Okay so I'd like to write about my First ever trip to Japan. I went on a 2 week holiday in mid April. I hope this can help someone to achieve their dream as I did mine. :D
I know Japan is a Country a lot of people want to visit and I also realise that its a big step to take, for most people its really far away and can seem super expensive. What I'd like people to know is that it isn't as hard as you think and you should let anything get in your way.
I'm going to start out by giving a breakdown of my basic costs of travel, accomadation and the basic pre travel planning essentials, this can be the hardest part for most as it can seem very overwhelming, deciding on what area to stay in, what airline to choose, what booking sites to use. I struggled with these decisions for quite a while before making my decisions. I'll try to make my costing list pretty simple:
Flights: Flights can be really expensive and this is when a lot of people decide that they can't afford to go and give up, but if you are willing to travel a little bit longer the prices can be cut in half. Choosing to take a flight with a layover can be scary, the worry of not making it all the way to your destination can be daunting but im happy to say that my layover was a piece of cake. everything was easy and smooth, you really can't go wrong, My layover was in Beijing, China. Airports make transfers really easy, you go through security once more and they you just wait in Departures for your flight. easy as that.
My Flights cost: £415pp
Accomadation: The first part of my trip was in Tokyo for 5 days, now I did go for a slightly higher than needed budget for my first hotel as it was for my birthday but trust me when I say it can be a lot cheaper. I diduse much more budget hotels for my last week. For me the best site to use was Booking.com, I couldn't find an easier site to look for hotels and compare prices, they also have a price guarentee so if you find the room somewhere else cheaper they will pay you the difference, you can't go wrong. I also highly reccomend reading reviews of hotels, for me they were one of the most helpful things, you can often see paterns in reviews, so if lots of people say the staff are rude, they probably are.
My Hotels Costs for 2 people:
Week 1: 5 nights in a 3* hotel to Central Tokyo - £500
Week 2: 5 nights in 3* hotel in rural Kyoto - £315
Last 2 days: 2 nights in a 3* hotel by Haneda Airport - £200
As you can see I only stayed in 3* hotels, if you choose to go for a hotel with less stars you can be much much cheaper.
Travel in Japan: Japan has the best transport system in the world, trains are never late and they are very resonalbly priced. this is an area that I wouldn't worry too much about, if you are planning to travel around the country I reccomend the JR Rail Pass, I really can't recommend it enough. if you are planning to go far then you will need the Rail Pass. there are tools online that you can use to see if it would be worth it for you, but I honestly couldn't see myself going without one, if not anything else just for the peace of mind. For travel on local transport I recommend a Suica card, so easy to use and re charge, it can be really confusing figuring out what ticket you need to go where, so just use the Suica card to tap your way around.
JR Rail pass 7 day: £190
Local trains/busses for 2 weeks: £50pp
Food: If there is one thing you dont have to worry about in Japan it's food, there is something for everyone, from McDonals to Sushi, you can't go hungry. Food prices are also very resonable if you are trying to keep to a budget, my one reccomendation is Yoshinoya, their beef and rice bowls were one of my favourite things to eat and they are super cheap too.
Food Prices: You can go cheap from about £30pp per day but realistically with restaurants I would plan for around £50pp per day.
I'll end my First post here, please let me know if you have any questions about your upcoming trip and I will be happy to help :D On my Next post I'd like to go into what to expect on the Streets of Tokyo and what you'll be spending the most money on(and how to save some here and there).
