The Basics for travel....

Dartz

So, I've managed to find myself sort of becoming the trip leader for the family holiday. Only, this one's a bit of a doozy. We're five weeks out from a monday morning departure to Japan.

Now, I think I've the basics sorted.
Money,
Passports,
Flights,
Hotels,
Travel adapters,
Travel insurance.
Train tickets. (JR Pass)
API done
Visas aren't needed, so I think that's everything I really need sorted, before we go.
Even booked a hotel right on the line to the airport for the homeward journey.

There's even the little petty things. Our flight to Haneda was booked through BA's site, but the first leg on the ticket's with Aer Lingus out of Dublin and it lands in a different terminal, so we have to transfer at Heathrow. I'm pretty sure that means we can check our bags at Dublin and run all the way through and not worry about it since I'm on the same ticket - but the doubt still nags.

Is there anything else I need to bring or get sorted? I'm terrified of missing something important. As it gets closer, the dread gets worse and worse. Already learned that the hotel I thought I booked was different from the one we actually booked (Which wasn't actually open at the time, but it's a better, newer place....)

I've never organised a trip like this before - I've never even been on one. Aside from one family holiday to DC that I had no part in organising, every holiday I've been on so far has been to the same village in the south of Ireland. For 29 years....

Suppose you can't be a control freak over a holiday, but I just don't want to overlook anything stupid and ruin it for everyone.

spurious

A photocopy of the main page of your passport can be handy, in the event of a robbery or loss of bag.
Imodium - just in case.

Zaph

spurious wrote: »

A photocopy of the main page of your passport can be handy, in the event of a robbery or loss of bag.

Or scanning them and e-mailing them to yourself is a good idea, in case the bag with the copies went missing.

TheBully

A bum bag...

bonyn

spurious wrote: »

A photocopy of the main page of your passport can be handy, in the event of a robbery or loss of bag.

+1
I left my passport on a table in the airport when i was abroad and they required a copy of my passport before giving it back!

But basically.. make sure all your passports are valid for 6 extra months, tell your bank the dates you'll be abroad if you want your cards to work, and double check visa requirements.

If you take medication with you make sure it's legal in Japan and you have whatever required paperwork

Really, don't fret. Once you have your passtporr, credit card and turn up on time for your flights everything else falls into place.

tim3000

Plasters, blister pads and paracetamol were handy. A pair of sandals as in some countries its not regarded as polite to have shoes on indoors. They are also handy when showering to avoid verrucas. A hat and sunglasses too.

Jimbob1977

Driver's licence - just in case. They drive on the same side as ourselves.

A Rough Guide/Lonely Planet for recommendations

Sunglasses and sun cream

Kimono

Spanish Eyes

Ah you are well organised there.

Going to Japan! Wow, have a great time.

One thing I nearly always do is leave one plastic card in the hotel safe. Therefore if I am stupid enough to lose the one I have with me or be mugged, there is backup immediately.

I too have a photo of my passport details page in email and in my photos on the phone, AND in hard copy too. Cannot be too careful in that department!

I am also in the process of getting the passport card. Just as a backup "document" when out and about. The book passport is in the hotel safe for the duration, unless required for other things.

Get the Japanese translation for everyday meds like paracetemol, anti histamines, and all the rest of it. Stick it in the notes on your phone.

Ah you'll be grand. Hope you have an amazing trip.

bonyn

Jimbob1977 wrote: »

Driver's licence - just in case. They drive on the same side as ourselves.

Oh op, Get the international driver permit if you're going to drive abroad

Dartz

Passport's brand new. Visa's checked and we don't need one. Everything seems right, which in work usually means I've overlooked something significant....

Nomis21

Money, Passport, Tickets, Drivers Licence. Anything else you may have forgotten you can buy in Japan.

Jimbob1977

bonyn wrote: »

Oh op, Get the international driver permit if you're going to drive abroad

I thought the international driving licences were effectively garbage and issued by the AA with no standing?

