In fact, we are super excited that we researched/printed and had dinner with friends (Hello and Thank you Ria!) who lived in Japan for tips about what to do in Japan since it's going to be our first time. We're very thankful that we are staying with Kuya Benz who is already a local after having lived in Japan for more than 5 years!
Pre-Japan:
1. Check the weather to decide what clothing to bring especially if you have check in baggage.
2. When in doubt, wear tights. In fact, when travelling abroad always bring tights/leggings.
3. Ditch the boots. Wear your comfiest flats ( I packed just 2 foot wear, my trusty, super light crocs and Chuck Taylors)
4. Weigh in before the flight to avoid surprise excess baggage. My sister is a master at packing! Once sealed, don't open it again!
5. Bring petroleum jelly in your First Aid kit. Never have I imagined using petroleum jelly on my face but it provided really good base/coverage for powder foundation, plus it did not dry up my face when it got really cold!
6. Wear your "heavy clothes"like jeans at the airport to avoid added baggage. (It's just a short international flight, but make sure your jeans are not heavy denim)
7. Bring extra water bottle.
8. Those scarves, wools, that you got some Christmases ago? Those will come in handy!
9. Customize your medicine kit with the basics (Vitamins, anti-histamine, pain killers, etc.) according to your length of stay.
10. Have your travel documents ready (like passport) especially if you work for the government. Like me, I made sure I have my authority to travel document (yellow sheet), because otherwise, the immigration will not let me get on with the flight.
More tipid tips and tricks after the jump! Click on!
We were actually worried about how much are we going to bring, because this trip is actually semi-impulsive. (Should we exchange our pesos to dollars? Can we exchange it for yen? What if we'll get rip off?) It is better to buy (using Philippine Peso) Japanese Yen before your flight so you don't have to worry about looking for a foreign exchange the minute you land. You can buy Japanese Yen at the money changer in Resort's World ( Basement/Casino area near the escalator) or NAIA Terminal 3, right before you enter immigration area. They don't have additional charges, which is a good thing, but they run out of yens to sell (we got remnants of their last batch).
Also, when booking a flight to Japan, Cebu Pacific Air (our airline) offers in flight meals that costs Php 350.00. I recommend to just buy your preferred meals at the airport. The photo below shows Aprille's in-flight meal, a small Bistek Tagalog and what seems to be only 30ml of I've-never-heard-of-this-brand of juice. The bottom part of the photo shows the meal I customized at Seattle's best and it costs less than Php300.00. (Evian pa water ko! And it's the cheapest drink compared to other stuff like Sola Iced Tea and Gatorade.)
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| My meal tastes good, Aprille's airplane food is blah. |
On our flight back, Cebu Pacific crew said that the pre-ordered meal of Aprille is out of stock, and can she just settle for chicken something. What's the point of pre-ordering right? Aprille said no, so the crew had to make another one after being told that "we're willing to wait."
I cannot tell you how much bloopers we had on our actual day one. But to save you time and energy, I am going to list a few important tips and lessons I learned when my sister and I visited Japan:
1. Get a Map of the entire Osaka! The Kansai Pass (see number 2) map is not enough. (And always remember to carry your passport for surprised inspection. We didn't had any surprise encounters but Ria told us to do it.)
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| Here I am trying to navigate where we are going. Photo by Aprille. |
2. Get a Kansai Pass available at the Travel Desk at the airport ( 3-day pass costs 5,200.00 yen as of April 2014). This is super helpful and will save you a lot! It gives you Unlimited passes to trains and buses except the JR Train line (government owned train). Use your 3 day unlimited pass wisely. Good thing you don't have to use it consecutively and the day count is not limited to a window time frame (like 8am-5pm). So carefully plan when you are going to use it. You will be given a card, a map and some coupons for discount at the entrance of some tourist spots.
You will need to get on a bus to take you to Osaka from the airport. It took us a good 1 hour to get to Kobe Sannomiya to meet Kuya Benz. We were told that it's cheaper to get the round trip ticket since we are taking the same bus going to the airport. I love how their buses and trains are on time and they drive fast.
Quick Guide: There are several trains in Osaka alone: (A JR Line - government owned train. You can't use the Kansai pass when riding the JR Line).
Super Rapid Express - only stops at major stations.
Local - stops at every major station and provincial/mini-station, etc.
Limited Express - second fastest train, but has certain routes
Semi-express - faster than the local train, but has certain routes
3. Anticipate Entrance Fees: some museums have entrance fees which costs around 500 to 600 yen. Make sure to use your coupons/Kansai pass to avail of the tourist discount. ( Discounts are usually just 100 yen, but at least there's a discount!) The discount on the Kansai pass is only valid if you used it that day. We tried to use our Kansai Pass at the Himeji Castle even if we did not use it that day and we were told it is only valid on the day you used it.
4. Set a budget for Meals: Meals are approximately 300 - 1000 yen, depending on where you are going to eat.
I'm not the best person to be with when exploring food from a different country. Aprille wanted to try all Japanese food and I am always lured into American/Italian and Oh, Mc Donalds! Good thing there's Yoshinoya. I am not adventurous because I am afraid of possible allergy attacks and hospitalization is expensive in Japan!
5. Cheapest Drinking water costs 90 yen. Available at Family Mart, 7-11, Heart-In and In house grocery store at train stations.
6. Read, Read, Oh my goodness, Read! The major chunk of our bloopers is we fail to read the signs because we are always excited to hop on the train.
The ultimate question is "Is it expensive?" Yes it is. Most of the food came in single serving size and cheapest ones costs 300-500 yen. Some food came in big sizes so we had to split it in half like this super delicious Ramen of Ramen Taru branch in Kakogawa that costs 950 yen.
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| Not a Ramen fan, but this is super delicious! I fell in love with it. I'm so glad that I got my first Ramen in Japan! (Photo by Aprille) |
Another tip: A friend of mine is also leaving for UK the same week we are leaving for Japan. Since UK's standard of living is also expensive, she started adjusting her meals into small meals weeks before to get her body working for small meals she'll be taking in UK. Diet na, tipid pa!
We had to stop converting prices into pesos because it is stressful. The most expensive would probably be food and transportation. It also depends where you are staying. In our case, since we saved money from staying at hotels, but we endured the long, quite pricey commute from Kakogawa to Osaka or where we plan to visit. Want to know how far it is? It's like everyday round trip commute from Manila to Sagada via train and that's just the first stop, we will hop on another train line for another route.
BUT! The cost of your expenses will highly depend on your stay and where do you plan to go. A big chunk of our budget went to transportation and entrance fees to museum and Universal Studios Japan. Another friend of mine was also in Japan the same time we're there, but they were in Tokyo and she said it costs 30,000.00 yen just to meet me up in Osaka.
But I think the most important when planning a trip to another country, is to choose who you are travelling with. It's bad enough that you are lost in translation, but there's nothing more irritating than having some whiny, high maintenance, travel buddy who likes to complain a lot. Actually, I told Aprille that I just want to have a relaxed trip in Japan and she told me I should have gone to the beach instead! Oo nga naman, makes perfect sense. Good thing I traveled with her because we both watch the "sisters' budget". But I'm sure she is happy that I traveled with her last minute because she had the chance to sleep on the train (because I couldn't), one to take charge of making our travel documents are arranged, organized and prepared (knowing the freak I am) and someone's got to yank her to another direction because she tends to linger at the airport's wrong gate due to people watching and duty free window shopping. We actually saw Sandara Park at the Kansai Airport, because we were at the WRONG GATE!
BUT I'm happy that even though during the trip we disagree, Aprille is still my favorite travel buddy. :)
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