Thinking of Japan for your next holiday destination?
Well, Kelly and I can recommend it. We would rate it in our top 3 favourite trips away.
And why Japan? Well, as for us …we were watching a travel cooking show on TV one winters evening several years ago. The episode was set in springtime Kyoto and during an ad break Kelly threw out the old “You know…I’ve always wanted to go to Japan”.
“Me too” I replied.
“Screw it. Life is short, let’s do it!” one of us added (we both claim to be the one who set the intention alight). And the next morning we went to visit a travel agent.
Just a little push is all it took and the momentum built until we found ourselves standing amongst Kyoto cherry blossoms. It was magnificent.
The reason I mention this is that we are planning to go back again next year. And during the process of poking around the web looking for some stories to get our travel juices flowing, I found a great read from a family whos website I have been following for a while now.
The Blond Nomads are an Australian family: Rob & Tracy and young kids Marli and Ziggy. They have been documenting their travels for some time now over at The Blond Nomads as well as being very active on YouTube and social media. They produce a ton of interesting and useful family oriented information on their trips all over Australia and the world.
Japan trip tips.
The post is titled: Japan Travel With Kids – 7 must read tips before you go.
Its a really good read full of tips and teasers. Go and check it out.
Here are some of the notes I jotted down after reading the whole article.
- Plan ahead and give yourself plenty of time.
- Use Japan Travel Planning Facebook group for tips.
- Consider using Journy to organise travel itinerary.
- Choose accomodation close to train stations.
- Pack light (as you will be using public transport a lot).
- Take comfy shoes!
- Explore the food experiences on offer.
- Cash is the easiest way to pay for stuff.
- Keep an eye on exchange rates (do not use the airport to exchange cash as rates always high).
- Pre-purchase activity and attraction tickets online.
- Train systems are excellent.
- Use Google Maps for getting from A to B.
- Mobile phones essential to assist with travel and translation.
- Hire a portable (pocket) WiFi device.
- Google Translate very useful.
Post trip reflections
And here is a link to their trip report after 12 days travel around Japan:
How to see Japan in 12 days with kids
Perhaps all this will get your own travel juices flowing. Just a push….and there will be some momentum. And if Japan is not exactly your cup of tea, take a poke around The Blond Nomads site as there are lots of other holiday destinations covered.
As I always say (or perhaps it is Kelly): Screw it. Life is short.
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