Merry Christmas

Hi Clem

Just a quick note to say Merry Christmas to you and to thank you for all the help and amazing service that you have given me this year. You make my Japan bookings very quick and easy!!

Thanks again and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Best wishes
Sonia

Thank you & Merry Christmas

Hi Jacqui,

I was just going through my contacts and thought I would drop you a quick email to say thank you for assisting us with our trip to Japan in October. We had a fantastic time and your recommendations for Tokyo were fantastic. The Dynamic Tokyo tour was just great as was the accommodation.

Once again thank you for your assistance and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Kind regards,
Rebecca

Had an amazing time

Hi Jacqueline

Had an amazing time, so want to go back right now. The Hilton was awesome 26th floor and the people in Japan are so so beautiful.

Kyoto was very beautiful and interesting, those maple trees are truly beautiful with all the different colours, orange, yellow and bright bright red.

Will email you some photos as soon as I get my computer up and running.

PS I think I lost 5 kg walking, never walked so much in my life

Thanks for everything
Regards
Teresa

We absolutely had the best week of our lives

Hi Eri and everyone at JTB Australia!

We recently booked the Ghibli & Disney Special Package for our trip to Japan recently, and we absolutely had the best week of our lives there! All thanks to Eri and all the great services that JTB provided.

For someone like us who had never been to Japan before, the friendly and helpful services that you guys provided made our trip simply hassle-free! We also stayed at a wonderful hotel called the Shiba Park Hotel, which is a part of the package. Our visit to the Ghibli Museum was simply life-changing, and we left there with a completely different outlook in life, for the better of course! And our visit to Disney World simply took us back to our childhood memories, and it was an absolute pleasure to relive those moments.

Once again, I would like to sincerely thank our friend Eri and everyone at JTB Australia for all of this. Rest assured, you guys will hear from us again when we're visiting Japan again next year! We hope you get to see Japan again in the near future too, Eri!

We now have the right to brag to our friends about our very first trip to Japan! And hundreds of photos and hours of footage we captured will definitely help :)

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Regards,

Indra

Thank you for all your time and effort

Hi Kathy,
Just a quick note to say thank you for all your time and effort to make the tour a great success. Hong Kong was great. Everything went well. I actually got sick of shopping. Bob was worried that I had lost my touch with the credit cards. Never……..

Kind Regards

Jenny

We had a wonderful time.

Hi Lily,

We are back safe and sound and happy. We had a wonderful time. I would go back to Japan tomorrow if I could I took about 700 photographs or so!

Tokyo is an enormous city, however for the massive population it didn"t feel crowded where we were and the transport system ran like clockwork. There was a lot of English in Tokyo, signage and on the trains, and we managed quite well I thought. Loved the hotels and locations we stayed in, and the Nozomi was fabulous.

The autumn leaves were AMAZING!

We were lucky to see a Shinto wedding, on a Friday, at the Meiji Shrine. Also lucky to see lots of little girls and boys in very special Kimonos for the name day festival, after the15th, when it is less crowded. The parents are very happy for you to photograph their kids in their special Kimonos and the traditional boy's outfits.

The Ghibli Museum was also a highlight, for me and Calem. So pleased didn't miss out. Calem wanted to live in a house like that. Really beautiful stained glass windows and interesting objects all around.

After seeing Enkoji Temple, a group of young women - students, with bicycles actually walked us the short distance to the bus stop, as it was getting dark around 4.30 pm! Can you imagine any where in Australia where that might happen?

Overall we had a ball in Kyoto, though there was less English and the trains and buses seemed more complicated, we adapted fine. We saw 3 Maiko, only quick enough to photograph one. Butterflies of the night indeed.

However there was no photo opportunity with the Maiko after the show on the tour we did, the guide didn't know about it? Overall the Tea Ceremony and walk through Gion was another highlight for us, we both really loved it.

Qantas was great, really good service and yummy food. We didn’t sleep well, but that's to be expected.

