Ok, I'll look at the flights; I also have my friend Robin looking in on things; she works for some airline ...

How serious are you about this, Thrash?
Because you've really backed out of a lot of shit since I've known you.
Hell, you were supposed to call me back the other day, and you never did!

So, honestly, give us a percentage of how likely you are to actually go to Japan in November.

Because of my work, travelling to Japan on the first week of November might be difficult.  I'm going to do what I can to swing it, but I'll keep everyone up-to-date in this thread.

Right now, I'm about 80% 98% sure I'll be able to make it, because I got a new job.  No projects are slated to launch in that first week, and I should have enough visibility to be able to keep things out of that week if possible.

You rock!

I didn't get the chance to call you back, actually,something with the server at the office came up ...

I'm pretty serious; I've been working a few angles at my end ...

W3rd ...

It was his pee pee that came up...

You can do everything you need to from here, and without the risk of pig flu

I wish ...

[3:52:33 PM] Dave Thrash says: w3rken' muh anglez
[3:56:42 PM] Nick says: what angles?
[3:56:46 PM] Nick says: 1. Buy passport
[3:56:50 PM] Nick says: 2. Buy plane ticket
[3:56:56 PM] Nick says: 3. Get on plane

but plenty of tasty pig based meals to be had!

Separate from your plane tickets. It seems Trix got a great deal on hers...

You will need to allow for the following things:

• 6 nights accommodation. Approximately JPY5,000 per night so JPY30,000 or so.
• Train Pass - I think this is JPY30,000 or so.
• Subway tickets (for in and around Tokyo). We'll mostly take JR so your pass will cover it, however budget about JPY3,000 yen total on trains not covered by this.
• 7 days of meals. Somewhere between JPY3,000 and JPY10,000 per day including drinks with dinner
• Extra booze and cigarettes, variable but will be cheap. You can get a 1.8L flagon of sake for JPY 1,500 and smokes are JPY300 for a pack of 20.
• Attractions, you have to pay to get into temples, normally JPY200-400, and things like an onsen will cost JPY1,000-JPY2,000. I would budget JPY15,000 for the whole week of museums, temples, hot springs etc.
• Other than that it's whatever shopping you want to do. Electronics and clothes will be cheaper in the states so I figure you'll only by cool random stuff you couldn't have found otherwise.

All in all about JPY80,000 - JPY100,000 should be plenty, and you can probably save money off that.

It's definitely not cheap.

I took out 40,000 yen (not counting a few times I did use my credit card for purchases), and my folks gave me another 25,000. I blew through all of that in about 7 days, leaving me not more than 1500 yen the last night I was there. Another story for later, but I was basically a retard. I was being fairly frugal too for the most part. No uber-fancy dinners, not buying any expensive ass electronics, basically nothing from Ginza.

I would take Nick's advice, on the 80,000 - 100,000 estimates.

http://www.xe.com/

For a rough idea of exchange rates.

Yen is strong so there is no point in getting any until the week before you leave or it plummets between now and then

So, Tickets, about 1600US, 300US train, and about 1200US spending ...
3300US ...

If my calculations are correct ...

$1600 for your tix??? Mine were only $800 out of Newark. $1600 doesn't sound right at all.

Thrash, check Continental:

Leave
 Sat, Oct 31 Continental Airlines 2565
operated by EXPRESSJET AIRLINES INC DBA CO EXPRESS 
 Depart: 6:35am
Arrive: 8:48am  Jacksonville, FL (JAX)
Newark, NJ (EWR)
 
1 stop   Economy 2hr 13min Embraer RJ135-145 View seats

Change planes. Time between flights: 2hr 22min


  Continental Airlines 9 
 Depart: 11:10am
Arrive: 2:10pm  Newark, NJ (EWR)
Tokyo, Japan (NRT)
 
  Economy 14hr 0min Boeing 777 View seats
Total duration: 18hr 35min

This is an overnight flight.



Choose this return
Return
 Sat, Nov 7 Continental Airlines 6 
 Depart: 5:10pm
Arrive: 1:50pm  Tokyo, Japan (NRT)
Houston, TX (IAH)
 
1 stop   Economy 11hr 40min Boeing 777 View seats

Change planes. Time between flights: 2hr 5min


  Continental Airlines 3132
operated by EXPRESSJET AIRLINES INC DBA CO EXPRESS 
 Depart: 3:55pm
Arrive: 7:04pm  Houston, TX (IAH)
Jacksonville, FL (JAX)
 
  Economy 2hr 9min Embraer RJ135-145 View seats
Total duration: 15hr 54min

This is $904. Then you'll be on the same flight going out as Luke and I.

 

 

Give me a link and I'll buy it today ...

Not sure if this link will work or not but here you go:

http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/apps/booking/flight/searchResult2.aspx?SID=9DE753ED45D84927BC0C55E2C1903E52&sg=1&sgk=256510/31/2009|910/31/2009

you have to select which return you want, depending on how long of a layover you prefer...

i think you have to do the search yourself. just go to continental.com and enter in JAX - NRT, 10/31 - 11/7. Select the outgoing flight to have a layover in NJ. Make sure the flight from EWR to NRT is flight #9 (the flight Luke and I are on).

depending on your returning flight you can have a layover in TX or NJ. obviously i'm returning straight to NJ and Luke is taking the one going back to TX.

Is there an extra tax for getting out of the swamp?

Yeah, gator protection tax

Give me a link and I'll buy it today ...

So, Tickets, about 1600US, 300US train, and about 1200US spending ...
3300US ...

If my calculations are correct ...

That was the figure we talked about on Skype at the start mate.... You may be able to get cheaper tickets like Tricks did.

I would advise to make the most of the opportunity to try all the different kinds of foods and stuff while you're here, everyone. Traveling on the very cheap makes sense if you're backpacking around Europe, but we're jetting around Japan on bullet trains for 6 days so my mandate is to cram as much experience into that time as possible. Please don't be alarmed if it looks like you're spending more "per-day" than you would on a normal holiday. If you were here for 2 weeks or a month or something then it would be different.

And still Thrash can't confirm or deny buying the goddamn tickets... he's mysteriously avoided this thread!

I would advise to make the most of the opportunity to try all the different kinds of foods and stuff while you're here, everyone. Traveling on the very cheap makes sense if you're backpacking around Europe, but we're jetting around Japan on bullet trains for 6 days so my mandate is to cram as much experience into that time as possible. Please don't be alarmed if it looks like you're spending more "per-day" than you would on a normal holiday.

This is like doing a underclass Japan extraction.

I've usually found Japan to be very reasonably priced... yes you can spend ridiculous amounts of money on stuff, but you dont need to.

Last visit to Hokkaido, we got a big bowl of Ramen for lunch, I think it was about Y600 ($6)... I swear to god, I really didnt need to eat that evening.

That's both hot + awesome.

This time, you are actually correct.

The ramen was both hot and awesome.

I've usually found Japan to be very reasonably priced... yes you can spend ridiculous amounts of money on stuff, but you dont need to.

Last visit to Hokkaido, we got a big bowl of Ramen for lunch, I think it was about Y600 ($6)... I swear to god, I really didnt need to eat that evening.

Yes, but you did. I believe we ate most of the sea of Japan that evening

Hey, you put it on a plate in front of me, and its gonna be eaten!