Planning the Trip of a Lifetime: Packing, money and other loose ends
Scary no? I’ve been planning this trip for eighteen months and suddenly, it’s nearly time to go. Just over six weeks remains until my epic trip of a lifetime begins.
Holy crap ….
So, I’ve started packing. Well technically not packing – I don’t have a suitcase yet – more putting stuff in a bag in one corner of my bedroom with the intention to pack. My new business cards came from Moo this week and I love them. I’ve sorted the travel insurance, got the e-ticket and my Japan Rail Pass. Now it’s just a matter of sorting loose ends. I’ve done the doctor’s for prescriptions, am headed to the dentist next week (expletive deleted), I’ve got contact lenses to buy as well as sorting the traveller’s cheques and cash.
Cheques and cash, well that’s where it gets interesting. It turns out that a lot of places (banks for example), no longer sell traveller’s cheques in yen. You can get them in sterling, dollars and Euros (ew!) but yen are becoming as rare as hens’ teeth. However after twenty minutes searching, I did find somewhere which sells them! Huzzah. What follows is the close watching of the exchange rates for the next week and then the mad purchasing of cash and cheques.
Unfortunately, I’ve also been shopping. Mainly for kitteh pheremony-stuff and clothes. I know, I know but I am going to need them. It’s little things like new pairs of PJs, trousers and t shirts. I still need to find/pick up some adapter plugs and some plane-sized, mega-expensive toiletries. What a life.
The odd thing though is that I keep coming across more things to see and do. I’m now re-reading my various guidebooks and actually READING them, noticing all the little things about places I want to see. Places like Kibune and Kurama, Arashiyama and Mitaka … At the end of the day, what I do and where I go depends on what happens during the group tour and while I know the itinerary, the specifics of what we’ll be doing and seeing still elude me.
What a great adventure you have ahead of you! I envy your first trip.
Having just found your website, I want to chime in with those who have offered tips. Since you are going to have a JR Railpass, you will qualify for a special discount rate at Granvia hotels (unless that is already part of your tour). http://www.jrhotelgroup.com/eng/jrpass.htm
If you don’t insist on travelling and eating like a Westerner (or buying everything in sight), you won’t spend as much as you anticipate. On the last day of my last trip four years ago, I left my friends and went off to explore a small Tokyo neighborhood on my own. On my way back, I bought a bento and a drink at a kiosk that I ate in a park; 900 yen. When I returned to the hotel and met my group, they were all going for lunch in the hotel. I joined them for tea. Also 900 yen. No refill.
Your business class hotels like Toyoko Inn will provide a buffet breakfast. (Some are much better than others) But if you are on your own, search out one of the many bakeries where you can get a breakfast set for 600+/- yen. You can also buy something the night before in a bakery or department store food hall during the last hour when prices are reduced. All of your hotels will provide a kettle and tea bags in your room. You can also buy drip coffee packets in coffee shops and convenience stores that you can use in your room. (However, you might want to buy a coffee mug in a 100 yen store. It is a easier than balancing on the provided tea cup.) I often pick up a musubi (rice ball wrapped in nori) in a combini (AM PM, Lawsons, or 7-11) to snack on when I am jet lagged and hungry at 3 a.m.
Having travelled with dollars, travellers checks, and credit cards, I have to say that the ATM card was the most useful. Whenever I was in a big city I sought out an ATM in either a post office or department store and withdrew enough yen to cover me until I got to another big city. The post office I last used in Tokyo (not a tourist area) had the ATM in a secure 24-hour lobby.
I’m making a note to check back in April to read your first impressions of Japan. You are going to have a wonderful, mind-boggling time!
Hi Folly!
I’m currently moving between excited and terrified!
I love chiming, go ahead! All sorted but I was aware of the discount. I’m looking forward to staying at the one in Kyoto Station
I’m aiming not to be a picky gaijin so definitely. I’m looking forward to the food and love things like ramen!
I’m still torn between travellers cheques and cash and what percentage of each to take but I will be in big cities so hopefully it won’t be a problem.
Please do! I’m taking my laptop and will be posting images on Flicker, AudioBooing and blogging if I get a moment!
Hi, Lesley!
Just glanced at your checklist and have a few suggestions. Pack a handkerchief to use as a napkin. Not all restaurants provide them, so Japanese folks always carry their own. Take or buy in a 100 yen store as a souvenier, a small facecloth. While restrooms in large cities may provide electric hand dryers, they do not always provide paper towels, so locals tuck these into their bags or pockets.
If you think that you will have an opportunity to interact with everyday Japanese, especially children, take a small bag of inexpensive candy. Something that is obviously not Japanese. I have charmed a number of people when I offered them Snickers Minis.
The Granvia Kyoto is one of my husband’s favorite hotels because of its grand architecture and access to the train. But be careful. There is one dramatic staircase that rises 6 or 7 floors without a guard rail. I also have vision issues, so always take the escalator and hold on firmly when I look down from the viewing stations on the bridge.
This is not a official race but every year, there is a race, running up the stairs. I certainly don’t want to try it though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czaychxl3Mo&feature=related
Nope, def not doing that one!
Liftoff is getting close!
Lesley, you seem like a smart traveller who does her research. Your itinerary is gorgeous and I wish I were going with you. Just be cautious of the Western mindset that says that expensive is better. I have travelled the Shinkansen Kyoto-Tokyo route in both the Green Car and Reserved Car and didn’t notice an appreciable difference between them All Japanese train cars are clean and and comfortable. In the Green Car (First Class) the riders may have been more expensively dressed, and there were more foreigners, but all the train cars get to your destination at the same time. ^_^
In Kyoto do try to go to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. My husband says that walking through those 10,000 orange torii gates is one of his most memorable experiences in Japan.
During the time that you are travelling on your own, you might want to take advantage of a great program called Systemized Goodwill Guides (SGG) – http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/essential/guideservice.html#volunteer. It is comprised of English-speaking volunteers who offer to escort travellers around their area. While they accept no payment, it is polite to pay for any admission fees or refreshments. I have also given them a little gift that represents the U.S. or my home city. In Hakone, DH and I were met by three women who drove us around to places that we never would have been able to get to on our own. And because they each had lived in the U.S., they could give us insights into Japanese culture in a way that we could understand.
Anticipation of your trip makes me itchey to start planning our next trip to Japan!