Japan, September

[dylanegan]

/cc @benburkert @benschwarz

Hang around Sapporo during RubyKaigi, check out Hokkaido and then back for some fun in Tokyo?

I was thinking about getting the train from Tokyo to Sapporo and then flying back.

[benschwarz]

That is basically exactly what I'd like to do. I've always wanted to get to Hokkaido & Sapporo, and Tokyo is crazy fun too.

If I can tack it on the end, I'd love to head to Singapore for the Formula 1 (21—23), but we'll have to see how that goes.

[dylanegan]

http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/routemaps/cassiopeia_hokutosei.html, overnight luxury train to Sapporo.

[benschwarz]

Thats a great looking travel method… I've never done more than a few hours on a train. Then a Shinkansen back to TK/NRT?

[dylanegan]

I reckon we fly back.

[dylanegan]

That is also Class J on Japan Airlines.

[benschwarz]

Yep. Flying is going to be cheaper

[dylanegan]

Thinking about also doing something in Hakone instead of just being in Tokyo the whole time.

http://www.taiseikan.co.jp/en/index.html

[benschwarz]

Looks great. Totally happy to go with the flow as normal. On Aug 4, 2012 9:06 AM, "Dylan Egan" < reply@reply.github.com> wrote:

Thinking about also doing something in Hakone instead of just being in Tokyo the whole time.

http://www.taiseikan.co.jp/en/index.html

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Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: https://github.com/dylanegan/travel/issues/26#issuecomment-7496774

[dylanegan]

So all booked in. http://www.tripit.com/trip/public/id/2B8B398253F6

[dylanegan]

Also we should definitely get dinner, lunch, dinner and whisky with @jed. I'm thinking we have to hit up Kakurenbo at least once.

[dylanegan]

And for train planning, http://www.hyperdia.com/en/.

[dylanegan]

While on Hokkaido it looks like Noboribetsu and Otaru are close enough to Sapporo to check out. The former might require an overnight stay (or two).

The remains of a volcanic crater created by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Hiyori, Jigokudani is a representative landscape of the Noboribetsu Onsen area. Covering an area of 11 ha., there are many hot spring vents and blowholes spread across the gorge. Inspired by the frothing, boiling vents and blowholes, the name of the gorge comes from the folk-saying that the gorge was hell and the home of demons.

[dylanegan]

SPK to NRT with JAL is just under 200USD.

Around the same with ANA.

Being that there are only 5 flights during the day I am wondering if we should opt for an early one in case of any possible delays, but that would put us in NRT for a while.

[benschwarz]

Sure—Well, I'll be flying about 7hrs to Singapore and arriving at 3am… so keeping the travel light / stress free as possible sounds good. Perhaps we can find a decent lounge at NRT to hang at, have a shower, get a drink etc.

On 06/08/2012, at 4:50 AM, Dylan Egan reply@reply.github.com wrote:

SPK to NRT with JAL is just under 200USD.

Around the same with ANA.

Being that there are only 5 flights during the day I am wondering if we should opt for an early one in case of any possible delays, but that would put us in NRT for a while.

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Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: https://github.com/dylanegan/travel/issues/26#issuecomment-7512071

[dylanegan]

There's Traveler's Lounge Rassurants. What terminal do you depart from? Also add me to your inner circle on Tripit.

[benschwarz]

Terminal 1. On Aug 6, 2012 4:39 PM, "Dylan Egan" < reply@reply.github.com> wrote:

There's Traveler's Lounge Rassurants. What terminal do you depart from? Also add me to your inner circle on Tripit.

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Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: https://github.com/dylanegan/travel/issues/26#issuecomment-7517571

[dylanegan]

@benschwarz OK. I'm departing from Terminal 2. We could also hang out in the surrounding area.

[benschwarz]

Bummer!

I don't remember the layout of that airport at all. We can try make it work though. On Aug 6, 2012 10:18 PM, "Dylan Egan" < reply@reply.github.com> wrote:

@benschwarz OK. I'm departing from Terminal 2. We could also hang out in the surrounding area.

