We knew absolutely nothing about Japan, or where to go, or what to see and since no one we knew really knew anything either, we started planning our trip by reading travel blogs we found on line and looking at Pinterest and reading Trip Advisor for hotel recommendations. I must admit, planning a trip for two with no guide, to such a remote place, where few speak our language and we couldn't comprehend theirs, was daunting and I was nervous until we got here and so far everything has seemed to work out.
Those of you who know me, know I always fly coach. I've traveled a lot, but I have sat cramped beside a sumo wrestler on a trip home from Hong Kong and next to basketball player on my recent flight home from Africa; I am not spoiled! But upon hearing that American Aadvantage was changing its award program and reduce the value of my miles, I cashed in 250,000 miles accumulated over a decade, and bought two first class tickets. And it was a treat...airport lounge access, the private capsule with "100 different seating/laying positions", the 3 gourmet meals and free alcohol, the full size TV with Bose earphones, and the little Cole Haan goodie bag with travel comforts! Too bad it was a daytime flight and I didn't sleep for one minute!
Before we left, there were a few things I did to make the trip better...
1. I used Booking.com to reserve all the accomodations and I could modify the dates and cancel, without any penalty, only days before reservation time; this made it very easy to tweek my schedule and I didn't worry about losing a deposit while dealing with a foreign host.
2. Since Japan is a cash based society, especially in the small towns, I ordered my Yen online directly from my bank, without any service fee....the Yen were delivered to the bank and I picked them up there. You will need a lot of Yen I hear.
3. Since we would be traveling around Japan on the high speed train, the Sinkansen, before I left, I ordered the 14 day Japan Rail (JR) pass. I used Japan Experience, but there are many agents online and you can buy 7-day, 21-day, etc passes. The vouchers were delivered by Courier a few days later. (When we arrived at Narita Airport, we exchanged the vouchers and activated the passes for the next day. It took a few minutes and it was easy to find the JR office. We also bought one way JR tickets from Narita Airport to Tokyo Station near our hotel (since our JR Pass started the next day) and that was also easy and efficient.). Many local trains also use the JR pass, too.
4. Pasmo cards are little credit cards you use for non-JR subways and in vending machines and in taxis if you don't want to use cash. You can buy them and download them with cash at machines in the train stations and pass them over a scanner to use the subways, both coming and going. (If it is a JR train, you show your JR pass to the attendant, both coming and going.). You can buy these in advance from Japan Experience and they are delivered with your JR vouchers.
5. I ordered a portable wifi from Japan Experience when I ordered my JR pass and it was delivered to the hotel. It was less than $100 for the 2 weeks I need it and it works. It allows us to use Google Maps to get around. I suggest also buying a portable charger as the portable wifi and your phone do lose battery power quickly. It's about the size of a cell phone and allows a few devices to connect to it.
6. Download Hyperdia for a free trial month immediately before you leave so you have train schedules. Also Google translate which allows you to speak or take a picture of words and it will translate into the appropriate language.
7. Print out or scan the Japanese name of your hotel destinations so you can hand the Japanese word to the taxi driver as Anglo words are meaningless. Google translate can help with this.
8. Make sure you use a credit card that doesn't have a foreign transaction fee to pay for any foreign transaction, including when you pay for your JR pass from Japan Experience (which might be based overseas).
And so we're here now, finally....I'll keep you posted on how it all works out.
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