Among the steps I took to prepare for this trip was to download several apps on my trusty iPhone. For the flights, I installed skyscanner. For lodging, I installed airbnb, agoda, and booking.com. For sightseeing, I had tripadvisor, tripomatic, and rome2rio.
One of my BFFs at work started a travel fund for us mid last year - we set aside Php2,000 from our monthly paycheck and deposited it to a BPI SaveUp account for that purpose. This January, we've each saved Php16,000, enough for a trip to an Asian country. Because we both wanted to experience snow, we had to pick between Japan and Korea. Ticket prices decided for us!
Cancellation/ Rerouting Not allowed.
Rebooking: Allowed but subject to applicable fees and fare difference. Must be done not less than 4hrs before departure. Not rebookable to another promo seat after the sale period.
No Show: Fares and all other fees are forfeited or considered flown.
Name Change: Not allowed.
Free Baggage Allowance: Not included. Guest has an option to purchase Prepaid Baggage using the "Manage Booking" function.
Meals: Not included. Guest has an option to purchase Hot Meals using the "Manage Booking" function on selected flights.
We were so excited that we weren't able to update our meal selection! We're kinda stuck with Chicken Inasal both ways unless my BFF finds a way to edit our booking. Since the tickets we purchased are "promo fare", fine print states that:
Base Fare PHP13,952.00
Prepaid Baggage: 2,320.00
Web Admin Fee: 480.00
Travel Insurance: 650.00
Seat Reservation: 600.00
Hot Meals: 1,400.00
Fuel Surcharge: 8,960.00
Passenger Security Service Fee JP: 386.94
Passenger Service Facilities Charge departure out of Japan: 1,555.22
TICKETS
Now I guess we just have to keep our fingers crossed that our visa application gets approved!
Since this is my first trip outside the country after more than 10 years, I did some extensive online research on what others have prepared and submitted for their visa application. Yes, I could have made my life easier by just calling one of the embassy's designated travel agencies, but where's the fun in that? :p
Below is a list of items in our "Japan envelope":
Below is a list of items in our "Japan envelope":
- Bank Certificate (states how much you have in your account at the time of the request) - Our company payroll is paid out through BPI so that's where I requested my bank certificate. I chose the branch nearest to my house, and went early. The document is fairly quick to prepare (about ten minutes), but I still had to wait about an hour for my name to be called. I filled out a request form and indicated which accounts' balances I would like shown on the certificate. I was then asked for what purpose the request was for, but this is not reflected in the printout. My certificate merely stated the amount of money I had on the specified account and "This certification is being issued upon the written request of the above client/s for whatever purpose it may serve". I only declared about Php60,000 for this 5-day trip, while my BFF declared about Php100,000. There is a Php100 fee for the certificate which I just asked to be debited from my account.
- Certificate of Employment and ITR
- Birth Certificate from NSO - For our Birth (and Marriage) certificates, we ended up requesting ours online through www.e-census.gov.ph after we got discouraged when we visited the NSO Serbilis Center in East Avenue.
- Schedule of Stay - For our Schedule of Stay, I simply indicated which cities we wanted to visit each day we were there:
Day 1: Arrival at Narita Airport, proceed to check-in at hotel, explore nearby sights
Day 2: Visit Tsukiji Fish Market, explore Odaiba
Day 3: Explore Shinjuku
Day 4: Check-out at hotel, travel back to Narita Airport, check-in at hotel, explore nearby sights
Day 5: Check-out at hotel, Depart Narita Airport
VISA APPLICATION
Addendum January 23, 2015
Our visas arrived this morning! My photo on the visa reminded me of the English version of "The Ring" movie. Hahahaha!
Our visas arrived this morning! My photo on the visa reminded me of the English version of "The Ring" movie. Hahahaha!
LODGING
Addendum January 21,
We submitted our documents yesterday through Rajah. Processing fees cost us Php1,500 each - reasonable considering they picked up our papers at the office. It's a waiting game until we receive our visas!
2015We submitted our documents yesterday through Rajah. Processing fees cost us Php1,500 each - reasonable considering they picked up our papers at the office. It's a waiting game until we receive our visas!
Trust me, our actual itinerary is packed! More in the following sections. I decided to "leave" Tokyo during Day 4 and check in at a hotel near the airport mainly because this saves us the stress of being late for our flight and the Narita area offers a lot to be seen.
The names on my birth certificate, CoE, and ITR are different so I had to get an affidavit stating I'm one and the same person. It may or may not be a necessary move, but I did so just to make sure. My palms are getting a little sweaty at this point because we're submitting all of our requirements on Tuesday, which means we may (or MAY NOT) get our visas by Friday. Actual submission will be facilitated by Rajah Travel Corporation, accredited by Japan Embassy and the company we work for.
- Visa Application Form - We filled out the application form on the visa section of Embassy of Japan in the Philippines page and printed it directly. We avoided erasures this way and just signed the printed form.
- Passport - I included my older passports as supplement.
- 2x2 Photo - prepare 2 pieces: one for your application form and another for the visa
- Photocopy of Driver's License
- Supplementary Documents included our Cebu Pacific eTicket and Hotel Reservation printout
The names on my birth certificate, CoE, and ITR are different so I had to get an affidavit stating I'm one and the same person. It may or may not be a necessary move, but I did so just to make sure. My palms are getting a little sweaty at this point because we're submitting all of our requirements on Tuesday, which means we may (or MAY NOT) get our visas by Friday. Actual submission will be facilitated by Rajah Travel Corporation, accredited by Japan Embassy and the company we work for.
