going to JAPAN!

[ksstanaka]

Hey everyone! It's been awhile since I've posted, but recently I've been planning a trip to Japan to visit family this summer--Osaka, to be exact. :)

I was wondering if you had any good tips on finding a good flight/travel agency. I've checked all the standard sites--Expedia, Priceline, Kayak, etc, including airlines directly. To be honest, I've done a pretty extensive search and the best price I can find is about $1450...still feels expensive to me though.

Also, I did my last trip to Disney through Magical Journeys and it was wonderful. But I have no idea where to begin looking for a good travel agency for international trips....

Any advice would be very much appreciated :) Thanks!!

[Tink1]

My son lived in Osaka for a year while he was going to college! He lived near Tokyo as a high school exchange student.

For air, since he was a student, we were able to use STA Travel, much cheaper for us since he had to have an open-ended ticket (could come home at any time)

When we went to visit, I actually used FF miles and flew non-stop from JFK. His trips were on Northwest: (Allentown-Detroit-Tokyo)and United (Scranton-Chicago-Tokyo then took the shinkansen to Osaka). He went to Tokyo first to visit his Japanese family there for 2 weeks before he went on to Osaka. He then flew home from Osako through Chicago.

Since you are in Illinois, there are many options out of OHare for your flights. I would also bet that there are agencies that specialize in Japan in Chicago, I know there are in NYC.

I can ask him any specific questions you may have. If he does not know, I can email the 2 exchange students that spent Christmas here, they are from Osaka.

Nanci

[Tink1]

Oh, if you are going to be travelling by train while there, the Japan rail pass is a good deal.

The Japan Rail Pass is a discount ticket allowing unlimited rail travel throughout Japan over a 7, 14 or 21 consecutive day period

It can only be purchased before you enter the country though. It is soley for tourists/

N

[Rockstar Boyfriends]

I did Japan with the website Theme Park Review last year. I flew from LAX to NRT for around $980 in September. I would check on the price of a flight from Illinois to Japan, and from Illinois to LAX and then LAX to Japan. It might be cheaper. Also, you can spend a few days at Disneyland! :number1:

Definitely buy a rail pass and ride the rails when you can. If you take at least one bullet train, the rail pass pays for itself. Also, if you want to get anywhere from point A to point B ontime in Japan, take the trains. They're awesome! They're also so clean and I've never seen crime occur on any of the trains. Try saying that in NYC! Most of the signage in the train stations are in English and Japan.