Next time I'd love to see more of Japan, Hiroshima, Mt Fuji (only saw it from the plane), Nara, Osaka, Takayama and Kyoto again.

Thank you for your kindness when my Mum rang up during our holiday.

Thanks so much again Lily,

Warmest regards,

Kate

I would recommend to anyone to use a travel agent

Wow, thanks Jacqui, I really appreciate your help, you have been so attentive, thank you so much, having your guidance really helps take the stress out of my situation. I would recommend to anyone to use a travel agent for this kind of thing, doing it yourself is just asking for hassle!
Thanks also for the tip on Echigo Yuzawa, I had also contemplated doing that. We'll see what the weather is doing, and put it on the list of things to do.
Heard it was hot at home, hard for me to imagine! But i'm halfway thru now, so I'll be back in shorts and tshirt soon enough.
Ja ne, tabi tabi sumimasen deshita.
Honto ni iro iro arigato!
jo

It's a pleasure to work with you.

Hi Celeste,
I really appreciate your very reliable and accurate work; the communication is immediate and to the point. It's a pleasure to work with you.
Have a great day!
Warm regards,

--
Philipp

I would definitely use your services again

Hello Yoshi,

My sincere thanks also for all the work you put in to our travel arrangements. We felt well looked after all through the trip, and enjoyed the places we stayed and saw along the way. The Yoshiike Ryokan was a highlight (if only the weather would have allowed us to spend more time in their stunning garden), and next time we would definitely want to spend more time in the Hakone area exploring the region.

I would definitely use your services again, and would be more than happy to recommend you to anyone planning to travel to Japan.

Domo arigato gozaimashita!

Niina

Thank you for your great organizing

Hi Olivia

Just letting you know that Michael and I had a wonderful trip to Japan. We can see why you fell in love with it. The people as you already know are the most polite, welcoming, gentle and clean people. Australians can learn a lot from them.

Thank you for your great organizing, everything went very smoothly. Unfortunately, we did miss out on our free day at the start of the holiday as there was a bit of a problem with the plane and it missed the curfew at Sydney Airport, so we ended up staying the night a hotel – but that was not your fault.

Thanks again

Lyn and Michael

What a fantastic trip we had to Japan

Hi Lily,

Wanted to let you know what a fantastic trip we had to Japan. Everything worked well and we loved everything about the Country, the people, the food, the Cities, the Temples, gardens etc.

Our escort Eiji was very professional and helpful and our tour leaders outstanding.

We have told all our friends what a wonderful trip we enjoyed and already a couple of friends are making enquiries for next year. Their names are Mr. & Mrs. Huxtable.

Thank you for arranging such a wonderful trip.

Regards, John & Leone

Thanks again for your suggestions and professionalism.

Hi Lily,

My husband, Ken, daughter, Rebecca, and I just wanted to thank you for arranging our recent trip to Japan.

We had a wonderful time and the hotels and tours you booked for us were just right.

We especially enjoyed the cormorant night fishing in Nagoya and the Kyoto special night tour.

Thanks again for your suggestions and professionalism.

Kind regards,
Annette

A Wonderful Time

Hello Clement,

Meredith and I are back safely, after having a wonderful time.

The weather was fantastic!
It was HOT in Tokyo, which we really relished and I finally got my voice back again.

We scooted around on the Subways and local trains in Tokyo. As you said, really simple.
The Hotel Pacific was great, Clement. A very spacious room, etc.

The Dai Ni was a more compact set up, but it was a fantastic location.
There was a kind of walk -through passage, as you got out from the station,so you didn't need to go out to the street.

Found a lovely French style coffee shop, across the road, just past the Post office, so we patronised them each morning, before we set out on our travels.

So, once again, thank you for all of your efforts that made our trip so wonderful, Clement.

I hope that you are keeping well.

Bye for now,
Maybelle

We all had fantastic time

Dear Clement

We all had fantastic time. Japanese people are certainly very polite. My wife especially loved the food, shopping, landscape etc etc. For me, personally I really would have like to sit and have a drink with the locals. Really get to know them. But the language barrier prevented much opportunities, I think.
Overall it was a memorable trip and we all like to go back again.

