MimitoAlex
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2023
Well as promised I am going to write a pretty detailed trip report. So lets get started.
First off I want to say I was completely blown away by how beautiful Japan is, even in a city the size of Tokyo with almost 15 million people living there, there is beauty everywhere, and so much green space. Everything is so clean and nice. The people that we encountered where very kind and helpful to a couple of Americans who knew little to no Japanese, and tried to help us. At one train stop an older gentleman and his wife, basically took us by the hand and put us on the right train. We absolutely fell in love with the culture, the people, the history, and the customs. I will say that I was very sad to leave, so much so that on the way home, I started planning another trip right away.
Flight and Arrival Day -
We flew with Delta it's our go to airline, we are sky miles members. It was chaos at the airport at 4:00 am. The Delta counters were not even open, and there was about 20 or so people in line, the Sky priority line, due to our seat class we were able to check in there. The other side with international and domestic lines were absolutely crazy long. Finally they sent some out to our side only one person, I felt so bad for her, people where taking the situation out on her, which is really silly since she has no control over that. One lady had a absolute melt down, as she was not in first class or premier seating. She wasn't even a sky miles member, lets say that her language at 4:00 am was most definitely was not Disney or kid friendly. When the delta employee came out she was very clear on who should be in that line, and she kept repeating, plus the giant sign which was right there. We had a flight delay, just a small one, still it cause a glitch in the car service more on that in a bit. The flights themselves were very good, the flight crew was really on their game, 5 stars. I even slept for around 3 hours then around 90 minutes later in the flight. I will say the meals service was fair, it was edible and not overly salty, so we were good to go. The issue is the breakfast sandwiches they serve are just terrible, I brought some breakfast cookies with us so we had them and we ate the fruit, and had some juice. The bags were there and in one piece so a win win. Tips - buy bottled water or fill up your water bottle. As well as a another type of drink. As well bring something for the long haul portion for some type of breakfast snack, granola, breakfast cookies. We also always bring other snacks with us to munch on.
Once we arrived at Haneda, it was super organized, even with all the people they were moving and directing everyone on where to go, which was nice to have some directions, immigration and customs, luggage pick up, and then on the the car service. Even with the hick-up they had someone there to meet us. We asked for a English speaking guide, and the young woman they sent did not speak English at all, yet we made it through with google translate. I did receive a text explaining due to the flight being late, the driver assigned had another pick up and could not wait. So once we went back and forth for a couple of minutes she went to get the car and we found the help desk, we did the cash exchange which was the simplest one we had ever done. Then on to pick up the WIFI, which was very confusing, we had to go up to the third floor then the kiosk, which was closed and had a sign written on a sticky note telling us to turn around and go to the other wifi counter, and low and behold they had our wifi. We used Japan wifi and it worked great the whole trip. It would have been nice if there were some type of directions inside the envelope on how to set in up, thank goodness for Youtube. I will use this company again. Tip - keep your passport within easy reach we had to show it over and over again.
Covid documents, So while they did not ask us for our proof, they were sending people over to and area to show proof of vaccination. We had ours in the passport holder.
Then after a quick stop at 7-11 to grab a couple bottles of water we were off to find our car and driver, who was texting us on her progress to the pick up line.
On a side note, We encountered our first Japanese toilet in the airport. I will say that I want to replace all the toilets in my house now.. My tip here is spend a few minutes on youtube so you understand how they work and what the symbols mean... Just saying... lol
Found the driver, loaded up the luggage and off we went to TDR...
I'm going to stop there, as the laundry is refusing to do itself... lol............... I will pick back up hopefully later today.
At any time please feel free to ask questions. Thanks for following along.
First off I want to say I was completely blown away by how beautiful Japan is, even in a city the size of Tokyo with almost 15 million people living there, there is beauty everywhere, and so much green space. Everything is so clean and nice. The people that we encountered where very kind and helpful to a couple of Americans who knew little to no Japanese, and tried to help us. At one train stop an older gentleman and his wife, basically took us by the hand and put us on the right train. We absolutely fell in love with the culture, the people, the history, and the customs. I will say that I was very sad to leave, so much so that on the way home, I started planning another trip right away.
Flight and Arrival Day -
We flew with Delta it's our go to airline, we are sky miles members. It was chaos at the airport at 4:00 am. The Delta counters were not even open, and there was about 20 or so people in line, the Sky priority line, due to our seat class we were able to check in there. The other side with international and domestic lines were absolutely crazy long. Finally they sent some out to our side only one person, I felt so bad for her, people where taking the situation out on her, which is really silly since she has no control over that. One lady had a absolute melt down, as she was not in first class or premier seating. She wasn't even a sky miles member, lets say that her language at 4:00 am was most definitely was not Disney or kid friendly. When the delta employee came out she was very clear on who should be in that line, and she kept repeating, plus the giant sign which was right there. We had a flight delay, just a small one, still it cause a glitch in the car service more on that in a bit. The flights themselves were very good, the flight crew was really on their game, 5 stars. I even slept for around 3 hours then around 90 minutes later in the flight. I will say the meals service was fair, it was edible and not overly salty, so we were good to go. The issue is the breakfast sandwiches they serve are just terrible, I brought some breakfast cookies with us so we had them and we ate the fruit, and had some juice. The bags were there and in one piece so a win win. Tips - buy bottled water or fill up your water bottle. As well as a another type of drink. As well bring something for the long haul portion for some type of breakfast snack, granola, breakfast cookies. We also always bring other snacks with us to munch on.
Once we arrived at Haneda, it was super organized, even with all the people they were moving and directing everyone on where to go, which was nice to have some directions, immigration and customs, luggage pick up, and then on the the car service. Even with the hick-up they had someone there to meet us. We asked for a English speaking guide, and the young woman they sent did not speak English at all, yet we made it through with google translate. I did receive a text explaining due to the flight being late, the driver assigned had another pick up and could not wait. So once we went back and forth for a couple of minutes she went to get the car and we found the help desk, we did the cash exchange which was the simplest one we had ever done. Then on to pick up the WIFI, which was very confusing, we had to go up to the third floor then the kiosk, which was closed and had a sign written on a sticky note telling us to turn around and go to the other wifi counter, and low and behold they had our wifi. We used Japan wifi and it worked great the whole trip. It would have been nice if there were some type of directions inside the envelope on how to set in up, thank goodness for Youtube. I will use this company again. Tip - keep your passport within easy reach we had to show it over and over again.
Covid documents, So while they did not ask us for our proof, they were sending people over to and area to show proof of vaccination. We had ours in the passport holder.
Then after a quick stop at 7-11 to grab a couple bottles of water we were off to find our car and driver, who was texting us on her progress to the pick up line.
On a side note, We encountered our first Japanese toilet in the airport. I will say that I want to replace all the toilets in my house now.. My tip here is spend a few minutes on youtube so you understand how they work and what the symbols mean... Just saying... lol
Found the driver, loaded up the luggage and off we went to TDR...
I'm going to stop there, as the laundry is refusing to do itself... lol............... I will pick back up hopefully later today.
At any time please feel free to ask questions. Thanks for following along.