A very personal Decade of Dreams tour! UPDATED 6/5 - Page 4 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Some questions I have - what's the travel time from UK to Japan (hours that is)?
What type of weather are you to expect? I know it's cherry blossom time but what about temps? Will you be able to go with just light jackets or is there a chance it will be colder?
Will you have your laptop with you? Any chance of some "love" reports?
It's about an 11 hour flight over there and it's eight hours ahead time wise of the UK. As for the weather, it will be all over the place - right now we're looking at some days with high 40's and some with low 60's and lows of between mid 30's and mid 50's, so a real range!
The laptop will be with us, but there will be Internet charges at the hotels we're staying at, so I can't guarantee any live reports.
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So, we’re all pretty much set. There was one thing that hadn’t 100% been sorted out, as we neared our departure date and that was whether we’d be doing a PassPorter meet at Tokyo Disney with Donna. I was dearly hoping that we would get the chance to meet her and her family, as she’d been so much help and I felt as if I knew her so well. To go all the way there and not meet her would be a great shame, so I was delighted when, about a week before we were due to depart, I saw a private message from her, telling me that their wait list had come through and they’d be joining us for two days at Tokyo Disney. It would be so good to tour with friends and to all experience Tokyo DisneySea together for the first time, as none of us had visited it before. What a great way to end our trip!
The only problem I now have is that, in a way, I can’t think about our upcoming trip too much. Whenever I do, I just find myself getting emotional about it and filling up, as it really is the realisation of an ambition of many, many years. Part of me can’t believe that I’m finally getting the chance to go, but part of me is so desperate to be in Japan that I do worry that maybe it won’t live up to my expectations. Hopefully that won’t happen. Let’s just say that I expect it to be very emotional when we arrive there.
By now, our plans had shaped up pretty well and here’s our itinerary:
Saturday 28 March:
Drive up to London Heathrow in the afternoon and spend the night at an airport hotel.
Sunday 29 March:
Fly out from London Heathrow
Monday 30 March:
We arrive the next morning, so the jetlag will be a killer. Take the airport bus to our hotel, perhaps explore a little, but no big plans – our biggest challenge will be getting through the day! If we feel up to it, we might go out and see the Imperial Palace and its gardens, but we’ll see how we’re doing.
Tuesday 31 March:
Spend the day visiting Asakusa (remember - home to one of the city’s most beautiful shrines) and Ginza, the main shopping district.
Wednesday 1 April:
Visit Ueno and see the park and Tokyo National Museum, before heading off to Shibuya to visit Yoyogi Park and then Shinjuku to see the station and the government offices. Take the evening tour out to Roppongi and Obaida.
Thursday 2 April:
Take a day trip out to Nikko, which should be an adventure, as this will be on our own and will involve negotiating the Japanese railway system!
Friday 3 April:
Take a day trip to Hakone and Mount Fuji.
Saturday 4 April:
Leave early on the Shinkansen for Kyoto. When we get there, find our hotel and check into it, then spend the afternoon exploring Kyoto.
Sunday 5 April:
Take the train over to Nara for the day and any spare time we’ve got, see a bit more of Kyoto.
Monday 6 April:
Spend the morning exploring Kyoto, before catching the Shinkansen over to Hiroshima. Find our hotel and then head off to visit Miyajima Island.
Tuesday 7 April:
Spend the morning exploring Hiroshima, before taking the Shinkansen mid afternoon back to Tokyo. From there, take the subway out to Tokyo Disney and spend the night at the Sheraton there.
Wednesday 8 April:
Check into the MiraCosta and head into the Disneyland Park for the day with Donna and her family.
Thursday 9 April:
Spend the day exploring Tokyo DisneySea with Donna and her family. In the evening, see Cirque du Soleil’s ZED.
Friday 10 April:
Spend the day exploring what we haven’t already seen of the two Disney parks. I suspect we’ll probably spend much of the day in Tokyo DisneySea again.
Saturday 11 April:
Head back to the airport for our morning flight back to the UK. We’ll actually arrive early in the afternoon after our flight and then it’s home and sadly it will all be over.
So, now we’re all set to head off on our trip of a lifetime. Just a word of caution before we do about the actual trip report. It may not be exactly the service you’ve come to know from me, as sadly, life will get in the way of trip report writing when we return home. I’m doing a diploma course and they give you a limited time to complete your essays during each part of your course. For the first part of the course, which I’ve been studying since January, I have to write two 3,000 word essays, picking from four or five titles.
Those titles are only given out when we’re in Japan – Friday 3 April to be exact and they have to be submitted by Thursday 30 April, the day I fly out to Decade of Dreams, but that’s another story. Anyway, by the time you take into account the fact that the essays have to be posted (they can’t be submitted online) and the time we get home, I’ll have literally two weeks to do all of this work, so that’s obviously going to be my priority when we get back. I’m hoping I might get some instalments written while we’re away, but we’ll have to see. If you don’t hear from me for a few weeks after we return home, please bear with me, as I will update as soon as I can, once the essays are completed!
Cheryl, I know you'll have an amazing trip. I hope you'll fill 10 years worth of dreams and bring the kleenex... I have a feeling there will be many tears of joy throughout the trip.
for safe travels!!
WOW!! I think you & Mark will have a great time. It all sounds so surreal. I can't wait to hear all about it. Hope you get those essays done quickly when you get back.
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I am so happy for you and Mark as this I am sure will be such a special trip for the both of you. You final plans sound wonderful (as usual), as for your TR - take all the time you need, patience is worth it so we can enjoy your TR when you are done with your essays and relaxed.
Have a most wonderful trip....and have a wonderful anniversary!!!
Have a wonderful trip ! Good luck with your essays , I must say that I'm always impressed with the daily updates when you write your TRs. So waiting won't be a problem by the sounds of it there may be 2 TRs to write about once you get started.
Safe travels
I know you're probably there already, but I just wanted to chime in with the others and say that I hope you have a wonderful time. Your plans look great, lots of things planned to do (just my kind of trip ). Glad you'll be able to meet up with friends and finally see all these things and places you've been learning about. Best wishes on your essays once you arrive home. No matter how long it takes you to get the report posted, I'm sure it will be fabulous as always, so we can definitely wait for it.
I know you're probably there already, but I just wanted to chime in with the others and say that I hope you have a wonderful time. Your plans look great, lots of things planned to do (just my kind of trip ). Glad you'll be able to meet up with friends and finally see all these things and places you've been learning about. Best wishes on your essays once you arrive home. No matter how long it takes you to get the report posted, I'm sure it will be fabulous as always, so we can definitely wait for it.
Well, we're on our way - we're at the hotel at the airport and fly tomorrow. We're already in the holiday mood - the concierge lounge is lovely, lots of free drinks!
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To go all the way there and not meet her would be a great shame, so I was delighted when, about a week before we were due to depart, I saw a private message from her, telling me that their wait list had come through and they’d be joining us for two days at Tokyo Disney. 
It would be so good to tour with friends and to all experience Tokyo DisneySea together for the first time, as none of us had visited it before. What a great way to end our trip! 
Anyway, by the time you take into account the fact that the essays have to be posted (they can’t be submitted online) and the time we get home, I’ll have literally two weeks to do all of this work, so that’s obviously going to be my priority when we get back. I’m hoping I might get some instalments written while we’re away, but we’ll have to see. If you don’t hear from me for a few weeks after we return home, please bear with me, as I will update as soon as I can, once the essays are completed! 
You guys are going to have such a great time!! Enjoy it!!
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