I've hired in USA and Canada with a domestic Irish licence

ProudDUB

Contact your bank & find out what the daily ATM withdrawal limit is, when you are outside the euro zone. Some banks have quite a low limit.

Spare batteries for phones. It's really annoying to be travelling with someone who lives on their phone & goes into hysterics when they see they only have a 10% battery charge left. Research your phone company roaming rates.

Does anyone in your party have any serious dietary issues? How are they going to communicate them to non English speaking restaurant staff? Same with any medical conditions & medical staff.

Delegate some of the responsibility to others, or just make them be responsible for their own $hit, especially the nitty gritty minutiae. Seriously, why should you have to worry about other peoples spending money & travel adapters?

Nomis21

Jimbob1977 wrote: »

I thought the international driving licences were effectively garbage and issued by the AA with no standing?

I've hired in USA and Canada with a domestic Irish licence

Forty Years as a professional driver, mostly overseas, and never have I ever been asked to show an International driving permit to anyone. It's not even worth the paper it's printed on.

Dartz

ProudDUB wrote: »

Contact your bank & find out what the daily ATM withdrawal limit is, when you are outside the euro zone. Some banks have quite a low limit.

Spare batteries for phones. It's really annoying to be travelling with someone who lives on their phone & goes into hysterics when they see they only have a 10% battery charge left. Research your phone company roaming rates.

Does anyone in your party have any serious dietary issues? How are they going to communicate them to non English speaking restaurant staff? Same with any medical conditions & medical staff.

Delegate some of the responsibility to others, or just make them be responsible for their own $hit, especially the nitty gritty minutiae. Seriously, why should you have to worry about other peoples spending money & travel adapters?

Amn't worrying too much about their ****, mostly my own. Adaptor I bought has a double USB charger anyway so it'll cover someone.

Diet's not a problem.

We've planned to go heavy on cash simply because I've heard mixed reports on whether bank cards are reliable in Japan or noy so I'd rather not assume. Yes, I know it's risky, but cash can be split so not all of it gets lost.

Don't plan on driving. JR Pass is a dead handy thing.

Well be moving around the country so just basing our stuff in the hotel safe isn't really an option.

ProudDUB

How long are you going for OP?

Bring a spare phone charger/adapter. It's the no 1 thing that people leave behind in hotel rooms. We've all done it.

Thoie

None of these are vital, but you might like to do some of them:

Install google translate on your phones, and download Japanese so that you can translate offline. It will also translate pictures of text (e.g. hold a menu in front of your phone, and it will show you it in a kind of English).

Leave travel insurance and passport copies in Dropbox/email but also give someone at home a copy as well, and give that trusted person your credit card details (to help cancel them if required).

Buy a cheap watch if you don't normally wear one - depending on your phone alone when crossing time zones can get confusing.

Get a spare key to the house cut and leave it with someone nearby that you trust (you don't want to get home after a long flight and discover your keys are in a hotel safe in Japan, and the spares are a 3 hour drive away).

Arrange for post to be collected (or held - must be arranged in advance), plants watered, pets.. petted.

Put together a tiny first aid kit - plasters, antiseptic cream, pain killers, immodium, motillium.

Restock any prescription meds you take, and bring a copy of the prescription.

Pack some small bags to use as rubbish bags - there aren't many bins in public.

Mrs OBumble

Give everyone a printed page with the most important details of the itinerary:
Check in dates / times
Flight details
Transfer details
Full address and phone number of of where you are staying.

Make it 127% clear that their being at the right place at the right time is their responsibility, not yours. If they get separated from the party, it's their responsibility to get back to the hotel (which is why you gave them them the address). This may be OTT for a family trip if there aren't too many of you. But for larger groups / extended families, it's pretty much essential for people to have the information to get back on track with you themselves.

Probably email everyone a copy, too. But the hard copy can be invaluable.

bonyn

Nomis21 wrote: »

Forty Years as a professional driver, mostly overseas, and never have I ever been asked to show an International driving permit to anyone. It's not even worth the paper it's printed on.

