Just got back from 10 days in Japan and wanted to type up a trip report to hopefully help others that are trying to plan a trip!
Our trip was 5/16 - 5/28 including travel days. This was my 2nd time in Japan (first time was study abroad for 5 weeks in May/June 2016), but it was my mom & sister's first time, so the goal was to include as many must-see activities as we possibly could in the short time we were there. Our days were packed to the brim however all 3 of us are fairly active and healthy so despite being absolutely exhausted by the end of each day, in retrospect we wouldn't have changed a thing in our itinerary.
That being said, our itinerary would be much too busy for the average person's first trip to Japan so keep that in mind if you use this information to plan your own trip. For example, we usually only had time to sit down and eat for one meal per day and had to eat on the go for the other meals in order to have enough time to go to all the places we wanted to go to. There was very little downtime in our trip.

Tourist Tips

• Luggage
  • We each traveled with 2 checked luggage since they were included in our flight. I had one full sized suitcase and one slightly smaller suitcase which both only had one side filled when I left the US. The plan was to fill the other half of the suitcases with souvenirs to bring home. Last time I went to Japan, it cost me ~$200 to ship two large boxes of souvenirs back home, so despite having to bring a lot of luggage this saved me a significant amount of money and I will be doing this for future trips as well.
  • Within our luggage we also packed a duffel bag to hold all our purchases on heavy shopping days and a daily backpack to hold things like our trash bag, hand towel, hand sanitizewet wipes, body wipes, small purchases, etc. My carry-on was a 40L backpack that I took with us when we stayed overnight in Kyoto.
• Money
  • I brought $400 cash to exchange at the airport. I had gotten a Charles Schwab debit card before leaving which has no foreign transaction/ATM fees so I planned to use my card for whatever purchases I could then use cash for everything else. I ended up withdrawing another ¥20000 which was just enough cash to last me the rest of our trip.
• Walking
  • Last time I went to Japan I survived wearing flat gladiator sandals basically the whole trip, but this did NOT work this time around for whatever reason (I guess we walked a lot more this time?). BRING COMFORTABLE SHOES TO WALK IN. I ended up having to buy sneakers on day 2 because I stupidly didn't think I would need them. I was more concerned about looking cute for pictures (ha) but I quickly realized that all the girls in Japan wear sneakers with their cute skirts and dresses, so I blended right in. I would also recommend bringing a second pair of shoes with you each day (in your backpack) to swap into if the shoes you are wearing start giving you blisters.
• Masking
  • We saw a lot of people not wearing masks, but the majority of people still wear masks. I would say the ratio of people wearing masks to not wearing masks was about 80:20.
• Trash
  • As many have mentioned on this subreddit, due to the lack of public trash bins I would highly recommend bringing a reusable trash bag to store your trash while you're out and about until you can find a bin. We found these cool black fabric ones with a waterproof liner on the inside that you could rinse out when it got dirty and could clip to the outside of your backpack so it wasn’t with your other belongings.
• Restrooms
  • Due to the lack of hand dryers/paper towels in bathrooms we also brought hand towels as recommended, but found ourselves just air drying our hands way more often than using the hand towels as it was often more cumbersome to remove our backpacks and fish out our hand towels to use.

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Accommodations

• Sakura Hotel Jimbocho in Tokyo
  • I stayed in this hostel when I studied abroad in college in 2016, so it holds a special place in my heart. You can get a single room here for cheap, and although the rooms are extremely small, I don’t travel to Japan to spend time in my hotel so when looking for accommodations price is my #1 factor, not comfort. Toilets and showers are shared in this hostel and the rooms are set up coming off of a square hallway with sinks/restroom facilities in the center. The facilities don’t appear to be very modern and pretty, but the water pressure of the showers is the BEST. They have other room types as well, like bunk-beds, double rooms, etc. They have a 24 hour cafe downstairs and breakfast is included in your stay. All their staff speak English & Japanese (and other languages as well). They host some cool events like language exchanges and walking/jogging groups if you are more of a social person. I really enjoy the location of this hostel. You are within walking distance from the Imperial Palace and it still feels like you are in the city without it being so loud and busy like if you were to stay in Shibuya, etc. They do have other locations if you’re looking for somewhere with more nightlife.
• The Millennials Hostel in Kyoto
  • This is a really modern looking hostel in Kyoto, 2 streets over from Pontocho. The facilities are gorgeous and look brand new. They are set up similar to a capsule style hotel with a bunch of rooms coming off a hallway. Your bed takes up your entire space, and you have about 18 inches at the foot of your bed to stand. You pull an opaque privacy screen down to make your room private - there is no door. You can control your bed’s incline and lights through an iPhone in your room. There is storage space under your bed and on a shelf above your bed. Restrooms are shared but the showers are in one room and toilets in another. There are a lot of shared common spaces including a full stocked kitchen you can cook your meals in, but we literally only stayed here to sleep so we didn’t explore those spaces. I was worried about other guests being noisy but that wasn’t the case - everyone was super respectful. The price and location was great so I would definitely come back here.