The Booking.com app allows you to save your bookings to your Passbook account and provides an Insider Guide based on your hotel location.
Because this is a budget trip, it took me several reserved then canceled bookings on Booking.com to finally settle on one hotel for our stay in Tokyo. I picked Hotel MyStays Kanda for its proximity to the places we wanted to visit and the size of the bed (full double). I initially chose Hotel MyStays Asakusa for the Tokyo SkyTree view, but I didn't feel paying extra just so I could see the SkyTree every night was worth it especially since the bed was a small double. Price difference was Y10,610 which converts to about Php4,000, making the Kanda hotel much affordable. I had to google bed size just to make sure I wasn't getting shortchanged, but we'll see if we fit in the bed once we're actually there!
Aside from Hotel MyStays Kanda, I also made reservations at the Narita Airport Rest House which is a quick shuttle to the airport. Rate for a triple for one night is Y10,200, just right for our last night in the country. Aside from the fact that there were no other rooms available, I figured we needed the extra bed to properly pack whatever stuff we might buy during our stay.
Because this is a budget trip, it took me several reserved then canceled bookings on Booking.com to finally settle on one hotel for our stay in Tokyo. I picked Hotel MyStays Kanda for its proximity to the places we wanted to visit and the size of the bed (full double). I initially chose Hotel MyStays Asakusa for the Tokyo SkyTree view, but I didn't feel paying extra just so I could see the SkyTree every night was worth it especially since the bed was a small double. Price difference was Y10,610 which converts to about Php4,000, making the Kanda hotel much affordable. I had to google bed size just to make sure I wasn't getting shortchanged, but we'll see if we fit in the bed once we're actually there!
Aside from Hotel MyStays Kanda, I also made reservations at the Narita Airport Rest House which is a quick shuttle to the airport. Rate for a triple for one night is Y10,200, just right for our last night in the country. Aside from the fact that there were no other rooms available, I figured we needed the extra bed to properly pack whatever stuff we might buy during our stay.
Addendum January 28, 2015
I ended up booking an overnight stay at Hotel Yudanaka, which is a quick bus ride to Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park and Shiga Kogen ski resorts. I figured getting a hotel would save us the trouble of rushing back to Tokyo and allow us to enjoy the snow. I booked the Japanese Style Room with Private Bathroom for Y9,400 which converts to roughly Php3,501, inclusive of breakfast.
I took full advantage of Booking.com's free cancellation, reserve now, pay later (when you stay) policy and reserved another room at Hotel Shiga Sunvalley while I waited for a response from Hotel Yudanaka. I inquired about shuttle services to and from the slopes and the snow monkey park.
All in all, our hotel stay around Japan will cost us a modest Php16,291, which is just Php8,145.50 each.
I ended up booking an overnight stay at Hotel Yudanaka, which is a quick bus ride to Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park and Shiga Kogen ski resorts. I figured getting a hotel would save us the trouble of rushing back to Tokyo and allow us to enjoy the snow. I booked the Japanese Style Room with Private Bathroom for Y9,400 which converts to roughly Php3,501, inclusive of breakfast.
I took full advantage of Booking.com's free cancellation, reserve now, pay later (when you stay) policy and reserved another room at Hotel Shiga Sunvalley while I waited for a response from Hotel Yudanaka. I inquired about shuttle services to and from the slopes and the snow monkey park.
All in all, our hotel stay around Japan will cost us a modest Php16,291, which is just Php8,145.50 each.
Addendum February 2, 2015
Looks like I'm letting go of the reservation at Hotel Shiga Sunvalley. There's a bus plying the route to Shiga Kogen from Yudanaka so we'll take that instead. I don't think I'll be spending the whole day trying to ski! Besides, based on the Tripadvisor forum, there are no nearby places to eat except at the Shiga Kogen resorts. We'll stick to Yudanaka so that we have more options.
Looks like I'm letting go of the reservation at Hotel Shiga Sunvalley. There's a bus plying the route to Shiga Kogen from Yudanaka so we'll take that instead. I don't think I'll be spending the whole day trying to ski! Besides, based on the Tripadvisor forum, there are no nearby places to eat except at the Shiga Kogen resorts. We'll stick to Yudanaka so that we have more options.
ITINERARY
The tripomatic app lets you map out your itinerary by date. The rome2rio app provides approximate fares from your point of origin to your destination.
Having tripomatic and rome2rio installed on my phone makes it really hard to sleep at night! I keep on checking for "new" transit options to get to the places we want to see. Below is a draft of our itinerary (as of January 28, 2015):
February 20-22
Kanda Shrine
Meiji Shrine
Nakamise Street
Ryogoku Kokugikan
Imperial Palace
Zojoji Temple
Tokyo Tower
Shinjuku Gyoen National Park
Shibuya Crossing
Tsukiji Fish Market
Ameyoko Market
Sensoji Temple
Tokyo National Museum
Hachiko
Beer Museum Ebisu
Omotesando
Akihabara
Center Gai
February 22-23
Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park
Shiga Kogen
Yudanaka onsens
February 23-24
Naritasan Omotesando
Shinshoji Temple
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