Plotting and Planning
18 months of meticulous planning, and we took our first ever family holiday. Ever.
When I say we are homebodies I am not kidding. My husband jokingly refers to outside as 'the big blue room'. Apart from a weekend getaway for our 10th wedding anniversary, we have rarely spent a night away from home.
I wasn't always a homebody, prior to children and a husband I had travelled enough as a child and young adult that I thought I might have been happy not straying far from home again. I already had most of Australia, East (as high up as Cairns and as down low as the snow fields of Threadbo), West, (to Perth) and Central, (Alice Springs and Uluru) under my belt. Further abroad I could list Japan, Singapore, The East coast of America and a good chunk of Europe (Holland, UK, Italy and France) in my travels, all before 26.
My husband had managed Sydney as the sum total of his travel experience. He never had any desire to go anywhere in particular but when I suggested Japan as our gift to our children (Our eldest is about to start Highschool next year) before we went into a period where it may not be as feasible to travel without interrupting their education, he was surprisingly on board with the idea.
I set about making plans, researching and trying to figure out where to stay and what to do.
To add to the fun I convinced my 70 year old mother to join us for part of the trip, because why not? - The more the merrier!
To say I over-planned is an understatement, at any given time I knew where we were, what we were doing and where we were going (and mostly how much it would cost)
I am not a 'wanderer' traveller, I like to have a plan, so plan I did!
Let's run down the basics -
We traveled in May.
Why May?
We spent two weeks in Tokyo and a Week in Osaka
Why so long in Tokyo?
To be honest, I could have spent the whole three weeks in Tokyo, there is so much to do, and so much to see, and the variety of day trips that are available from Tokyo as a base are wide and varied.
We started in Shinjuku for just over a week as it was the station closest to the things we wanted to see while we were in Tokyo, and moved down to Tokyo Bay for Disney. (Where obviously you are more a captive audience.) Navigating from Tokyo Bay is not difficult, but being further removed from Tokyo the travel times are longer to get back to other places.
Osaka was our departure point and had to be included for Universal so that my two Potter-Heads could visit Hogsmeade. That was our thing, there are many other places to visit from Osaka which are only a hop skip and a train ride away, but by the end of three weeks we were all approaching holiday burn out (I'll explain why in a later post) so we kept our trips close by.
Stick around and I'll fill you in on where we stayed, what we did, where we ate.
Lenny
When I say we are homebodies I am not kidding. My husband jokingly refers to outside as 'the big blue room'. Apart from a weekend getaway for our 10th wedding anniversary, we have rarely spent a night away from home.
I wasn't always a homebody, prior to children and a husband I had travelled enough as a child and young adult that I thought I might have been happy not straying far from home again. I already had most of Australia, East (as high up as Cairns and as down low as the snow fields of Threadbo), West, (to Perth) and Central, (Alice Springs and Uluru) under my belt. Further abroad I could list Japan, Singapore, The East coast of America and a good chunk of Europe (Holland, UK, Italy and France) in my travels, all before 26.
My husband had managed Sydney as the sum total of his travel experience. He never had any desire to go anywhere in particular but when I suggested Japan as our gift to our children (Our eldest is about to start Highschool next year) before we went into a period where it may not be as feasible to travel without interrupting their education, he was surprisingly on board with the idea.
I set about making plans, researching and trying to figure out where to stay and what to do.
To add to the fun I convinced my 70 year old mother to join us for part of the trip, because why not? - The more the merrier!
To say I over-planned is an understatement, at any given time I knew where we were, what we were doing and where we were going (and mostly how much it would cost)
I am not a 'wanderer' traveller, I like to have a plan, so plan I did!
Let's run down the basics -
We traveled in May.
Why May?
- In Japan this is the month prior to Summer starting, so the weather is still mild and starts to heat up towards the end of the month. As we've grown older neither my husband nor myself tolerate humidity as we did when we were 15 years younger, and it gets humid in Japan. Coming from a nonhumid climate I knew we would not do well in their summer so I aimed for May as a happy compromise.
- There are very few 'cold' days in May and very little rain. So no need to pack thermals and jumpers and jackets! Just layer up!
- May is also the end of their Spring, so you miss the crowds associated with cherry blossoms as most of these are finished by the time May rolls round.
- May also has 'Golden Week' at the start of the month when there is a group of public holidays, and I presume Japanese people take advantage of the time off to travel. As we landed on the second to last day of Golden Week I had hoped that in the next few weeks the 'touristy' spots would be slightly quieter from local tourists.
- Midweeks in May have some of the lowest crowd predictions for Disney (which is ideal for first time travelers!) and lets be honest, who takes their children to Tokyo and doesn't go to Disney when they don't have a Disney in their home country?
- Lastly, the school term ends at the end of May, so you avoid local school holiday crowds (but not school excursions!)
We spent two weeks in Tokyo and a Week in Osaka
Why so long in Tokyo?
To be honest, I could have spent the whole three weeks in Tokyo, there is so much to do, and so much to see, and the variety of day trips that are available from Tokyo as a base are wide and varied.
We started in Shinjuku for just over a week as it was the station closest to the things we wanted to see while we were in Tokyo, and moved down to Tokyo Bay for Disney. (Where obviously you are more a captive audience.) Navigating from Tokyo Bay is not difficult, but being further removed from Tokyo the travel times are longer to get back to other places.
Osaka was our departure point and had to be included for Universal so that my two Potter-Heads could visit Hogsmeade. That was our thing, there are many other places to visit from Osaka which are only a hop skip and a train ride away, but by the end of three weeks we were all approaching holiday burn out (I'll explain why in a later post) so we kept our trips close by.
Stick around and I'll fill you in on where we stayed, what we did, where we ate.
Lenny
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