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Daily Itinerary

Day 1 & 2: Travel

• We flew out of Chicago O'Hare International Airport. Our direct flight to Narita was around $1600 after taxes, fees, and flight insurance. I had one layover the last time I flew to Japan and in the future I will only be buying a direct flight as I found this to be way easier than having a layover.
• Once we arrived in Narita we turned on our e-sim. We chose Ubigi after reading many positive reviews on this subreddit and I highly recommend them. We had some issues getting iMessage to work despite following Ubigi's instructions to a T, so we ended up just using WhatsApp to message during the trip, however, iMessage did start working later on.
• We decided against picking up our JR passes & seat reservations at the airport because the line was long and we didn't need them for another 5 days.
• Going through customs/immigration and grabbing our luggage only took about 20-30 minutes. There were many staff to guide you and we found the whole process to be really smooth.
• We exchanged our currency and went downstairs to buy our tickets for Narita Express at a ticket vending machine. We got round trip tickets for ¥3460 (keep in mind that the return ticket needs to be used within 14 days). We had purchased our Suica before leaving and put them in our iPhone wallets and they came with a balance of ¥2000 so we didn't load money onto our cards until the following day.
• We took the Narita Express to Tokyo Station then took a cab to our hostel in Jimbocho. We each traveled with 2 checked luggage, so we found the short and inexpensive taxi ride to be a better option than lugging 6 giant suitcases on local trains to get to our hostel.
• We checked into our hostel. The total price per person for 11 nights was ¥49500 (about $380).

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Day 3: Imperial Palace/Ueno

• We woke up and walked to the Imperial Palace/East Gardens. We got there right when they opened and spent about 90 minutes there. We walked back to Jimbocho to go to my favorite tempura place in Jimbocho. This place has gotten quite famous since I was last there in 2016. We were first in line at 10:45am and by the time they opened for lunch at 11:30, there was a line of 20+ people. Our lunch cost only ¥800.
• After lunch we took the train to Ueno and spent some time in the Tokyo National Museum and Ueno Park. We also visited Shinobazu No Ike Bentendo Temple which is a cool temple right inside Ueno Park. While at Ueno Station, we picked up our JR passes & seat reservation tickets and also put ¥5000 on our Suica. We really enjoyed the fact that you could charge your mobile suica at a convenience store using cash - we didn’t have to worry about finding the machines in train stations with the phone holders.
• After that we walked through Ameyoko and did some shopping - I bought a super cute used Coach purse for around $65. Ameyoko seemed to have a lot more products than when I was there in 2016… but I also had more money this time around so maybe I was just paying more attention!
• We took a train back to our hostel to drop off our shopping bags and change. We took a train to Shinjuku to go to New York Grill for our dinner reservation. New York Grill is on the 52nd floor of the Park Hyatt hotel in Shinjuku and the views were incredible. We got the Spring Harvest 5-course dinner which included wagyu and it was easily the best beef I have ever eaten in my life - so juicy and buttery. The cost was ¥23100 per person (~$175).
• 25,138 steps on this day.

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Day 4: Shibuya/Akihabara

• We woke up and took a train to Shibuya to see Hachiko, go to the Starbucks near Shibuya Crossing, and shop at Shibuya109 and Uniqlo. It was hard for me to find any clothing that would fit me at the stores in Shibuya109 (I am a US 8/10 which is basically considered plus size in Japan) however I was able to find a cute t-shirt at Punyu's in Shibuya109 and two dresses at Uniqlo. I also bought sneakers at the Skechers store.
• I also went to the Mega Don Quijote in Shibuya and spent about $102 on candy and snacks to bring home. Lots of fun KitKat flavors here but it was very crowded and hard to walk around with my extremely full baskets.
• We took a train back to our hostel to drop off our shopping bags and had a quick lunch via conbini.
• We took a train to Akihabara and bought some souvenirs and gachapon, and walked all the way back to Ameyoko where I spent another $90 on candy and snacks to bring home.
• We took a train back to our hostel to drop off our shopping bags and change. We took a train to Ginza to go to Tempura Kondo for dinner (a Michelin starred tempura restaurant). We got the Yomogi dinner which was ¥23100 per person (¥25410 after fees, ~$195). The staff were amazing - they noticed that my sister was left-handed and set up her plates/silverware as such which was really observant. We loved the dinner, however there was WAY too much food for us; the staff recognized we were starting to get full, and asked us if we would be able to eat the next course which was ten-don. I was really concerned about being disrespectful and wasting food, so I was really glad that they noticed and asked!
• 19,445 steps on this day.

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Day 5: Asakusa/Ginza/Omoide Yokocho

• We woke up and took a train to Asakusa to see Sanja Matsuri. We shopped at the small souvenir shops on Nakamise-dori and had street food at the festival for lunch. I bought an awesome goshuincho here with a wooden cover and foxes on it.
• After being completely overstimulated, we took a train to Rikugi-en Garden to escape the crowds. This garden is a little off the beaten path, just outside the big city, but it is completely gorgeous and so worth the trip.
• After the garden, we took a train to Ginza to window shop and go to our reservation at Higashiya Ginza for wagashi & tea pairing. We had 5 wagashi paired with 5 teas that were amazing. It cost ¥4500 per person.
• After this, we walked to Mitsukoshi Ginza to explore the basement food floor and grab dinner. They start to discount the food as the stores near closing time, so going for a late dinner can save you a couple yen! After eating on their rooftop terrace which was beautiful, we walked to Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki Paris Marunouichi to grab dessert then headed back to our hostel to drop off our shopping bags.
• After we ate, we took a train to Shinjuku to walk down Omoide Yokocho. We had a drink on the third floor of Bar Albatross - highly recommend! The alleyway is a lot shorter than I imagined, and very crowded as you would expect. I probably wouldn’t go back here in the future but I am glad we visited!
• 25,002 steps on this day.

