what's with the very firm bed?
• Our first stop was the Carrara markets, which is a permanent market with over 500 stalls that are opened every weekend. My impression, laid back market with a focus on haberdashery items.
• Not finding any food to our liking at Carrara (Qld, btw, has much cheaper food than Sydney), we headed to Pacific Fair, the huge shopping centre with everything, for an Oportos brunch. I like this shopping centre, it has great shops, and is laid out as a combination of shopping centre block and sprawned village.
• Off to Lamington National Park (cute name) where we went on 2 mini bush walks. The first, had great views over the hinterland in the first 20 minutes, then turned into some very repetitive zig-zagging up the mountain. The highlight though, Slokky jumping at the sight of a dead lizard. The second led to a view of the valley. The park was not very green but was a pleasant place to spend a morning.
• Afternoon tea at the picturesque Polish Place with great people and homely food. (see review)
• Slokky managed to first knock over the change when he was paying for our meal, and after that, leaving his wallet at The Polish Place... sigh!
• Made our way through some of the food and wine trail for the Gold Coast Hinterland. After Slokky didn't listen to me, the GPS and himself, we finally made it to the Witches Chase Cheese Company 10 minutes before they closed, for some surprisingly outstanding cheese and yoghurt. The place was pretty packed but the staff were very personable to everyone.
• We made our way to Car stalling continues, this time at a right hand turn, causing us to miss the turn and everyone behind us missing the turn. We got some really dirty looks.
• Slokky forgetting his phone twice and had to keep going back to get it, wasting valuable time.
• Slokky forgetting the camera after I specifically asked him to take it, so we had to spend an extra 1/2 hour going back to the hotel to get it.
• Dinner at Tedder Ave, where everyone is a "best restaurant".
• The stupid guy at Baskin Robins won't let us use our e-book voucher, because we ordered 2 large ice-cream and the coupon said "regular" ice-cream only. However, on their menu, they only had 1 scoop (small) or 2 scoop (large) options. At New Zealands Natural, a "regular" was considered 2 scoops, how do I know to interpret "regular" as large? Because I'd already started licking my ice-cream, we had to pay up. I tried to argue with the guy but he wouldn't budge. I wonder if I can write in somewhere to get him fired...
• After dinner, we went for a walk on Cavill Ave, the "heart" of the Gold Coast. There were lots of young and old people, all hanging out, having dinners or dessert at the many restaurants. The vibe was great.

Food

• Pure and Natural banana and strawberry smoothie ($4.20).
• Pure and Natural banana, mango and apricot smoothie ($4.20).
• Oportos regular bondi burger ($6).
• Afternoon tea at The Polish Place:
  • Polish Bigos with Sausage ($19)
  • Meat and Herb Pierogi ($19)
• Taste test cheese, dips and yoghurt at Witches Chase Cheese Company.
• Dinner at Domani's (review):
  • Grilled Moreton bay bugs, mixed leaf salad, chilli lime dressing ($36.50)
  • Seafood linguini ($36.50)
• Baskin Robbins ice cream with German Chocolate Cake (Swiss chocolate ice cream with coconut, walnut pieces, milk chocolate brownie bits and a caramel ribbon) and Espresso 'n' cream (A rich combination of extra strength lowfat Jamoca ice cream with chocolate flakes swirled together with creamy lowfat vanilla ice cream) ($5.80).
• Baskin Robbins ice cream with Jamoca Almond Fudge (Our own Jamoca ice cream with a chocolate fudge ribbon and roasted almonds) and Old Fashioned Butter Pecan (Butter Pecan ice cream with butter-roasted pecans) ($5.80).

Day 1 5/8/06 - Australia

Sydney -> Coolangatta -> Surfers Paradise

Highlight

• Sydney Airport T2 was being renovated, so there was nothing much to do. All the chain food and retail stores seem to now have representation there though.
• We expected our $5 Jetstar flight to be really crowded, but surprisingly, it wasn't the case. It's been awhile since our last flight and I'm happy to report their seats have much more leg room now (not that it matters to me). Our 1/3 full flight arrived at Gold Coast airport ahead of schedule, a great start to our holidays.
• Since Europe, we've decided to always hire manual cars from now on, and we picked up our black Toyota Yaris (click here for review), stuffed our huge suitcase in the backseat and off we went. Slokky only managed to stall once, at the lights, on the 30 mins drive up to Surfers.
• I was disappointed with our 4.5 stars hotel. We'd booked a Deluxe room instead of a Superior room ($30 extra per night) so we expected it to be good. The room was ordinary (click here for review), and they didn't even give us any soap!
• We spent the night going through travel brochures thinking of what to do.

Food

• Rice paper rolls with prawns, corn and broccoli

The Jumbo

I will now explain the CC Jumbo Point System of Airline Rating, aka The Jumbo. Each airline will be rated on these factors:

• Drive - handling, looks (5 pts max)
• Comfort - seat, cushioning, storage, extras (5)
• Service - staff, convenience (5)
• Value - value for money (5)
• Clean - inside and outside (5)

Jumbo Points will be calculated by adding the total from the 5 categories above.

The Zoomies

I will now explain the CC Zoom Point System of Car Rating, aka The Zoomies. Each car will be rated on these factors:

• Drive - handling, looks (5 pts max)
• Comfort - seat, cushioning, storage, extras (5)
• Service - staff, convenience (5)
• Value - value for money (5)
• Clean - inside and outside (5)

Zoomie Points will be calculated by adding the total from the 5 categories above.

