Well, it's time to celebrate because we are all booked! Everything on our trip has been booked. With the exception of our train passes (those have to be bought 2 months in advance), we are ready to go. All we gotta do is pack our bags, hop on a plane, and relax as we cruise to Japan.
Our final itinerary ended up looking like this:
Day 1: Arrive in Tokyo, stay in Shibuya
Day 2: explore Shibuya, and rest of Tokyo for a bit
Day 3: We depart Tokyo for Hakone, (via the Romance car) stay in an onsen there
Day 4: explore Hakone, and breath in the outdoors
Day 5: Depart Hakone for Kyoto - get to ride the shinkanshin (bullet train)
Day 6 & 7: Explore Kyoto, all of the temples and shrines, and the food of course!
Day 8: Depart Kyoto to Tokyo, via Shinkanshin arrive at our hotel
Day 9 - 13: Explore Tokyo - we have a whole week in Tokyo, yet I feel like we'll need more time!
Now one may assume from my title posted above, that I used my credit cards to pay for all of this. Well in one way, you are correct. However, I didn't personally pay for each of these hotels and places we're staying. Instead, I cashed in my credit card rewards. (I know, I hear the chorus know, I already paid for all of this through interest and spending, blah blah blah- still, I was able to enjoy something I wouldn't have before).
I have the Capital One Venture Card and the Chase Sapphire card. Both of these cards are great for travelers. First off, they give you double points on any food, hotel, taxi, plane ticket, etc that you buy. So for the past year, I was racking up my points by going out to eat, using lyft, paying for a ticket to El Paso for christmas, etc. When you are a new card member, they'll usually do a promo like "spend $3000, get 50,000 bonus points" so that's exactly what I did.
Here are a few examples, please note that numbers are approximate. I couldn't remember the exact number:
The Chase Sapphire card had 75,000 point- the equivalent of $1000. I used that for our week in Tokyo. At $3,000 I had 6,000 points, add the 50K and I had 56,000, the rest came in over the year. The key was using this card whenever we went out to eat for dinner.
The Capital One had 60,000 points- the equivalent of $800, I used that for our Ryokan in Hakone. At $3,000 I had 4,000 points, and then I was awarded 50,000 and the rest came in over the year. This was our drinking card (yes, double points at bars too!).
We're staying at an Airbnb for Shibuya and Kyoto, we were able to find some cheap finds there- and get to experience an authentic Japanese style of living. We are not staying at a Western hotel, or staying in western rooms, everything is pure Japanese.
Thanks to my credit cards for making this happen. Now, there is a bit of caution out there- don't go spending crazy! The trip gets harder if you have high balances and a high monthly payment! We are not paying for EVERYTHING via credit card. We only used the cards for the Airbnb, and for our plane tickets, everything else is cold, hard cash! Best of all- we have left over points that we can continue to build up.
Which leads me to a note about finances- we obviously made a choice to come to Japan and spend a certain amount of money. We also knew we had to save up (tax return was a big help!). When taking a big trip like this, it is important to realize the value of the experience. I often hear folks say they wish they could travel, but they don't want to spend too much money, or they don't have the means. While the credit cards certainly help, there are plenty of ways to travel on a budget! I found lots of pins on pinterest on how to travel international and not break the budget (hint: credit card rewards are one way!)
Experiencing the world is priceless. There is nothing else like it. While it may be costly- I know my monthly payments are going up!- it is so worth it. It is an investment into your own personal growth. It's also an investment in your personal health. Travelling has proven to relieve stress, which is something I know we all need! So I am not saying, go max out your credit cards and struggle to make payments, I am saying- if you can find something to cut back on, then apply that to travelling. You won't regret it!
On a personal note, Josh and I are planning on getting married this year. However, instead of spending this kind of money on a big old ceremony, we decided to go on a trip instead and have a smaller, intimate reception. So we were going to spend this kind of money anyways, we just decided to apply it towards one of our dreams.
I can't explain how deeply excited we are for this trip! It is now only a few months away- here it comes!
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