Being passionate about traveling means I'm always on the lookout for stuff that can make the experience richer. I've always been wondering how to recall past vacations and be as immersed in it as possible - certainly photos and videos would go quite far. So would a blog or a diary, though that takes quite a bit of effort.
Trip Journal seems to be quite a useful all-in-one tool for your smart phones. It keeps track of where you've been, organizes your photos and videos (taken with your phone) neatly and allows you to write notes on the spot, where your memory is the most fresh. It helps that the interface looks quite cool too.
However, its downfall is the battery life span of smart phones these days. With tracking turned off, taking 40+ photos and 2 videos (less than 15 secs each) over 9 waypoints, my iPhone battery dropped from 92% to 20% over a span of 8 hours. It doesn't help that I can't change batteries on my iPhone.
Certainly, the concept of the app is great - but its practicality is severely limited by battery life span.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Planning for an Osaka / Kyoto Trip (Part 4)
If you are traveling with kids, do yourself a favor and avoid red-eye flights. At least, that's my experience with my kids. For the last 3 times I traveled to Japan, the JAL flight (to Japan) started from around midnight till 7AM in the morning. I never managed to get enough sleep on the flight. Either it was my kid needing attention, or the flight attendants switching on the lights (at 430AM I think) for breakfast.
On the most recent trip, I made up my mind to take a day flight, but alas tickets were all sold out. Most who take red-eye flights do so to save on the hotel, and gain almost a full day in Japan. Still, if you're washed out from lack of sleep, you'll be needing a day or two to recover from it. It's not my idea of fun feeling tired with no hotel room to go back to (though you should have deposited your luggage there at the very least) with a cranky kid who didn't manage to get much sleep either.
Besides, you'll have to forgo either the in-flight movies, or (attempted) sleep, on such flights. You know the saying - getting there is half the fun - you don't want to miss out on feeling the build up of excitement / anticipation. Because once you're there, you'll be counting down the days to your departure.
On the most recent trip, I made up my mind to take a day flight, but alas tickets were all sold out. Most who take red-eye flights do so to save on the hotel, and gain almost a full day in Japan. Still, if you're washed out from lack of sleep, you'll be needing a day or two to recover from it. It's not my idea of fun feeling tired with no hotel room to go back to (though you should have deposited your luggage there at the very least) with a cranky kid who didn't manage to get much sleep either.
Besides, you'll have to forgo either the in-flight movies, or (attempted) sleep, on such flights. You know the saying - getting there is half the fun - you don't want to miss out on feeling the build up of excitement / anticipation. Because once you're there, you'll be counting down the days to your departure.
Planning for an Osaka / Kyoto Trip (Part 3)
Where to stay (Part 2)
For hotel bookings, I typically use Jalan.net (Japanese version) - I think the English site came up not too long ago. It was first introduced to me by a friend who's now staying in Yokohama. I guess Jalan.net finally wised up to the fact that a lot of non-Japanese use the site too, so much so that 3rd party user guides like this one had cropped up. It's a great place to search for places to stay in Japan, and gives a host of great discounts at times of the year. If you sign up as a member, you get to clock points too, though I've never had a chance to use the points - the hotels on which I could use them weren't ones I'd normally choose to stay at.
Of course, there are other sites like Rakuten and Tripadvisor, but after visiting a few of these sites, I still defaulted back to Jalan.net for its offers. I have used Jalan.net 5 to 6 times so far over a span of more than 6 years, and there hasn't been any problems with it. The only time I sensed some trouble was when I stayed at Hotel Okura Tokyo Bay, where the check-in counter staff couldn't find my booking at first. However, that was resolved fairly quickly.
Google Maps: Street View is also a fantastic tool in which to view the surroundings of your chosen hotel. Photos on the hotel's official web site are always nice to look at, but it's best to check out Street View so you get an unbiased assessment of the hotel's environment. Japan is one of few countries that Google has mapped out extensively in Street View, at least for its major cities.
For hotel bookings, I typically use Jalan.net (Japanese version) - I think the English site came up not too long ago. It was first introduced to me by a friend who's now staying in Yokohama. I guess Jalan.net finally wised up to the fact that a lot of non-Japanese use the site too, so much so that 3rd party user guides like this one had cropped up. It's a great place to search for places to stay in Japan, and gives a host of great discounts at times of the year. If you sign up as a member, you get to clock points too, though I've never had a chance to use the points - the hotels on which I could use them weren't ones I'd normally choose to stay at.