Thanks so much with your advice and help. greatly appreciated.

Cheers
S t kim

What a fabulous time we have had

Hi Clement:

As our Japan holiday is coming to a close we wanted to let you know what a fabulous time we have had. We managed to find all the hotels, do most of the sights you suggested and even tried the food you recommended. We spent today in Nara and what a great time we had. We walked everywhere in a bright sunny day and really enjoyed the city. When we were at theTodaiji Temple it seemed every school in Japan was having a field trip there - they sure were noisy but otherwise very well behaved.

Our Alpine Route went very well and we were glad we had the night's rest at Murodo before completing the trip. We did both the walks, the first day was lovely and sunny, the next grey and rainy but both were enjoyable.

Our hotel here in Kyoto is great - we are in the newer section and it is quite lovely. Also appreciate being so close to the station, and what a fabulous station it is.

Hope you enjoy your experience of the Alpine Way.

Arthur and Marilyn

Everything that you had booked was GREAT

Hi Lily

Thought you should know that we have now been and come home. We had a great time in Japan and everything that you had booked was great.

Just wanted to let you know about the hotels if you have any other families looking to stay in 1 room.

New Miyako Hotel, Kyoto - Triple room was great the beds are nearly an Australian Double so plenty of room

Hakone Hotel - Triple room was big - 3rd bed was a sofa bed but other beds were nearly Australian Double beds as well, the location of this hotel is fantastic on Lake Ashi but the rooms are well used and could do with a refurbishment and a good clean but for 1 night and the fantastic views of Mt Fuji - well worth it.

Ghibli Museum - If we hadn't been to Disneyland & Universal Studios in LA, we probably would have been very impressed with this, but we had and most of the information is in Japanese which makes it very hard to understand what it is all about. Although getting there & back was a real adventure!

Tokyo Morning Tour was very helpful in giving us a layout of tokyo and the guide was very helpful with directions and advise for the trains, etc.

Once again, thank you for all your help in organising our holiday to Japan, it has changed so much since I was there 20 years ago. Very easy to travel around yourself as just about everything is in English and everyone was very helpful if we needed directions.

Regards
Sharon

Our drive around Hokkaido

Hi Olivia

We're back from our drive around Hokkaido. It was fabulous- a lovely and mostly rugged area to drive through.
The hotels you booked for us were great: In scenic locations with good facilities, helpful staff, good food and character.
The driving was easy, the GPS helpful even though the written instructions on screen were only in Japanese/Kanji.
The spoken instructions were in American. A quick lesson on pushing the right buttons when we picked up the car
was enough for our basic needs.

Osaka was extremely and unusually hot for this time of year- mostly minima of 27C and maxima 35C. Just took it a
bit easier.

Want to return to Hokkaido....... and other quieter islands also. We've visited Kyushu, Shikoku and Okinawa
in the past and are now keen to take to the wheel there also.

Will return to JTB for our next bookings.

Thank You
Kitty

Thanks heaps for planning a great trip!

Hi Olivia,

I have been meaning to send you a quick email for 2 months!!At the moment I am watching a video of our trip and I would just like to say we had a great time in Japan - we really enjoyed everything about it. You planned a wonderful trip for us and everything went off without a hitch.
My favorite was Takayama, so I'm glad you included that!

So on behalf of David, John and I thanks once again.

Cheers
Michele

We had a wonderful time!

Dear Yoko,



Thank you for your help organizing our recent trip to Hokkaido. Jerry and I returned only a few days ago. We had a wonderful time! We were very pleased with all of the accommodations – but especially enjoyed the Shiretoko Grand because it gave us the opportunity to stay in a tatami room. While we were a little too early for the fall foliage, we saw beautiful scenery in the rural areas and also saw some wildlife (deer, bears, and cranes).



We appreciate the help – couldn’t have done it without you!