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Day 6: Harajuku

• We woke up and took a train to Harajuku to visit Meiji Shrine and got our first goshuin.
• After visiting the shrine, we walked back to Takeshita-dori to get lunch at Afuri Ramen. They’re known for their ramen with yuzu in their broth and this was one of our favorite meals during our trip. We got there about 20 minutes before they opened and were ~8th in line. By the time they opened, the line was stretching around the building!
• We walked down Takeshita-dori and shopped, then went to our reservation at Mipig Cafe (mini pig cafe). This place was so cute! You can make reservations for 30 minutes or 1 hour where you sit on the floor and miniature pigs will come and sit on your lap. You weren’t allowed to pick the pigs up and the staff were super kind and handled the pigs well. A 30 minute reservation was ¥1800 per person.
• After the pigs, we walked down Omotesando and took the train to Shinjuku to get dinner on the food floor at Isetan.
• After we ate on the rooftop terrace (beautiful once again), we headed back to our hostel to drop off our shopping bags. We took the train to Shibuya to go to our reservation at Shibuya Sky. We got the package where you get an admission ticket including a 50 minute reservation for the sofa seats and a choice of a mini bottle of champagne or 2 beers per person, which cost ¥5900 per person. The views were unreal and I recommend reserving the sofa seats so you can get amazing pictures. This was a highlight of our trip.
• 21,719 steps on this day.

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Day 7: Kawaguchiko

• This was our first travel day. We woke up early to take the highway bus from Busta Shinjuku to Kawaguchiko. The bus was ¥4400 per person. We were able to get some super clear pictures of Mt. Fuji while we were on the bus and right when we arrived at the station.
• We bought the daily unlimited bus pass for ¥1500 which ended up not being worth it for us because we spent so little time seeing things on the bus route. First, we went to the Panoramic Ropeway. We got there about 15 minutes before they opened and there was already a really long line. By this time, Mt. Fuji was already completely covered in clouds but the ropeway was really cool and we still got some awesome panoramic pictures. They have a shop at the top where you can get ice cream and sit on some swings and take pictures.
• After the ropeway we took the bus back to Kawaguchiko Station to get on the train to go to Chureito Pagoda. The gnats here were INSANE. We climbed up the ~400 or so steps to the top and got some cool pictures as well as our goshuin.
• We walked back to the station and took the train to Fuji-san Station and walked ~30 minutes to Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine. The wooded walk up to the shrine is absolutely gorgeous. We got goshuin here as well.
• After the shrine, we walked and took a train back to Kawaguchiko Station to eat a conbini dinner, do last minute shopping, and catch our bus back to Tokyo.
• 19,374 steps on this day.

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Day 8: Kanazawa

• We woke up early to catch our 6:16am shinkansen to Kanazawa. Once we arrived, we bought the daily unlimited bus pass and took the bus to Omicho Market where we bought some souvenirs and food.
• We walked from Omicho Market to visit Ozaki Shrine and Oyama Shrine and got goshuin at both places. My sister realized she lost her wallet at this point, but a kind soul had turned it in to the staff at Ozaki Shrine!
• We took the bus from Oyama Shrine to Kenroku-en Garden, where we walked around, took lots of pictures, and sat down for lunch at a local restaurant.
• After lunch, we took the bus to the Higashi Chaya district where we shopped and took pictures.
• After that, we took the bus back to Kanazawa Station to catch our 5:57pm shinkansen back to Tokyo.
• 20,192 steps on this day.

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Day 9: Kyoto Day 1

• We woke up early to pack our overnight bags and catch our 6:21am shinkansen to Kyoto, where we would be staying for one night. We decided to keep our reservation at our Tokyo hostel because 1) it was super cheap and 2) we would be able to leave all our suitcases and belongings in our rooms for when we returned to Tokyo.
• When we arrived in Kyoto, we headed straight to our hostel to have them hold our bags before we could check in later that day.
• After that, we took a local bus to the Arashiyama area. It was absolutely packed with school groups and tour buses. We walked up Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street to Adashino Nenbutsu-ji Temple where it was much quieter. We got goshuin and visited the small and private bamboo grove behind the temple. We walked back down Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street towards Togetsukyo Bridge where we stopped and sat down for lunch then continued shopping along the way. I got lots of uji-matcha here.
• We walked back to Arashiyama Station and took a train to Kiyomizu-dera where we got goshuin, then walked to a small rooftop bar overlooking the Hokan-ji temple and pagoda and got awesome pictures and had dinner.
• After eating, we walked back to our hostel and checked in, then slept for the night. Our 1 night stay cost ¥5000 per person.
• 21,545 steps on this day.

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Day 10: Kyoto/Nara Day 2

• We woke up super early to check out of our hostel and head to Fushimi Inari. Our hostel held our bags while we went sightseeing for the day. We arrived around 6:45am which was so worth it - it wasn’t crowded at all and we got lots of pictures of the shrine and torii gates without any people in them. We walked for about 30 minutes up the mountain then headed back to Inari Station to head to Nara.
• Once we arrived in Nara, we spent some time with the deer then visited Todai-ji and got goshuin.
• After that, we took a train back to Fushimi Inari to visit the souvenir shops which had not opened yet when we had gotten there earlier that day. We shopped and got goshuin, then headed to Sannenzaka/Ninenzaka to shop. We visited Ryozen Kannon to get pictures (they had closed by the time we got there) and walked down Ishibei-koji Lane and Hanamikoji Street.
• After that, we walked back to our hostel to pick up our bags. We took a taxi to Kyoto Station to catch our 7:36pm shinkansen back to Tokyo.
• 27,861 steps on this day.

