Chad’s excellent spring 2025 adventure

[chadbag]

Getting this started so maybe I can solicit info or ideas before our trip. 
 

We bought tickets about 4 weeks ago for a late spring trip (May/June timeframe).   Id been watching prices and thought it was a good price (and it was) but if I’d waited a couple weeks I could have saved about $150 per person for more direct routes that were a little shorter (on a different airline).  We got good economy tickets on Korean Air.  It means we fly into KIX via ICN via LAX (Airbus A380 — will be my first time on the giant).  These are “full service” economy tickets meaning everyone gets 2 checked luggage, etc.   I’ve not been through Incheon on about 14-15 years.   Our first several trips were always through ICN as we always used Delta points and Delta didn’t fly to Japan at the time so we always got tickets on KAL.  Eventually Delta opened up new routes to Japan but we still had one last trip via KAL and ICN.  The last time we did was when my daughter was 18 months old (she’s now almost 17).   On the way we missed our flight to LAX as we sat in the check-in line forever — it was glacially slow — and our turn came up 5-10 minutes before the flight closed.  The guy rushed to get us checked-in and all the international business taken care of before the flight to LAX closed (at the time it was 30 min before the flight).  He didn’t quite make it.  The guy felt pity on us and spent the next hour trying to re-route us.  He was finally able to on a Delta flight to Honolulu and then connect a flight to KIX.   So we left a few hours later and spent a few hours layover in Hawaii and then landed in Osaka about 20 min before the flight from Korea we should have been on landed.   And we didn’t have to pay any additional fees to get there earlier.  (Even though we sat in the check-in line a long time we technically were a little late to the airport due to abnormal traffic).   We went home through Korea however on our original booking.  That was our last trip through Korea.  I’m wondering what has changed.  
 

Anyway, this is mostly a “visit family” trip and local stuff in Kansai or day or overnight trips in the area.   But we will go to Tokyo for a few days and then fly to Hokkaido and spend a few days there, including a visit with my son who is there.   He is in Otaru now but will probably be elsewhere by the time we get there.  
 

I’ll have to go finish uploading photos from our last trip 🤣

 

 

[Kingmeow]

Awesome!  Another trip to vicariously live through even though we were there a month+ ago.  🤣  We already miss Japan.  Post pictures as you go!

[chadbag]

I guess we’re a little over two months away.  Nothing really planned except our hotel in Tokyo (Hilton Odaiba — used some Worldmark points we had to use up and was able to get breakfast as well — we’ve stayed there like 3 times already and once with breakfast.  Definitely a nice bewakfast).   And two of our nights in Sapporo where we’ll be visiting our son for an afternoon.  Not sure where he will be.  He is in Otaru now but may have moved on by June.  So we didn’t plan more than the first two nights.   Nothing else planned.  Our flight is on Korean Air and goes through Incheon to KIX.   It’s been a long while since we’ve taken that path.   We used to always go that way when I was using Skymiles for travel but it’s been 15 years since we did it that way.  At the time delta wasn’t flying directly to Japan so it was always with KAL.  
 

I’ve also gotten two sets of one way tickets in November / December for the wife and me going and we two and my son coming back.   My son will be done with his missionary service at the end of November so we’ll go pick him up and tour a week.  It was easiest to just book two one way trips instead of trying to find good round trips that we could tack a one way on to for the ride back for my son.   We go on ANA (flights by United) through SFO to HND to CTS (Sapporo).  Coming back we’re leaving from Haneda to SEA to SLC on Delta.   In between we’ll see Hokkaido a couple days with him, go to Kobe to visit relatives, and finish off in Tokyo as my son wanted to go there.  (Not that he hasn't been there a million times before. ).  But the November trip will get its own topic.  

Edited March 17 by chadbag

[RS18U]

Looking forward to your adventures as it looks like we may be headed to Hokkaido sometime next year, but further north than Sapporo, up to Abashiri.

