we braved the crowds at NATAS travel fair last fri and managed to, more or less, confirm our travel plans. stopped by the JNTO booth first to get help with planning the drive route in hokkaido. our must-visits include the lush lavender fields in furano, beautiful lake akan, national parks with acres of natural greenery and not forgetting the famous hot springs in noribetsu! checked out other booths to get ideas on where to visit in tohuku and kansai region too.
booked our flights through STA Travel. not sure if S$783 for return tickets is a steal but it definitely saves some trouble for us cos we get to fly in frm fukuoka and out frm narita. insurance was at 40% off so we bought it on the spot. better be safe than sorry esp when u're travelling for 30days!
made some minor adjustments to our flight timings ystday bcos we're gng to stopover in bangkok for like half a day (shopping and eating!) before taking the midnight flight. so as of now, we're leaving 7th july at 0740 and returning 5th august at 2300. nxt thing to do is to secure a car equipped with english GPS (a rarity in japan).
