About two weeks after we booked our flight we have finished our travelling schedule and we’ve completed the hotel bookings. We both think that we have selected some great hotels at good locations for very good prices. After landing at Narita Airport we will either take the Limited Express or the Airport Limousine Bus directly to our hotel, this will depend on how fast we can get through customs.

The first hotel of this vacation will be “The Strings by Intercontinental Tokyo” located just outside the East exit of Shinagawa Station (see the red circle). This station marks the zero kilometer spot of the Yamanote Line, this is the busiest and most important one of all metro lines in Tokyo (東京) and transport more passengers as the London Underground. Besides the metro it’s also one of the stations along the Tōkaidō Shinkansen Line which is the busiest high-speed rail route in the whole world. After staying 4 nights in the “The Strings by Intercontinental Tokyo” we will take the Nozomi Shinkansen towards Kyoto (京都市).

In Kyoto we stay again in a Hotel from the IHG Group, here we will stay in the “ANA Crowne Plaza Kyoto”. In Kyoto we will visit some temples and we hope to see the first cherry blossoms, although we are probably at least one week to early.

After one night in Kyoto we continue travelling with the Shinkansen towards Hiroshima (広島市). In Hiroshima we will also stay one night in the “Crowne Plaza ANA Hiroshima”. From Hiroshima we would take the Nozomi Shinkansen back to Shinagawa (Tokyo), and if possible in a Green Seat (First Class) since this 887,5 kilometer long train ride will still take 238 minutes.

In Tokyo we will stay in the same hotel again for the remaining 5 nights of our vacation.

After years of discussion I finally convinced Danielle and we will visit Japan this spring. I’ve been here before but for Danielle it will be her very first trip to Asia. I really hope she enjoys “The Land of the Rising Sun” as much as I did during visits in the past.

After checking the usual websites for flights we’ve found an absolute bargain on www.klm.de. We leave in Nürnberg in an Embraer 170 and after a transfer in Paris to an Airbus A380-800 with which we’ll land about 15 hours later at Narita Airport about 80 km from Tokyo.

At this moment we are still figuring out what we want to see during the 11 days we are there. So far we’ve come up with Tōkyō (東京), Mt. Fuji, Kyoto (we hope to enjoy Sakura, if it happens early this year) , the Tokyo SkyTree, Hamarikyu Gardens, Imperial Gardens, Tokyo Fish Market and we want to ride the Shinkansen. Oh and before you think aren’t they visiting the Tokyo Disneyland Resort, yes we will for 3 days! So we’ve a lot to check-out till the departure date!

The way back home will take the same amount of time and with the same planes. We can’t wait till we are there and you’ll enjoy some preparations blog updates till our departure date and off course we’ll try to blog live as we did during the last vacations!