[JCharante]

Agreed.

There's been a dozen times where I only started finding a hotel while Ubering to the international airport. One time I had to change out of my seat for landing because my seatbelt wasn't working, so I sat next to a stranger and started talking. She offered to split a cab with me and asked where I was staying, but I told her I didn't book a place yet (she was shocked). I found a nice hotel chain, booked it and on the way downtown told the driver.

I like to visit and explore a city, and then I'll know where I want to stay the next time I go back. I've certainly screwed myself a few times (I didn't know Seoul was so big so every day started & ended with a 1 hour Uber) but I have the entire rest of my life to learn and experience, so why try to do it "perfect" the first time? I've been to Singapore a few times but haven't seen those Lion fountains yet. I don't know where they are, but it'll be cool when I run into them by accident sometime in the future.

[seer]

Hah a kindred spirit. And I thought I was just weird for booking things last minute and not caring too much if it doesn't end up perfect. One of my best experiences have been when things "mixed up". No good story starts with "and everything went according to plan".

On a side note you might be like me as well in another sense and be an introvert too. This is kind of how I got to grips with it and accepted it wholeheartedly https://medium.com/@ivankerin/am-i-an-explorer-76219a8f4199

[dcdc123]

I am a full-time nomad and barely do any advance planning and still heard about it constantly. On top of that it is highly visible while in Japan. Counters and signs for it at the airport, every hotel offers it and most will ask about it, and you see the people running bags around on bicycles and motorcycles with trailers all over the place. You would need to be an exceptionally oblivious person to miss it for ten years.