OT - Tips from traveling to the other side of the world (and why Detroit should host the Olympics)

Recently came back from a trip from Australia / Japan and thought I'd share a few observations & tips for those traveling abroad next year + some insight into Brisbane / Tokyo.

Traveling abroad is made much easier with a smartphone, of course (getting directions via Google Maps, finding places to eat, etc.). While most international airports have places where you can buy a SIM card, you can also sign up for Google Fi (Google's branded cell phone service) and use the dual SIM card capability of your cell phone to have both services active at once, which enables iMessage / texting those back home seamlessly, as if you were still back home. I had Google Fi enabled as the primary cell phone connection with Cellular switching enabled and I had LTE service in Australia/Japan the entire time.

Here's how it works

iPhone 13 and earlier -

1) Physical SIM slot - your normal cell phone provider

2) eSIM slot - Google Fi service

iPhone 14 - 

1) eSIM slot 1 - your normal cell provider

2) eSIM slot 2 - Google Fi

Google Fi costs $70/month and you can cancel it once you get back home. $70 is a bit steep for monthly service, but it is absolutely worth it for the seamless experience - as soon as you step off the plane, it just works; you have data service.

 

Onto Brisbane / Cairns + Tokyo / Kyoto - 

Brisbane - Very cool city, reminded me of LA except a river runs through the whole city. Did the usual tourist-ey things and visited some museums and walked around the city. Brisbane is a decent sized metro - maybe 2 million people and growing. Good mix of things to do, walkability + public transportation. If you want to relax and head to the beach - head down to the Gold Coast, which is about an hour south.

Cairns - a city two hours north of Brisbane via plane (flight between Brisbane and Cairns was $100, pretty cheap). Nice seaside small city where people go to see the Great Barrier reef. Seeing the reef was very cool - incredible seeing just an absolutely massive biological thing with such incredible biodiversity. Snorkeling was fine, didn't feel like doing the whole diving training thing. Swimming in the ocean with such a large structure was surreal - this isn't like swimming in lake Michigan; you have all these things moving around you and there's a lot of water above and below you, along with the reef. Great experience.

Tokyo - probably the most incredible city I've ever visited. Stayed in Akihabara at an AirBnB my first two days - many of the districts in Tokyo are low/mid rise and the alleys for these streets aren't like those in the US - there are places to eat with 8 to 12 seats throughout all of these alleys and the food is amazingly good and cheap. Was shocked at how cheap yet high quality the food was. Spent most of my time visiting the national museums along with sight seeing in Ginza, Shinjuku. Spent the other four days at the Royal Park Hotel in Shimbashi; excellent hotel that had very reasonable rates when I booked in October.

Kyoto - took the bullet train to get to Kyoto; historical city with many shrines/temples. Incredible natural beauty, the city itself is located in a valley surrounded by mountains. Had the best meal of my trip here, I have the card of the restaurant I went to, but it's my stranded luggage back in Toronto (Air Canada sucks btw, more on that later). I'll comment later to add the restaurant name.

Last part about why Detroit should hold the Olympics (Brisbane will have the 2032 Summer Olympics) - Brisbane is a very nice city with a tropical climate, and continues to build up in density. While Brisbane may have the train based public transportation Detroit lacks, their overall ability to move people with their trains still isn't as good as the highway infrastructure we have here. By the time the US is eligible for another summer Olympics cycle (20 years after the 2028 Olympics in LA), so sometime in the 2040s, Detroit could host the Olympics. Why?

1) By the 2040s, we'll have autonomous driving and will be able to repurpose at least one highway lane to vehicles with L4/L5 capabilities. VANs/larger shuttles can use these dedicated L4/L5 lanes, obfuscating the need to rip up highways and put down rail track.

2) Detroit in July/August is pretty nice.

3) Texas is too hot. Big cities like Chicago/New York are more trouble than they are worth with respect to the congestion and the political contention of diverting public resources for investments in Olympic related infrastructure.

4) DTW is a very solid airport.

Go Blue!