Well so much for getting a good start, my flight on the 17th was cancelled due the huge snow storm we just had.  Being an idiot, and not having flown in years I didn't check this before I left.  United had put me down for a flight leaving that evening at 10:21 pm, going to all places, Newark, then sit around until noon the next day before flying to Tokyo.  I immediately nixed that plan and had the gate agent get me booked for my original itinerary for the 19th, Wed.

Now comes part two, seeing I lost two days, I added them on the end of my vacation, but Expedia could not get me rooms at my chosen hotel for the last two days, so I took a swap (at $130 cost to me) for a different hotel.  Turns out this may be for the best.  The new hotel is more of a weekly rental with no daily maid service, but it has a kitchenette, is bigger and I have a view of a river out the window.  Also the reviews for this place is stellar, hard to find on a budget.  Does have some odd lobby hours etc but I will deal with that.  The manager usually leaves by 5:30pm, I know I cannot get there by then and I have emailed him about it but got no reply.  I did locate a cheapish backup hotel for the first night if necessary only a couple of blocks away.

The new place is close to some things I want to do, and all reports say the manager is very helpful with maps and directions to things, so this may work out for the best.  I'll post more once I get there, or if anything else weird happens.  It's almost 10pm and I am getting up at 4am to catch my flight.