u/BasementOperator

Hey everyone, I'm going on my second trip for the last 5 weeks of the year. My first trip was a spur of the moment solo trip so this time I wanted to properly plan. While having no true itinerary was fun, I feel like I missed out on a lot by being lazy. This time I have plenty of time to take it slow but also have ability to venture out of the main areas without worrying about wasting time.

So the advice/recommendations I am looking for is

1. How early should I book reservations?

2. Should I book all reservations or wing some so that I can add or subtract days from different cities?

3. What do I do if I'm planning solo but later on my friends decide to join for part of my trip?

4. Hotels or airbnb or other types of rentals?

5. Which cities/areas should I look into other than the big 3?

6. How to and what to plan/prepare for staying in places that don't generally have a lot of tourists?

7. How should I tackle passes when I'll be staying longer than the pass durations?

I don't want to make the mistake of waiting too long like I did with my flights to book my reservations. I'm also not sure if I should book any of them while I'm there or make sure I book them all before I go.

While I am planning to do this trip solo, I'm open to having my friends join. It just happens that I have extra time off where I don't need to use vacation so this time frame and duration works best for me but not for them. I worry about booking things for just myself and then find out later that someone wants to go with me. I guess I'm always able to cancel and rebook but is that the right way to go about it?

What is everyone's experience with rentals that aren't hotels. I do not want to stay in a capsule hotel or any shared area places.

So I want to to take advantage of having 5 weeks and visit more than just tokyo/osaka/kyoto. My last trip was Sendai, tokyo, osaka, kyoto, nara, hiroshima. I spent too much time shopping. This time I want to focus on experiences plus other cities. I'll still do the big 3 but i don't want them to be the main focus of the trip. I'm open to day trips and hikes. Is snowboarding a thing yet near the end of december? I'd like to visit Hokkaido to do that.

Lastly, I'm assuming I need to figure out cities before figuring out transport right?

Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading.

Edit: fixed a typo

Hey everyone, I'm looking for some friends to consistently play games with. I'm mainly looking for a squad to play battlefield 6 redsec with. From there I'm down to play other games every now and then. I'd like the main game be redsec and if we are feeling another game then sure let's play something else. I play sweaty and give callouts but I'm mainly looking to just play. You don't have to be the same. I don't mind losing. Just want people that can communicate and have fun with. Don't want toxicity but by all means let's go teabag that rat after we jump them.

I'm usually on anytime after 3 or 4 CST. Other things I like outside of gaming include motorsports, snoboarding, hiking, and anime. I'm not the most talkative person but I'm not about to sit in total silence. If I were to describe myself, I would say I'm an ambivert. Or an introvert that gets adopted by an extrovert. I'm constantly gauging how everyone is doing. If i pick up someone isn't having fun, I'm doing what i can to change their mood or distract them from that downer feeling. Anyway comment or send me a dm with a little about yourself and why this post piqued your interest. I do use discord but i don't have a server. I'll make one if there are enough people that it makes sense to.

Other games I have or am interested in are:

Ready or Not

Apex - I'm ass. Please carry me if we do play.

Valorant - haven't played in 1-2 years. peaked asc3 and have too many skins...

Pubg

Mecha Break - is this game dead dead yet?

Halo

Slay the Spire 2

Tabletop Simulator - I have never use it but i do like board games and jigsaw puzzles...

Warthunder arcade flights - It's been over 10 years since I really played. Things have changed and now I'm ass but with the right wingman i might come back.

Hey everyone, I'd like advice or opinions on how to appoach asking for a raise when performance reviews happen. Sorry for the long post but I feel context matters.

I'm salary non-exempt with 7+ years of seniority. I worked my way through the floor and started this position several months ago. When I received my offer, I countered with obtaining my associate's in a related field plus what market rates were for my area. I just put up the base and was flat out denied. 'Schooling doesn't count for years of experience. Take it or leave it.' Of course I took it to get out of doing manual labor to working in the office.

After working this job for a bit, I started to notice some things. This work is so easy a caveman can do it. (Kudos if you know.) I'm bored. I'm underpaid when comparing to someone else I started this position with.

What I do is review drawings from engineering, plan jobs for manufacturing per engineering drawings or function test procedures, support manufacturing should they run into problems with any jobs. The easiest work I've ever had other then digging a trench. I may still be training, but everything I'm taught, I learn fast. (IMO) I completed my task months ahead of everyone. I did something taboo where I asked for my work and helped take on some of my coworker's task because I was bored. This opened my eyes.

For extra context, to me it is easy because i have broad rather than specialized experience. I am more familiar with more parts of what we build than someone who only worked one specific position for more than double or triple my time in the company.

After taking on some of my coworker's tasks, I realized something. He wasn't working for more than a 2-3 hours a day but can make annoying sounds for 8. (Think clicking your pen. For 8 hours. Everyday. Even after talking to them about it.) He still doesn't understand the most basic things several months in. We work on computers and he couldn't figure out how to switch main desktops. My other coworkers are also slow with their tasks. It makes me think maybe I'm just fast? I'm not sure because it seems normal to work at my pace.

I'm not trying to shit on my coworker in this post but when I compare myself to them, I feel that I'm very underpaid. My company gives set raises quarterly. So someone with more than 20 years is going be paid a lot more than I am. When we moved from the floor to this position, it was a lateral move in terms of pay. Normal from what I hear from every other salary non-exempt person I've talked to.

So back to the question. Do I just state how quickly I took off at the beginning and how I was even asking for more work and offering to help other people's work? Should i start looking at a different company for a similar position? Should I wait so I can gain more experience before going to another company? Should I start getting offers from other places before approaching this? But how would I time that correctly with a performance review? This is the first time I've had to deal with something like this. Iwas union before so I wasn't able to ask for raises based on my performance. (Something else to note, my boss is not in charge of my raises or compensation. HR is.)

Again, sorry for the long post and thanks for reading.