[Tony Galiani]

We transited ICN on our first trip to Japan and found it easy.  It was also our first time in an airport in Asia and we were impressed with how nice it was.

 

Looking forward to your trip reports.  Seems like a good time of the year to be in Hokkaido as well.

 

Tony

[chadbag]

I need to start thinking about what we're doing...  We do have 3 nights booked at the Hilton on Odaiba in Tokyo (some points that had to be used before the end of February) and two nights in Sapporo (again the rest of the points).  Not sure where my son will be so we're holding back on any more bookings and stuff on Hokkaido.   I need to start looking at the planes or trains to Tokyo and the planes to Sapporo and back to Kobe.  I hope to land at UKB on the way back as I've not been to that airport.  We leave in about 2 months exactly from today so I guess I need to start worrying about the plans.

 

[kuro68000]

On 3/21/2025 at 10:41 AM, Tony Galiani said:

We transited ICN on our first trip to Japan and found it easy.  It was also our first time in an airport in Asia and we were impressed with how nice it was.

 

I went through there once, on the way home. What I didn't realize is that my ticket actually required me to change to the other airport (Gimpo?)

 

Fortunately Brits don't need a visa to enter SK, but I couldn't buy train tickets with credit card so had to withdraw some cash, half of which I still have. This was about a decade ago though so it might have changed, or I might have just misunderstood.

 

Next time I am considering going via Shanghai. It's a lot cheaper than flying direct, literally half the price. I've been there before, and used their maglev train. It would just be a few hours layover though. Even though I do need a visa to visit China, there is an exception for people staying less than 24 hours, so if it's a longer layover you can at least go out of the airport.

[chadbag]

That would suck to have to transfer from ICN to Gimpo.   Luckily all our transits through Korea have been through ICN.  When we were using SkyMiles for tickets, when my son was like 4 (he’s 22 now), they wanted us to do like a 14 hour layover or something.  You don’t always get the best routings when getting cheap award flights.  
 

I said no to that and asked if we could stay a day or two and they said that would be fine.  No extra points or cost.  So we arrived in the evening in Korea.  Took a limousine bus to our hotel I had booked online.  We stayed one full day and two nights before we continued on to Japan.  It was kind of fun to look around.  We didn’t know where to go to what to do.  We spent 1/2 a day at the war museum (the fee outdoor exhibits part) and spent time trying to find a place to eat, wandering around the afternoon in Itaewon.  It wasn’t the most productive visit but it helped us with jet lag before we go to Japan and made me decide I’d like to go back.  We did have time in the airport the day we flew to Japan and found a restaurant at the airport (on the Korean side of immigration/customs) where I had an excellent spicy ox tail soup.  Unfortunately you can’t get to it on a transfer since it’s past immigration.  I’ve looked a few times for it when we’ve been there in a multi hour layover.  
 

In finally went back around 2015 with my son for a few days.  I think it was 2015.  Anyway my son and I flew from Japan to Korea and spent a few days visiting a guy I had met at the Apple WWDC developer conference that summer.  He was a Brit/Australian married to a Korean and he gave us a tour of a bunch of places like the palace downtown and took us to fun places to eat. It was fun. 
 

some day I’ll get to Korea again.  It’s an interesting place.  

[chadbag]

Yesterday I got some airline reservations on Skymark Air, an independent LCC in Japan that is majority airline in Kobe but based more in Tokyo area I think and operates in Haneda and flies to a few places.  We got flights from Kobe to Haneda and a few days later from Haneda to Sapporo.  It was less expensive to fly from Kobe to Tokyo than to take the Shinkansen from the brief comparison I did.  I've never been to UKB (Kobe airport) so it will be an interesting experience.  The flight to Sapporo from Haneda is much faster and also cheaper (about $88 per person).  There was actually a less expensive JAL flight using the tourist. fares but it doesn't leave until 8:30pm and get to Sapporo after 10pm which makes it tight on getting to our hotel etc.  So we opted for the slightly more expensive Skymark flight about 2 hours earlier.

