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Re: GRcade Travel Topic

Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2017 2:05 am
by Rightey
I came across this in Osaka the other day...

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Re: GRcade Travel Topic

Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2017 2:25 am
by Parksey
Bloody gaijin, laughing at perfectly normal signs.

Re: GRcade Travel Topic

Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2017 8:20 am
by Lotus
Folks, what's the simplest way of booking this trip?

London > Tokyo
5 nights in Tokyo
Tokyo > Osaka
5 nights in Osaka
Osaka > London

Usually I use Expedia which I find tends to give me the best deal, and it works because I do straightforward trips, i.e. flying to a destination, staying in the same city and then just booking return flights. Flying to one destination and then leaving from another doesn't seem like an option though (on Expedia). I've had a quick look at booking each leg separately and it seems a lot more expensive than it otherwise might be. The odd multi-city flight finder I've found seem to be horrendous websites that just re-direct you to other sites and randomly change currencies and tell you the flight you're looking at is no longer available. :dread:

A little help? :slol:

Re: GRcade Travel Topic

Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2017 8:42 am
by Bunni
Sky scanner does multi stop tickets.

Re: GRcade Travel Topic

Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2017 11:07 am
by PatSharpsMullet
Lotus wrote:Folks, what's the simplest way of booking this trip?

London > Tokyo
5 nights in Tokyo
Tokyo > Osaka
5 nights in Osaka
Osaka > London

Usually I use Expedia which I find tends to give me the best deal, and it works because I do straightforward trips, i.e. flying to a destination, staying in the same city and then just booking return flights. Flying to one destination and then leaving from another doesn't seem like an option though (on Expedia). I've had a quick look at booking each leg separately and it seems a lot more expensive than it otherwise might be. The odd multi-city flight finder I've found seem to be horrendous websites that just re-direct you to other sites and randomly change currencies and tell you the flight you're looking at is no longer available. :dread:

A little help? :slol:

I'm thinking of doing the same trip next year with a couple of friends although we're going to go back to Tokyo for a night or two at the end of it as you can't get direct flights from Osaka. The British Airways site allows you to book flights and multiple hotels in one whole package.

Re: GRcade Travel Topic

Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2017 11:39 am
by Tomous
Lotus wrote:Folks, what's the simplest way of booking this trip?

London > Tokyo
5 nights in Tokyo
Tokyo > Osaka
5 nights in Osaka
Osaka > London

Usually I use Expedia which I find tends to give me the best deal, and it works because I do straightforward trips, i.e. flying to a destination, staying in the same city and then just booking return flights. Flying to one destination and then leaving from another doesn't seem like an option though (on Expedia). I've had a quick look at booking each leg separately and it seems a lot more expensive than it otherwise might be. The odd multi-city flight finder I've found seem to be horrendous websites that just re-direct you to other sites and randomly change currencies and tell you the flight you're looking at is no longer available. :dread:

A little help? :slol:


From my experience, you're going to pay a lot more for booking separate journeys as airlines don't just halve the price if you only go one leg-they price discriminate against people not looking for return flights.

One thing to consider is the shinkansen from Osaka to Tokyo is only 2.5 hours and you can use the JR pass if you're planning on getting that.

I am actually flying from Tokyo to Hong Kong Sunday afternoon and am currently in Hiroshima-we'll be travelling to Tokyo the day of the flight.

Of course, if you're not getting the JR pass you'll have to factor in the train cost which will be £100 ish I believe.

Re: GRcade Travel Topic

Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2017 11:51 am
by Lotus
Yeah that just occurred to me. It's probably simpler to book a return flight to Tokyo and just travel back there for the flight home. The JR pass is around £200, right? Wonder how much difference there is in price between that and just two normal tickets (there and back).

Re: GRcade Travel Topic

Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2017 1:34 pm
by Tomous
I paid £365 for a 14 day pass, although I had to get mine in indonesia and would have been cheaper getting it at home in the UK-around £325 I believe.

How worth it is, depends on how much you'll use. For me, it definitely has. Ive gone Tokyo > Kyoto > Osaka > Hiroshima and also used it for a day trip to Nikko from Tokyo and Nara from Osaka. It'd be easy for you to do those as well as go to Kyoto and Hiroshima from Osaka if you were inclined, which would help you get full value from it.

Re: GRcade Travel Topic

Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2017 2:02 am
by Rightey
Lotus wrote:Folks, what's the simplest way of booking this trip?

London > Tokyo
5 nights in Tokyo
Tokyo > Osaka
5 nights in Osaka
Osaka > London

Usually I use Expedia which I find tends to give me the best deal, and it works because I do straightforward trips, i.e. flying to a destination, staying in the same city and then just booking return flights. Flying to one destination and then leaving from another doesn't seem like an option though (on Expedia). I've had a quick look at booking each leg separately and it seems a lot more expensive than it otherwise might be. The odd multi-city flight finder I've found seem to be horrendous websites that just re-direct you to other sites and randomly change currencies and tell you the flight you're looking at is no longer available. :dread:

A little help? :slol:


Expedia doesn't have the low cost Japanese carriers, specifically Peach and Jetstar. I did a similar trip and the price difference to just fly into and out of Tokyo and then book the flight to Osaka with Peach was pretty big, over $300.

http://www.flypeach.com/sp/en

https://www.jetstar.com/au/en/home

I think there is a third low cost airline but I can't remember it now.

