Japan 2016: Introduction

Graduation trip, or grad trip, as it was affectionately known nowadays.

Flight: Singapore to Tokyo
Flight: Tokyo to Sapporo
Day 1: Tokyo → Sapporo → Furano

Day 2: Furano → Kushiro
Day 3: Kushiro → Tomamu 
Day 4: Tomamu → Sapporo 
Day 5: Sapporo → Hakodate → Toya
Day 6: Toya → Sapporo 
Day 7: Sapporo → Tokyo
Flight: Sapporo to Tokyo
Day 8~10: Tokyo
Flight: Tokyo to Singapore

Flight

Our original plan was between ANA/SQ, JAL and Delta. Delta offered the best value for money at about $510 round trip. 

Image courtesy of ANA

ANA/SQ and JAL are slightly more expensive, at about $630~650, though it's a fairly good deal since flying ANA or JAL on international segments allows you to buy domestic flights at a discounted rate of JPY10,800 per one way segment. Bearing in mind how expensive long-distance travel travels can be in Japan, that's a real bonus. Not to mention the fact that we can fly into Haneda airport which is way nearer to Tokyo city than Narita airport.

For a moment we considered Scoot, though shot it down since it wasn't exactly cheap. Although the base price was about $400, top up check-in luggage and the price quickly shot up close to $500. Furthermore, it wasn't a direct flight.

So we nearly settled for Delta, until...

It was just a fateful evening trawling the web while on the train home from work and...

If you could imagine my reaction it would be like...

Understandably, it requires a transit in Vietnam, but a sub $400 ticket to Japan is a real steal. Certainly a detour adds distance and travelling time, but given the even departure and early morning arrival, the impact is fairly limited.

Further more, given that Vietnam Air started flying the 787 Dreamliner on the SGN-NRT route, I was keen to try it since Scoot swapped the 787 for a 777 the last time I flew to Hong Kong.

Image courtesy of Vietnam Airlines

For the domestic leg, we had the option of JAL/ANA, or budget alternatives Peach, Vanilla or Jetstar. Full service is out of the question for fairly obvious cost reasons, and we preferred to stick with a familiar name for a peace of mind.

Photo courtesy of BriYYZ

Accommodations

The next part is trying to settle the accommodations, which is somewhat tricky as the itinerary was rather fluid. It was an uncertainty whether the cherry blossom will still be available by the time we visit, as well as structuring of intensive activities along chillax ones.

So we dragged the accommodation booking and played around with the free cancellations on booking.com, but eventually it was time to make a decision.

Since we intend to catch the "Sea of Clouds" or the "Unkai" in Tomamu, so barring an overnight camp at the train station, staying at the Hoshino Resort became a necessity. 

Similarly, since we intend to enjoy hot-springs at Lake Toya or Noboribetsu, finding a lakeside hotel with a hot-spring is imperative. 

So in the end, it turned out to be a balancing act between convenience, comfort and cost.

Given that we splurged on the two bookings, balancing the budget calls for cheaper options for the remaining days, hence I restricted myself to booking accommodations at sub $100 levels, which had been a real challenge for Tokyo. Thankfully, I had some vouchers courtesy of airbnb for inviting my friends to use it, so that reduced the costs for the 4 nights in Tokyo substantially.

And we are booked on:

Furano - Furano Hops Hotel
Kushiro - Hotel Crown Hill Kushiro
Tomamu - Hoshino Resorts
Toyako - Toya Kanko Hotel
Sapporo - apartment via airbnb
Tokyo - apartment via airbnb

Overall, the hotel bill came to ~$1,250 for the 10 nights. Split among three people, that works out to a fairly decent ~$400++ per pax. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the budget hotels would be bearable, the splurge hotels be a luxury well-spent, and the home-stays be an unique experience with locals.