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Day 11: Tattoo

• My mom and I went to a tattoo shop near Shibuya to get matching tattoos on our wrists, then my mom spent the rest of the day shopping in Shibuya with my sister while I got another large tattoo on my shoulder.
• After my tattoo was finished, we all met up in Ikebukuro to get gyudon for dinner.
• 9,879 steps on this day.

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Day 12: Yokohama/Kamakura

• We woke up and took a train to Yokohama where we walked the Minato Mirai 21 area and shopped and had lunch at World Porters.
• After lunch, we took a train to Kamakura. First, we visited Hase-dera and got goshuin. I got lots of pictures of the hydrangeas even though they weren’t in full bloom yet.
• After that we walked up the road to Daibutsu and got goshuin. We walked back to Hase Station and took a train to Kamakura Station and walked the pedestrian pathway in the center of the road to Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu. We got our goshuin and were able to observe a small part of a traditional Japanese wedding that was happening at the shrine, which was really cool.
• After that, we walked back to Kamakura Station and took a train back to Tokyo.
• We spent the night packing. I ended up completely filling my suitcases with my souvenirs and had to put even more in my carry-on bag.
• 21,131 steps on this day.

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Day 13: Travel

• We woke up and headed back to Senso-ji to grab our goshuin, since it was too busy when Sanja Matsuri was happening the week before.
• We took a train back to our hostel and checked out around 11am, then made our way to Tokyo Station to take the Narita Express back to the airport.
• We arrived at the airport with plenty of time before our flight so we could get last-minute souvenirs. I found a couple flavors of KitKat and Hi-Chew here that I could not find in Donki/Ameyoko - but I could not find Beni-Imo KitKat which is the flavor that I was looking for! :(
• We flew back to O’Hare and drove home from there.

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Trip Cost

• Total trip cost: ~$5462.73
  • Total spent before I left Japan (flight, JR pass, highway bus ticket, tattoo deposit, pay-ahead reservations, suica, car rental): $2562.73
  • Total I spent in Japan (souvenirs, snacks, accommodations, transportation, meals, activities/admission, reservations, tattoo): ~$2900

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Cost Breakdown

Airfare

• Total (USD): $1600

Accommodations

• Total: ¥54500
  • ¥49500 (Tokyo hostel/11 nights) + ¥5000 (Kyoto hostel/1 night)

Transportation

• Total: ~¥64470
  • ¥33610 (JR pass) + ¥4400 (highway bus) + ¥3460 (N’EX) + ¥18000 (local trains/bus) + ¥5000 (taxis - approximate)

Meals

• Total: ~¥88510
  • ¥40000 (breakfast/lunch/dinner) + ¥48510 (meal reservations)

Souvenirs

• Total: ~¥150000
  • Goshuin, charms, matcha powder, candy, jewelry, clothing, purses, shrine offerings, postcards, etc.

Activities/Admission

• Total: ~¥9800
  • Pig Cafe, tea/wagashi tasting, shrines/temples, etc.

Tattoo

• Total (USD): $604.66

I am (30f). Husband is (30m). My friend (30f) and my BIL (26m) met each other 5 months ago at my baby shower. This particular friend and I had a huge falling out because our personalities clashed a lot. She reached out to me wanting to make amends and I really appreciated the effort. So I invited her to my baby shower and that was me trying to extend an olive branch.
The moment she and BIL decided to get married (4 months after knowing each other) she went radio silent on me. I thought this would be a reason for us to be closer, since you’re now a part of my family? But no, she actively avoids me. She avoids eye contact. She doesn’t text me unless I reach out first. She’s very reserved only when I’m around (my husband noticed this). Now we weren’t the best of friends before, but we definitely had more communication than this. Now wake up in the same house and she will only speak to me if I ask her something directly. If we’re in a group setting she’ll make sure to skip over me when talking. I tried talking to her and she apologizes and said she had no idea about anything I mentioned and I thought it was all in my head for a moment? But that’s not true because even my husband notices. Recently she and BIL came over to visit us for the weekend and she was SO reserved, and to herself I felt like my house was a hotel and my husband was her chauffeur. It didn’t feel like they came to spend time with us because of how she actively leaves me out of things. We went for ice cream and she decided to stay in the car, so BIL stayed with her. We went to the beach and they wandered off for two hours and came back when they were ready to go back. Once back, they went for a walk “knowing we were prepping dinner for them” and came back two hours later. These are the things that bothered me in our friendship before, she requires too much effort and patience from me. She’s not a bad person by any means, our personalities just CLASH. I’m very on top of everything and she just lackadaisically moves through life. She made us late for each event and even forgot to check out of her hotel making us miss an event that we already pre-paid for. All of this really annoys me.
Now I’m uncomfortable and want nothing to do with her. The things I didn’t like about her before are so evident now and while I could manage her from a distance as a friend, I hate the shes part of my FAMILY now. I also hate that after 5 measly months she married my BIL and it’s not affecting my relationship with him as well. My husband, who is so amazing is noticing all of these clashes that seem to be only coming from my end and he’s worried that me not wanting to be around her will ruin his relationship with his brother. How can I get past my dislike for this person? I really just want my husband to see I’m not crazy and that she is actually affecting me and making me uncomfortable. Thank I so much for reading this far!!
TDLR: an ex friend of mine and BIL got married. My husband is worried that my relationship with her (or lack thereof) will affect his relationship with his brother.

$DanielMorrisonLaw50
Daniel’s current cash app is fake and its to throw off the trolls! donate to $DanielMorrisonLaw50 to actually donate to Danny boy.
I just sent 3000$ and a 500$ olive garden giftcard.!

