Thanks marmot ! I'll look at those suggestions!

Moms always right.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/01/asia/r...nes/index.html

Well, to be fair, they don't know enough to say for sure that those gunmen were ISIS. Only saying that because there are a lot of sickos in the world, like the guy who shot up that Orlando club last year.

But that is terrifying and definitely doesn't motivate me to visit.

So, update:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/manila-r...nfire-reports/

Can I just what the heck. Who sets a casino on fire in order to rob it, and then afterwards, instead of turning himself in or attempting to flee the scene, goes to a hotel room to turn himself into a human torch?

Awful. I'd say the bright side is that it doesn't look like a terrorist attack, but with 37 dead, there is no bright side.

Unbelievable. His behavior is so off I wonder if he had a psych history or was on drugs or both.

So many died due to his bizarre actions. :(.

Head of natl. security now looking at this as possible terrorist activity.

wow... this is crazy! I am so glad they went to Bali instead...
To share they are having an amazing time...they have loved all of it and we never ended up changing the Ritz around and they have had a great experience!

So glad it worked out for the best.

When she is a mom and has such a situation with her kids she'll remember this. :S-.

Thanks for the update.

Larry.

I'm glad that things worked out in Bali.

They had their first big shocker...they took a cab from Narita Airport to Tokyo. It cost them 215.00 USD. I am eye rolling that they didn't realize this...

They are both freakin' out...

Gonna be an expensive week in Japan. I told them to figure out a less expensive way to get back to the airport...

http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/access/

This is where guidebooks help....

The fact that they took a cab without knowing what it would cost is the first clue that they are novices. They could have taken the Limo bus or the train for much less.

There has been a ton of discussion about the high cost of taxis in Tokyo. Oh well live and learn.

Tell her to try to buy fruit at Isetan dept. store. :S-.

They must have been expecting Bali prices!

Kathie - right? I am sure that in my daughter's life that will never happen again... they are on a small budget and it startled them!

Because I helped them with Bali I felt some responsibility and had researched the cost of airport transportation... (extremely cheap!). I even had told them to do that in singapore - I said, you never want to get off the plane and not have a plan etc. They were pretty cavalier about it... "oh we got this etc."

Okay.

Today they are going to Disney and are VERY excited :)

"I said, you never want to get off the plane and not have a plan etc."

Very true. Also true, you should never get into a cab without a good idea of the price. If it doesn't have a meter you shouldn't get in without negotiating the price first.

"I said, you never want to get off the plane and not have a plan etc."

Very true. Also true, you should never get into a cab without a good idea of the price. If it doesn't have a meter you shouldn't get in without negotiating the price first.>

I asked her if they did that...as we did talk about it when we were all together in the mad rush to redo their trip..and they assured me they do that..and her response was "you don't do that here?"

I could not even respond..and this is all in text messaging...

Hopefully someday they will be able to look back and laugh about how ill-prepared they were for international travel. And I expect that next trip, they will do their research ahead of time.

You don't ask or you don't negotiate? I could believe the latter, from the trip reports and guide books I've read, but I can't think of a single incidence I would not ask before getting into a cab. Heck, I'd ask an airport worker or my hotel what it should be before asking the cabbie. Well, valuable lesson, I suppose...

Do let us know how they like Disney! I'm excited about that myself!

Marvelous - we agree... I would never not ask. They LOVED Disney - our daughter is a Disney lover.... she has been to 3 of the parks now and would like to go to them all. :)

They loved Tokyo and are in a house in Kyoto and so far love that too!