Carol South Australia

We were so impressed

Hi Lily,

We are back from our trip to Japan and we loved it.
We were so impressed with the itinernary and the service that you organised for us.

I just want to say a huge Thank you.
Just one more thing the guide we had on the Takeyama tour her name was Yoshii ( I have shortened her name and she like to be called that) we would like to put in a huge recommendation as she was a Brilliant Guide.
Everything about her was fantastic she spoke clearly so you could understand and gave our whole tour more than 100% she deserves to be recognised and hopefully be told how great she is.
Hope to hear from you.

Thanks
Irene

Thank you for the awesome job

Hi Lily,

Hope you are well. I just want to thank you for the awesome job you did in organising our holiday. Please pass on this message to your managers informing them of my glowing endorsement. We couldn’t have done it without your help and all your recommendations and bookings were perfect.

Once again thanks.

Regards

Mark, Christina and Noah.

An Odyssey to Remember

We are back from Japan and all of your travel planning helped make the trip very exciting, educational, and an odyssey to remember.

The Japanese are an efficient people so riding the Shinkansen was a spectacle with the timing and rosters all working together perfectly.

Thankyou very much again for putting everything together so quickly and we hope to be able to ask for the same help again in the near future.

Best wishes

Michael - QLD

Thank you so much for your help.

Dear Lily,

We had the most wonderful time in Tokyo and Kyoto. Thank you so much for your help in finding the right accomodation and guided tours. I am sure we will be back to explore more of this beautiful country.

We absolutely enjoyed our stay at Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo. Everything was just perfect from the room service to the room itself. We would definitely stay there again.
Both tours (Tokyo Morning Tour and Mt. Fuji/Hakone Day Tour) were fantastic and the lunch was delicious.

The rooms at New Miyako Hotel in Kyoto were quite old and the matresses very worn out, but the rooms were clean. We stayed in the old part of the hotel for one night, but kindly asked whether we could move to the South Wing which is the new part of the hotel. The staff was very friendly and gave us a great room in the South Wing. This room was great, everything was nice and comfortable.

I can recommend the Maiko Night Tour very much. Watching the Maiko dance was really amazing and the dinner was fantastic, too. Also, we were allowed to ask the Maiko questions which were translated to her.
The Kyoto and Nara Full Day Tour was very interesting (especially Nara).

And thank you so much for recommending us to go to Arashiyama to see the Bamboo Grove.

To sum it up, I think it was a great mix between going on guided tours and exploring the cities on our own.

Kind Regards,
Sabrina

Thank you very much for your excellent arrangements and service.

Dear Ichiro,
I hope you are well. I just want to let you know that our trip to Japan was very successful. All of the arrangements went according to plan and we had no difficulties. The Shinagawa Prince Hotel was very easy to find when we arrived in the station. We followed your instructions. The hotel was good and its proximity to the station was great.We were able to find our way to Tokyo Disney and elsewhere quite easily. There are many signs in English. This is quite different to my last visit to Tokyo 9 years ago! The person at the information desk in the station also spoke English which was helpful. The coach and English speaking guide to Narita Airport met us at the hotel as planned.
We all had a wonderful time. Thank you very much for your excellent arrangements and service. I was very happy with it.

There was one small thing that happened. One of our students left her mobile phone at the hotel. She did not know until we were well on our way to the airport. The guide telephoned the hotel and they found it in the room. They did not think they could mail it, but perhaps they would pass it on to someone from your campany. I was wondering if you have heard anytning about this.

Regards,
Lyn
Melbourne VIC

Fun in Queensland!

Dear JTB,

Thanks for making our trip one to remember. From the first moment we walked in to the Gold Coast Travel Centre we felt very welcome. Our highlight of the trip was at the Gold Coast theme parks in which you helped us get a great value combo.

We will be back next year to do it all again.

The McKenna family.

It was one of the Best Trips

Hi Kathy,
Thanks for the photo's, you did a great job with the trip at such short notice with the change.
You should be very proud of your effort and it was one of the best trips we have been involved in and look forward to seeing you on next years trip.

