beep88

shinkansen asama 9860
shinkansen kagayaki, hakutaka , 11910

Busymann

Ha, yes, had an extra 0. LOL

I'd want the Kagayaki cuz it's faster by about 30 min. After Omiya, the next stop is Nagano. Then again, I could enjoy the ride more for less money, which is partly the point.

I did forget that the Hokuriku Shinkansen starts at Tokyo Sta. Looks like I will enjoy the lounge then.

If there ever was a Gran Class to Osaka, I wonder how much it'd be and how many people in a given month would take advantage of it.

edit: the missus says enjoy the ride longer for less money so Asama it is. I see some Hakutaka trains have the same number of stops as Asama yet it costs more. I must look into what the difference is.

Attendant/ No Attendant? Different luxury? Crappier train?

Utazo

Hi Everyone,

What do you suggest for the following trip (2 adults, 1 six year old)
-we arrive to Narita
- stay in Ginza, 4 days in Tokyo
- travel to Kyoto, Shijo (center), stay there for 3 days
- travel to Osaka for a day
-fly back from Osaka.

Thanks a lot for your advice!

Busymann

That's not even ¥22,000 so no.

It looks like your trip from
NRT to Ginza runs about ¥3400
Ginza to Kyoto about ¥14,300
Kyoto to Shin-Osaka ¥3300

….and those are just rounded biggest costs. I think kids are half price of the base fare and seat fee.

Busymann

Ok looks like my biggest costs now are

NRT to Shinagawa (OR back)
Shinagawa to Shin-Osaka and back - ¥28,680
Shinagawa to Kyoto and back - ¥27,600
Shinagawa to Nagoya and back (may do Shinagawa to Kyoto (again) to Nagoya back to Shinagawa)
Shinagawa to Odawara and back - ¥7540
May do Shinagawa to Shin Yokohama

The costs factored (plus not) go over ¥70,000 so I'm going to splurge for Green passes.

Now, can I reserve Green seats online with a JR Pass?

edit: I see it must be in person but can be done in advance.

pauq

So you are going Shinagawa to Osaka to Shinagawa to Kyoto to Shinagawa to maybe Kyoto to Nagoya to Shinagawa to Odawara to Shinagawa? How long is this trip and why so much back tracking?

Busymann

2 weeks

I need a day in Kyoto but don't wanna to stay overnight. I figure I can do Arashiyama Monkey Park and Bamboo Grove and do Fushimi Inari Shrine.

edit:
Shinagawa to Shin-Osaka and back - ¥28,680 - one way 2:30min
Shinagawa to Kyoto and back - ¥27,600 - one way 2:10min
Shinagawa to Nagoya and back (may do Shinagawa to Kyoto (again) to Nagoya back to Shinagawa) - 1:30min
Shinagawa to Odawara and back - ¥7540 - one way 30 min
May do Shinagawa to Shin Yokohama - one way 10min

This is partly why I'm going for a Green Rail Pass. I want to make sure I can do what I want on any given day and don't try to cram.

jib71

To me, it looks like this itinerary is crammed full of repetitive, redundant, inter-city rail trips, but I assume you have your reasons.

Busymann

Explain. I like to be picked apart in this manner.

jib71

Busymann

My homebase will be in Shinagawa.

That's pretty much it.

shuigao

If you've already made up your mind then go ahead. It just seems really silly to spend multiple duplicate 4-5 hours sitting in the train just because you don't want to shift hotels to Kansai and/or Nagoya.

Busymann

I'm sussing that out now.

I don't get why folks wouldn't just spit out "Why not switch to another hotel elsewhere?" vs the alternative. Lots of "extraness" going around.

I thought there would be more to it.

freecia

It's flyertalk. When I see "I'm staying at <American Chain hotel> and going to places further away via JR Pass, repeatedly" I assume it is someone who is staying on points or chasing hotel status. Or likes trains. Or really wants to get "value" from their JR Pass. In the end, if a traveler wants to take the train multiple times for long distances instead of staying locally, whatever floats their boat. I've done weirder and even more inefficient transit adventures for fun and not been labelled a lunatic or map illiterate. That's one of the nice things about flyertalk.

Also, just so you know, this is what what an informal polite Japanese "No" looks like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi71iV7Od4w I'm offering this with genuine goodwill because it seems to me that you like direct communication and may not recognize some of the more nuanced communication in Japan. It is a high context culture so there's more ways to be told yes, no, or the other person acknowledged you were speaking but isn't necessarily agreeing with you.

Busymann

PDG is hilarious! I've always liked his videos.

Nah, I didn't know about forwarding luggage before and the cost to leave out of KIX. Therefore, it was Shinagawa all the way. I thought about splitting time between Osaka Marriott and the Prince from wayyy back but lugging bags wasn't going to happen.

Right now, KIX is going to be a much later arrival back home, less flight options, and more expensive. Forwarding luggage to Osaka is going to cost about $80 and then I may have to forward to KIX as well.

There's a trade-off. It's time vs more money and time.

Also, yes I like direct coms and am familiar with subtlety. I'm also familiar with smartassery and snobbery and find it weird and weak.
"You do what you want to do but....that's rather silly."

Also, Prince Hotels isn't an American chain.

I'd always preferred to stay at the Prince and Osaka Marriott Miyako. I wanted to stay in Abeno Harukas vs visiting it and be closer to USJ without having to leave soon. I could stop in Nagoya on the way to Osaka vs backtracking (in either direction).

The better way to go, so far, looks like 9 nights in Shinagawa and 5 in Osaka and maybe do a 7-day Green pass on the back 7-days but that's unlikely.

I'll work out the more expensive cost to fly out of KIX compared to lesser train costs.

Example:
NRT to Shinagawa
Shinagawa to Odawara and back
Shinagawa to Nagoya to Kyoto to Shin-Osaka
Shin-Osaka to Kyoto and back
maybe Shinagawa to Shin-Yokohama

Off the top of my head, that doesn't look like it warrants any rail pass at all even with piddly costs for stations within Tokyo. All of that also wouldn't be within a 7-day period. Plus, I'd be able to reserve shinkansen tickets online (Smart EX) and not restrict myself to non-Nozomi trains..

Trust, I'm hip. I just need all the info available and I'll make the right decisions (example luggage forwarding).