Ivy Rose Travels: Japan & Vietnam Part 1, NYC to Kyoto

After two long years I finally made time to join my family on their annual summer vacation. This year's trip is a 14-day exploration of eight cities in Japan and Vietnam! Throughout the trip I will take a total of eight flights, two boat trips (one overnight) and many trains and buses (both within and between cities).

Boarding our flight to Toronto

Comfy & Ready to take off for Tokyo

As I mentioned in the previous post my parents' trip to NYC was planned so that the three of us could travel to Kyoto together (my brother is meeting us in Vietnam). We began the journey with a flight from LaGuardia to Toronto where my dad insisted we have a Tim Horton's donut. I got a maple frosted one and I must admit it was life changing (so delicious, in fact, that I could not stop eating it long enough to snap a photo). We then got cozy for our 12-hour flight to Tokyo. I usually get pretty restless and anxious on long flights, especially when we experience a bit of turbulence like we did on this flight, but the Air Canada crew kept us well-fed and the in-flight entertainment was so good that I was pretty comfortable and relaxed the entire flight.

My delicious soba noodle meal

Upon landing in Tokyo we had to make our way through customs, which was (unsurprisingly) quick and well-organized and we even got bumped up to an earlier flight for our final leg of the journey into Osaka. We floated around the airport like zombies during our 4.5 hour layover, each one succumbing to a 30-60 minute nap at various points. Mom and I decided to fuel up on delicious udon and soba(pictured below) noodles to keep our energy up.

Once we arrived in Osaka we made our way to the currency exchange as we hadn't been able to accomplish this in Tokyo as we had planned and then walked across the street to the Osaka Nikko Kansai Airport, our home for the night. We all struggled through showers and then passed out.

Haruka train

The last leg of the journey required us to navigate through the purchasing of tickets for the Haruka train into Kyoto Station. The ever-prepared parents of mine had a step-by-step set of instructions they found on a travel blog and we made it through the process effortlessly (it's REALLY simple and although we didn't need it, I am sure the Kansai airport staff would be more than happy to help guide you through the process if necessary). The train ride wasn't anything out of the ordinary, although I was REALLY impressed by the fact that all of the seats turned around in response to the train changing directions. I get dizzy and nauseous when I have to sit in a seat with the train going backwards so this was a nice touch and is a great example of the attention to detail and consideration for the customer within Japanese culture.

Kyoto Station was much larger and busier than I expected it to be, but as usual my parents navigated through like pros, quickly located an information booth and got directions to our hotel so that we could make the journey on foot. The Matsubaya Ryokan has a much more traditional feel, as you can see in the pics and vlog. With only two days in Kyoto we were anxious to get out and start exploring so we left our bags in the lobby (check-in wasn't until 3 and we arrived around 1), bought some 1-day unlimited passes for the city bus and headed off to our first round of sight-seeing...but you'll have to read the next entry to find out how that went (you can watch the vlog below for a sneak peek).

 

Kind of a long post, but trust me reading this wasn't nearly as exhausting as going through it (although I enjoyed every second). As always feel free to leave comments/questions/feedback below and make sure to check out the video and pass it along! Throughout the trip I'll post summaries of my experiences in each city here with corresponding vlogs and of course tons of photos (as long as I have access to wifi), so check back often. Enjoy the journey....