Thanks heaps

Kind Regards
Mitch,Cal, Scott and Jill

ALL your tour operators/guides/drivers were EXCELLENT

Dear Sir/Madam
I would like to express my delight in travelling with your company. My husband and I – John and Leanne went on your 14 day grand tour of Japan which departed on 29 May 2010 and we had a wonderful time!!!!!
ALL your tour operators/guides/drivers were EXCELLENT and we would highly recommend your company to people wishing to travel to this lovely country
Thanks again for a truly wonderful trip
Regards
Leanne, Mornington VIC

Thanks for all your organizing

Hi Kathy,
Thanks for all your organizing of the trip to Singapore and Penang. I apologise for not thanking you in person as I was rushed through customs at light speed. Everything went very smoothly from my view, I'm sure there were some iffy moments but you seemed pretty calm for the whole trip. Thanks for all that you did to make the trip a success. I had a great time. Have a great weekend.

Regards,
Adrian

They stayed and waved us off smilingly.

Hi Lily,
Just thought I would check in and tell you I enjoyed my recent trip to Japan and, of course, especially the Sunrise tours, which are very efficiently organised and the tour guides and general staff are very obliging and helpful. When they came to the station with us, they stayed and waved us off smilingly and were at the other end in the same way (not the same person of course), so it was very comforting to know we wren't being left to our own devices, so to speak.

With regard to my worrying about getting the train from Tokyo Station to Shinagawa, it didn't turn out to be a problem (1) because on the Mt Fuji trip the shinkansen stopped at Shinagawa station and of course, the Shinagawa Prince is just across the road. (2) on the trip to Kamakura the train once again stoopped at "my" station; (3) on the Nikko trip we ended up at a different station (near Tokyo Station but one down towards Shinagawa) and I was able to return to the hotel with a couple from my hotel who were already familiar with the train system, so there was no need to worry about taxis; it might be helpful for you to be able to pass on this info to other people like me who are useless with trains and worry about where they will end up. I probably could have managed with the guide's instructions because people are quite willing to help you if they understand what you are saying.

Speaking of trains, they are unbelievable compared with ours - and no graffiti, which was marvellous. I vote for sending a delegation to Japan to find out how they do it, apart from the vast amounts of money that must be required. I was even able to take a photo of Mt Fuji from the shinkansen at 300 kph, and it came out. I was also lucky enough to still be able to see quite a number of cherry blossom tress in bloom, for which I was very grateful.

I was also impressed by the taxis and the drivers with their white gloves and spotless cars.

I would suggest you advise people to wear comfortable shoes, without laces, since you have to take them off so much for the temples etc.

The weather was great until the last couple of days when we had a bit of a battle sometimes with the rain, but it was still okay; pity it was on the walking tour in Osaka, but even so; it was a lot hotter than I expected it to be - everywhere.

Thanks again for your assistance Lily and I hope this finds you well. God bless, Kind regards,
Gail

School Group Travel

Hi Kathy,

I'm glad to be back!
The trip did go well and I was happy with the arrangements. It was great to be met at the airport and taken into the YH at Iidabashi (great location). I wouldn't exactly rave about the food at the YH, but having breakfast and lunch provided was convenient. Next time, I think I would prefer room at the YH with a smaller capacity (like 4 or 6 to a room).
I'm glad we started at the lower end of accommodation and went to the higher end last in Kyoto. I would maybe go to Kyoto before Hiroshima.
I would definitely do all those locations again.
It was good to have use of the Japanese mobile and having the bus pick us up in Osaka to take us out to the airport was excellent.
Having now done my first trip in charge I would certainly have more confidence to do another one in the future.

Thanks for all your work and help to make the trip as smooth as possible.

Kind regards,
Jenny

EXPLORE JAPAN BY RAIL 9th May Departure.

