Sayonara germany, konichiwa japan!

As Ari already stated in her blog: TOMORROW WE MOVE OUR BUTTS OVERSEAS TO JAPAN!

So... We are going three weeks straight and I'm going to write a travelers diary to keep everything good in mind. 

Afterwards you can expect alot of information, impressions and tons of stuff from there here on this blog!

But until the 20th august, this place here will be probably dead. 

You can follow me on twitter, since I probably will post some pictures there! 

I will see you all around then in august! 

Long haul flights

As I mentioned in my post befor, I want to talk about long haul flights and how to survive them at best!
I also need to mention, these are the things I experienced and I don't know, or more I am sure, this is not working for everyone. So don't be upset if my tips don't work for you!

At first, I didn't had actually a problem with these 10 hours flights. Why?
The answer is simple: Board entertainment!
This is my first suggestion: Use it! You have that cute screen at the head of the seat in front of you and they have, by times, amazing films!
When I got to america I watched tons of films. Okey, not tons.. But hey, at least I watched 3 films and started another one. 
That is the first thing. It kept myself pretty much entertained which was good, so I didn't got bored and wished that it was over. 
You should probably also know I am actually a huuuge fan of flying and so.. Yeah. 
But, I didn't went alone to america. My friend, Franzi, who came with me was totally afraid of flying and it was her first time. 
What did she do? 
First, she didn't sat next to the window, I sat there. This seemed to help her alot and she was comfortable with the middle place. It also helped her to see how the plane took of and landed again. Afterwards, she really didn't wanted to see what happened outside (Clouds passing, yeeay)

What else? It may help if you sleep during the time. But, I really understand that it is not always possible. Espacially if you have the middle and aisle seat. 
And now the next tip: Get such a neck thing. And to safe space: There are some you can blow up! It really doesn't sound comfortable but believe me: It actually is. Because it keeps you from having these.. "Half asleep, letting your head fall somewhere so you wake up" moments. Very helpful, should go in your handluggage. 

"Hey, I still can't sleep. What to do now?"
Either you concentrate on your screen in front of you, or you get some sleeping pills. As far as I know, there are some light ones to get in the pharmacy, at least in germany.
I can say, for me they actually don't work. I get a little more sleepy, but thats all. I don't get the chance to sleep. And there is still the chance that you don't get along with it and after the fly you feel horrible! 
So, you should check them out at home, before you go on such a long trip. 

Another tip is, do some sport before. Like, walk around the airport fastly to get the excitement out of your body that keeps you awake. Do some walking or even running, stretch your body while you still have the chance, do some squats or anything like that! 
It makes you feel not so active anymore and makes you a little calmer. Some people can even sleep than! 

Oh, what is also really important. Food!
Please, pleease don't eat anything really fatty before going on a plane. It just makes you feel bleurgh. 
And, what I figured out.. Last time I was flying, it wasn't even a long fly, a guy ate a "Döner" before. Oh godness... Please just don't. Your body may react different to the food you usually eat once your up in the air. 
Try to eat something very light. Some fruits or something. And on a long fly, you get food there. Usually they go around for quiet alot and you can ask for something to eat. And drink alot! Don't forget drinking! On my fly to america, the staff walked around like.. 10 times or more to pass around drinks which was really good. 

You also may feel reeeaaaally shit, like dirty and unwashed. 
Before you take of, bring some baby wipes with you. They are amazingly helpful! You can also get on the toilet on the plane, but I understand if you don't want to. I don't want either. 
So these wipes can keep you fresh once you rub it over your face, hands and arms. There is actually nothing to keep your feet clean or keep you feeling that your feat are clean. Either you go on the toilet and block it just so you can wash your feet, or you just wait.
Usually it's not a problem to get these wipes with you on the plane. 


All in all, I can just say, you need to try what keeps you feeling good and satisfied. For me, the board entertainment is enough. 
If you know you feel like throwing up, there are also those nice.. Travel pills? They calm your stomache.
Oh and I almost forgot the really easy tips: You get pain in your ear when taking of or landing? Chew on gummy bears! Or gum. It really helps!

I hope some of you survive these long trips a little better or feel better prepaired now!
If you need the german translation, don't hesitate to ask me, because otherwise I leave that here in english. (Figured out that translating takes a lot since I am a lazy brat)

Sadly I don't have any airport pictures from myself so.. Yeah.
I wish you all further a nice day and a great week!

JAPAN preparation

Good day everyone! 
So, today is thursday 1 july! 

