Travel With Family- A Summer Trip To Japan- 1

Just after buying our house (Adventure Base Ranch) and getting the kids back into school, we were lucky enough to get the last four spaces on a school sponsored EF (Education First) trip to Japan, which would happen in summer this year (summer 2024).  We were really excited to get on the trip.  EF runs group tours with different focus’s depending on what the school and individual group is more interested in.  While in Japan we met another EF group with a STEM focus, while our tour and group was clearly focused on cultural aspects of Japan.  EF also allows for the trip to be paid into on a monthly basis during the year before the trip….meaning you don’t have to have a huge payment all at once for the trip…a positive for most families sending their kids on trips like this.

Going on a huge overseas trip involving two very long flights and minimal luggage does involve some planning by the family.  In our case, we decided we wanted to go see Japan, so we went along with our kids on this school age student trip.  On the trip, we had three teachers from our local middle school and a number of other parents, so there was plenty of supervision and chaperones…they didn’t lose anyone and no one got in trouble.

Planning in our family had to start months ahead of time….like 10 months ahead of time.  Here’s some planning considerations and actions we had to take to get this trip booked, planned and then go travel:

11 months ahead of the trip (Aug/Sept 2023):

-We heard about the trip at the start of the 2023 school year and had to decid if we wanted to go at all- it was a resounding YES.  And we decided to go as a family, even though it was a school group.  (In the end, we were not the only parents on the trip)

-Since the trip had been announced, booked and sorted way before this, there were hardly any seats left- we needed to take quick action to book the last four spots available.

-In booking the last four spots on the trip, we needed to contact EF quickly and put down a $99 dollar deposit for each of us, then get the automatic monthly payments flowing.  Since we had not started this process during the last school year (2022), our monthly payments amortized into the total amount per person were higher….as we only had 11 months to pay for the trip for all four of us.

5-10 months ahead of the trip (October – Feb):

-Passports- We were reminded that we all needed valid passports.  Both the kids needed new passports.  So we booked the appointment, did the trek to the post office, took the pictures and opted for the expedited passport option.  This worked well.  Soon we had new passports for the kids and could move on to the rest of what we knew needed to be done.

-Medical Clearance- Yep, we needed signed medical clearances for the kids.  Got that done and sent back to EF. 

2 months ahead of the trip (June):

-The Japan trip coordinator (a teacher) held the first meeting in early June to discuss the trip, pass out forms and emergency numbers, coordinate disparate issues and generally brief us about Japan.  Good info was passed but there was several curveballs:

1.  We didn’t know that additional money (before we left) would be needed for tips that were not covered by the fees we had just finished paying to EF.  These funds had to be cash.

2.  The coordinator made a point to tell us that only carry-on luggage should be used for the trip, checked luggage was highly discouraged and might set the group schedule back if it was used.  At least in my family, we didn’t all have rolling, zippered carry-on luggage so we needed to get it quickly.

3. Although we had asked several times about group transport to LAX (like a bus) we learned at this first trip meeting that it wasn’t going to happen, so we needed to find our own way to LAX for the 1am flight.

-In late May/early June as the dates for the trip solidified, we made the reservations with the kennel for our three giant breed family members and a seperate kitty castle kennel for our two kitties.  Now we just needed to find help to feed the donkeys.

-In June we hoped we had someone to watch and feed the donkey’s but those folks decided to move on, as our area was too hot in the summer.

Less than 1 month ahead of the trip (July):

– We still didn’t have a solid plan for getting to LAX but started to realize we just might have to drive ourselves and pay for overnight garage parking…..for 10 days.

– We were hoping we had found a solid person to help feed, water and watch the donkeys…and finally we did find a great person to help with that.

-The Japan trip coordinator had one more meeting just a week before the trip to iron out any last minute kinks but didn’t throw anymore curve balls, we were feeling more prepared and seemed to be on a solid glide path.

-We booked LAX Airport Parking and paid ahead of time.  This was one less thing to worry about as we moved through our checklists (the HelmsMistress and I both had our own checklists).

– I went and bought eight more bales of hay for the donks, just to make sure they had plenty of hay as needed.

-The day before the trip we packed, got some money to take with us and cleaned out the fridge to get it as empty as possible.

-The flight was at 1 am, meaning we didn’t need to show up at LAX until 830 at night.  So the morning of the flight, we got the dogs to the kennel, the kitties to their kitty palace and took the opportunity to clean the house and the yard.  The donkey stalls were cleaned and the house and yard were looked after.

-Also on the day of the flight, we turned the water heater down to “vacation” setting, locked up the shed, got the tire shields on the horse trailer tires and made sure everything in the house was off or secured.

The house was alarmed and off we went, driving in light LA traffic on a Friday afternoon to get to the airport, ready to do the ten hour flight directly to Japan.  After a three hour drive to get to LAX, we met up with the rest of the group at approx 9pm.  After getting through security and finding our gate, we finally boarded the flight around 1am.  We were finally off to Japan, the land of the rising sun.

We would fly non-stop on American Airlines from LAX (Los Angeles California) to (HND) Tokyo Haneda airport.  After clearing customs and traversing the very large airport, we boarded a JAL (Japan Airlines) flight from Tokyo to Osaka, where our various ground travels would start.

We travel as a family because we love traveling WITH our kids….even if they’re getting old enough to be embarrassed by us.  We write about our travels FOR YOU…cause you might like to go to the same places or you might be able to improve on our trips with lessons you learn from reading the blog.  What we do not do is write these posts as a personal journal.  So we hope you read this blog for entertainment but also to go with us to these places and learn a bit more about them in case you want to go yourself.  It’s also my hope that you travel with family as much as you can.  Shared experiences cannot be translated into words and can never be recreated, so enjoy them for what they are, time after time.

This is the first post in a series about our family trip to Japan.  Yes, we went with a school group but I strive to keep other peoples kids out of my photos as much as possible as I focus on the travel and cultural aspects of the trip.  No matter who you go with…travel is travel it’s just done at different speeds.  

Here’s our primer for this trip: 200+ MPH, By Land

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