Justinf
Established Member
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2009
- Posts
- 2,008
So another southern hemisphere summer almost gone and another trip for me to the northern hemisphere winter.
I had planned this trip for a while with around 140,000 QF points to play with and decided on Japan. Finding availability in J wasn’t easy, but I mucked around for a few hours and settled on QF to Narita on 16 February via Brisbane and JAL from Narita to Melbourne on 26 February.
So a short trip, but it’s all I could find with points.
The trip up involved a change at Brisbane and initially I was booked onto the 6am flight from MEL with the BNE to Narita flight to leave at 9.35am, which I thought as cutting it a bit fine until I realised that Queensland doesn’t do that daylight saving thing.
I booked early as you do, but a few months later Qantas changed my MEL-BNE flight to 6.40am, which I now thought was definitely cutting it fine.
I phoned the service centre and they assured me that it was within the 75-minute window, but I still wasn’t overly happy especially if the MEL-BNE flight was delayed.
Thankfully availability had opened up the following day with a direct Melbourne to Narita flight and was offered that for an 8000-point fee.
I had spent just about all of my points, so a quick call to my sister to ask her to transfer the necessary points and I phoned back and it was sorted.
It meant one less day in Japan, but the direct option, leaving at 9.20am was much more appealing.
With such a short time in Japan, I was undecided on what to do. I decided that I would do Tokyo for half the time and Sapporo for the rest.
JAL and ANA were offering virtually identical flights at identical costs so I decided with JAL due to the Oneworld alliance and me being Sapphire.
Tokyo to Sapporo is one of the busiest air routes in the world, and I read somewhere that it actually might be the busiest.
The beauty of this is that JAL mostly flies a 777-200 on this route.
Economy seats were around $330 for a flight similar in duration as Melbourne to Sydney.
However a quick browse of the JAL domestic first product piqued my interest and airline reviews were positive.
At around $780 return I felt it was pretty good value compared to QF and VA here and with the reclining seats, exemplary meal service etc., I decided to take the plunge and splurge.
I also decided against getting a Japan Rail Pass. The reason for this was that I wasn’t planning any trips and didn’t think I would get value out of it.
I decided the Airport Limousine Bus at around $45 from Narita to a block from where my hotel (Kadoya Hotel in Shinjuku at $600 for five nights) would save the hassle with a 5.35pm arrival time in Narita. I wasn’t overly keen on navigating the Narita Express to Shinjuku station and then trying to figure out which exit to use and then find my digs.
Getting to Haneda (where the Sapporo flight was from), I decided to wing it after I’d worked out the train system etc., but the limo bus was also an option at only around $15 and leaving from the New Keiso Hotel, just around the corner.
Four nights in Sapporo and then a flight back to Haneda, where I decided that the limo bus straight to Narita and a night at Narita Airport Rest House, before flying home.
If you are reading this trip report for scenery, onsen, bullet trains, countryside, temples, shrines and monkeys sitting in onsen, then you are probably advised to skip it altogether. There are some wonderful TRs on here of late for all that stuff and I vow I will get back one and do it all.
I'm going to save all that for next time.
This short trip would be about food, beer, sake, walking around, taking in the sights of the cities and seeing how the people of Tokyo and Sapporo went about things. Oh, and Sapporo has snow and I love snow.
So with that all out of the way, join me (or not) for a very different Japanese journey than what is usually the norm.
Oh, 2019 was also another premiership season for Richmond, so winner's merchandise will be seen throughout this TR. but i will try to keep it to a minimum.
I had planned this trip for a while with around 140,000 QF points to play with and decided on Japan. Finding availability in J wasn’t easy, but I mucked around for a few hours and settled on QF to Narita on 16 February via Brisbane and JAL from Narita to Melbourne on 26 February.
So a short trip, but it’s all I could find with points.
The trip up involved a change at Brisbane and initially I was booked onto the 6am flight from MEL with the BNE to Narita flight to leave at 9.35am, which I thought as cutting it a bit fine until I realised that Queensland doesn’t do that daylight saving thing.
I booked early as you do, but a few months later Qantas changed my MEL-BNE flight to 6.40am, which I now thought was definitely cutting it fine.
I phoned the service centre and they assured me that it was within the 75-minute window, but I still wasn’t overly happy especially if the MEL-BNE flight was delayed.
Thankfully availability had opened up the following day with a direct Melbourne to Narita flight and was offered that for an 8000-point fee.
I had spent just about all of my points, so a quick call to my sister to ask her to transfer the necessary points and I phoned back and it was sorted.
It meant one less day in Japan, but the direct option, leaving at 9.20am was much more appealing.
With such a short time in Japan, I was undecided on what to do. I decided that I would do Tokyo for half the time and Sapporo for the rest.
JAL and ANA were offering virtually identical flights at identical costs so I decided with JAL due to the Oneworld alliance and me being Sapphire.
Tokyo to Sapporo is one of the busiest air routes in the world, and I read somewhere that it actually might be the busiest.
The beauty of this is that JAL mostly flies a 777-200 on this route.
Economy seats were around $330 for a flight similar in duration as Melbourne to Sydney.
However a quick browse of the JAL domestic first product piqued my interest and airline reviews were positive.
At around $780 return I felt it was pretty good value compared to QF and VA here and with the reclining seats, exemplary meal service etc., I decided to take the plunge and splurge.
I also decided against getting a Japan Rail Pass. The reason for this was that I wasn’t planning any trips and didn’t think I would get value out of it.
I decided the Airport Limousine Bus at around $45 from Narita to a block from where my hotel (Kadoya Hotel in Shinjuku at $600 for five nights) would save the hassle with a 5.35pm arrival time in Narita. I wasn’t overly keen on navigating the Narita Express to Shinjuku station and then trying to figure out which exit to use and then find my digs.
Getting to Haneda (where the Sapporo flight was from), I decided to wing it after I’d worked out the train system etc., but the limo bus was also an option at only around $15 and leaving from the New Keiso Hotel, just around the corner.
Four nights in Sapporo and then a flight back to Haneda, where I decided that the limo bus straight to Narita and a night at Narita Airport Rest House, before flying home.
If you are reading this trip report for scenery, onsen, bullet trains, countryside, temples, shrines and monkeys sitting in onsen, then you are probably advised to skip it altogether. There are some wonderful TRs on here of late for all that stuff and I vow I will get back one and do it all.
I'm going to save all that for next time.
This short trip would be about food, beer, sake, walking around, taking in the sights of the cities and seeing how the people of Tokyo and Sapporo went about things. Oh, and Sapporo has snow and I love snow.
So with that all out of the way, join me (or not) for a very different Japanese journey than what is usually the norm.
Oh, 2019 was also another premiership season for Richmond, so winner's merchandise will be seen throughout this TR. but i will try to keep it to a minimum.
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