"Your Escort was outstanding throughout the tour."
Ron, Canberra

"Please accept our thanks for all your efforts to make our holiday so very special. We had a wonderful time in Japan and your knowledge, organisation skills and sense of humour have made our stay relaxing, very informative and totally enjoyable."
Michelle and Russell, Melbourne

"Riki was a great asset to this tour. He was very patient, courteous, and of enormous help."
Keanne, Melbourne

"So very enjoyable."
Frank and Eve, Western Australia

"I think and estimation of meal costs not included, lunch JPY1,000 and dinner JPY1,500 to 2,000 would assist in budgeting for the tour."
Peter, Melbourne

"Thank you for a beautiful holiday."
Gizell, New South Wales

"The optional tours should have been smaller. The tours with Explore Japan by Rail were all very good."
Amanda, New South Wales

"I enjoyed the tourist friendly atmosphere of Japan. The cleanliness everywhere and the friendly and helpful people. The only thing I would like to recommend is more use of credit card transactions in Japan.
Pauline, New Zealand

We would jump at the opportunity to do it all over again!

Dear Noriko

Just an e-mail of thanks and to tell you how much we enjoyed our holiday, Re-your itinerary you customised for us.
We would jump at the opportunity to do it all over again!. Unfortunately the expense would not enable us to do it again so quickly!. The break between City life at 'Hakone' and to enjoy the Ónsen' (Volcanic spring baths) was an awesome experience, and at every opportunity we indulged in the experience, not to mention the view of 'Mount Fuji' and 'lake Ashi' from the Hotel. There is so much of the wonderful experience of Japan I could mention but time does not permit. But on that point, also thanks for acquiring us hotels close to the Rail Station which helped considerably cost wise and time!. Although for your notification the Hotel in Ósaka', New Hankyu, the bedroom was so small & uninviting compared to all the other hotels we were happy with only having to stay only approx. 15hrs so it could only go down as a temp. en-route stay prior to departure!.
Anyway! again thanks for your assistance in compiling an unforgettable experience for us.

Yours sincerely

Keith & Sophie

We had the most wonderful time!

Hi Olivia,

Just a quick belated note to thank you for the organisation of our trip to Japan in April.

We had the most wonderful time, experiencing all the wonderful things Japan has to offer, the extremely helpful and courteous people, tasty and interesting food and the amazing cultural experiences.

We found the use of the train and buses to be very straight forward and efficient to use (once you understood how the systems worked). Language was certainly not a difficulty.

During our travels we met another couple (from Melbourne) in Takayama who were singing your praises as you had organised their entire trip including accommodation etc.

Olivia we would have no hesitation in recommending anybody to utilise your services. We look forward to hopefully going to Japan again in the not to distant future to enjoy other areas North of Tokyo that we did not have the time to do on this occasion.

Once again, thank you for your very professional help and advice.

Kind regards
Greg & Kathy

Gold Coast Theme Parks

Hi,

Thanks for organising our Gold Coast Theme Parks passes. We had a lovely time in the Gold Coast and at all the theme parks with the kids. We will be sure to book through JTB again!

Thanks

Tim & Sarah

Off course we can support your travel to Japan AND Beyond

Dear Clem

thank you for your assistance with my trip. I have returned and I just wanted to say thanks, it all worked out fine.

Italy was absolutely FREEZING but wonderful. Both Venice and Florence are special places. I once spent 6 weeks in Florence and would have happily done that again, just walking around and going to look at all the art. We found a couple of lovely places to eat there to. We also got to go to the Chianti wine region and to one of the wineries, which was special.

Osenkaku Ryokan was special and Michael loved it, as of course did I. He was a bit doubtful until we got there, complaining of the travelling, but then he got in the water and he was sold! The staff were wonderful too, as was the food. More of the staff speak a few words of English now than before, and I think it was a deliberate move on their behalf.

