Money – specifically costs and budget – is an unavoidable topic that pops up almost daily when you’re staying in guesthouses and hostels, especially when the length of your trip is mostly dependent on how long said funds will last. Conversations with other travelers about whether or not they can come for a beer on a particular night, splitting bills between big groups and the benefits of eating in vs eating out highlight the fact that long-term backpacking isn’t the most lucrative pursuit (duh!).
I’ve had several emails and messages from people asking things like;
- How much do you/should I expect to spend?
- How long did you have to save for?
- How much will you have left at the end?
Of course, the answers to these questions vary on a case-by-case basis, depending on the trip and how someone travels. Still, just talking with people about how we’ve set ourselves up has helped a few friends set some goals and realise that saving for a trip this long is not as daunting a task as it seems at first blush.
Ornella and I have worked out a budget (with the requisite Excel spreadsheet – I’m still an engineer!) of sorts that we are getting used to sticking to… easier said than done! Since we’re visiting many places that we will likely never see again, we need to find the right balance between sensible spending (that will keep us on the road longer) and fully experiencing all that each new spot has to offer. Keeping certain costs down and finding smart ways to save money has started to become second nature to us. We’ll put together a post later on detailing our favourite cost-saving tips.
One great way that we’ve been able to save money is by using airline points for all of our flights. If your credit card isn’t getting you miles/points that can be used on a major airline group (Star Alliance/SkyTeam/Oneworld), change cards now (US link), Over the years, we’ve accrued enough Star Alliance points that we will be able to do all of our flying on this trip using reward travel – our flight from Perth, Australia to Sapporo, Japan, as an example, cost only USD137.50 each.
Yes, we’re in Japan! The only downside of reward travel is that the flights available don’t always take the nicest route. This leg of our trip was a prime example of that, with an 8.5 hour layover in Bangkok followed by 2 hours in Tokyo. Thankfully, with the luxury of time we have, it wasn’t too big of a deal and we were able to make the most of it. We popped into Bangkok for some beers and great food from Tealicious (thanks for the tip Lou and Charles) before heading back to the airport.
We chose Sapporo (on the island of Hokkaido) as our starting point since it is in the northernmost part of Japan, one of the few countries we intend to visit that actually gets some serious cold (temperatures we want to avoid completely!). Working south from Hokkaido should ostensibly allow us to see a rise in the mercury at each stop in Japan.
Our introduction to Japan in Sapporo was mostly a wet one. Numerous typhoons have wreaked havoc up and down Japan over the last couple weeks, and we arrived just as a couple of them were heading for Hokkaido. While the rain can be a nuisance, it didn’t dampen our spirits and our first stop after coming all this way had to be a ramen shop! Sapporo has a well known ramen alley and we ventured out into the entertainment district to find it so that Ornella could start fulfilling her dream of eating ALL THE RAMEN IN JAPAN.
In asking directions to this fabled passageway of brothy deliciousness, I learned my first (and favourite) Japanese sentence: “no-me-hou-dai” (飲み放題). To our delight, this phrase, which frequently adorns bar and restaurant entryways, means “drink all you want” or “bottomless cup”. ¥1,000 – ¥2,500 ($10-$25 USD), depending on the location, affords you the opportunity to sample as much sake, whisky, plum wine and beer as you like, while enjoying your ramen or cranking out the karaoke hits. We even found one place that was set up with original Nintendo systems to heighten the nomehoudai experience.
The other highlights of Sapporo were visiting the brewery (of course) and learning about the Khaosan Hostel chain in Japan, and the internship program that they offer (more on that in a later post!).
After a few days we left Sapporo to head to the “bellybutton”, or “navel”, of Hokkaido, a city called Furano, which is the geographic center of the island. Unfortunately we were a few weeks too late to experience the bellybutton festival that is held each year – a reason to go back! We caught a train halfway there before being waylaid by the typhoon of the day, which cancelled all trains for the next 4 days. Luckily the buses continued to operate so we made it just a little later than we had planned. Now for the fun bit – getting to our guesthouse.
For some reason, I (the blame squarely lies with me) had decided that the 4.2 km walk to the guesthouse from the main station would be a nice one for us to break in our bags and see the town, so we hadn’t arranged any transportation. Of course, being a few hours late due to typhoons, this walk was now going to need to be done mostly in the dark, in the rain. To top it off, Furano is in the foothills of several mountains, and our lodging was in the direction of the mountain so topography was to become an issue. Of course, we realised all these things at about the halfway point – and there’s no turning back from there!
We arrived at Log Yukari Guest House happy to dry ourselves off, warm up with a nice shower and get some rest. We were shown to our separate (male/female) 20 person dorm rooms and quickly fell asleep.
The main attraction in Furano, besides navels, are the beautiful flower farms that blanket the valley region. Farm Tomita gained national fame after being featured in a Japan Rail calendar back in the 1976 and the hordes haven’t stopped since. We’d arrived at the tail end of the season but were still able to check out some of the scenery and sample the lavender flavoured ice cream.
The ice cream combined two noted aspects of central Hokkaido; the flowers and the dairy! I’m a big milk drinker and I have to admit that the Hokkaido product was the most rich, flavourful and delightful milk I’ve ever had. Even Ornella, who isn’t usually too fond of straight milk, enjoyed a glass or four while we were in the region. And, of course, there was a ramen element to the dairy story – as we encountered the local variation of the dish being served crowned with cheese slices. Yum!
Trains again proved hard to come by as we left Furano destined for the southern tip of Hokkaido, Hakodate. Buses got us there in the end and we had a much more civilised, 10 minute walk in daylight (with clear skies) to get to our next hostel, where we had booked a private room for a change.
Hakodate had plenty on the tourist agenda for us. Firstly, I was really hoping that we’d be able to find Japanese Macaques (also known as “snow monkeys”) bathing in a nice onsen (Japanese hot spring bath), as shown in the following picture lifted from the internet:
Unfortunately, what we found was a rather sad, concrete enclosure that’s particularly grim when there’s no snow to hide the cracks, grime and fecal matter.
The monkeys were still nice to see, although their home needs a bit of sprucing up.
We even hit the links one day, playing a type of golf called Park Golf (“pāku gorufu” in Japanese). One club, short holes and a heavy ball made for an interesting experience.
We had a great time in Hakodate but it was soon time to leave Hokkaido and head to the big smoke. Finally, a ride on the shinkansen(bullet train) and another chance for me to geek out!
