Arriving evening of 5th October at Sapporo CTS, departing again late morning of 12th October. I think it is not a bad idea to spend the whole day in Sapporo plus an extra night, then get on the road on the 7th, without having to worry about a car, city driving and parking (but maybe Sapporo is not that bad).

There will be 3 of us, with medium sized bags, not anything huge. We usually travel relatively light, trying to pack sensibly, given there is always the issue of lugging bags about. My bags rarely reach 20kg, and only if I am transporting music, which always makes things heavier.

Given that the car will be returned to CTS airport prior to departure, it probably makes sense to have the pickup at the same location.