For context, I work as a To-Go specialist at Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, which is a chain restaurant that's owned by the same parent company as Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse. On Sundays we typically are busy, and get backed up a bit. This was memorial day weekend, so it was double that. I had walked out to take an order to see someone yelling at one of my teammates. He was extremely angry at his wait, and she was trying her hardest to explain what was going on. He then said this:
"You know what I could go for? A slice of carrot cake."
She replied with "Okay, sir, do you want me to charge that separately or add it to your check?"
"No, dumbass! You're going to comp me for that, since I had to wait such a long time."
My teammate, with tears in her eyes, runs to get the manager. The manager comes out here, and she's extremely pissed.
"Alright, who made my girl cry?"
He IMMEDIATELY goes into defense mode.
"I- I don't know what you mean, I didn't raise my voice or anything, I just asked nicely. I just would like you to get your manager and comp me."
He waited out by his car and my manager told me this.
"Just get him a damn cake. I don't wanna comp him but we're too busy for this"
This is probably the most irritating part. I got the cake for him and he said "That's very thoughtful of you, thanks a lot" in a very sarcastic tone.
*One thing I forgot to mention: My teammate here was new, being her 3rd after finishing training. We're taught 2 things as newbies:

1. If we're having difficulty, inform them that we're new
2. If anyone ever gets nasty, get a manager. We're not paid to get yelled at and treated like shit. The customer is NOT always right.

She did tell this guy she was new and he had 0 sympathy.

Somehow, someway, the Celtics have won three straight games to climb out of a 3-0 hole, forcing an all-or-nothing Game 7 inside TD Garden with a spot in the NBA Finals hanging in the balance. Find out where the best bet lies in our NBA betting picks below.
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In some alternate NBA universe, the Miami Heat swept the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. In another, the Heat took the series in five games. And in another playoff multi-verse, Miami needed six games to drop pesky Boston.
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That’s not the case in our wild and twisted universe, where we get a Game 7 between the Heat and Celtics on Monday night.
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Boston has battled back from a 0-3 hole in the East finals, slapping NBA playoff odds in the face for what they had priced out as an 8% chance of completing the unprecedented comeback.
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As of Monday morning, the Celtics are 7.5-point home favorites and boast a 75% shot at advancing to the NBA Finals, according to the moneyline odds.
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I dive deeper into the Game 7 spread and OveUnder total and give my best NBA betting picks for Heat at Celtics on May 29. Be sure to also check out Rory Breasail's favorite Game 7 prop picks!
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Heat vs Celtics Game 7 picks and predictions
The Miami Heat’s most consistent contributor during the NBA Playoffs was Bam Adebayo... until he wasn’t.
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Adebayo, who had been an anchor for Miami’s postseason push on both ends of the floor, had his first truly bad game of the playoffs at the worst possible time.
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The 6-foot-9 forward went 4-for-16 from the floor and finished with only 11 points in the 104-103 Game 6 loss at home, after shooting 54% and averaging 17.5 points per game during the tournament until that point.
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Miami bettors are banking on a return to form from Bam, but NBA odds may be a little more reserved when it comes to his points prop for Game 7. Sportsbooks have Adebayo’s OveUnder at 16.5 points (Over -125).
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Player models are much more optimistic and so much so that I can’t ignore an Over on Adebayo’s scoring tonight. All mainstream projections are calling for at least 17.7 points with a number north of 18 and some pegged at 19 points against the Boston Celtics. My number comes in at 18.31 points.
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Even in his quieter offensive outings during the Eastern Conference Finals, Adebayo still shot well and got to the charity stripe. He’s averaging 15.3 points for the series and opened the East finals with efforts of 20 and 22 points, with shot totals of 13 and 17, respectively.
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Bam was less active on offense through Games 3 and 4 as the Celtics defense showed him more respect, but his field goal attempts are back up the past two outings with totals of 15 and 16 shots in the past two contests.
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"Keep shooting the shots that I'm shooting," a resilient Adebayo told the media after his Game 6 struggles. "I've got confidence in myself like no other. For me, it feels like a lid is on the rim, but I've got to figure out how to make that basketball go in."
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An insane atmosphere inside TD Garden won’t shake the six-year pro, as he’s upped his output in enemy territory all season. Adebayo averages 20.7 points, going an average of 8-for-15 from the floor in road games. So far in the 2023 NBA Playoffs, he’s putting up 17.8 points on 54.4% success as a visitor.
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Heat vs Celtics Game 7 same-game parlay
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Bam bounces back from a bad Game 6 and comes up big against a slimmer point prop in this do-or-die showdown in Beantown. My number for Adebayo is more than 18 points while some models call for 19.
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Going Under on Marcus Smart, who will be a defensive devil in Game 7 but will see his scoring dip. Projections call for 12.5 points which is short of 13.5 and some books are at 14.5 O/U, so shop if you can.
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Finally, taking Al Horford to dish out at least three dimes. Most models have three or more from the Celtics forward with my number just short at 2.9 assists. He had only two assists in Game 6 but tallied five and four in the two games prior.
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Bonus: if you want a kicker, Kyle Lowry Over 2.5 assists is a nice add-on. He’s projected for more than four dimes with some models posting a ceiling of five. However, this prop isn’t available for all SGP markets just yet.
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Heat vs Celtics Game 7 spread and OveUnder analysis
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You would think that after six games of head-to-head encounters, the Game 7 spread for the Eastern Conference Finals would be drum tight. However, we’ve seen plenty of movement from the opening odds to early Monday morning.
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Following Boston’s 1-point victory in Game 6, the spread hit the board as big as Celtics -8.5 with the team coming back home with all the momentum. That line stayed put for about 30 minutes before early play on the Heat started chipping away.
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The line dropped to Boston -8 by midnight Sunday morning and has since slipped to as low as Celtics -7 at most books as of Monday morning. Bettors watched Miami hang around for most of Game 6 despite its worst shooting night, and the Celtics barely held off a fourth-quarter rally on the road for a 104-103 win on a last-second offensive putback from Derrick White.
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According to Covers Consensus, 72% of picks are siding with Miami on the road in Game 7. Action at BetMGM books has been even heavier on the Heat, with the sportsbook reporting 81% of bets and 82% of handle taking the points with the underdog Monday night.
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Boston has been much better on the defensive end over the past three contests, tightening their vice on Miami’s top stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.
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The Heat’s complementing talents were shooting extremely well to start the series but have since cooled, and the Celtics have been able to focus energy on slowing down those two standouts. Butler and Adebayo were a collective 9-for-37 from the floor in Game 6, with the Heat making only 35% of their shots as a team.
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That improvement on the defensive end has been a boon to Under bettors. After the opening three games of the East final went Over the closing totals of 212, 214, and 214.5 points, the past three games have stayed below numbers of 216, 214.5, and 209 points in Game 6.
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The OveUnder total for Game 7 hit the board at a very low 203 points, making it just the fifth total of 205 points or less in the 2023 NBA Playoffs. The previous four short totals (ranging from 205 to 201) have produced a 0-4 OveUnder record, all staying below the closing number.
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The pace of the series has also changed dramatically from the opening three games to the last three, with Miami’s 3-0 lead being run at a rating of 97.17 while Boston’s trio of victories came in at 93.3 in terms of tempo.
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Early play on the Heat-Celtics Game 7 OveUnder was on the Over and bumped the total up to 203.5 over the weekend, which has peaked to 204 at some shops as of Monday morning.
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BetMGM sportsbooks are reporting 75% of bets and 60% of the handle taking the Over in Game 7. Covers Consensus is in line with those splits, as 81% of picks are banking on a higher-scoring finish to this exciting series finale.
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Heat vs Celtics betting trend to know
The Heat are 8-4 SU and 9-3 ATS as underdogs this postseason and 21-16 ATS (57%) when getting the points overall on the entire season (regular, play-in, playoffs). Find more NBA betting trends for Heat vs. Celtics.
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Heat vs Celtics Game 7 game info
Location: TD Garden, Boston, MA
Date: Monday, May 29, 2023
Tip-off: 8:30 p.m. ET
TV: TNT
Heat vs Celtics Game 7 key injuries
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Boston Celtics
Player Position Status
Malcolm Brogdon SG
Ques Mon - Forearm
Reported: Sun, May 28
Danilo Gallinari SF
Out for season - Knee
Reported: Thu, September 8
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Miami Heat
Player Position Status
Victor Oladipo SG
Out for season - Knee
Reported: Sun, April 23
Tyler Herro SG
Early June - Hand
Reported: Fri, April 21
Gabe Vincent SG
Ques Mon - Ankle
Reported: Sun, May 28

