Hey all, I am an anxious and first-time traveler going on a 10-day solo trip to Japan in November 2024. Making decisions is hard sometimes, and I want to be as informed as possible, so I just have a couple questions about the nitty gritty!
I was initially planning on doing Tokyo>Kyoto>Osaka, because I'm most looking forward to going to Kyoto and Osaka and wanted to save those for last – I've seen most folks recommend saving Tokyo for last for when you do most of your shopping so you don't have to haul luggage around. I also wanted to do it this way because I get easily overwhelmed, and I figured that Kyoto and Osaka would be maybe a little more chill compared to Tokyo, and I could end my trip on a relaxing note. BUT … after thinking it through a little more, I would lose the bulk of my last day to traveling from Osaka back to Narita, so I think I'm going to do Kyoto>Osaka>Tokyo.
SOO here is where my questions start. For context, my flight arrives around 4:30pm.
Do I have to make a reservation for the bullet train? How many spots are typically open on the day of? If I miss my reservation, do I get charged? How far in advance can you cancel? I'm just nervous about this because I won't know until the day of if my flight is going to be delayed (I'm flying out of Vancouver, Canada), how long customs/getting my luggage is going to take, or how adept I'm going to be at finding the right terminals/trains/transfers/etc on the first try.
… I guess that was my only real question. Just looking for suggestions/advice. I'm also trying to consider the fact that this is going to be my first time traveling internationally, using a subway system, being a solo traveler, and I'm going to be very overwhelmed anyway, so don't want to extra overwhelm myself with trying to figure out all these things while my brain is already sleep deprived. I'm obviously going to do tons of research on my specific route, but things are just so different when you actually get to a place, yknow?
This is all another reason why I initially wanted to start my stay in Tokyo, but I feel like I would rather do the bulk of my traveling in one day, wake up fully refreshed in Kyoto, then when I end in Tokyo I'll be much closer to the airport when I leave (my departure isn't until 6:30pm).
Sorry this is kind of mostly just looking for like, validation that everything will work out lmao
by lucretias
