That’s right everybody, I finally get the chance to go to Tokyo! The flights are booked along with 26 nights at Grand Arc Hanzomon in Hayabusa-cho, Chiyoda-ku, right next to The Imperial Palace (see map). I’ll be there between January 11 and February 5. Originally I planned to book flights and accommodation separately and use Sakura Houses to find a good guest house or apartment, but I was really lucky and found a great package deal with a Swedish travel agency, so I decided to go with that.
When I was looking at guest houses and apartments I had a budget of approximately ¥105 000, and then another ¥105 000 for the flight tickets. But it was pretty hard to find any good places with that budget, generally we were talking about 7 to 10m2 rooms with shared bathrooms, showers and kitchens. While I don’t mind sharing, I decided to look at it differently, I’m actually on vacation after all. I rather pay a little bit extra and get a far more convenient vacation. I ended up paying ¥260 000, so ¥50 000 more than I originally planned to.
Grand Arc Hanzomon and Chiyoda-ku
As I’ve already mentioned, the hotel is at a very good location, one block away from the nearest train station (Hanzomon). On top of that, Chiyoda-ku is the least populated of the 23 special wards so hopefully I won’t be too overwhelmed by the huge population of Tokyo all the time. Good thing however is that Akihabara is in Chiyoda-ku so it’ll only be a matter of minutes between me and the maids.
I already mentioned the convenience of living at a hotel rather than a guest house, and here’s why:
In-room amenities
Shower, toilet, air conditioning, complimentary high-speed Internet access, color TV, cable television with in-room pay movies, refrigerator and mini-bar, IH server with hot water pot, Japanese tea bags, dual-line telephones (for both domestic and international direct call and data communications), letterhead papers & envelopes, alarm clock, radio, hairdryer, electric trouser presser, slippers, towels, night robes, and bathroom amenities (shampoo, body shampoo, soap, toothbrush & paste, razor, shower cap, hair comb) shoeshine paper.
And then pretty much anything else you can imagine for optional services upon request.
The hotel also has other features such as dry cleaning/laundry service, hair salon, a coffee shop and a restaurant. While I might not spend too much time in the hotel it’s still good to know that things like this exist.
Besides that, the look of the place is far more attracting than a run down guest house.
Flying
I’m going to be flying with a few different companies and I have to make 2 stops both on my way there and home. On my way there the route looks like this: Gothenburg -> Frankfurt -> Beijing -> Tokyo (Haneda). And on my way home it’s Narita instead of Haneda and Stockholm instead of Frankfurt.
Hopefully things will work out smoothly, but with 2 stops you never know what’ll happen, I payed ¥4500 for extra insurance just in case.
Traveling Plans
I really don’t have any plans yet and I’m too excited to think rationally, the only thing I know so far is that I’m going to meet up with at least one of the exchange students that I went to class with. I don’t want to plan too much however, that’s really not my thing. But I would love to get some suggestions of places to visit and things to do so I can add them to my list of potentials and must-dos. Especially if you know of any special events in this time frame, like concerts and tech/blogger events, I’d love to hear from you.
I’m definitely up for meet ups with fellow bloggers, twitterers, youtubers and readers, so I hope we can arrange something like that!
Pre-traveling Plans
Well, for starters I’m going to be studying vocabulary like never before, that’s what’s holding me back the most right now. As long as I know the words it should be fairly simple to explain myself to someone who doesn’t speak English. I’m also going to study sentences a lot, and I’ll bring a small phrase and vocabulary book just in case. But if you’ve been in Japan before, what are your favorite survival sentences and words?
Well, there’s much more to come when we get closer to the date of departure, but tips and suggestions are very much welcome!
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