Wherever you live, you come to love it. |
- JAPANESE PROVERB
BEFORE YOU GO
- Buy your JR Pass well in advance because it needs to be shipped to your home. It's not available to Japanese nationals, only to tourists
- At the same time as purchasing your JR Pass, buy a SIM card if you have an extra phone. This way you can use it as your GPS and create a hot spot for people you're travelling with, and you won't drain the battery on the phone you're taking photos with
- If you don't want to do a SIM card, another option is their Pocket Wi-fi you can rent (we're going to research this for all future trips and price it out, read reviews, etc.)
- Though Japan is now more of a card-payment country, always have cash on you
- Research average temperatures, their autumn is much warmer than ours, here in Quebec
apps to download
- Google Translate app and give permission to use your phone's camera. You can take photos of signs and it will (do it's best) translate into your language
- Google Maps app and download certain places you'll be in so if you get stuck without Wi-Fi, you can still navigate
- Navitime gives you station lists, train route maps, works with your JR Pass, schedule a timeline, viewpoints of interest. It also allows you to search offline for free Wi-Fi hot spots, ATMs, and closest train stations
- Official Japan Travel App also gives you things like Navitime, but has a safety assistance feature. Warnings of earthquakes, volcanos, weather, and heat will be updated and available anytime
- Free Wi-Fi Passport
- Travel Japan Wi-Fi
WHAT TO PACK
- Comfortable shoes
- Backpack/crossbody bag
- Masks, even before Covid-19, Japanese are very pro-masks. If they have a cold or symptoms, they immediately wear one because they aren't only thinking of themselves
THINGS WE'RE OBSESSED WITH
- 7/11 / FamilyMart / Lawsons
- Milk Tea (Hot and cold)
OUR BUDGET
- Direct flights: $2800
- Car rental: $350
- Hotels: Coming soon
- Daily spending allowance: $200. But we never spent all of it, which gave us days sometimes to treat ourselves to nicer dinners or attractions we were on the fence about
- JR Pass: $736
WHAT WE LEARNED
- No need to stay overnight in Nara, it's an easy/quick day trip to take from Osaka. This means one less hotel, one less packing up and unpacking
- Need to plan more things to do at night. Japan has a different vibe after the sun goes down and I think we could have discovered a lot more
- Explore more food options
- Taxis are affordable since they charge by the kilometer, unlike in Quebec where they have a flat fee, plus distance, plus time. Whereas in Japan, if you're stuck in traffic, the amount doesn't budge until you reach the next kilometer
- We're going to research and price out the difference between buying a SIM card and portable Wi-Fi
THINGS WE DISCOVERED
- Station Stamp (ink) collecting/hunting (Blog post to come!)