Hi, friend!
Well, my dream of going to Japan is finally happening! 🇯🇵
After our engagement, my fiancé announced, “Let’s go to Japan next year!” Japan is also one of his dream destinations, so of course, I was completely on board.
I’ve flown on planes before, but the only international flight I’ve taken was to visit my family in Panama. My fiancé had never flown on a plane until we went to San Diego, so this will be his first international flight. For me, it will be my first international flight that’s longer than five hours.
I’ve always wanted to travel ever since I was little. I’ve dreamed about meeting new people, making friends, learning languages, and experiencing different cultures. Japan was going to be one of my first big international trips before visiting other countries. Plus, I had heard that Japan is a pretty easy and safe place for beginner travelers, especially if I ever decided to travel there solo.
My fiancé has always wanted to travel too, and Japan is one of his biggest dream trips. He grew up with anime and manga, so being able to finally visit the country that was such a big part of his childhood is really exciting for him. Of course, he also wants to experience the culture, food, history, and everything else Japan has to offer.
I came across a quote about traveling that really stuck with me:
“Traveling changes a person by breaking daily routines, lowering stress hormones like cortisol, and forcing the brain to adapt to new environments. It builds confidence through problem-solving, deepens empathy by exposing individuals to different cultures, and expands personal perspective.”
That really describes one of the reasons I want to travel. I want to experience something completely different from my everyday life and come home with new memories, stories, and perspectives.
So, we started talking about the trip, and one of our friends wanted to come too. That’s when we decided to see how many people might want to join us.
Originally, we were hoping for a big group—maybe even up to 10 people! That would have been so much fun. However, we ended up with five of us total: my fiancé and me, our friend and his wife, and his brother.
Honestly, five people is perfect because it feels like a little family trip too.
They all wanted to travel because, well…why not? We’re at a point in our lives where we feel like if we don’t take at least one big trip now, we might never get the opportunity.
We’re also excited about the diversity of experiences we’ll get from visiting another country and learning about its history and culture. And since we’re going in October, we’re hoping to experience some of the Halloween season in Japan too!
It might not be quite the same as Halloween here in the U.S., but there are Halloween events, including Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Japan. There are also festivals and events based around Japanese folklore.
And, of course, there’s Resident Evil—which our friend loves! He’s also a huge food lover, so he’s incredibly excited to try all the food.
His brother loves history, and his wife has also dreamed of going to Japan. She especially loves Godzilla, so I’m sure she’s going to have a blast.
We’re all a little nerdy, and honestly, I love it. 😂
Our Japan Trip Plans
We’ve officially booked our flights, and we finally have both of our Airbnbs booked too!
We decided to have two home bases for our trip: Osaka and Tokyo.
We’ll be flying from Orlando to Canada and then to Tokyo, where we’ll arrive at Narita Airport.
We’re still debating whether we want to take the train from Narita to Osaka or fly domestically to Osaka. We’re going to see how everything goes and figure out which option makes the most sense for us.
We think Osaka will be a great first base because there are so many things to see and do there, including other places that are easy to visit as day trips. Plus, there’s Universal Studios Japan—if we can make it work with our schedule!
After Osaka, we’ll take a train to Tokyo and spend the rest of our trip there.
Our train station near the Airbnb in Tokyo is about an hour from the airport, and there’s even a post office around the corner, which is a nice little bonus!
When Are We Going?
We’ll be in Japan from October 7th–18th! 🇯🇵
October 7th will mostly be spent traveling, and we’ll arrive in Japan on the 8th.
Our current plan is:
🏯 Osaka: October 8th–13th
🗼 Tokyo: October 13th–18th
✈️ October 18th: Fly back home to Florida
So now, the biggest thing we’re doing in the meantime is saving more money—not only for the trip, but also to make sure we can cover all of our bills back home.
We’ll also be doing some shopping for new clothes and, of course, new shoes. I have a feeling we’re going to be doing A LOT of walking!
I seriously can’t wait for all of this to happen.
I’m also thinking about sharing the whole experience while we’re there and after we get back. I’m just trying to figure out how I want to do it—YouTube, TikTok, blog posts, or maybe all of the above!
I’ll definitely try to share more here too.
What Do You Think?
Have you ever been to Japan? If so, how was your experience?
If you haven’t been, would you ever like to go?
And what other places would you love to travel to?
Feel free to follow me here and check out my other links if you want to keep up with our journey.
I’m trying my best to keep up with everything and share updates along the way! ❤️
Thanks for coming along on this adventure with us!
*Photo was used from Unsplash.com
