The plan to go to Japan was always on the back of our (read: my mom and I) minds but we never actually went, because the tours were always ridiculously expensive - marketed at $2988 for 8D7N, which only happens to be 7D6N because they start counting from the departure time which may very well be 11pm SGT. Hearing all the stories about free and easy trips made me want to go on a trip, because all I've ever heard were great things about free and easy: how they were cheaper, how they could do whatever they wanted at any time of the day without getting restricted by the itinerary the tour agency had. That sounded like a swell deal and I really, really wanted to go ahead. But my mom would be apprehensive because who's going to plan the trip? What if we get lost? How are we going to find our way in a country that doesn't speak english? Her fears weren't unwarranted, of course, but those reasons didn't seem like they were enough to stop me from going free and easy. So last year, in 2017, when July rolled around, I casually brought up the topic about going overseas.
"Are we going anywhere overseas this year? Or next year? It's my only time to go before I start working."
"You suggest where you want to go la. Then we can go to the tour fairs to check the price."
"Er, I was thinking of free and easy this time."
"Oh. You plan lor."
That sounded like a green light to me, so I started my planning. It was not an easy feat deciding which city I wanted to go, but a quick google search led me to the usual three destinations: Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka and I thought, seeing that it was my first time in Japan, I wouldn't take the risk and go to somewhere more obscure so those three cities it is. I first planned it with only my mom and I in mind, so I've researched and found some cozy, but really tiny AirBnBs, only to be told three or four weeks later that I should consider my extended family (the usual suspects). Of course I didn't mind that they were coming, but that meant that all the prior researching would be for naught. I asked them, discussed, and they were open to the idea of free and easy (although they were much harder to convince than my mom) given that I knew how to plan properly. Pfft, I scoffed, and said that I was already a University student who took Japanese and I was perfectly capable of planning. I was stretching it and in my mind, I was stressed out because I didn't know if I could pull it off. But they agreed and the entire plan was now up to me.
Cue the endless research of affordable AirBnBs, tourist and non-tourist destinations, how long should we stay in each city, which airport should we fly to and fly from, etc. It was a whirl and I found myself scraping my plans every so often when I thought that it couldn't work out. I made a Google Sheets so that I was able to see it clearer and it also allowed me to share the final itinerary with my family. Once the base plan was done, we bought the air tickets and the AirBnbs (in that order).
The plan was now in the works.
I spent most of my idle time researching, researching and researching on "Top Places to Visit in Tokyo/ Kyoto/ Osaka" on Google, Reddit and the likes. It was arduous trawling through all the information and data (especially on Reddit, where people post itineraries all the time and others critique and tell them how to better improve it), but I made it out alive. Google Sheets was a total lifesaver.
Then it came to buying tickets - our entrance tickets for DisneySEA as well as Universal Studios Japan, then booking a slot for the Asahi Brewery in Osaka. I also bought a portable wifi for our whole 11 days: all from Klook. They were having a great discount of $100 off provided that you spent $400 in one sitting - which was not a feat at all because we had 5 people and a ticket to DisneySEA set us back around $90 per pax. So I managed to get the $100 off deal, on top of some SAFRA deal which helped us to get further discount on the wifi (go me!). But one grave mistake I did was to order the ICOCA card from Klook. Basically, ICOCA card acts very similarly to our EZ Link card in Singapore and is pretty vital for public transport since you don't have to buy a ticket every single time you wanted to take the subway or the train. However, I was under the false belief that I would be able to collect the ICOCA card from Tokyo, where we were landing. After I purchased it, I realised that it was only available for collection in Osaka. Bummer.
They didn't allow any refunds, so I thought I was basically doomed since I would be stuck with another set of 2000 yen EZ Link card on the last day, when were were flying off. (and I was, but I'll get to that later). But thankfully, that was only one of the two major setbacks that we experienced throughout the trip! The navigation was made easier due to the accuracy of Hyperdia and oh my god, I'm so glad I planned in advance. We didn't make any wrong trips *at all* throughout the trip, and I am so immensely grateful that I was being such a planner and planned everything down to the hour lmao.
We printed our air ticket confirmations, two sets of itineraries, tickets to the attractions, and we were ready to go.
-
As my Japan trip is pretty long, I will be splitting them up into parts :) This is part one! Stay tuned for the next part when I will be sharing with you about the plane ride, and Tokyo!
