sharing a video i found semi useful. hope this helps. some tips on travelling on shinkansen with big luggage.

some of the comments here very helpful for my jp planning, which i only have less than 2 months to plan for my 2 weeks itinerary. just bought my tix to go end of next month. hope i dont regret this cold timing to go.

i went to hokkaido during Jan few years back. enough of snow. my annoyance is ice not snow. damn slippery. but i do appreciate the food etc when it's bloody cold. it's just... travelling with winter clothing is abit more ma fan.

that's all la. i dont want to experience snow if i can help it. i dont mind cold. dont like wet when travelling (hot or cold also annoying)

High level itinerary for my 13 full day trip. 15days total sat-sat but 1st and last day is flying day flight

Thinking of

Osaka
Kyoto (+Nara)
Takayama
Kanazawa
Tokyo

I havent put in a specific nights yet, still planning what sights to cover. The advantage would be i am flying im osaka and flying out tokyo, i guess i save some time there.

Btw, any qr payment in japan that will help with travel? I will have card payment also la. But qr payment also means i need internet... Like if they have something like wechat/alipay in china widely accepted then can download and use. Bring less cash.

jr rail website

Sini ada explain but no picture. You measure then you know. Dont need to guess. Mine is backpack, later go home measure. Luggage bag got fix shape and square enough, easier to measure.

Haha. No context. I measured my backpack. Even with some error, well within 160cm measurement.

My 70litre backpack about <140cm. I'm safe. Cant visualise the ones you say 30% - 50% bigger.

btw, i'm like having difficulty deciding on which area to stay in osaka.

any personal preference for peeps here? so i feel there's no severe disadvantage in most places. just a matter of preference.

like if stay north shin osaka, ppl who like to do day trip (but i'm only doing one which is to himeji, obviously not doing day trip to kyoto)

the kita ward or near osaka station, more central/CBD

the minami area (every blog i google) seems central, happening, eating place...

another consideration is i'm arriving at KIX at 9pm on SQ, just dont want to make it too difficult on my 1st day to get to my first lodging but good hotels near the stations again, seems plentiful.

Btw, you are in JP now right? How is the tourist crowd?

Things going smooth in the places you visit?

oh, i'm not flying with AAX but 2330 arrival is not traveller friendly though

btw, to everyone else. for a normal meal at restaurant, 1500 should be enough, per meal? i have not been to the big island. last time i was in hokkaido, i remember like eat at ramen/tonkatsu shop with those self serve machine, usually 1000 yen got balance. post global inflation 1500 can tahan right?

Osaka and kyoto? I am spending less time at tokyo. So maybe ok to splurge abit. Haha.

Compare to my records in hokkaido and this is 2019, 1500 get fastfood stuff sounds very expensive

This post has been edited by adele123: Nov 7 2022, 07:52 PM

1) not enough people to talk about

2) probably long layover or long enough to be deterrencr

3) airasia still exist

Few pages back someone mentioned he book phillipines also.

I just arrived in tokyo on airasia. There was a slight delay on airasia but arrived about 20 to 30minutes late. Luckily still manage to catch shuttle to hotel. Literally got out 1135pm. Longest was waiting for the luggage. Lol. Airasia still same old same old la.

Dont go for philippines with stopover at MNL. Waste time. At least AA still direct flight.

1) they wont simply cancel. Heard from someone, who flew MAS from sydney back to KL. Also kena cancel. The plane originate from KL. If they cancel KL-haneda, the people in haneda due to come back will be affected also. Unless absolutely necessary, i think they wont do it. Those necessary move, sadly, is just unlucky. Travelling post covid, just gotta be careful lo. Always buy travel insurance, note down all cancellation or change condition of everything you book, and keep plans as flexible as possinle.

2) overbook sadly is a common practice in ALL airlines. That's how they make more money, keeping fare lower generally for each passenger.

It's not uniquely AA problem.

I remember watching youtube video, saying the airlines will have some statistics, to determine how many tickets they sell, etc. Based on past experience.

But i think early check in does help with it.

But based on what i saw yesterday... AAX flight was relatively empty. Quiet zone about 30% to 40%. But the "normal" zone still quite full maybe 70% 80%, obviously this number is gut feel, didnt really count. One quick glance, dont see that many rows 3 ppl fully seated.

Based on my experience last week, train is still possible. My airasia flight was also slightly delayed 15 to 20mins? Forgot to check my watch when we landed.

Turns out that the longest wait i had was luggage, was unlucky in this. I was semi trying to get ahead of everyone including probably another airline from singapore cause a bunch of singaporean behind me. There were ppl ahead of me because my luggage was slower. I have to admit, by the time pass that train ticketing place. It's 1135pm. Abit close.

Remember to settle the visit japan and have your qr code ready then you are relatively good.

For fun sharing, although not a good news. Got a friend flying tmr by airasia. Departure time got delayed from 2pm+ to 6pm+. Hopefully dont delay further.

Travelling post covid (especially AA?) is really full of surprises.

This post has been edited by adele123: Dec 8 2022, 10:31 PM

I want to play devil's advocate here abit just to keep discussions up. I liked kyoto but those sights were not as wow as i thought. I was like, that's it huh? 2 days is enough for me (i planned 3 days including almost 0.75day fot nara trip). Dont need to go everyone of them. After awhile, the temple, garden or shrine is same same. Can even factor in 0.5 day go nara by giving up some stuff in kyoto itself. But this is purely my view la. Dont get me wrong, still find kyoto interesting... and i generally like to keep my itinerary more spacious nowadays (old liao) even though i believe can do with abit of less time by skipping some stops. Hahaha.

I actually follow lonely planet and basically cover the many of the more "main" ones. I did touristy destination.

But among the top I like in no particular order...

In Kyoto, I like (in no particular order)
1) tofukuji
2) chion in
3) nanzen-ji
4) kinkakuji (to be fair this one was the first one I went in kyoto and I told my spouse who has been to Kyoto before... I said, oh... Like that only ah? That was when my spouse say, it's not just architecture but also the garden. And I was so prepared to spend 1 hour or something like that. Then I realise, ok la, Sao gong, can go makan)
5) eikando (despite having one of the more expensive admissions cost)
6) kiyomizu dera

Fushimi inari I feel is more for the iconic arches for picture taking. But I really enjoy the walk there. Especially the further in I went, less ppl. Not so much on architectural for me.

I have to admit, I really not so big on some of the buildings. Hahaha.

Sharing from M2P LYN telegram group chat. For those needing transport to and from narita/haneda by car.

Not just any car, alphard. Haha.

This post has been edited by adele123: Dec 14 2022, 06:32 PM


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Someone on the telegram group personally used it. But not me. I do understand that it seems dodgy given the nature of how things work. Since all of us are anonymous.

Yes. Feels like too many days in tokyo.