Of course, there are other sites like Rakuten and Tripadvisor, but after visiting a few of these sites, I still defaulted back to Jalan.net for its offers. I have used Jalan.net 5 to 6 times so far over a span of more than 6 years, and there hasn't been any problems with it. The only time I sensed some trouble was when I stayed at Hotel Okura Tokyo Bay, where the check-in counter staff couldn't find my booking at first. However, that was resolved fairly quickly.
Google Maps: Street View is also a fantastic tool in which to view the surroundings of your chosen hotel. Photos on the hotel's official web site are always nice to look at, but it's best to check out Street View so you get an unbiased assessment of the hotel's environment. Japan is one of few countries that Google has mapped out extensively in Street View, at least for its major cities.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Planning for an Osaka / Kyoto Trip (Part 2)
Where to Stay (Part 1)
When I was there quite a few years ago, I made the conscious decision to make Osaka a base for my traveling. That is, we would travel from our hotel in Osaka every morning, and return every evening. We even went as far as Himeji （姫路), which was almost 4 hours away by train. Part of the reason was to avoid the hassle of having to lug our suitcases every time we changed hotels - autumn clothing was heavy as we were not used to the cold, being tropical country citizens. Another reason was that Kyoto - where we spent a major part of our days on - was only an hour's ride away from Osaka JR train station.
Finally the most compelling reason was that the Super Hotel we were staying in had discounts if you stayed there for more than 7 days consecutively, there was a 10% discount. On average, we only paid 4,000 yen per person - a pretty good deal considering each room came with its own restroom / bathroom, and breakfast! The current offer seems to be a 1,000 yen discount for a 3 night consecutive stay. Sadly, I booked the hotel quite late - about a month before our departure date - and hotels near Osaka / Umeda JR train station were fully booked. We had to stay about one to two train stops away.
Based on this past experience, I am almost certain I would be choosing a hotel next or close to Osaka / Umeda JR train station. This is because (1) there is a direct train from the KIX airport to this train station via the JR Kansai Airport Rapid Service or limousine bus, (2) as mentioned above, it's a hub for traveling to Kyoto and other nearby places like Nara or Kobe and (3) with kids / toddlers in tow, it's almost unthinkable to be changing hotels carrying all that baggage.
When I was there quite a few years ago, I made the conscious decision to make Osaka a base for my traveling. That is, we would travel from our hotel in Osaka every morning, and return every evening. We even went as far as Himeji （姫路), which was almost 4 hours away by train. Part of the reason was to avoid the hassle of having to lug our suitcases every time we changed hotels - autumn clothing was heavy as we were not used to the cold, being tropical country citizens. Another reason was that Kyoto - where we spent a major part of our days on - was only an hour's ride away from Osaka JR train station.
Finally the most compelling reason was that the Super Hotel we were staying in had discounts if you stayed there for more than 7 days consecutively, there was a 10% discount. On average, we only paid 4,000 yen per person - a pretty good deal considering each room came with its own restroom / bathroom, and breakfast! The current offer seems to be a 1,000 yen discount for a 3 night consecutive stay. Sadly, I booked the hotel quite late - about a month before our departure date - and hotels near Osaka / Umeda JR train station were fully booked. We had to stay about one to two train stops away.
Based on this past experience, I am almost certain I would be choosing a hotel next or close to Osaka / Umeda JR train station. This is because (1) there is a direct train from the KIX airport to this train station via the JR Kansai Airport Rapid Service or limousine bus, (2) as mentioned above, it's a hub for traveling to Kyoto and other nearby places like Nara or Kobe and (3) with kids / toddlers in tow, it's almost unthinkable to be changing hotels carrying all that baggage.
Planning for an Osaka / Kyoto Trip (Part 1)
I am in the early stages of planning for a trip to Osaka / Kyoto in 2012. Yup, its one year away - in fact, more than a year, as I'm planning for an autumn trip. This is not my first trip to Osaka, but it will be my first trip there bringing along my young ones.
With the Fukushima incident still ongoing, I felt there might be a risk bringing small children to Tokyo (even if its a perceived one). For peace of mind, I felt Osaka was a fairly good compromise. I'd be able to visit Universal Studios Japan too.
I thought I'd share my planning process, on the off chance that someone might find it useful. I'll also be sharing the reasons why I made certain decisions, as the reasons why some choices appealed to me may not to you. When the facts and information start piling up, I'll probably compile those into a document and share it on this space.
