myTravel: Planning a vacation in Japan? Take a look at these tips..

Thursday 21 May 2015

Planning a vacation in Japan? Take a look at these tips..

END APRIL 2015...

Malaysia Airlines 11am flight from KLIA to NRT (Terminal 2)...

For unlimited travels on Japanese Railways (JR), we booked our JR Pass in Kuala Lumpur and the booking document must be exchanged with JR Pass as soon as we reach Japan. Read more about JR Pass HERE.

Reached NRT about 7pm local time...

..first thing we looked for after coming out from the immigration check point... the "JR EAST Travel Service Center" (spotted straight-away after coming out to the arrival hall). With good English, the staff directed us to JR East Travel Office, located one floor downstair.

This is the office... many tourists in queue... fill up a form. Bring passport for each passenger. Decide when to start your JR Pass validity. We chose to start the next day...

Since our JR Pass only valid from the next the onwards, we went to KEISEI Liner (non-JR) counter, located nearby next to JR Office, to exchange another train tickets which we pre-booked online in Malaysia. KEISEI counter colored blue and easily noticeable in the area.

Reached UENO Station from Narita.. walking underground to locate our hotel, following the guide given by the hotel, "Guest coming from Keisei-Ueno station". See the detail guide HERE.

Ueno Station, the next day of arrival... discovered a more convenient way to and from (Touganeya Hotel - Ueno Station) above ground instead of underground..

Oh yes.. if you want to stay-connected all the way while in Japan (even though practically you are connected, free, in hotels, airport, train stations and on train as well!), you may want to check out PUPURU. We booked pocket WiFi online while still in Malaysia. They delivered it to our hotel even before we reached the hotel. Our Malaysia smartphones were connected all the way (whatsapp, whatsapp call, telegram, FB .. all those usual things.. eliminating expensive roaming and oversea calls!!).

WiFi mobile device, charger, cable, pouch and envelope complete with address for returning on departure date..

And on our departing day, we just dropped the envelope containing all the supplied items into Japan Post mailbox, located at least 2 places nearby the Malaysia Airlines check-in counter at the airport departure hall.

(This Japanese Post mailbox nearest to MAS check-in counter)

For Malaysian tourists, checkout JTB in KL before you go to Japan.. from KL Sentral, take monorail to Berjaya Time Square station.. the Amoda Building (opposite of Berjaya Time Square) is just a short walk from the station.. if you don't book your JR Pass/wifi device online, you can book them here. (There's another JTB customer service counter in Twin Towers)