Open to offers, will go first if you have good rep.

I'm travelling out to Italy for the first time on the 4th of July and looking for some good activities to do that are relatively inexpensive.
So far I fly out from the UK to Pisa on the 4th, arriving around 11am, to then travel by train to Florence(where I will be staying for 6 days)
We have a city tour in the 6th and a wine tour on the 8th. We do want to take a day trip at some point to Venice possibly on the 7th, my boyfriend also wants to visit Pisa properly rather than just passing through. We are staying right next to the Duomo and want to go to the top of the bell tower, how is best to book this?
Also want to visit some galleries and gardens while we are there, I had seen someone recently post about a museum passport, I did look this up but I'm wondering if that would be the best option?
Anywhere else in the city that is good to explore and good places to eat while we are there, I would really appreciate all recommendations! Do you have to book a reservation for restaurants or is it possible to just turn up? I just really want to work out an amazing trip but I am terrible with itineraries as we are pretty laid back about needing everything totally planned.
Thanks 😊

First Part 21
Let’s see…. Ah yes, I was telling my…uh.. Well the neighborhood witch that she’d likely created a kind of magical dam in an extraplanar region and so she’d have to do something about it.
Or at least that was my guess. Now we just had to figure out both the hard part and the easy part.
The easy part would be switching off the portal. The problem was going to be A) knowing how long to leave it switched off and B) being able to reconnect.
Unlike modern electronics, the magical community is rather… slow about adopting certain technologies and patterns and so the concept of pairing (like most of us know about with bluetooth and wifi) was… not exactly foreign, but definitely something that didn’t come as a natural progression.
So not only would the portal have to be reconfigured at the ‘sending’ end (thank Terra for what are effective 2-way wormholes - suck it SG1), said portal would have to have something to home in on. And given that Miss Skuld had never actually turned the portal off since she activated it, that made things extra problematic.
But I was being paid in very expensive herbs, so it was on me to figure it out.
As I said, first it needed switched off so it could be re-runed, which would take a few hours at a minimum and would require a bit of research to determine the right runes to create a means of ‘pairing’.
Then those same new ‘pair’ runes would have to be added to this far side. This would help, but again, both would have to be offline and whomever was on the ‘inside’ would be stuck there until the portal was re-established. And guess who the lucky winner on that one was?
Yeah, really…
But again, that’s how being a consultant works. Dirty jobs and at the mercy of clients who need your help, but given the circumstances, short of calling a few wizards who were better with runes, it was not going to be an easy solution regardless.
“How certain are you about my portal being the issue?” Miss Skuld asked as we looked at the arch that formed this side of the portal.
“Sufficiently based on what you’ve told me that I’d find it very hard to believe that it wouldn’t impact something,” I replied, sipping on a cider she’d thoughtfully provided from her garden’s fermenters.
“And that’s a tried and true technique is it?” she asked, rather more cheerfully than the harsh school mistress facade she normally wore.
“Oh yes. Turn it off and on again is practically the very first step. If you can replicate a problem after you’ve done that, that’s when you know you have a real problem,” I smiled slightly.
“Except we already know that it’s a problem or have you forgotten my poor golems?” she seemed slightly hurt.
“That’s not what I meant. But in short, it is a best standard practice at deliberately taking steps to fully reset a system from a base state or as close as you can get to it.”
She considered this and nodded.
“I’ll need to close my shop for the day then. I’ll have to get some spellcasting ingredients and a tracer in case this doesn’t work as simple as turning it off and on again,” her face already returning to the grey, neutral stone that was her normal.
“I’ll need to get some provisions and some camping equipment in case this takes longer than we expect,” I concurred with breaking for the day. “Do you know if there’s a good cross-planar communicator?”
“In theory, yes. But they are research institute issue only and they are exorbitantly expensive to operate, let alone borrow,” she said, matter-of-factly.
“How expensive are we talking?” I decided to ask before realizing it.
“Three 25 gram essentia crystals grade 8 or better per minute,” she said without even a pause.
I swallowed heavily. That was the equivalent of my fee of saffron every 10 minutes. I could afford some luxuries and some back-ups, but nothing of that magnitude.
“Then I guess I’ll just have to do without and we’ll have to be adequately certain of the pairing runes,” I said, shrugging, trying to not imagine being lost in the extraplanar realm for an indefinite future.
“I’ll see if I can provide a means of making it auto apply. I don’t know how good your runes are and I’d hate to make this any harder than necessary in trying to guess between your runes and my own,” she said, in the tones of one who is already certain that your penmanship is not up to standard.
Being fair, she was absolutely correct.
I knew some about runes, but only enough to get into trouble. A bit like being able to read a bit of code, but not enough to actually fix it and more likely to just make a mess of it and/or break it.