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Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: https://github.com/dylanegan/travel/issues/26#issuecomment-7522488

[dylanegan]

Narita itself isn't far by train.

[danishkhan]

I was thinking of getting to Tokyo a week before and doing whatever before the conference. I can't stay after the conference since I'll be heading from Sapporo straight to Frozen Rails in Helsinki.

[dylanegan]

@danishkhan cool. As I said we're planning to head up on the 13th by either train or plane. Train if we can get the ticket. That'll get us to the conference around 10:00.

[danishkhan]

@dylanegan sweet sounds good to me. Are you guys going to get into Tokyo around the 10th then? I'll look into purchasing my tickets this week so I can at least get all that planned.

[benschwarz]

And we'll only have flown domestic, so no diff to security.

Let's just see how we feel on the day / before On Aug 7, 2012 12:20 AM, "Dylan Egan" < reply@reply.github.com> wrote:

Narita itself isn't far by train.

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Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: https://github.com/dylanegan/travel/issues/26#issuecomment-7524968

[jed]

let me know if you need any travel-related (specifically, train-related) legwork done before you land, jah?

[benschwarz]

Sounds good dude. Looking forward to hanging!

On 07/08/2012, at 9:41 AM, Jed Schmidt notifications@github.com wrote:

let me know if you need any travel-related (specifically, train-related) legwork done before you land, jah?

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[dylanegan]

@jed cheers. It seems like the train that we want pretty much sells out when it opens up for sale. It is available 30 days before at 10:00 (?) and it is possible to call up JR (might be possible to get on a waiting list at 06:00) to get a ticket organised I believe. I'm trying to dig the information up regarding all of that.

Anyways we're trying to get the Cassieopeia suite with the view (last carriage). It is around 47,000 JPY for two people.

[dylanegan]

@danishkhan yeah, we land on the 10th. I get in later, but will be up for some Tokyo after 20 hours of travel.

[dylanegan]

Should check out a few microbrewery bars. http://www.bento.com/r-beer.html

[dylanegan]

Should we try for Jiro's? It needs to be reserved as soon as possible if so. Starts at 30,000 JPY.

[jed]

yo, need some details about the train. how many am i booking for? can't book over the phone, so would like to stop by tokyo station today on the way home from work to take care of it.

[benschwarz]

As far as I know Jed, its just Dylan and I…
Thanks so much for this, we'll make it up to you :-)

Cheers,

Ben

On Tuesday, 14 August 2012 at 10:02 AM, Jed Schmidt wrote:

yo, need some details about the train. how many am i booking for? can't book over the phone, so would like to stop by tokyo station today on the way home from work to take care of it.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub (https://github.com/dylanegan/travel/issues/26#issuecomment-7712396).

[jed]

nice, thanks for your speedy response / great hair. will aim for the 13th, but fridays looks really hairy. please indicate your order of preference below from 1 (most preferred) to 3 (least preferred):

[   ] Cassiopeia Suite with View
[   ] Cassiopeia Suite
[   ] Cassiopeia Deluxe

[benschwarz]

My preference is in order of appearance.

The only question that I have is whether we need to get a rail pass in addition to booking this suite?

My hair is totally going to disappoint you.

On 14/08/2012, at 10:19 AM, Jed Schmidt notifications@github.com wrote:

nice, thanks for your speedy response / great hair. will aim for the 13th, but fridays looks really hairy. please indicate your order of preference below from 1 (most preferred) to 3 (least preferred):

[ ] Cassiopeia Suite with View [ ] Cassiopeia Suite [ ] Cassiopeia Deluxe — Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[jed]

i'll ask about the rail pass, lemme get back to you. chances are it's a no-go and i'm gonna have to pay up front for the tickets, but will let you know.

[benschwarz]

Cool. Thanks! If you need to put any dosh down please send your bank details and we'll sort you out straight away.