Last weekend I was at a good friend of mine with whom I am flying to japan this year.
We fly in the end of this month to middle of august.
We stay in Tokyo for several days and change then to Osaka! Because hotels are utter expensive, we stay in two host families. Here is the link where we booked our host families!
It's pretty easy and I like the idea of staying at someones home to get to know the culture even more and to be not lost in the foreign country!

We already have booked our flight tickets a while ago. 
Due to the fact I am working in a travel agency, we got a little discount on the tickets! 
We are flying from

• Hannover HAJ to Frankfurt FRA with Lufthansa (1 hour)
• Frankfurt FRA to Tokyo Narita NRT with Lufthansa (10.55 hours)

And back it goes

• Osaka KIX to Tokyo Narita NRT with All Nippon Airways (1.15 hours flight)
• Tokyo Narita NRT to Frankfurt FRA with Lufthansa (11.40 hours flight)

I will later on post some tips for such long flights and how you probably gonna survive them well!

Sooo... 

I will actually talk today a little about the thing, I got today.

The japanese rail pass!

We booked it over this site and everything went pretty well.

It came, as it was said to, with a FEDEX package today:

Whats all in? 

4 railpasses.

Why 4?

Both of us have two. 

One for over all japan (we got the one for 7 days)

And than one for the Kansai area (we took the one for 4 days)

Thats not all, of course not.

There was also the bill and we paid for everything 496 € (free shipping, yeay!)

What do we do with these tickets? 

We can not just jump into trains there when we arrive. What we need to do is to go to an JR Office and they will 'set our tickets free'. 

But we will take the whole japan pass in the end of our Tokyo stay, since we are going to use a Suica Card in Tokyo and since it only lasts 7 days (in a row, no matter if you didn't go by train at one day in your durration).

What else do we have?

Because it was for free and we found it suuuper helpful, we also wanted to have a travel guide.

This is what it looks from the outside:

And you find this on the inside:

This will be really good! 

We have an overall map with the trackage from japan.

The book is seperated in the different areas, you also have a map of the area which can be also helpful when you bought a pass for a specific area! 

And for each area you have, let me look it shortly up.. Every trainstation you can go to with the pass. For Tokyo you even have the Yamanote Line printed with each station! 

There are also exampels for journeys from one to another station (seen in the 4th pic) on the left side and on the right side you have suggestions where you can stay overnight and eat with the opening times, adress, telephonenumber and internetadress.

I would recommend getting this guide if it's your first time, because it was for free (I will say it again... YEEAAY)

But there was more in the FEDEX package.

A map with timetables!

So you have this huge map (once again an overall map) on the back and tons of timetables on the inside. 

The timetable is seperated again in areas. You have than for example KYOTO to OSAKA with all the times set. If you want a photo of that also, leave me a comment!

And last but not least, we got a sight seeing passport to japan.

So it's basically just how to use the Railpass, which trains we can take and a little information to the train.

What else to say? 
We both are super excited about the trip. It is my first long haul flight after... 4 years and Arisa's (My friend who is comming with me) first. 

This post will stay in english. But if you need any translation into german, please tell me and I will do it when I have time!

You can leave me a comment anyway if you have a further question or a suggestion about the blog.

And I will see you again in a minute when I post the guide how to survive a long haul fly! 

Welcome and hey hey!

Welcome everyone to my first blog. 

I will post things about my daily life and my traveling. I think I will make it bilingual, english and german! 

Don't hesitate to contact me, leave me your comments, your point of view, your question or suggestion! I am happy if I can inspire people to be more open minded or to make them travel alot and see the world. 

If I did, I would be really happy hearing about it! 

I will update the following weeks and months not only storys that happened now and in the meantime, but also ones I already have been going through, same for travels! 

So, stay tuned and I hope you enjoy your time on my blog!

~

Hey hey hier auf meinem ersten Blog!

Ich werde hier Dinge aus meinem täglichen Leben posten und von meinen Reisen! Dieser Blog wird höchstwahrscheinlich zweisprachig werden, englisch und deutsch!

Zöger nicht mich zu kontaktieren, mir einen Kommentar da zu lassen, mir deine Meinung zu dem Thema zu nennen, oder deine Frage und Vorschlag hier zu lassen. Ich freu mich wenn ich Leute dazu inspirieren kann offener anderen Kulturen gegenüber zu sein und sie vielleicht auch zum Reisen zu animieren!

Wenn ich das getan hab, ich wäre wirklich glücklich, wenn du mir das sagst! 

In den kommenden Wochen/Monaten werde ich immer mal wieder Updates machen die jetzt passiert sind und passieren werden. Aber ich werde auch ein paar alte Sachen veröffentlichen, auch Reisen. 

Also, bleib gespannt und ich hoffe du kannst deine Zeit hier auf dem Blog genießen!