Re: GRcade Travel Topic

Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2017 8:29 pm
by 7256930752
You're going to have to use a Japanese or British airline to fly direct from London so do a quick google search to see where JAL and BA fly direct. I don't think either fly London to Osaka but you might find that a return trip includes internal fights you Tokyo.

Two one way flights would be more expensive but will stand out on a comparison flight. JAL and BA are both in One World so you should have a bit of flexibility.

Re: GRcade Travel Topic

Posted: Tue May 02, 2017 2:13 pm
by Tomous
Currently in Hong Kong and been refused a Chinese visa because I have a Turkey stamp in my passport, a rule they seemingly decided to introduce last month.

Going to go to South Korea instead...

Re: GRcade Travel Topic

Posted: Tue May 02, 2017 5:00 pm
by Rocsteady
In Dubrovnik on the Croatian coast, gooseberry fool's strawberry floating beautiful. Got the obligatory iron throne photo. Expensive as here though, Split tomorrow.

Re: GRcade Travel Topic

Posted: Tue May 02, 2017 5:31 pm
by SandyCoin
Rocsteady wrote:In Dubrovnik on the Croatian coast, gooseberry fool's strawberry floating beautiful. Got the obligatory iron throne photo. Expensive as here though, Split tomorrow.


Split is really nice. Wish I was there now tbh as I'm sick of German weather.

We had a really nice meal at Bokeria. It's a little more than average there but still very good value. I might have mentioned it before here but can't remember. If you want any recommendations I have a fair few for Split.

Re: GRcade Travel Topic

Posted: Wed May 03, 2017 12:08 pm
by Lotus
Thanks for the posts above, good food for thought. In terms of the best time to visit Japan, does anyone know the cheaper times? I was initially looking at going in Oct/Nov, which seems pretty reasonably priced, but a few things have come up which mean that it's not really feasible. March/April is the next convenient time, but that's also a lot more expensive (cherry blossom season and all I'm guessing). Does anyone know what May is like? I think early May Japan has some kind of holiday (golden week?) but mid-late May…would it be cheaper than Mar/Apr does anyone know?

Re: GRcade Travel Topic

Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 6:25 am
by Tomous
Lotus wrote:Thanks for the posts above, good food for thought. In terms of the best time to visit Japan, does anyone know the cheaper times? I was initially looking at going in Oct/Nov, which seems pretty reasonably priced, but a few things have come up which mean that it's not really feasible. March/April is the next convenient time, but that's also a lot more expensive (cherry blossom season and all I'm guessing). Does anyone know what May is like? I think early May Japan has some kind of holiday (golden week?) but mid-late May…would it be cheaper than Mar/Apr does anyone know?



March/April is cherry blossum season-it hits different parts of the country at different times. It was amazing to see though if your budget can stretch to that.

Golden week was just starting as we left, which was on 30th April so yeah guessing golden week is start of Maybb

Re: GRcade Travel Topic

Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 7:35 am
by sawyerpip
Heading to Berlin today for the weekend, we've got a rough idea of things to do (walking tour, natural history museum, TV tower, Hertha Berlin match), but any specific recommendations from any GRcaders who have been before?

Re: GRcade Travel Topic

Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 11:37 pm
by smurphy
You've mentioned it but Berlin's NHM is awesome. Keep an eye out for the poor taxidermy.

Just try to soak in the atmosphere of Berlin. Sit outside at a pub casually drinking until early in the morning. It's a wonderful place to be.

Re: GRcade Travel Topic

Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 12:37 am
by Rightey
Tomous wrote:
Lotus wrote:Thanks for the posts above, good food for thought. In terms of the best time to visit Japan, does anyone know the cheaper times? I was initially looking at going in Oct/Nov, which seems pretty reasonably priced, but a few things have come up which mean that it's not really feasible. March/April is the next convenient time, but that's also a lot more expensive (cherry blossom season and all I'm guessing). Does anyone know what May is like? I think early May Japan has some kind of holiday (golden week?) but mid-late May…would it be cheaper than Mar/Apr does anyone know?



March/April is cherry blossum season-it hits different parts of the country at different times. It was amazing to see though if your budget can stretch to that.

Golden week was just starting as we left, which was on 30th April so yeah guessing golden week is start of Maybb


I would definitely go for travel in April/May over Oct/Nov. but that's just personal choice. If you are staying in the cities the greenery during the spring makes them much more bearable, and there's not a whole lot of it in the first place, but that's just my personal opinion as I don't really like how bleak things get once all the leaves have fallen off.

Also I can attest to how amazing everything looks in Cherry Blossom season. I got back about 3 weeks ago and although by the time I arrived the Cherry blossoms had already half finished they were still really amazing...

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I actually took this with the flash off, it was just that bright in the street!

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Re: GRcade Travel Topic

Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 2:52 am
by Tomous
Rightey wrote:Japan



Rightey, I think it was you who mentioned the manhole covers in Japan? I kept my eye out for them thanks to your post:

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Re: GRcade Travel Topic

Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 4:05 am
by Rightey
Glad you kept your eye out for them, I've never seen the two on the bottom row that are in the centre and left, where are those from?