As the end of 2022 approached, I started thinking about the adventures I wanted to have in 2023. After learning that Japan had opened its doors to tourists without the need to book through travel agencies, I had set my sights on visiting Japan in 2023. I couldn’t believe it had been 3.5 years since my last trip there.

I was excited to once again experience the culture and cuisine of Japan. When I had visited back in 2019, I was blown away by the quality of the food. Even the food and coffee from 7-Eleven tasted great! I had started to experience the pride of the people in Japan when it came to food. No matter where I went to eat, the food tasted absolutely delicious. A bento box from the train station in Kyoto? Chef’s kiss! Ramen from a small hole in the wall restaurant in the Ginza district of Tokyo? The best I’ve had and made me want it again.

I wanted to experience that food journey again along with unique attractions to see. In 2019, I decided to embark on a unique experience in Tokyo: Street Kart! (https://kart.st/shinagawa) Yes, a street-legal go-kart style tour of the city of Tokyo, dressed up as a character. If you are planning a trip to Tokyo, look them up and you won’t regret booking a tour! They have multiple locations in Tokyo and are in different cities like Osaka, Kyoto and Okinawa. This time around, though, I wanted to visit TeamLab Planets in Tokyo (https://www.teamlab.art/e/planets/) which is an immersive museum that you can experience with all five senses. I’ll write a blog post about that soon. There are so many different and unique things to see, do, and taste in Japan!

The world of travel had changed so much because of the pandemic and the flights before pandemic were no where near the same. So I started planning, researching and looking for flights. Because of the long distance I wanted to book my flights using miles so I could travel comfortably. Because why not? I quickly began to regret not looking for award availability sooner. There was nothing. Absolutely nothing available. I really wanted to try out All Nippon Airways’ (ANA) new first class product (since I had it booked for 2020 and we know how travel had turned out that year).

I wanted to try that product because it is a uniquely different product when it was unveiled back in 2019. A suite with a closing door, a wide seat and a 42″ 4K flat screen TV??? Oh I definitely wanted to try it but nope it’s not going to happen this year I thought. So I had given the idea a rest.

One Thursday evening in January of this year, I decided to see if I could travel to Japan by any miles necessary lol. After finding award availability with Japan Airlines (JAL) through Alaska Airlines for a flight a week and a half out I started to get excited. Then I started to look for a flight back home. Again, nothing, absolutely nothing. I felt defeated. I doubled down and more determined than ever I decided to get creative.

I figured let me see if I can take the “long way” home. I found availability through Avianca’s Lifemiles program to fly on SWISS from Tokyo to Zürich (the route of this flight will become important later on in another post) and from Zürich back to Boston. Yes I really really wanted to go to Japan that bad. I also found award availability with Hilton hotels in Japan too since the taxes and fees for hotels can be ridiculous.

So I checked with work to see if I could take the time off. I got the green light and booked everything the next day on Friday. I was leaving the following Saturday. I was ecstatic and couldn’t believe I had put together a 12 day trip on such short notice. Finally I was going back to Japan!!!