On 14 August 2012 16:53, Jed Schmidt notifications@github.com wrote:

i'll ask about the rail pass, lemme get back to you. chances are it's a no-go and i'm gonna have to pay up front for the tickets, but will let you know.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/dylanegan/travel/issues/26#issuecomment-7717754.

[jed]

well damn. left the office early to get some cash and then the tix, and by the time i got to JR both the 11th and 13th were sold out. any chance the 15th is okay? please advise.

[benschwarz]

Wow, the whole train sold out? If we can't do the 11th or the 13th I think we'll have to find another way of travel (Dylan may have a better idea? Maybe travel back to Tokyo on it?)

Thanks so much for your efforts Jed!

On 14/08/2012, at 9:04 PM, Jed Schmidt notifications@github.com wrote:

well damn. left the office early to get some cash and then the tix, and by the time i got to JR both the 11th and 13th were sold out. any chance the 15th is okay? please advise.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[jed]

I HAVE FAILED YOU.

[dylanegan]

@jed no problem, thanks for trying. It looks like it is really hard to get tickets. @benschwarz is going to contact a local Japanese travel agency in Melbourne to see if they can help us organise something for the way back, but either way we'll be in Japan. :D

[benschwarz]

I called the Melbourne Japanese travel board people—They say that over the years they've only been able to secure ONE ticket. Apparently all the agents go down to JR and book the tickets one month ahead just like Jed tried to… and it sells out every time.

So unless Mr @jed is able to get us a return ticket, looks like we're boned :-}

[jed]

i'm willing to get there at 8am, but you gotta let me know (1) the date you want to return and (2) the date the ticket goes on sale. i'll make sure i'm at the JR "view plaza" in the morning.

[dylanegan]

@benschwarz the train only comes back on even days during September. So we could either try for the 16th or the 18th. The 16th would give us more time in Tokyo. We could head up to Sapporo on the 11th or even the 10th if we want to just fly up straight away.

The tickets for the 16th go on sale on the 17th and the 18th on the 19th. This is as far as I can tell from http://www.jreast.co.jp/cassiopeia/reserve/index.html. Also it seems like the 11th and 13th train have now been updated to have "some" capacity, but I can only assume they're not the sleeper carriages that we want.

[benschwarz]

Returning on the 18— Gives us slightly more flexibility at the start of the trip. Let's run with that? Failing that, we'll figure out something else :-) On Aug 16, 2012 7:20 AM, "Dylan Egan" notifications@github.com wrote:

@benschwarz https://github.com/benschwarz the train only comes back on even days during September. So we could either try for the 16th or the 18th. The 16th would give us more time in Tokyo. We could head up to Sapporo on the 11th or even the 10th if we want to just fly up straight away.

The tickets for the 16th go on sale on the 17th and the 18th on the 19th. This is as far as I can tell from http://www.jreast.co.jp/cassiopeia/reserve/index.html. Also it seems like the 11th and 13th train have now been updated to have "some" capacity, but I can only assume they're not the sleeper carriages that we want.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/dylanegan/travel/issues/26#issuecomment-7769680.

[jed]

so, sunday morning then?

WHAT ABOUT CHURCH?

[benschwarz]

I'll bring my dashboard Jesus.

On 16/08/2012, at 2:32 PM, Jed Schmidt notifications@github.com wrote:

so, sunday morning then?

WHAT ABOUT CHURCH?

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[dylanegan]

Sounds good to me.

[dylanegan]

Just a reminder that the 18th goes on sale tomorrow (according to the reservations site). Let us know if you require any further details.

[benschwarz]

Perhaps we can add this to the list of things to do during the day. http://www.nezu-muse.or.jp/en/index.html

[jed]

yep, inquiring at the shibuya JR office this afternoon re: what godawful hour i need to show up tomorrow to get tickets. wil keep you posted.

btw, not sure you're into it, but i've done this a few times and it's good fun: all you can eat/drink monja yaki for two hours on a boat around tokyo bay.

[dylanegan]

Both sound good to me. Also thanks again @jed. Hope they're able to give a clear answer.