Getting to Japan

In 2019 I planned an amazing trip to Japan. It was 40 days and included small intimate villages on both the West and East coast of Honshu. I was told to split these up. I took the first of the trips, through the East coast in 2023 after Covid. This trip is the second half of the journey and covers several villages along the West coast, hiking days through the Japanese Alps, and a trip to Rabbit Island.

From the Itinerary: October 30 and 31, 2025 travel on United Airlines from Jacksonville Beach to Vancouver via Chicago. Overnight in Vancouver at the Hampton Inn. Take ANA from Vancouver to Haneda Airport in Tokyo. Here’s a poor rendition of the journey on a map.

We were up before dawn to close up the condo and get to the airport in time for our 8am flights - Chris to Saudi Arabia via Miami and mine to Chicago. Both flights left at 8am, but were from different ends of the airport. Here is Chris waving to me as his flight takes off.

I was glad there wasn’t an emergency onboard, because I was the only one in both emergency rows, so I would have been responsible for everyone’s safe exit and I believe we would have all perished:)

ORD is undergoing lots of construction and we had to taxi for 20 minutes, so glad I had 3 hours between flights. That gave me time to find Garrett’s Popcorn in time to buy some cheese corn which is Buni’s favorite.

I had a 3 hour layover in the United Lounge in ORD. The flight was delayed and they moved the gate to the opposite end of the airport, so got my steps in.

We ended up being 2 hours late for no apparent reason, but I did see someone come on with ice just before the door closed. The flight itself was in Business Class and uneventful. The reclined seat in front of me was in my face, but had more room than in economy. The prosecco was really good, probably because it was very cold. Buni had to have about 3 glasses.

I ordered the manicotti which was quite good. The salad was good. The roll not so good - sorry, no photo.

YVR is a nice little airport that isn’t signed particularly well for hotel shuttles. I finally found the right place after a small panic when I read on AI Google that there should be a courtesy phone to call for it.

I spent the night in the Hampton Inn.

Much nicer than the one in Miami where Chris and I stayed only about 4 days ago.

Breakfast was rather non-descript and typical for the Hampton Inn. Wasted time and got my eSIM installed for Japan in time for getting to the airport for 1pm.

The flight was delayed by an hour, so was now leaving at 5:20 which turned into about 6pm.

It’s Halloween and the staff and checkin counters were decorated.

I spent the time waiting in the lounge and tried everything they offered including the sparkling wine.

The flight was 10 hours and was delightful, even if the plane was rather old. The WiFi worked amazingly well the entire flight.

The weather was cloudy and cold, but made for an interesting take off view

I tried Sake and the Japanese offering.

Luckily I pre-registered and got the QR code for passport control and customs. It was a madhouse, but got through with no issues. My bag was about the 4th off.

Then I had a bit of a hiccup. I wanted to pick up my JR pass and Suica card at the airport. I came into T3 where the Info Service that does the JR passes closes at 8, meaning I had to go to T2. Not a big issue because there’s a free shuttle. When I got to T2 I couldn’t find it and there were no signs. Thanks to my data plan I was able to google it and finally got there. Then I went to the wrong place for my Suica, but was eventually successful.

The JR pass is the rail pass offering as many rides on the JR trains as you can want for 1 price. Suica is a card you can load with Yen and use as a payment method on the metro and in many other places.

A bit of a disaster as I actually fell over my suitcase trying to get off the metro.

I didn’t hurt anything but my pride, but probably shocked many Japanese.

I took the metro from the airport and changed to a train to Tokyo station. That’s where I went a bit wrong and could have taken the metro to within feet of my hotel instead of walking the half mile. Anyway, I got the directions from the travel company and now will verify all directions instead of just accepting them.

I got to my hotel, the Hoshinoya Tokyo, at about 10pm - a long few days. It so far isn’t quite as nice as I remembered, but we’ll see. I had enough time to go up to the top floor for a soak and a cup of tea.

And of course you get PJs and a Kimono. The PJs are restricted to this floor. The Kimono you can wear through out the hotel - and everyone does….

Tomorrow is an extremely overpriced facial and meeting Sasha and Jake for the evening. Since my hotel is not far from the Palace, I may have a walk around there again too.