Tokyo flights, trains, hotels, sightseeing
A few months ago I pre-booked some hotels on Booking.com just in case I get into the marathon. All of them was on a “book now pay later ” offer. So I thought even if I don’t manage to get into the race i wont lose out on money, I just cancel them later on.
But lets start with the Flights 🙂
Since I managed to get a charity place for the race on Monday, if you havent read it click HERE to read that first 🙂
All week-long I was constantly on Skyscanner to see what’s the cheapest option and when for. It turned out the direct non-stop flights ( like BA, Japan Airlines ) were over £1600 for 2 people. I really wanted to go with one of these flights, but we planning to spend 1.5 weeks in japan, so if we could save some money on the flights then that would be the best.
We are flying out on the 23rd of February and flying back on the 4th of March.
So all week-long I was going back and forth between the “stopper” flights, calculating, organising and planning our week. First I was thinking to fly with Aeroflot, because their price was £1300 for my days. But then I came across with another airline called Air China. Never even heard of them , but we never travelled that way so never had to.
The only problem I was having that the Air China flight doesn’t get into Tokyo till 8pm, so we losing out on a day. But in the other hand it was only £1000 for 2 people.
So going back and forth with my sightseeing plans, I’ve decided that we can shift our sightseeing days by a day, and take on this deal.
Today finally I’ve purchased the tickets, it came as a total of £1009 / 2 person, and free meals, seat reservation and other benefits.
We flying out from London Heathrow on the 23rd of February and arriving to Tokyo Haneda on the 24th.
London – Tokyo
Our first flight from London to Beijing will be a Boeing 777-300ER, I’ve checked a few photos out of it and it looks like a decent plane. Also managed to book our seats for totally free. Luckily my OH doesn’t mind where he sits, so I’m lucky to get all the window seats. We booked on to the Economy call, it’s perfectly good for us 🙂 The seating arrangements are 3-3-3. So in theory someone else will sit next to us. On this flight we will have 2 meals ( breakfast and a hot meal ) plus unlimited drinks.
London – Beijing with a Boeing 777-300ER
We going to have a few hours to hang around in Beijing, then we continue our journey to Tokyo. So our second plane will be an Airbus 321. This one is a much smaller plane, than our first one, and the seating plan is a 3-3 arrangement, Luckily I’ve booked my seat next to the window again, so can see the beautiful view. On this flight we are going to get another hot meal and also unlimited drinks.
Beijing – Tokyo with an Airbus A321
On our return journey back to London will be on the 4th of March.
Tokyo – London
On the First part of the journey, we are going to fly with the same Airbus A321 like we have done it earlier to Tokyo. Seats have been reserved and mine is by the window again, while OH has to take the middle seat again.
But our Beijing to Heathrow journey will be on a different flight this time. it will be an Airbus A330-200. This plane has to be the best looking one. We still on the economy class, but the seat arrangements are much better, it has a 2-4-2 split. So luckily no one will sit next to us. At least if I need to go to the loo I only need to ask my OH, not a complete stranger. Because this one is the longer journey , we going to get 2 meals on the plane plus the drinks. Had a look on google and this plane looks really nice inside as well. Really looking forward to flying on it.
Beijing – London with an Airbus A330-200
Now let’s go back to our hotels, have to say their will be a few.
We going to land in Tokyo at 8pm on the Sunday. Then we are going to spend 1 night in a hotel close to the train station.
This hotel is nothing special, just to spend a night there because there’s no late trains to Osaka.
So this hotel’s name is Smile Hotel Nihombashi Mitsukoshimae and it’s only cost us £38 for the night. Look at the main entrance, haha.
Smile Hotel Tokyo
On the Monday morning we will walk over to the near by train station then hop on the fastest train I can ever imagine, it’s the one and unique Shinkansen Nozomi ( bullet train).
It only takes 155 minutes to get to Osaka from Tokyo which is 515km apart. Nozomi services using N700 series equipment reach speeds of 300 km/h (186 mph).
Shinkansen Nozomi
Whilst we are in Osaka, finally I can visit my dream place. I’ve read the books multiple times, watched the movies loads of times. Visited the Harry Potter Studio in London, but this will be different. This is one of my dream place, so if we travel to Japan, to run the marathon we need to go here.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
Universal Studio Osaka
We are going to stay in Osaka from Monday till Wednesday, so will have plenty of time to explore the whole studio. We are going to stay in a hotel called Hotel Keihan Universal Tower. This hotel is literally next to the entrance of Universal Studio, perfect location. This hotel will cost us £254 for 2 nights.
Hotel Keihan Universal Tower
Hotel Keihan Universal Tower
So on Wednesday we are getting on to the incredible fast Shinkansen Nozomi to get back to Tokyo. We are going to spend the rest of our time in Tokyo.
We are going to stay in the APA Hotel Kanda Jimbōchō Station East. This one is not as good-looking hotel as the Universal one, but it comes with a free breakfast and it’s by the marathon route, so my OH can just walk out of the hotel and see me running by.
APA Hotel Kanda Jimbōchō Station East.
As you can see our hotel is just before the 8km mark.
What we are planning to do in Tokyo?
Well the most important part is the race bib pick up on the thursday, but will write a separate article about it.
Then our main sightseeing point will be the Tokyo Disney Resort. We haven’t decided how many days we will spend here, but it will be definitely a full day at least and probably will travel back here after I’ve picked my race number up. It consist 2 main pars, Disneyland and DisneySea.
Diseneyland Tokyo
DiseneySea Tokyo
Disney Resort Tokyo – click on photo for better quality
There is 1 more sightseeing activity I would really love to do , this is the MariCar. Racing through Tokyo with a go-cart, dress up as Super Mario or even Browser. OMG. Not too sure this is the best idea to do before a marathon , but then we only live once haha.
MariCar Tokyo – Who should I be?
Here is a short video , all thanks to Bloomberg 🙂
That’s all for now. My next post will be another sightseeing tour , but this time it’s around Berlin 🙂
Same as always if you have any questions just comment below and I’ll answer as soon as I can.
Love,