I finished the cider and set the wooden mug back onto the table where we had been sitting, pondering a solution.
We rose as one and walked to the portal. I looked at it as closely as I could without my eyes watering. It seemed to be fairly standard, but was clearly formed by some very special vines which had the runes engraved on them. Certainly nothing I’d want to have to try and recreate.
She appeared to think for a moment at the edge of the portal and turned around, looking out at the garden.
I turned with her, in case there was something my senses had missed.
Seeing nothing, I turned to see what direction she was looking in. In doing so, I saw her raise her hands to full extent and a strange kind of warping seem to emanate from her fingertips.
You know that heat waves on the road, making you see water at a distance? It was the same kind of strange bending of air and light, except up-close.
Of course, being around a djinn who can leak fire from their fingertips when adequately upset, I was not overly concerned, but I knew better than to say anything until Miss Skuld was doing whatever it was she was doing.
It took about 30 seconds, but the bending light faded and nothing appeared to have changed.
“May I inquire as to what you just did?” I asked as we turned back to the portal together.
“My golems will now protect you if it becomes necessary and they will respond, to a degree, if you command them,” she said.
“Protect me from what?” I prompted.
“From if you’re wrong,” she said and we stepped through the portal.
–
We said our goodbyes from there and I left through the front, deciding to hail a rideshare to the local sporting goods store that had a grocery next door.
I thought hard about her last statement.
I couldn’t deny that she was right. I was effectively toying with magic concepts that didn’t have to follow my simple baseline logic. And if there was some malicious force at play, it was someone either targeting her or potentially targeting me by proxy.
Alternately, there was also the strong risk that in doing this, I could be stuck in her garden for days, week, or even months if we couldn’t manage to do this right. At a minimum, someone of equivalent or better extraplanar skills would have to find me, create a portal to me (even a one-time portal would be problematic), have a homing signal to get us back to the right plane, and then portal us back. Such a specialist would be worth a lot more than me, but seeing as this was her garden and not lightly created, I didn’t suspect that she’d be looking to maroon me in extraplanar space.
The rideshare was nice and quiet, which is always a benefit, and I wandered through the camping section of the sporting good store.
For an outing like this, where good weather was a guarantee and I could probably get by with very simple items, the biggest challenge was going to be cooking and keeping anything cool.
I hadn’t asked whether it would be ok for me to have a small fire or not or if there was a means of refrigeration. I decided that the simplest answer would be no on both, at least for anything other than a root cellar or some equivalent (since she did have to keep the fermenters somewhere).
And while essentia or similar powered ‘field equipment’ existed, that got expensive and was usually reserved for teams of wizards on expeditions.
So MREs, dried/freeze-dried foods, and self-heating chemical packs were going to be my friends in this. Imperfect, but without having a better idea on what I was looking at, it was better than surviving on purely fruit and veg (which I know some people manage to do, but I’m not them).
Water wasn’t going to be a problem and given the cider, neither was alcohol if I did end up there for days on end.
Power could be a problem for entertainment, so I grabbed a small solar panel with USB charging and included battery.
I decided on a camping hammock with straps instead of bolts and grabbed a few other odds and ends for hygiene. I thought the clerk was going to swallow their eyes at seeing my fully stocked cart and when I declined any bags, but they dutifully checked me out and I pushed the cart outside and around the corner, just enough to be out of line of sight of anyone except in the immediate before I started loading it all in my bag.
Yes, that’s right dear readers, I have a Mary Poppins/Dr. Who ‘bigger on the inside’/D&D ‘bag of holding’ backpack. And I love it. It’s the first and best thing I invested in when I kicked off my fully independent consulting. Anything that goes in is stacked according to some kind of internal warehousing and if you go looking for something, the enchantment on the bag listens and will lift up whatever it is that you’re asking for. I have a hard time believing that I’ve never had anything like it before or what I would do without it.
Once I finished up at the sporting goods, I decided to skip the grocery, since most of what I could come up with was items that either needed freezing/refrigeration or needed some kind of intense heat source. Since I would likely be lacking both, I would simply do without.
Caffeine was going to be a ‘problem’ but I had some cold beverage instant caffeine type flavored water mix that I could get by on, so that was sound enough for me to press forward on.
Another ride-share to the corner nearest the apartment and into the apartment I went, vanishing from the world outside and realizing that I hadn’t gotten the herbs I’d gone to Miss Skuld’s to get in the first place.
Oh well, my pasta with meatballs and marinara sauce would just have to do without.
That is, until Lucy and Warren found out about my plan for the next day and possibly longer if things didn’t go right. But I’ll get to that later.
For now, it’s a beautiful day and I intend to spend it doing as little as possible.

