My visit to Japan, Ya ta!!
For those who don’t know, I am a huge fan of Japanese Animes. You do not want to get me started on the mangas and animes I frequently invest my time in. Dork ^_^ 😀
Weirdly enough, despite having a huge fascination with Japanese ‘arts’, I never thought I would go ever go to Japan until I moved back to Nigeria about 5 years ago, stir-crazy issues and all. Sadly, Japan is not a cheap country to go to, so it required a bit of psyching myself into it and planning about 6 months ahead, no jokes. Serious travel homework oh.
This post is long overdue. By overdue I mean 3 years later but yeah, better late than never right? Enjoy my visit to Japan read and let me know if Japan is on your travel list.
Trip Duration: 31 days, not including travel time
Where and How: visiting 18-19 cities/villages by train and a few flights
Trip Research: Got a lot of information from mostly Japan Guide , TripAdvisor, and Contiki.com
Planning Timeline: Started in September, so about 6 months
Accommodation: $1681 = A mixture of Hostels, Ryokans, Gassho-Zukuri farmhouse, Temple, Hotels and Apartments via airbnb and booking.com. I booked all my accommodations during the month of October (many top places were already getting sold out, so book early for Cherry Blossom season)
Transportation in Japan: Mostly by train with Japan Rail Pass for 21 days then sort out the extra 8 days. I truly haven’t quite figured out logistics full, so this is TBD. Suggestions are welcome, arigato!
Flight to Japan: Flight tickets can wait till January, but I have an estimate for that with great hopes that there would be a significant price drop or something. Lufthansa looks the most promising thus far (Star Alliance membership will come in handy)
Travel Insurance: Insurance would be purchased once ticket purchase is done.
Pre-trip Shopping: Need winter trekking boot, thermal wear and a backpack, will sort that bit out by January
Travel Budget: $7,500 (my budgeted and actual cost is at $6,100, but I’d rather pad up the budget to be on the safe side)
Daily Spending Budget: $50 – I read that Japan is pretty cheap when it comes to food, so this should be more than enough
Also let me know if you will like me to do a blog post on the visa process to Japan as a Nigerian passport holder.