I've hired cars abroad too without the IDP, in English speaking countries.

I'm just saying in Japan it's a legal requirement and to save hassle it's handy to have. The Japanese like their rules and it could save problems with car hire cos and the police

But, OT as the op won't be hiring a car.

Thoie

I find Tripit very handy for any vaguely complicated itinerary. Forward the flight/hotel/tour confirmation mails to the special address, and it fills in all the details for you, lets you know what the weather is like, gives you an "at a glance" of what's next. I like it a lot.

Dartz

ProudDUB wrote: »

How long are you going for OP?

Bring a spare phone charger/adapter. It's the no 1 thing that people leave behind in hotel rooms. We've all done it.

7 days. Short, I know. But all I could afford. I think we'll have plenty.... everyone's bringing one. So at least one of us should actually remember.

Thoie wrote: »

None of these are vital, but you might like to do some of them:

Install google translate on your phones, and download Japanese so that you can translate offline. It will also translate pictures of text (e.g. hold a menu in front of your phone, and it will show you it in a kind of English).

Leave travel insurance and passport copies in Dropbox/email but also give someone at home a copy as well, and give that trusted person your credit card details (to help cancel them if required).

Buy a cheap watch if you don't normally wear one - depending on your phone alone when crossing time zones can get confusing.

Get a spare key to the house cut and leave it with someone nearby that you trust (you don't want to get home after a long flight and discover your keys are in a hotel safe in Japan, and the spares are a 3 hour drive away).

Arrange for post to be collected (or held - must be arranged in advance), plants watered, pets.. petted.

Put together a tiny first aid kit - plasters, antiseptic cream, pain killers, immodium, motillium.

Restock any prescription meds you take, and bring a copy of the prescription.

Pack some small bags to use as rubbish bags - there aren't many bins in public.

There'll still be people at home, so that's not an issue.

I didn't know google translate had an offline option. That'll be handy alright.

Gatica

Dartz wrote: »

We've planned to go heavy on cash simply because I've heard mixed reports on whether bank cards are reliable in Japan or noy so I'd rather not assume. Yes, I know it's risky, but cash can be split so not all of it gets lost.

...

Well be moving around the country so just basing our stuff in the hotel safe isn't really an option.

Split cards and cash between wallets in case you lose one or are mugged. If I'm travelling somewhere I don't think could be safe I keep an old wallet handy with a few fake cards in it just so I can throw it and run. Admittedly I've thankfully never had to use this strategy :rolleyes:

If you're in an unfamiliar area, then download and cache a section of the map onto your phone, e.g. Google maps. It's come in really handy with GPS to see where we were at if we couldn't find our way with the hotel maps. Also, sometimes you can download a tripadvisor city guide. It's really handy for finding cafes, restaurants and attractions without a data connection.

Have a google streetview look at where you're staying/going so it's easy to spot when you arrive instead of walking around tired trying to find your hotel.

Print out your booking and flight confirmations, I find them easier to keep handy than trying to load on the phone. Some sites will allow you to print hotel confirmation in the local language, always handy if you have to show a cabbie who doesn't understand English.

Get an idea of the currency and how much things should cost so you don't get ripped off by taxi drivers and the like. Sometimes currencies with multiple zeros can be confusing when you're tired, if in doubt use a calculator, and always double check what you're paying and your change.

Dartz

Yen is a fairly simple currency, fortunatley. 1:100 is a fair approximation.

I picked hotels that're reasonably easy to get to from public transport. One's about a 15 minute walk from the Hakone Tozan, in an obvious place. The only tricky one is the one in Hiroshima that has a direct bus service from the train station. Our hotel on Tokyo is right above the direct line to the airport. (Early morning flight == not wanting to pay full fare for a trip home, even if I could technically afford it).

killbillvol2

I see a couple of mentions of being mugged/having cards stolen. You're more likely to be mugged on the moon than in Japan. It's the safest place you can travel. Enjoy.