Maverick In Japan

Japan is always talked about, so accessible from where I am and absolutely gorgeous. Oddly, I have never step foot on sakura land. The time arrived when my life went into a voluntary roller coaster ride and I needed that "ME" time to put a closure to the last chapter of my life. I have absolutely no plans of boring you with depressing details to my life. However, I will over the new couple of weeks, show you my path in Japan and share various reviews of hotels, restaurants and places of interest.

The trip began in Osaka and ended in Tokyo. For a single traveller who doesn't speak much Japanese apart from Ohayo Gozaimasu & Arigato Gozaimasu, I embarked on the trip with intense nervous anticipation. Before I left, I did a tremendous amount of research and I will also share some tips with you.

 Firstly, as a modern traveller, we will very likely need our indispensable mobile phone and as such, 3G/4G services are extremely important. But with data roaming, I will effectively donate part of my bank account to the mobile service provider. After doing much research, the most value for money solution for a single traveller will be the data SIM card. you will be able to find more information from b-mobile. If you're travelling as a group, you might wish to consider the MiFi i.e. mini wifi i.e. pocket wifi. But because it needs to be charged separately and I didn't wish to carry yet another gadget on me AND have to return it by the end of my trip, I opted for the SIM card option. Please note that I had some issues trying to activate the SIM card and although it eventually worked, I was left very frustrated for the first hour upon receiving the card from the hotel's reception. To add on to my frustration, the English speaking helpdesk is only open from 7-10am on selected days, which is absolutely ridiculous! The good thing is that they can send it directly to your hotel which is what they did for me.

To kickstart my trip, I planned to meet my guide at my hotel the very morning I arrived via the red eye flight. Not the brightest idea... Anyhooooo, as I had previously liaised with Ikuko via email, I knew almost immediate (while I was fiddling with the SIM card) that the middle-aged ladies beside me were her and her sister-in-law. The services of these goodwill guides are free but you are responsible for their travel expenses and admission fees. If you are planning to have a meal with them, you're required to pay for them as well. But trust me, Japanese in general, are very considerate and the last thing they want is to impose on you. You can find more information here: Japan National Tourism Organisation For Osaka, I contacted the Osaka Goodwill Guides Club and they assigned my guide to me. They are mostly retirees and in my case, Ikuko is a part-time English teacher and is semi-retired. I only have good things to say of Ikuko and her sister-in-law.