Trip to Japan

My family, a group of nine,  have been planning a vacation to Japan for Thanksgiving 2025;  the only dates we could all agree on.

The details in traveling , especially foreign travel, can be momentous. You’d think,  just book the flight and then the hotel.

BUT

Vaccinations, visas, money conversion, foreign hotels and the most challenging this autumn,  the airline flights.

With the US government closures, our flights have been “up in the air,” so to speak,  Or we wish they were!

With clenched jaw, I even had  to make an emergency visit to my dentist questioning my jaw pain, we checked the air traffic controller staffing news daily. Our family consisted of three groups flying  in and out of different airports at different times and different dates. 

Even packing for a fourteen day trip brought angst.   Any cancellations or hopping to a different transfer flight, we had to have our bags with us at all times. Fourteen days of layered outfits for Japan’s winter; was it possible to pack it all  into one carry -on piece of luggage? And the group’s plans included taking the bullet train and staying in different hotels in Kyota, Osaka and Tokyo. Mobility was key!

Three days to ‘take off’,  . . . Are our ‘ducks in a row’?

1-Air Flights – the president recently signed a funding bill that reopened the government and sent hundreds of thousands of federal employees back to work.

2- Vaccinations – we got  the most recent release of the COVID vaccine, and our Hepatitis B shots are up-to-date

3-No visa for Japan required for the length of our stay

4-Conversion rate of US Dollars to Yen =   $6.48 cents USD  to 1000 Yen, ( requested yen from the bank)

5-Hotels are now booked and rechecked online

6-Our luggage is compactly packed

Wish us luck!

This article will be followed by my Japan trip adventures in 

HELLO JAPAN  In December.