Hide the Beer- the Canadians are Coming. A PTR

[minnie mum]

As some of you may remember from a couple of posts I made in the spring, we are finally taking our trip of a lifetime to Japan. I can't believe it's finally here- in a little less than 12 hours we'll be at the airport and starting what we hope will be a truly memorable vacation.

Just a couple of facts:

Who's going- Me and Mike, my DH of 38 years. Both retired with 2 grown and married daughters and a sweet grandson who will soon be a year old.

Where we live- a little town about 90 km. east of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Trip dates: Departing Toronto for Tokyo Oct. 13. Touring Japan's main island until Oct 25. Then 2 1/2 days at Tokyo Disney Resort before flying home on Oct. 28.

The first part of the trip is a guided tour. It's a small group of 12 plus our guide who will be accompanying us the whole time, including the flights.

The itinerary:
Day 1,2 Travel. Arrive in Tokyo and settle in. A little walk in the evening
Day 3 Day trip to the Hakone area
Day 4 Tour Tokyo
Day 5 Tour Tokyo . Fly and drive to Yamanaka in afternoon. Stay at an Onsen hotel
Day 6 Tour Kanazawa including Kenroku en garden, the Nomura house and Higashi Dhaya area
Day 7 Tour through the Alps. Visit Gokayama. Tour Takayama (sake!!) Stay at another Onsen hotel.
Day 8 Tour takayama, explore the Nakasendo towns of Tsumago and Magome. Stay the night in Osaka
Day 9 Explore the sights in Nara and Osaka
Day 10 Explore the sights in Kyoto
Day 11 Drive to Hiroshima with an enroute cruise on the Seto Inland Sea. Explore the Hiroshima Peace Park and Museum
Day 12 See the Kintaikyo Bridge, then to Miyajima and the shrine at Itsukushima. Back to Osaka that night.
Day 13 Fly to Tokyo and check into Sheraton Grand Bay. Spend the rest of the day at TDL
Day 14 Spend the day at TDS
Day 15 Park hop between the 2 parks. This will be the last Saturday of the Halloween celebrations, so we're bracing ourselves for really heavy crowds.
Day 17 Fly home in the afternoon.

We've gotten everything all packed and ready to go. The exchange rate at our bank was quite decent so we decided to bring a fair amount of yen with us, and then depend on hitting the local post offices and 7/11s for additional cash towards the end of the trip.

All our meals are included in the tour part of the trip, and I love that we'll have the chance to try a lot of the local specialties. And I'm really looking forward to trying the takiyaki to see for myself what it's really like!! And of course checking out the local beers and saki!

Have phrase book, will travel. Wish us luck, and I'll try to give a quick report on the outcome of the trip when we get back home. Sayonara

 

[PrincessInOz]

WOW! Sounds like a great trip.

Safe travels.

 

[BecBennett]

I think it's the perfect time for this PTR to become a TR

 

[minnie mum]

I think it's the perfect time for this PTR to become a TR

Soon I hope! It's been a week since we returned and I think we're almost over the 13 hour time difference. The jet lag coming home rendered me truly zombie-like just in time for Halloween.

Speaking of Halloween- I had NO idea before arriving just how crazy for Halloween the Japanese appear to be. We saw Halloween decorations absolutely everywhere during our trip. Even on the observation platform of the Tokyo Tower. But NOTHING prepared me for the lengths that they went to at TDL and TDS. We've been in WDW and DL during this time, and have always enjoyed the decorations and the Halloween party. But they really go over the top in Japan. I wish I had my photos (only 3,00) edited so I could show you. Even the streetlights had been changed out in some areas. And store/restaurant signs.

But the thing we really couldn't get over were the costumes. Not the CMs (although they are great). I mean the GUESTS!! It was the week before Halloween so they were allowing both adults and kids to dress up as long as they were Disney-themed costumes. I swear that more adults than kids were dressed up. Although, given the way the younger crowd dresses up anyway, maybe we shouldn't have been surprised. And these appeared to be very elaborate (and expensive) and in some cases custom made costumes. I must have 100 photos of the area in front of the castle with all the young ladies and men posing in their outfits. LOVED it!!!

Anyway, that's my tease for the trip report to come. Please bear with me- I've got our 36th anniversary celebration and my grandson's first birthday party coming up very soon, so first things firt.