 

I don't have the flight from Hokkaido back to Kobe yet as we're mot sure where my son will be.  If he's in the Sapporo area still (he is now in Otaru) we'll fly out of Sapporo and back to UKB on Skymark.  But if he gets sent to say Hakodate, we'll fly from Hakodate to Itami or somewhere instead.  He'll know end of the month if he is being transferred.  He kind of wants to go to Hakodate but also wats to stay in Sapporo.  He doesn't decide though he does sometimes get asked what he'd prefer (and then usually they don't send him there 😆).   So I'll get the return flight after I know where he'll be. If we is not in the Sapporo area we'll either take the train from Sapporo to where he is or rent a car to drive there.  We'll see.  We're going to Sapporo in any case as there are some things there we want to do and see and we have a hotel already for the first 2 nights, courtesy of points I had that were expiring 🙂

 

We'll spend a few days in Tokyo. Amongst other things visiting the wife's sister in Yokohama (who will also go to Tokyo for some activities we have planned together).  We say TeamLabs: Planets last time and my daughter wants to see that again so I am looking into that.  I don't know what else she wants to do. She gets to guide most of the activities...

[RS18U]

12 minutes ago, chadbag said:

I don't know what else she wants to do. She gets to guide most of the activities...

I don't know what age your daughter is or her interests but our daughter wants to go to Pokémon Center Tokyo DX https://www.pokemon.co.jp/shop/pokecen/tokyodx/, https://maps.app.goo.gl/iSNrD7DNXZKnoadL8.  Of course our daughter is in university and still likes Pokémon.

 

Edited April 8 by RS18U

[chadbag]

21 minutes ago, RS18U said:

I don't know what age your daughter is or her interests but our daughter wants to go to Pokémon Center Tokyo DX https://www.pokemon.co.jp/shop/pokecen/tokyodx/, https://maps.app.goo.gl/iSNrD7DNXZKnoadL8.  Of course our daughter is in university and still likes Pokémon.

 

 

That looks kind of interesting.  We've been to the Pokemon Mega Center in Ikebukuro but we've not been to the Pokemon Center Tokyo.    I'll see if she is interested.  She's a junior in HS. 

 

I'd like to hit some of the model train stores I've not been to in Tokyo but doubt I'll get much of a chance.  I don't have budget to buy anything and I'm hanging out with my daughter so it's what she wants to do.  (I assume the wife is hanging out. mostly with her sister).   I need to make a list in case we're near anything I can take a Quick Look in.  I'll have a chance to go window shopping in Kobe and Osaka as we'll be based there and have more time to do what we want.

[Kingmeow]

If your daughter likes Pokemon or anime, and you're in Osaka, Joshin Super Kids Land has 5 floors of hobby stuff and I'm sure one of the floors has Pokemon/anime.  You can go to the 5th floor for the trains.  😁

[chadbag]

6 hours ago, Kingmeow said:

If your daughter likes Pokemon or anime, and you're in Osaka, Joshin Super Kids Land has 5 floors of hobby stuff and I'm sure one of the floors has Pokemon/anime.  You can go to the 5th floor for the trains.  😁

 

I've been there many times.  And always come out 700-100$ poorer.  Several times we've had to ring up more than once as we hit the max sales that they could do tax free on one receipt or something like that.

 

Before they moved across the street they had a lot of stuff on the main floor for Pokemon and Sumikko Gurashi etc.   Now that they moved down the street and across the street I don't think they have as much of the normal toy stuff.  The first floor, from memory, was all video games and stuff.  There was a floor of models, a floor of R/C, a floor of Air Soft, and a floor of model trains...

 

I'm not sure what she's interested in.  Probably mostly clothes and cosmetics and stuff.  She is that age.

When we're at home base in Kobe I'll go and do my own shopping by myself. But in Tokyo she'll get to mostly choose what to do.

 

Edited April 8 by chadbag

[Kingmeow]

TamTam in Kobe is pretty nice and well stocked.  If my memory is still good, it's right next to Chinatown.