Welcome XU & FANG!
Day 1 Flight from msp to lax
Catch flight at 8:50pm, lands at 10:54pm
11pm you all land. all of you Find the Fourpoints Sheraton FREE hotel shuttle
The airport offers free shuttles to and from the hotel. Look for the shuttle at the departures level of the terminal you arrive at (not the arrivals level). It picks up at every terminal so no need to move between terminals. The shuttle service runs 24 hours a day, every 20-30 min depending on traffic. In the morning, you just need to wait for the shuttle in the lobby. No reservations required.
Check-in to the hotel. Fourpoints Sheraton LAX.
The reservation name is under "XU CHEN".
5:30AM MEET lucey AND ANNA'S FAMILY AT SHERATON FOUR POINTS HOTEL LOBBY
lucey's number is XXXX
Hi Kaelyn and family. Looks like you have a long night stuck at LAX. Sleep at the hotel and get to the airport by 7am! I've posted your flight info here.
Here are some tips for surviving a long international flight:
1. Get as much sleep as possible before your flight, so that you can try to sleep during the flight as well.
2. Bring a neck pillow, eye mask, and earplugs to help you sleep more comfortably.
3. Wear comfortable clothes and shoes, and bring a light sweater or a jacket as cabin temperatures can fluctuate.
4. Stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water and avoid drinking alcohol, as it can dehydrate you.
5. Pack light and bring your own snacks, as the food options on long flights can be limited.
6. Bring a book, magazine, or other entertainment (such as a tablet or mp3 player) to pass the time.
7. Get up and walk around the cabin every so often to keep your blood flowing and prevent blood clots.
8. Pack painkillers, aspirin or ibuprofen in case of headaches or muscle aches.
9. Have a good plan for entertainment, whether that be music, reading, podcasts, videos or playing games.
10. Lastly, try to relax and enjoy the flight as much as possible, and look forward to reaching your destination! I hope these tips help to make your flight more comfortable. Happy travels!
Day 2 Flight from LAX to Tokyo
The flight leaves at 9:40am on Monday. This means get to the airport by 7:00am to check in your flight, and check in your luggage.
- My family, probably led by Lucey will find you in the hotel lobby by 5AM-6AM. It will be Joe, my mom and Don. Joe's number is XXXXX. She will text you or vice versa. Good luck!
It's a very long flight, 11 hours.
While on the flight:
Compression socks. All your fam's feet and yours will get really swollen and big.
Get up and walk around the cabin every so often to keep your blood flowing and prevent blood clots.
Download movies beforehand. Netflix offline is your best friend. Pirating?
Directions from NRT to Tokyo (only for crew arriving Mar 7th around 2:30pm)
Because we are a bigger group (8 people at least) arriving at the same day and time, we have booked a private van and driver to take us from the airport to the hotel directly.
Once we get off the plane, go through immigration, get our luggage, and pick up the pocket wifi devices, we will get into the van and the driver will take us to the hotel in Tokyo.
March 7th, 2023: Day 3 First Day in Tokyo
OK everyone lands around 2:45 PM by the time we get out of the airport to the hotel we check into in our rooms. It’ll probably be around 6 PM so we should take the first night to explore the area we’re staying in get dinner and rest early.
7pm Dinner in Shinjuku area or Sleep
Walk around shinjuki, explore the pachinko gaming slots, the stores, shops
Options for Dinner - conveyor belt sushi
March 8th
10:30am - walk to Shinjuku Station JR Rail Office
Everyone must bring their passports and go in person to get our JR Passes. Anna will have the exchange voucher, and we will use this to exchange for our 7 day JR Pass, which you can use for the bullet trains from Tokyo - Kyoto, along with select subways in each city.
At the office, you will be asked to present your passport and which day you’d like to activate your pass
Lucey / Don / Joe - you will activate your pass on the day we go to the office (March 8th)
Kaelyn / Anna’s mom + dad - you will activate your pass on March 9th
Anna / Sean - we will activate our pass on March 10th
While we’re at the JR transit office, we will get everyone’s Suica transit cards. This will allow you to pay for public transportation all over Japan if your JR pass isn’t covered (which is most metro subways, buses, etc. Suica cards can also be used to pay for other things such as shopping, just look for the logos below to see if a place accepts this form of payment.
If you run out of funds on your Suica card, you can top off at any train station (note that these kiosks will be CASH ONLY). If you have a bunch of money left on the Suica card by the time you leave, you can return the card to any JR transit office and get a refund
March 10th
8-10am breakfast on own
10:30am prepare luggage, check out of hotel
Walk to Shinjuku Station with luggage, use JR Pass to take Chuo line to Tokyo Station
If there is time at Tokyo Station, people can take it easy, get lunch, check out bento boxes at kiosks around the train platform. There are also luggage lockers at the station that you can use your Suica card to pay for
If on the 12:30pm train, arriving in Kyoto at 2:45pm
Once at Kyoto Station, take taxi to respective hotels:
Kaelyn / Anna’s mom + dad - Hotel Kyotology
Sean’s mom + Don + Joey - Bright Hotel
Whitney / Eric - Bright Hotel
Anna - Park Hyatt
Sean - traveling with dad + Cecilia from Tokyo
Take a break, meet up to explore Kyoto around dinner time
March 11th
explore Kyoto group activity day + dinner
March 13th
Mar 13th - travel day for everyone
Lucey, Don, Joe will head to Tokyo first thing Monday morning from Osaka Station, head directly to Narita
Anna, Kaelyn, Anna’s parents will take the train to Nara for the day, leave luggage at the station, explore Nara for the day, then head to Osaka early evening from Nara
Sean, Sean’s dad + stepmom will take train to Hiroshima in the morning from Kyoto Station and return to Osaka at night
March 14th
Osaka in the morning, travel to Tokyo in the afternoon
Anna’s parents’ hotel is next to Okachimachi Station - why? This is a station on the JR Yamanote line, a few stops away from Tokyo Station. It puts you in a new area to explore for a bit before heading to the airport the next morning. You all can hit up Akihabara (electronica + anime) the evening of the 14th; Ueno Park, Ameyoko Shopping Street in the morning on the 15th.
March 15th
As suggested above, you should check out Ueno Park and Ameyoko Shopping Street in the morning on the 15th. Your flight is at 2:45pm flying out of Terminal 1 at the Narita Airport. Plan for about a 90min trip from the hotel to the airport.
You’ll use your JR pass to take the Yamanote Line from Okachimachi Station to Tokyo Station, where you’ll transfer to the Narita Express. Before you do that though, you’ll need to find a ticket counter for Narita Express and reserve seats using your JR pass. The Narita Express runs about every 30 min (see below for timetable). Once you get to Narita look for signs of Terminal 1
When you get to the airport to check in, make sure you stop by the post office to ask them to help you return your pocket wifi device (do not forget to do this!!). The package we all pickup at the beginning of our trip should include a pre-labeled return envelope. You can either follow the instructions for drop off at a mailbox (there should be one before entering airport security) or drop off at the post office at Terminal 1 (again, also before you enter security). There will be no mailbox or post office once you go through security.
After this, you should be ready to breeze through security and travel back to the US!
Return Flights
Same baggage policy. Check in all 3 roll bags. Carry ons not to exceed 15lbs. Flight our of termianl 1 Narita