I think Michael now has the travel bug, so we have to pay for this holiday so that we can travel again. Certainly, I plan to go back to Japan later this year! I have to start planning it. That is the only way I can cope with being back after a holiday, to plan the next one!

best wishes and thank you for taking an interest

Judith

Our excellent service here in Australia and in Japan while you are travelling

Dear Rie

Belated Happy New Year to you.
I meant to email you soon after we returned but time has got away from me!
Our trip was fantastic and we would like to thank you for all your assistance in organising the trip for us and providing us with very useful information and tips. The JTB people we met were excellent and all very keen to help.
Thankyou so much. We will be recommending you to all our friends and colleagues looking to travel to Japan.
Japan is such an amazing place and the people so interesting and so helpful. What a wonderful culture.
Thankyou again.
Kindest regards and Family
Janette Tavelli

Onsen Experience

Hi Clem

Well, I'm back !! Japan was fantastic !!

All the accom was great. Good to be back to a soft bed now though, that's for sure. They were all in really good locations - even the Tokyu Hotel in Kyoto was only a 10 min walk from the station so we only caught a taxi once when we arrived.

Takayama Ryokan was amazing. Hubby loved it, and was mega scared to try the onsen, but after much encouragement he attempted it and then I couldn't get him to stop raving about it. He was first to go back the next morning (may have had something to do with the fact we were the only ones in there both times in each of ours, which made it easier).

The only thing that was a bit crappy was My Fuji. We left Takayama at 9.30am (you had suggested 10.30), and caught the train back to Odawara via Nagoya, but by the time we got there it was 3.30pm even though we caught the bullet trains where possible and all the trains connected perfectly (love the rail over there !!). By the time we tranferred to the little train to Gora, cable car etc, it was quite late and we had the basically race through everything, and literally run from train-cable car-ropeway-pirate ship to make the last departure at 5pm.

The weather was really crappy that day, and we didn't see anything (no Fuji-san), and it was really cold and overcast, so we just got on the train straight away back for Tokyo. We were gonna skip it altogether, but decided at the last minute to go for it, but was kinda a waste of money, then we couldn't be bothered going back and doing it all the next day again even though the weather was perfect (of course).

So, of course not blaming you for that, but just a handy bit of feedback for next time that it takes much longer to get there, so prob wouldn't advise people do it in one day as you don't have time to see anything.

Other than that one day of craziness, we had great weather. The cherry blossoms were amazing, and it was so great to get back after 10 years (can't believe I could still speak & understand some Japanese). Thanks for planning everything !!

Cheers
Sal.

Lucky Trip for Cherry blossoms

Hi Kathy,

Thanks for your email.
The trip was amazing! Everything went to plan and ran so smoothly - we kept calling it the lucky trip.
Our luck finally ran out at the airport though - as our flight was delayed 5 hours! We didn't end up departing until 2:20am!! The kids were incredible though - no whinging at all!
The weather was also great - 20 degrees in Hiroshima - we all wore t-shirts at Miyajima!
Cherry blossoms were in full bloom and we actually got to see Mt Fuji!!
The school visit was a huge success too - we are now officially sister schools! Yeah!!

Thanks so much for all your hard work too - things went well due to your organisational skills and attention to detail. We all very much appreciate your professionalism and genuine love for your job : )

The Monterey was a beautiful hotel - great breakfasts. Quite good location - we walked everywhere from there, and the staff were very helpful. The Starbucks across the road certainly benefitted from us being there!

One student hurt her knee while we were there and we had to take her to the Doctor. Not sure what the problem is but I think she will be claiming insurance for physio back here in Australia.

A friend of mine stayed at an inn in Kyoto and hired a maiko to come and entertain the group. She also agreed to answer questions at the end. They said it was a real highlight and as the Inn was near Kawaramachi it was very handy. I think we'll look into that accommodation for our next trip - which will be in September 2012.

The bags were good - a very good size, but the front pockets fell apart when kids put things in there - the mesh parts came away from the zip area. We saw another group with the same bags the day we went to Miyajima!! I thought of you that day : )


So happy to be home with my babies - who are now TWO! I missed them heaps, but I also appreciated having time just for myself too!

Thanks again Kathy. I'll certainly be in touch before our next trip as we will definitely go through you again.

Cheers,
Leanne