The Week #307

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  • ☀️ It's the middle of May and it's already 30 degrees out. The few short weeks of spring are never long enough. At least it's still cool in the mornings and at night.
  • 🏨 One of my credit card rewards is a free night stay at a hotel. That free night was about to expire, so rather than let it expire I booked a guy's night at a hotel in downtown Yokohama for me and Leo. The overall day was a huge success but....
  • 🏊 The hotel's website says they have a fitness center and a pool. Naturally, I assume this means we can use the pool, there's no restrictions or anything written on their website – not even on the pool detail page. I tell Leo there's a pool and we bring our stuff. We arrive and... no kids are allowed in the pool. I know it's a losing battle, but I had to express my deep disappointment (politely) because we literally stayed at the hotel because they had a pool. Their logic was that because the rules are written for the fitness center, and you have to enter the fitness center to get to the pool, the rules apply to the pool and it should be obvious.  I get why they would want to limit it to older kids and agree it's probably the right call given the setup, just make it explicitly clear on your website or include a map so you can maybe deduce that it might be an issue. It felt like a very Japan-logic and the entire experience has me considering dropping Marriot for IHG.
  • 🎡 Not to let no pool get in our way, Leo and I went off to Minatomirai to have fun at Cosmo World. And as soon as we arrive I look at some of the rides – they aren't moving... and is that plastic covering the seats?!. And there's a construction crew?! After no pool, I can't do Cosmo World being closed for renovations.
  • 🎢 But it turned out only half of the park was closed and not the area where we wanted to go. 😮‍💨 Leo worked up the courage and we rode the long ride together 🙌🏻 I wish they sold photos of of the drop like most places do as I would have bought one – feels like they're leaving money on the table.
  • 🎤 We saw some 2-seater karaoke booths. Literally like a  large phone booth with a Karaoke machine shoved in it. Even better it's pay as you go, ¥100 per song. After dinner we dropped by and Leo sang We Gotta Power, the 2nd theme song for Dragon Ball Z and he smashed it. All in all, a successful guy's night and I look forward to doing it again.