Taiseikan

Room

Taiseikan is a traditional Japanese full-service ryokan. If you're ever in Japan, this must be experienced. The room was very spacious, with a separate lounge area, a bathroom that has natural spring water running through the taps, and the separate area with tatami mats where we will be eating and sleeping. The room was decorated in the traditional Japanese style, with paper screen separating the two sections. Tasteful pictures hung on the wall, and most importantly, there was a great view of the creek flowing outside our window.

Surprisingly, sleeping on futons on the floor, with very fluffy doonas, was very comfortable.

Rating - 4.5

Facilities

This place also had everything we wanted and much more. The bathroom came with toiletries like "body lotion", "hair lotion", "skin lotion" and "milk lotion". Did I mention that this place has its own indoor and outdoor hot springs and baths? It was divine, I went to the ladies section and had it almost all to myself most times. Of course, all the mod-cons like hair-dryers, towels, scales were present.

There are different slippers for everything, going to the bathroom, going on tatami mats and going outside. We kept forgetting to change our slippers which I think is very bad etiquette. The staff also kept turning and rearranging our slippers every time we took them off which made us feel guilty!

The staff are very, very very polite. They want to clean and serve us all the time. The morning we were leaving, they loaded all of our luggage and pushed it out of the room for us without us even asking. Our personal "maid" couldn't speak very much English so it was very funny watching her trying to explain the rituals to us.

Rating - 5

Location

A very handy location 2 minutes away from the Miyanoshita railway station or 1 minutes from Miyanoshita bus stop. The hotel is reached by a 10 minutes cable car ride. You go all the way down the mountain, and end up in a valley. So as you can see, the hotel is very secluded.

Rating - 5

Value

Very expensive at 42000 Yen per night, including breakfast and dinner. But for the level of service and the quality we experienced, it was definitely worth it.

Rating - 4.5

Food

Part of the experience is of course the food. Dinner and breakfast is only part of the ritual. We were served kaiseki style cuisine in our rooms by our maid, little dishes of exquisitely presented food appealed before us, until the whole table was filled. It was a culinary and visual experience. There was a lot of attention to details, a balance of different flavour, and the potions thought out carefully so you don't feel bloated at the end of the meal. (See my post on this). I think if we had a better understanding and appreciation of Japanese cuisine we would have enjoyed it even more as each dish is supposed to have a lot of meaning behind it.

Rating - 4.5

Snoozie Points - 23.5

Info

72 Miyanoshita,
Hakone, Kanagawa 250-0404,
Japan
Phone +81-460-2-2281
Website

Hotel Kitcho

Room

For hotel rooms in Japan, this place is extra roomy. We have room to put our 2 large suitcases, actually turn around, and the bathroom was pretty big too! The beds were king sized single and very comfy. Decor wise, nothing fancy, except for the ashtrays that seem to be everywhere.

Rating - 5

Facilities

This provided everything we needed and things I didn't even think I needed. Besides tea and coffee making facilities, fridge, shampoo, conditioner, bath salts, toothbrush, hairbrush, shower cap, cotton buds... I didn't need to bring anything at all! There is a "pillow room" where you can go to choose the type of pillow you want. There's an automatic shoe cleaner where we stuck our shoes in every morning for the tickling effect. The laundry was quite cheap at 100 Yen a wash. We didn't try out the restaurant attached to the hotel but it seemed very popular. The best thing though, they have good quality bicycles available for guests. We took it out for 2 days and felt like a local.

The staff, like all Japanese were very polite and helpful. Their English were sufficient for us to communicate, but sometimes they didn't understand our request very well.

Rating - 5

Location

Depending on how you see it, the location could be an advantage or disadvantage. Located in Nihonbashi, it's away from the tourist area, but it was situated in suburban Tokyo, close to the financial headquarters, so we got to see what happens everyday for Japanese. Things are also cheaper out in the suburbs, there are little izakayas and even a home-made rice cracker store very close to our hotel.

Because of the excellent public transport system, you can reach Kitcho easily from the metro. However, we couldn't ride this for free with the JR Rail Pass, so we mostly walked or cycled to the closest JR station, which took about 20 minutes.

Rating - 3

Value

9450 Yen per night, not including food. For the standard we were given, excellent. I think this place raised the expectations of what we were expecting from hotels for the rest of the trip!

Rating - 4.5

Snoozie Points - 17.5

Info

2-32-8 Ningyo-cho
Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku
Tokyo 103-0013, Japan
Phone +81-3-3666-6161
Website

The Snoozies

I will now explain the CC Snooze Point System of Hotel Rating, aka The Snoozies. Each hotel will be rated on these factors:

• Room - room size, room decor, bed size, pillows (5 pts max)
• Facilities - staff, facilities (5)
• Location- convenience, setting (5)
• Value - value for money (5)
• Food (where applicable) - quality and quantity, variety (5)

Snooze Points will be calculated by adding the total from the 4 or 5 categories above.

Trip Highlights

• 2006
• 2007
• 2008
• 2009
• 2010
• 2011

Airline Reviews

The Ratings System

• The Zoomies

Australia

• Jetstar Flight JQ 127
• Qantas Flight QF 21
• Qantas Flight QF 492
• Virgin Flight DJ 618
• Virgin Flight DJ 623
• Virgin Flight DJ 802

Canada

• Air Canada Flight AC 33

Germany

• Lufthansa Flight LH 211
• Lufthansa Flight LH 4088
• Lufthansa Flight LH 4751
• Lufthansa Flight LH 492

United Arab Emirates

• Etihad Airways Flight EY11
• Etihad Airways Flight EY12
• Etihad Airways Flight EY600
• Etihad Airways Flight EY601

UK

• British Airways Flight BA6281
• Easyjet Flight 5292