We had to get up early this morning to check out of the hotel by 7:15am. We caught a taxi to Haneda Airport, and it turned out to be a good chance to use up the remaining balance on one of our Suica cards. As advanced as Japan is in so many ways, there are a few things that feel surprisingly outdated. For example, you can use your iPhone or a physical Suica card to tap on and off public…
We woke up early this morning and went down for breakfast at the hotel. The buffet was surprisingly good and gave us a solid start to the day. When we checked the weather, we saw that it was going to rain all morning with no chance of seeing Mount Fuji, so we decided to just take it slow. The hotel staff came and cleaned both rooms, and then we swapped rooms with Bart and Ale so we could all experience…
Vivi and I got up early this morning for two hotel site inspections in Kyoto. We took the metro over to the Ritz-Carlton Kyoto, where we were greeted by Eri, the Director of Sales. She gave us a full tour of the property, and it was absolutely stunning. The hotel is only about ten years old, so it feels fresh and contemporary, but still has all the refined details you’d expect from a Ritz-Carlton. The location along the river is…
We got an early start today, meeting for breakfast at 8:00am downstairs at the Moxy Hotel. As expected, it was the least impressive breakfast we’ve had so far on this trip, but it gave us enough energy to get moving. We walked from the hotel to Nijo Castle, which is nearby. I had bought “Castle Admission” tickets online ahead of time, but it turns out those only allow access to the gardens, not the castle itself. Very confusing. Still, the…
We had a very slow start to the day today. It was our last morning at the Ritz-Carlton in Osaka, and we all went down for breakfast at the buffet. It was good, but I have to admit that the W Osaka’s breakfast was better. After packing up our things, we left the hotel around 11:30am. The girls went shopping for a couple of hours while Bart and I waited nearby, and then we finally caught a train to Kyoto….
We got up this morning and had breakfast at the W again, which was excellent. We chatted with a girl named Nasa who worked there and was from Mongolia. She was very nice and incredibly knowledgeable, and it was interesting hearing about her experience living and working in Japan. After breakfast, the girls went to check out some skin treatments nearby, so I went shopping at Uniqlo and picked up a few things I needed. Later in the day, we…
I woke up at 4:45am, so the jet lag isn’t quite finished with me yet. Vivi and I went down for breakfast at the W, which had an excellent buffet and great service, as you’d expect from a hotel like this. We met Bart and Ale at 9:30am and took the train to Nara, which took about an hour. It was raining when we arrived, but that didn’t seem to bother the deer at all. They were everywhere, wandering freely…
I woke up at 6:30am today, so hopefully the jet lag is finally over and I’m on Japanese time now. We all met in the lobby and went out in search of a breakfast spot, which turned out to be harder than we expected. We first tried the Osakura Hotel, but it just looked like another overpriced hotel breakfast, even more expensive than the Edition, so we kept walking. We eventually found a café called Tully’s, and it was perfect….
I woke up this morning at 4:30am, so at least it was an extra two hours of sleep compared to the night before. I took my computer down to the lobby of the hotel at 5:30am and worked on the blog and some Inspire Travel Designers tasks while the city outside slowly woke up. As a group we didn’t get started until 10:30am, but once everyone was ready, we took the subway to Shinjuku. We were all pretty hungry, so…
I woke up this morning at 2:15am, which was not ideal. I laid in bed for about an hour trying to fall back asleep, but it wasn’t happening, so I decided to watch the Patriots game. I pulled it up on my phone, skipped through all the commercials, and watched the Pats beat the Saints. After the game finished, I grabbed my laptop and went downstairs to work on the blog until Vivi woke up. We checked out of our…