The plan to go to Japan was always on the back of our (read: my mom and I) minds but we never actually went, because the tours were always ridiculously expensive - marketed at $2988 for 8D7N, which only happens to be 7D6N because they start counting from the departure time which may very well be 11pm SGT. Hearing all the stories about free and easy trips made me want to go on a trip, because all I've ever heard were great things about free and easy: how they were cheaper, how they could do whatever they wanted at any time of the day without getting restricted by the itinerary the tour agency had. That sounded like a swell deal and I really, really wanted to go ahead. But my mom would be apprehensive because who's going to plan the trip? What if we get lost? How are we going to find our way in a country that doesn't speak english? Her fears weren't unwarranted, of course, but those reasons didn't seem like they were enough to stop me from going free and easy. So last year, in 2017, when July rolled around, I casually brought up the topic about going overseas.
"Are we going anywhere overseas this year? Or next year? It's my only time to go before I start working."
"You suggest where you want to go la. Then we can go to the tour fairs to check the price."
"Er, I was thinking of free and easy this time."
"Oh. You plan lor."
That sounded like a green light to me, so I started my planning. It was not an easy feat deciding which city I wanted to go, but a quick google search led me to the usual three destinations: Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka and I thought, seeing that it was my first time in Japan, I wouldn't take the risk and go to somewhere more obscure so those three cities it is. I first planned it with only my mom and I in mind, so I've researched and found some cozy, but really tiny AirBnBs, only to be told three or four weeks later that I should consider my extended family (the usual suspects). Of course I didn't mind that they were coming, but that meant that all the prior researching would be for naught. I asked them, discussed, and they were open to the idea of free and easy (although they were much harder to convince than my mom) given that I knew how to plan properly. Pfft, I scoffed, and said that I was already a University student who took Japanese and I was perfectly capable of planning. I was stretching it and in my mind, I was stressed out because I didn't know if I could pull it off. But they agreed and the entire plan was now up to me.
Cue the endless research of affordable AirBnBs, tourist and non-tourist destinations, how long should we stay in each city, which airport should we fly to and fly from, etc. It was a whirl and I found myself scraping my plans every so often when I thought that it couldn't work out. I made a Google Sheets so that I was able to see it clearer and it also allowed me to share the final itinerary with my family. Once the base plan was done, we bought the air tickets and the AirBnbs (in that order).
The plan was now in the works.
I spent most of my idle time researching, researching and researching on "Top Places to Visit in Tokyo/ Kyoto/ Osaka" on Google, Reddit and the likes. It was arduous trawling through all the information and data (especially on Reddit, where people post itineraries all the time and others critique and tell them how to better improve it), but I made it out alive. Google Sheets was a total lifesaver.
Then it came to buying tickets - our entrance tickets for DisneySEA as well as Universal Studios Japan, then booking a slot for the Asahi Brewery in Osaka. I also bought a portable wifi for our whole 11 days: all from Klook. They were having a great discount of $100 off provided that you spent $400 in one sitting - which was not a feat at all because we had 5 people and a ticket to DisneySEA set us back around $90 per pax. So I managed to get the $100 off deal, on top of some SAFRA deal which helped us to get further discount on the wifi (go me!). But one grave mistake I did was to order the ICOCA card from Klook. Basically, ICOCA card acts very similarly to our EZ Link card in Singapore and is pretty vital for public transport since you don't have to buy a ticket every single time you wanted to take the subway or the train. However, I was under the false belief that I would be able to collect the ICOCA card from Tokyo, where we were landing. After I purchased it, I realised that it was only available for collection in Osaka. Bummer.
They didn't allow any refunds, so I thought I was basically doomed since I would be stuck with another set of 2000 yen EZ Link card on the last day, when were were flying off. (and I was, but I'll get to that later). But thankfully, that was only one of the two major setbacks that we experienced throughout the trip! The navigation was made easier due to the accuracy of Hyperdia and oh my god, I'm so glad I planned in advance. We didn't make any wrong trips *at all* throughout the trip, and I am so immensely grateful that I was being such a planner and planned everything down to the hour lmao.
We printed our air ticket confirmations, two sets of itineraries, tickets to the attractions, and we were ready to go.
-
As my Japan trip is pretty long, I will be splitting them up into parts :) This is part one! Stay tuned for the next part when I will be sharing with you about the plane ride, and Tokyo!
Situated in the sunny island of Singapore, Jolene recently (is 2 years considered recent?) graduated from university and is now working in a job she never expected herself to hold. Besides having frequent quarter-life crises, she also indulges in video games, anime, and aesthetic korean girls documenting their life in vlogs.
Although not as eloquent with words, she still aims to try her best to bring across her thoughts to the Internet.
