Alright. It's been way too long since I've last blogged. Have been pretty busy. And now this blog will turn into a travel log for my ambitious (by my standards) budget Japan-Taiwan trip.
Abracadabraaaaa!
And now this is a travel log! This first post will be about flight-booking.
First of all, I am definitely not an expert because I have already made a newbie mistake. Not knowing when are the "in-season" for booking flights. I booked my flight from Singapore to Narita, Tokyo during the June period when Scoot announced their birthday promotions. My thought was: Their birthday offers will probably be their best. I mean, it's their birthday! What else would be more important than their own birthday?
I was obviously wrong. There is a more important birthday and it's called SG50. So due to my kanchiong-ness (translation: impatience?), I booked a flight that costs slightly more than SGD$200 to Narita (with 20kg baggage). Could have fallen under $200 and saved 20 to 30 bucks. But just my luck luh.
My second booking (made just 1h ago) is via Vanilla Air, which takes me from Narita to Taoyuan Airport. I paid SGD$140 for this flight (comes with 20kg + free cancellation), which is definitely the best deal I found so far. But after booking, I suddenly remembered that there will be a national holiday in Japan in Sept. Which may not equate to promotions, but still, SCREW MY KANCHIONG-NESS!
Have yet to book my Taoyuan back to Singapore flight. Shall try to be more patient this time.
Quick summary of Japan part of the trip
- WWOOFing in Azumino-city, Nagano (15 ~ 1 Oct)
- Homestay in East Tokyo (1 Oct ~ 4 Oct)
- Internship in Tokyo (4 Oct ~ 5 Dec)
- Couchsurfing in Chiba area (5 Dec ~ 8 Dec) [Tentative]
- 8 Dec: Taiwan-bound
I'M SO FUCKING EXCITEDDDDDD.
To-do-list for Day 1
- Collect data SIM card. I have paid for the data SIM card online - via cdjapan, to be collected at Narita Airport. 9,000 yen for 90 days. With unlimited data usage. Not bad I must say. Hope it's reliable.
- Buy Limo Bus/ NE'X (Narita Express) ticket to Shinjuku, Tokyo
- Get Suica card (30,000 yen for a start?) --- something like our ez-link card
- Go 100-yen shop at Matsumoto Station to buy things like shampoo, poncho
On a side note, my friends keep telling me that 20kg and SGD$2500(how much I'm budgeting for the Japan part of the trip) is not enough for 3 months in Japan. I'll at most turn to buskering or withdrawing from the ATM.
And I'm trying to come up with an un-lame name for this trip. Don't really like calling it "the trip". Wouldn't be able to differentiate this from my future trips then.
