As I already said, I’ll be taking this trip with
my three other best friends. Since I can’t
speak for them, much of the things I’ll discuss in this blog are going to be
reasons why I’m going to certain areas, or seeing particular places. There are some attractions that I know my friends
would love to see in Japan, so I’ll add that, but mostly it will just be my own
point of view. Anyways, one thing we all
agreed upon is where to go. Since we are
anime lovers and shopping fanatics, good chunk of our time will be spent in
Tokyo. Although if we want to learn all about Japan, only going to Tokyo isn't the best. Instead we need to soak in the richness of Japan's culture through its temples and shrines, foods and customs. All in all, the perfect amount of time we picked is 15 days in
Japan. Here is our plan for these 15
days:
Itinerary
Day 1=Toronto to Narita Airport to Shinjuku, Tokyo
Day 2 + 3 +4= 3 full days of sightseeing in Tokyo
Day 5= Side trip to Nikko from Tokyo
Day 6= Tokyo to Hakone
Day 7= Hakone to Kyoto
Day 8 + 9= 2 full days of sightseeing in Kyoto
Day 10= Side trip to Nara from Kyoto
Day 11= Kyoto to Osaka
Day 12= Osaka to Hiroshima to Miyajima
Day 13= Miyajima to Shibuya, Tokyo
Day 14= Full day in Shibuya, Tokyo
Day 15= depart Tokyo for Toronto
So Tokyo is a large amount of our trip, and due to this, our
budget has to increase a bit. Tokyo is
one of the most expensive places to rent a hotel, so a large amount of the budget
will go towards that. The rest will be
for transportation, and entry fees for certain attractions. The budget, which includes the flight ticket,
should be around 3500-4000 CAD. The
ticket is currently around 1900 CAD on delta air (the cheapest flight to Japan
from America). This flight actually departs from Toronto, stops in New York; and then its non-stop from New York to
Tokyo, making it a 17 hours and 30 minutes flight! Wow!! I better bring an ereader/ipad
to kill some time. Although with my
girls, we’ll just talk half of the trip and/or sleep.
Along with the 4000 CAD budget, I’ll be taking
300 to 400 CAD equivalent to Tokyo’s yen which is around 25 500- to 34 000
Yen. The current exchange rate is 1 CAD
= 85 Japanese yen, but I have to take into account, that this will probably
change by the time I go to Japan.
When am I planning for this trip? I want to go when school is completely done
and I have a good job, which I believe would be 5- 7 years from now. This is the same thoughts my friends have,
where we all believe this will be our last big hurrah before going into the ‘real
world.’ Having a job will help with
saving for such a large budget, but thankfully my parents will be paying for
the trip. Depending on when I’ll go, it
will either be a graduation present or ‘Congrats on Your First Job’
present. I don’t ask for much for my
parents, but this is something they know I have wanted to do since I was a
child. Me waiting until after I finish University
and get a job, showed them how responsible and sensible I was. Therefore, they believe this is a trip I deserve, especially after all the work I’m doing in school/work (And I couldn't agree more!).
So thanks Mom and Dad! I’ll be putting this
present to good use for sure!!
10:25 PM |
Category: |
0
comments
Comments (0)