I typically compile my information off the web and travel books, and I'll provide links and credit wherever possible - these would form valuable sources of information for you too.
Lastly, I do my traveling in Japan by foot / bus / train, i.e. no driving. So, all my plans would revolve around that constrain.
With the Fukushima incident still ongoing, I felt there might be a risk bringing small children to Tokyo (even if its a perceived one). For peace of mind, I felt Osaka was a fairly good compromise. I'd be able to visit Universal Studios Japan too.
I thought I'd share my planning process, on the off chance that someone might find it useful. I'll also be sharing the reasons why I made certain decisions, as the reasons why some choices appealed to me may not to you. When the facts and information start piling up, I'll probably compile those into a document and share it on this space.
I typically compile my information off the web and travel books, and I'll provide links and credit wherever possible - these would form valuable sources of information for you too.
Lastly, I do my traveling in Japan by foot / bus / train, i.e. no driving. So, all my plans would revolve around that constrain.
Madagascar: A Crate Adventure
I attended the Annual Pass preview event and it was quite well organized! Of course, I was a bit sore that Fun Pass holders only got to go in at 8PM, whereas Superstar Pass holders got to go in at 7.40PM.
I was most impressed that the staff anticipated that there would be a huge crowd waiting outside the barricades for the preview event to start, and directed them to form a queue. This made the start of the event very smooth and trouble free. Of course, there were a few people who didn't see the need to queue up and had to wait for the whole lot of us to go in before they joined up behind.
Once I was past the barricades, I was greeted with a cup of fizzy lemon / mango drink and plastic garlands. Not bad. The drink was quite tasty actually, and it helped to pass the time waiting in the queue. You could feel the anticipation in the air as the pass holders all lined up patiently for their turn.
If you don't know by now, the ride is a slow boat ride not unlike Sinbad in Tokyo Disneysea or It's a Small World in Tokyo Disneyland. Each boat can hold up to 20 people seated 4 in a row. I clocked the ride at around 7 minutes - not the 9 minutes mentioned in the press release. I won't spoil the ride - in fact I believe someone has already posted a video of the entire ride on YouTube the day after the preview event.
First impressions were good. It all looked so new (duh), and came with a polish that other rides didn't have (though I must have sat on those like 10 or more times by now). However, I think the animatronics still lose out to Tokyo Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, though a definite improvement over the Treasure Hunter ride. I have to emphasize that this is not a thrill ride. There are no drops at all, and it's definitely suitable for kids of all ages.
I predict the ride would be an instant hit with the families and would see long queues for months to come. The queue area for this ride would come in handy, unlike that for the Mummy ride, which appears to be severely underutilized given that the average waiting time was 5 minutes - roughly the same amount of time you need to navigate the empty queue area.
I was most impressed that the staff anticipated that there would be a huge crowd waiting outside the barricades for the preview event to start, and directed them to form a queue. This made the start of the event very smooth and trouble free. Of course, there were a few people who didn't see the need to queue up and had to wait for the whole lot of us to go in before they joined up behind.
Once I was past the barricades, I was greeted with a cup of fizzy lemon / mango drink and plastic garlands. Not bad. The drink was quite tasty actually, and it helped to pass the time waiting in the queue. You could feel the anticipation in the air as the pass holders all lined up patiently for their turn.
If you don't know by now, the ride is a slow boat ride not unlike Sinbad in Tokyo Disneysea or It's a Small World in Tokyo Disneyland. Each boat can hold up to 20 people seated 4 in a row. I clocked the ride at around 7 minutes - not the 9 minutes mentioned in the press release. I won't spoil the ride - in fact I believe someone has already posted a video of the entire ride on YouTube the day after the preview event.
First impressions were good. It all looked so new (duh), and came with a polish that other rides didn't have (though I must have sat on those like 10 or more times by now). However, I think the animatronics still lose out to Tokyo Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, though a definite improvement over the Treasure Hunter ride. I have to emphasize that this is not a thrill ride. There are no drops at all, and it's definitely suitable for kids of all ages.
I predict the ride would be an instant hit with the families and would see long queues for months to come. The queue area for this ride would come in handy, unlike that for the Mummy ride, which appears to be severely underutilized given that the average waiting time was 5 minutes - roughly the same amount of time you need to navigate the empty queue area.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)