Fresh Two Week Trip Experience

Hello! I recently posted asking etiquette for photos and thank you to everyone who offered advice and encouragement! I was able to navigate everything well.

I thought I’d give a quick update on my trip as fresh as it can be as I’m on the plane home. A little insight, I have a chronic illness/disability and that influenced my experience but hopefully will help others too. I traveled with my partner of 11 years and we had a fantastic time. We did 4 days in Tokyo, 4 days in Kyoto (1 day in Osaka from Kyoto and 1 day in Hiroshima from Kyoto), 2 days in Okinawa, 4 days in Tokyo.

1. Ryokan experience: I booked a ryokan for the first two nights in Kyoto. Ultimately, it was a lot of fun and a great time since I’d always wanted to do it, but some things I wish I’d thought of were the following:

• I am 36 as is my partner and I have a chronic illness that causes widespread pain. Sleeping on the futon is just not ideal. Ten years ago I may have been able to handle it but I struggled a bit. It was still lovely as we had a private bath en-suite.

• I will also say I greatly underestimated travel time from the main Kyoto station to the station near us and google maps does not understand what “mostly flat” means terrain/road wise. It was a twisting upward hill to the ryokan. Just double check these things because I was more excited about the prospect of a ryokan and didn’t pay as much attention to all these things prior to booking. I will say if a ryokan is on your list and you can’t swing it for the whole time, book one or two nights and you’ll be golden as far as checking off an experience.

2. If you’re the person planning everything, force your traveling partner to give input.

• I planned practically everything and my partner didn’t understand how stressful it was until I had a crying breakdown in front of the Fushimi Inari station. If you say a woman sobbing into her boyfriend’s chest there last week …no you didn’t 😬. My partner is the “if you’re happy, I’m happy” type person and that’s great but it does put pressure on you. So if you’re dealing with this, force them to choose between 2 or 3 things each time. I love control so this was sometimes nice but by the time of my breakdown I had overlooked one thing too many and just couldn’t handle it.

• Review your itinerary!!! My breakdown was caused by me thinking we only had 3 days in Kyoto instead of 4. I love history so this was truly devastating to me. Surprise. I miscounted.

• Get cash ASAP! We missed out on so many treats and trinkets in Kyoto because we just assumed we wouldn’t need cash - or at least a handful of it. Ultimately it was fine but that’s a lesson learned.

3. Apps that saved me: I’m sure you know this but truly could not live without apps are the following:

• JapanTravel Navitime: train routes and buses. Super helpful. We only got on ONE wrong train the entire two weeks and we realized it almost immediately.

• JAL: helpful if you fly with Japan Airlines and are flying domestically in Japan. This was beneficial for our Okinawa jaunt.

• GOTaxi: I don’t care if it’s expensive, whatever. If you’re desperate or tired or both, it’s a lifesaver. When I was in a ton of pain and couldn’t function anymore this was the best. It let me order a taxi in English and each one was clean, kind, and easy to use. I was still walking 7 - 10 miles a day, when we needed it, it was amazing.

• Expedia, GoogleTranslate, DeepL, and adding Suica to your wallet: all great and self explanatory.

It was such a great trip, we’re already talking about going back. I wish I knew how smiling at random people (a very American thing) is not met with positive energy as it’s such a reflex. I also wish I had broken in both pairs of shoes I brought, I forgot about one pair.

—- I hope this helps but if you have any specific questions please ask! Happy to accept DMs if you want hotel recommendations or restaurant recommendations.