I (26 M) just had my 2nd date yesterday with a lovely gal (25 F) that I think is really cute. We've been talking for about 3 weeks and each week after the initial match on Hinge, we've seen each other.
She's a very shy, reserved person, but very cute and interesting (she's an environmental engineer). Both of the dates, I felt like I did most of the talking, but the 2nd date (at the botanical garden) was quiet truncated by feeling the need to engage her and she would always respond.
I'm trying to be more extroverted on dates and she seems to be having fun, but it's hard to tell if she's into me romantically. She's ended both dates by saying "Thanks for hanging out." I find this sweet and we're still texting, but I'm having trouble reading her. I thought we might have a hug after last date, but I didn't want to initiate so I just gave her a light, playful punch to the arm.
I like her and she's very cute, but I am not sure where things are headed unless she's just a very very "take it slow" person. I know it's only two dates and three weeks of engaging, but I'm not sure I've figured out how she shows enthusiasm. Please help. Thank you!

4 beds 4 Baths - Apartment (Summer Sublease) MALE ONLY 4210 Monticello Gardens PI, Tampa, FI 33613, United States 1 Bed + 1 Bath in a 4×4 at Station 42 Rent is $815. Renter's insurance can be purchased through them for $17/month. Hello! I'm looking to sublease my room beginning June. The lease is for June and July ONLY. It is a short walk from USF and Publix, and there are two Bull Runner stops nearby. The complex is gated with a key fob/gate code. Regular parking is free, but you can get reserved parking for an extra $20/month. The apartment has an in-unit laundry/dryer, a full kitchen, and a balcony. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. (1st come 1st serve) It’s available immediately.

Hi everyone! I’m looking for some pretty, scenic spots to visit on Long Island. I’m specifically looking for places that are not too far East, and preferably within the Nassau County region (although, Suffolk Country is completely fine as well). In terms of tickets/parking fees, I would like it to be an affordable option.
I’ve been to Jones Beach numerous times, so going there is getting quite redundant, and all the other beaches seem to be reserved for certain residents with huge parking fees (although, I could be wrong).
It doesn’t even have to be a beach. Are there any nice gardens, parks with nice views, or anything else?
I’m also looking for fun things that teens can do in general. For instance, of course I’ve been to Adventureland a bunch of times. Are there any notable attractions, cute cafe spots, and/or restaurants worth visiting?
Thanks in advance!

Hey, Guardians!
We have space for one learner with 0 clears in our run Wednesday night (May 31st) at 8 p.m. EST. Please have a look at my Sherpa Card before commenting to sign up. Again, please be a first timer. You can DM me if you have clears and are interested in doing Divinity for a separate run at a different time.
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Garden of Salvation + Divinity: Wednesday, May 31st @ 8PM EST with 1 Spot + Backup Spots Open
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As always, if the open slot is filled by someone who fails to show up. we will go to the backups in order (see the list at the bottom of this post).
Comms will be done via Discord unless someone is on PS4 and cannot use it. It will be mandatory for those on PC, PS5, and Xbox per my Sherpa Card.
This particular run will be streamed, so if you are not okay with your voice being heard (there is no opt out due to my setup), then feel free to ask me for a Sherpa at a time when I am not live at a later date.
That being said, to sign up, simply comment with your Bungie ID, your Discord ID, and the character class you plan to come as. Power level is irrelevant as this raid is currently 1600. Be sure to have the quest (picked up from inside the cave over by Lunar Battlegrounds on the Moon) finished up to Step 4 of 4, which then requires doing the raid, prior to the start of the raid. It only takes 15-20 minutes from pickup to completion if you watch a YouTube walkthrough. All other information will be DM'd to you after confirming your sign up. Please be sure to have a minimum of 2 hours to complete the raid. The max it would take is 3, so having that much time available is preferable.
If you have any questions, feel free to DM me as comments are reserved for signups. This post will be updated with the info of the people currently schedule as the learner and the first two backups.
Let's get those clears and loot, Guardians!
Current Status:
Learner: {Hiraeth_TTV#6905}
Backup 1: {JAC0BIAN#4335}
Backup 2: {RageJACKPOT49#8043}