On the road again…
Yes…. finally. Just gotta pack…
preparation
Holiday is nearly here…
Our holiday is not far away. In preparation, my mum bought me the Moai Statues on Easter Island in Nano Blocks. Thankfully the degree of difficultly was lower than the Tokyo Tower, as it was completed over a couple of evenings. Based on the reading I’ve done about the Island, the real statues won’t be too hard to find. Not long now!
Goodwill Guides
Today I’ve sent out a bunch of e-mails to voluntary goodwill guides in Japan. They are a great way to get a better idea about local cultural life. You can find out more here http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/essential/guideservice.html
We’re hoping to have goodwill guides for Sendai and Kyoto. Last year we met a guide in Tokyo and were shown places we would have never otherwise seen. I’d also recommend Big Apple Greeters in New York…
We’ve looked around for goodwill guides in China. No luck yet.
Setting up the site.
I have been slowly setting up this site. I’ve added an Itinerary Page with links to all of our accommodation. I’ve also created a bit of a wish list for China and Japan. Here we will keep adding links to places we’d like to visit. Check out the list for Japan and China.
If you find some you’d like us to do then leave a note on our Guestbook (on the right hand side or the full page), all suggestions will be considered.
You can always check out our latest photos by clicking on the New Photos page. It shows the latest 25 photos from both Helen and I.
Japan Rail
Japan Rail offers very convenient and fast services throughout Japan. The JR Pass is also great value. Trying to book a JR Sleeper train on the other hand is quite difficult. You need to find a person or travel agent in Japan to book it for you. It can only be booked one month before hand, so it makes it somewhat difficult to plan an itinerary. For those who are inters ted JR East does offer Shinkansen and and some limited express bookings online.
We are trying to book the Cassiopeia, Japan’s dream journey from Ueno to Sapporo. So please cross your fingers and hope we can get our booking on 16 July 2009.
Commenting….
Okay, you have made it to the blog… so far I must admit that it probably isn’t interesting, given we haven’t gone anywhere yet. Unless of course you want to read about India 🙂
You can either leave a comment on any of the posts, or leave a message which will get to us via the “Contact us form”, or you can leave a message on the “free chat widget”. So many options!
We hope to hear from you while we are on the road.
Itinerary and Flyover
Below is a badly formatted list of our itinerary. For those who are more visual, have broadband and Google Earth you can see itinerary as a “Flyover” by clicking here. Thanks to Tim for the extensive set of virtual sights in Osaka and nearby places.
Sunday, 23 March 2008 Tokyo
Monday, 24 March 2008 Tokyo
Tuesday, 25 March 2008 Tokyo
Wednesday, 26 March 2008 Tokyo
Thursday, 27 March 2008 Tokyo
Friday, 28 March 2008 Tokyo
Saturday, 29 March 2008 Hakone
Sunday, 30 March 2008 Hakone
Monday, 31 March 2008 Kyoto
Tuesday, 1 April 2008 Kyoto
Wednesday, 2 April 2008 Kyoto
Thursday, 3 April 2008 Kyoto
Friday, 4 April 2008 Kyoto
Saturday, 5 April 2008 Osaka
Sunday, 6 April 2008 Osaka
Monday, 7 April 2008 Himeji
Tuesday, 8 April 2008 Hiroshima
Wednesday, 9 April 2008 Hiroshima
Thursday, 10 April 2008 Fukuoka
Friday, 11 April 2008 Seoul
Saturday, 12 April 2008 Seoul
Sunday, 13 April 2008 Seoul
Monday, 14 April 2008 Seoul
Tuesday, 15 April 2008 Tokyo
Wednesday, 16 April 2008 Qantas
Packed and ready to go…
It is the evening before our holiday, and for a change we are packed and ready. There are no plans to stay up until 3am getting those last few things together. Believe it or not!
Out holiday booklet is printed and all addresses for postcards are written. I spent the better part of the day getting together the small things that one really needs on holiday, counting all loose change in the house (it’s amazing how many small coins you can find), and the final bits of washing.
The first stop is an overnight stay in Kuala Lumpur, as there is not a connecting flight to Delhi. Another bonus is that the flight is short… only 7 hours!
We are looking forward to India…. I’m sure everything will be fine once we get to Delhi!
Preparation for Holiday
Over the past few weeks, everyone has provided us advice about how to stay healthy on our short trip to India and Malaysia. Let this photo reassure you all that are prepared!
I am not sure we have any space for clothing!
Itinerary
Just in case we hadn’t told you…. we’re on holiday! But we are guessing that you probably have noticed the lack of us being at our desks at work.
I hope it is just as clean when I get back!
Incase you wanted to know… here is our itinerary:
Night of Location
- 22-Sep LA
- 23-Sep Drive
- 24-Sep Drive
- 25-Sep Drive
- 26-Sep San Francisco
- 27-Sep San Francisco
- 28-Sep San Francisco
- 29-Sep Drive
- 30-Sep Drive
- 1-Oct Drive
- 2-Oct Drive
- 3-Oct Portland
- 4-Oct Seattle
- 5-Oct Seattle
- 6-Oct Victoria
- 7-Oct Vancouver
- 8-Oct Vancouver
- 9-Oct Vancouver
- 10-Oct Kamlaps
- 11-Oct Jasper
- 12-Oct The Crossing
- 13-Oct Banff
- 14-Oct Calgary
- 15-Oct Bowmanville
- 16-Oct Bowmanville
- 17-Oct Bowmanville
- 18-Oct Montreal
- 19-Oct Montreal
- 20-Oct Moncton
- 21-Oct Prince Edward Island
- 22-Oct Prince Edward Island
- 23-Oct Prince Edward Island
- 24-Oct New York
- 25-Oct New York
- 26-Oct New York
- 27-Oct San Diego
- 28-Oct San Diego
- 29-Oct LA
- 30-Oct LA
- 31-Oct Leave LA for Adelaide
- 2-Nov Arrive Adelaide
Our hope is to post some snippets and pictures here for your viewing and reading pleasure.
You will note that these posts are in Los Angeles time.
Bromptoneering or bust 