Tokyo March 2022

[kk20]

Our Kyoto AirBnB was "Ayaya" airbnb/rooms/24635...J8 jAgw3b3DTo We will be using it again (if there are dates - there doesnt appear to be many available, no idea if this is covid or bookings).

We walked from the train station with our luggage in July heat - it was that close. There is a 7/11 round the corner, a launderette on the corner, a shopping centre a short walk away (with a large supermarket).

It had a bedroom upstairs, a bedroom downstairs, living area, TV area. No cooker but a microwave, fridge and sink area. This wasn't an issue at all as there is plenty of ready meals available! WIFI was available also. Host was excellent.

[loves2plan]

Originally Posted by kk20

Our Kyoto AirBnB was "Ayaya" airbnb/rooms/24635...J8 jAgw3b3DTo We will be using it again (if there are dates - there doesnt appear to be many available, no idea if this is covid or bookings).

We walked from the train station with our luggage in July heat - it was that close. There is a 7/11 round the corner, a launderette on the corner, a shopping centre a short walk away (with a large supermarket).

It had a bedroom upstairs, a bedroom downstairs, living area, TV area. No cooker but a microwave, fridge and sink area. This wasn't an issue at all as there is plenty of ready meals available! WIFI was available also. Host was excellent.

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That's brilliant, thank you 😊

[Gill H]

I have a feeling the rules on AirBnB in Japan have changed recently (before covid) although don't take this as gospel as I only vaguely remember hearing it somewhere.

[loves2plan]

Originally Posted by Gill H

I have a feeling the rules on AirBnB in Japan have changed recently (before covid) although don't take this as gospel as I only vaguely remember hearing it somewhere.

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Thank you, I'll look into that. I'd prefer to do hotels, but it's always trickier finding rooms with 3 separate beds at a reasonable price. Plenty of time to research though 😊

[Gill H]

I saw a room in Hilton Tokyo Bay with 4 separate beds, on Krispysmore's / Tim Tracker's vlogs. The four of them shared a room.

They only stayed there though. Don't know about Kyoto.

[AntonyJ]

Originally Posted by loves2plan

Miles flights would be amazing, but I doubt we'll have enough. Do you need to have enough for a full return flight or do they offer any flexibility such as using miles to pay towards flights, or booking one way with miles and one way with money?

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Just re-reading and found I never answered this part, sorry!

My Virgin Atlantic air miles are used with a redemption on All Nippon Airways (ANA) and you need to have enough for a return flight.

Also they only do them for Economy, Business and First Class redemptions - not the Premium Economy seats ANA do on their planes.

The rates are:
Economy - 65,000 virgin air miles
Business - 95,000 virgin air miles
First Class - 120,000 virgin air miles

I have a Virgin Atlantic credit card and put everything on it each month I can, and pay it off in full. If I am going to buy anything online with it, I check if I can bag some free miles for going via their Virgin Atlantic Shops Away site.

When we went in May 2019 I had enough miles for First and Business return flights, so as well as the miles it cost me £72x in taxes and fees - which for flights that would have cost £35,000 or so to buy normally, was a bargain. The experience was wonderful and amazing, even the food "issue" I had on flight turned out to be a blessing in disguise lol

As not all flights have these "reward seats" on them, being able to find the seats can be a faff, but even if you get one "free" economy seat it would help I would imagine?

How many Virgin Airmiles you got, or are they with another programme?

[AntonyJ]

Also have contacted both Virgin and ANA to see / understand what the options are to move the flights.

Virgin - they said could convert to open ticket, and once know dates / availability - contact them again to book new dates. Asked if I make it an open ticket - would that protect me from any mile redemption / taxes fluctuations - am I "locked in". Doubt it but no harm in asking.

Asked ANA if I can change my own booking to an open ticket too

[CosmicGirl]

Originally Posted by AntonyJ

Also have contacted both Virgin and ANA to see / understand what the options are to move the flights.

Virgin - they said could convert to open ticket, and once know dates / availability - contact them again to book new dates. Asked if I make it an open ticket - would that protect me from any mile redemption / taxes fluctuations - am I "locked in". Doubt it but no harm in asking.

Asked ANA if I can change my own booking to an open ticket too

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About the taxes I can confirm that you are not locked in with an open ticket. I read your posts about this on FT, as well, and as I've mentioned there in the past we had to pay up when going from an open ticket to a booking for 2021 last year.

We had two different bookings as we were returning via different routes. My rebooking from an open ticket to the new dates went smoothly, and Virgin refunded the difference in fuel surcharges compared to the year before. The second booking, however, they messed up. The agent refused to refund the fuel surcharge even though our flight was cancelled by ANA. The agent claimed that Virgin had already paid ANA, which is absurd for a flight which did not fly. Then when changing the route (we would now return together in 2021) they made me pay extra on top of what was already paid (and supposedly lost) to rebook the ticket. It was something along the lines of:
1. the old ticket had 180 in fees
2. when changing from open to new outbound date + fake return date to lock in the outbound flight the fees were 40 but they refused to refund the remaining 140
3. changed from fake return date to new return date on the new route (different arrrival airport): pay an extra 40, or we won't issue the ticket.
So all in all, one ticket has around 40 in fees, and the other ticket has 220 or so.

Long story short: you're not locked in for taxes and surcharges, and I doubt (but I'm not 100% sure) you're locked in for the miles portion. And how the transfer from the open ticket to the new ticket goes very much depends on who you get on the line. I called when things were very bad for Virgin staff, and layoffs were announced every few weeks so this may have had something to do with it, but still it was a significant difference between both tickets.

As for this year's May booking: ANA cancelled the flights a couple of weeks ago, and Virgin automatically changed our bookings to open tickets. Now here's hoping I can still get us two seats in first in May 2022... Attempt number 3!

[loves2plan]

How do people decide which part of Tokyo to stay in? It's such a big place with hotels everywhere, but I'm struggling to work out which the best areas are with regards access to good facilities and being close to seeing the sights. Any tips?

[AntonyJ]

We did and will do it again, Shibuya

So many things that we liked are walkable from there, but it has a huge station too.

What sort of sights you interested in ?