How to travel Japan without once paying for a hotel

by Tynan on

I love hotels, especially nice ones. It’s great to know that you have a comfortable place to come home to after a full day of adventure in a foreign city. However, in Japan hotels are expensive, and if you’ve got a limited budget you can get more bang for your buck spending your money elsewhere.

I had this idea a week ago, and have been dying to write about it. But first I had to test it out firsthand to make sure that it actually works and is practical.

The one prerequisite is that you get a JR rail pass. If you come to Japan, this is an absolutely essential purchase. Basically you pay a fixed fee (just under $300 for a week or up to $570 for three weeks) for unlimited travel on all Japan Railways trains. This will take you all the way from Hokkaido in the north (where I am right now) to Fukuoka in the South. Everywhere.

The JR pass is good for travel on all of the JR trains except for sleeper trains and the fastest bullet trains, which is no big deal since the second fastest are almost as good.

However, I have found a loophole in the sleeper train rule. Certain sleeper trains have beds which are classified as seats, and can thus be used with the rail pass.

The first type is called “Nobi Nobi Carpet Cars.” They are trains full of little bunkbeds made out of wood with carpet on top, and a blanket and pillow are provided. Your taste may vary, but I’ve found sleeping in these cars very comfortable.

The second type is called “Goron to Shito.” I don’t know exactly what that means, but basically you get a bunkbed with a mattress, but no pillow or blanket. These are a bit more comfortable that the Nobi Nobi.

There are also overnight trains without beds. These aren’t nearly as comfortable as the bunk beds, but the seats usually recline way back. I’ve slept in one for the past two nights and have had no problems getting a solid night’s sleep.

One important point, which I’ve learned the hard way, is that the beds-classified-as-seats can fill up quickly, so it’s best to book them as far in advance as possible. During peak season that can be a few days. In the off season you can get them hours before they leave.

These sleeper trains are very slow, which means that where they end up is almost irrelevant. You can take a Shinkansen bullet train back to wherever you want to go that day.

Whether or not the train has a shower seems to be random, but they all have bathrooms and sink areas to brush your teeth. If yours does have a shower, use it. They’re really cool and it’s fun to shower in a moving train.

If not, look for an onsen. These are public baths fed by natural hot springs. You’ll never feel more clean or relaxed after visiting one, and they’re a great part of Japanese culture to enjoy. They range in cost from a few dollars for a small one tub onsen to more that twenty dollars for a more elaborate one.

Japan-Guide has a great overview of the night trains which is a pretty complete list of the loophole cars. I found at least one not listed that was also a nobi nobi.

French trains go for British baguettes

by Anna Brones on

In a country so proud of its culinary heritage, it’s hard to imagine any foreign versions of local specialties ever being sold. I’m talking about France, the country where the capital city organizes the Baguette Grand Prix, just to determine which boulangerie makes the best one (it even makes the French national news). Surprisingly enough, even in a place with such high bread expectations, somehow British baguettes managed to make their way onto the trains of the French railway.

The Guardian reports that Fosters of Barnsley, a Yorkshire bakery, has started exporting truck loads of baguettes across the Channel to be sold on trains. The move has made baker John Foster deemed the “most hated man in France,” according to French media.

With a well-known background of Franco-Anglo tension regarding food, the fact that British baguettes are being sold to French railway passengers is rather humorous. Maybe Sarkozy will see it as an attack on his country’s culinary heritage, or maybe the French will just start exporting fish and chips.

Expected Belgian rail strike for April 30

by Anna Brones on

A heads up if you’re on your way to Belgium: the country’s two largest rail unions announced Monday that they plan to strike on April 30, 2008 because of a dispute over pay and conditions, as reported by the International Herald Tribune. About 90% of the employees of the state rail company SNCB/NMBS will be striking, meaning that travelers can expect a 24 hour train standstill.

Not only will regional service be affected, but also international lines like the Eurostar to Britain, the Thalys to France and the Netherlands and the ICE to Germany.

In the United States, we aren’t very used to national strikes of this kind, but some European countries — France and Germany for example — deal with them frequently. But don’t let strikes discourage you; train travel is still an efficient and eco-friendly way to make your way across Europe, just plan accordingly.

New luxury train: The Great Brazil Express

by Abha Malpani on

You know a service is for rich Western tourists when: in a non-English speaking country the name of the service is in English, the website is only in English and prices start at $3,500. Their video-promo has nice imagery but is full of clichés and sounds like a monologue for retards. Welcome to Brazil’s first luxury train service: The Great Brazil Express.

The website still lacks information, but we know that its first 7-day tour begins on April 23: from Curitiba (capital of Brazilian state

Noflights.com: Travel without flying

by Abha Malpani on

I enjoy finding websites that represent businesses trying to make-money and help the world at the same time. My latest find is UK based Noflights.com, which as the name suggests, is about traveling without taking a flight.

The company has put together an expansive bundle of travel-itineraries for people who want environmentally conscious travel. From the UK, they have ready packages that, other than Europe, will take you to China, Russia, Morocco, and Turkey. You can travel by bus, train or boat and choose the type of holiday you want basis categories like: “big sky, mountains, lakes”, “6-hours from London”, “tracks less traveled” and “mix-it-up”. They will tailor-make your trip if you want, and if you are based outside the UK you can send them your details and they will sort something out for you.

They promise: “…the lowest price on the market for any of our hotel or holiday products. If you find a cheaper hotel or like for like holiday (either as a package or booked independently) from any other source, we’ll match it and give you £10 back for good measure,” and 10% of their surplus income will be donated to environmental justice campaigns.

Another interesting feature of the site: you can send in a travelogue of any sort and if they like it they will give you a discount or some reward for using it on their site.

The website looks new and has unsurprising issues of a new site: at the moment it does not have enough information uploaded and many links don’t click to anywhere; a bit of scouting around revealed that it launched only about a week ago. Nevertheless, worth checking out.