Make your Vacation feel personal: How I am planning a trip I've spent my life dreaming of.
Japan, here I come.
Howdy peeps, Happy 2025. The world feels a bit overwhelming at the moment, with fires and politics and whatnot. I am happy to have the time to write again about things I like in my free time now, as a way to escape from the stressors of the world.
If you know me and have known me, you would not be shocked to hear that I chose Japan as my honeymoon location. My 13-year-old anime-obsessed self would be screaming at the reality of this happening, and I am happy for her… It feels like I am making my inner child happy and embracing the things I have always loved.
For my privacy, I will keep dates and specific locations of hotels for after the trip, when I will post my full itinerary.
Where do I begin?
When Tom and I decided that Japan was our honeymoon location, as excited as I was for this amazing adventure, anxiety loomed over me. I have helped my Dad (Hi Dad!) plan tons of trips in the past such as Zermatt, Amalfi, Como, and Florence helping do research for days or meals. My dad handled the “boring” stuff such as transport and flights. This is my first time doing it all on my own, especially since my fiance had never left the country until a few days ago.
The first thing I did was book the flight. I highly recommend having flight alerts (when prices go up / down) for 5 different dates. I got alerts from Expedia and Google daily giving me reports of if the tickets were going up or down in price. Finally, I got an alert one day that tickets had dropped by a hundred dollars or so. Naturally, I bought it ASAP.
I had so much anxiety booking the actual flight, that I texted my dad 30 times in 5 minutes, sending him screenshots asking “Does this look ok” or “Can you check the spelling on this?!”
Booking the flight meant it was official, Japan 2025 here I come! As excited as I was at that moment, it felt like a huge wave of next steps was looming over my head…What do I do now? How do I figure out what to do?
TikTok… my favorite least favorite tool.
Yes, you are reading that right. I do not like TikTok for planning trips and finding things to do. TikTok’s algorithm (I believe) does not prioritize the right things when I do a search query. I look up, “What I eat in a day in Tokyo,” and it shows me the same 5 videos every time I search, each being along the same thread of information. TikTok also tries to scare you away from things and can be negative about travel. “DO NOT GO TO HERE, IT IS SO XYZ!” or “Here is this place I went to from TikTok, everyone likes it but me and everyone who likes it IS A FAKE BAD TOURIST!” Each video after another has conflicting views that simply make me feel overwhelmed.
I will give an example of how I came to this conclusion. Nishiki market in Kyoto is something you will see on every “What to do in Kyoto” guide, and in a lot of TikToks. I remember seeing video after video saying “You should not come here because it is popular, touristy.” and “You should not come here because they slightly inflate prices and it is so overrated.” or “I do not recommend coming here because it has weird food, and you cannot get a lot of pictures because of the crowds.” I found myself starting to cross it off my list because of the mixed opinions on TikTok, I felt whiplashed. TikTok was making me feel more anxious about my trip than helpful. Shit.
I spent hours scrolling through guides on Pinterest, Instagram, Blogs, and Google to ensure the itinerary I was building hit all of the “important” places. I felt myself start to panic because the list was daunting and growing with every source I went to. Things I felt like I was supposed to do.
It hit me, why are these important? Why do I feel like I NEED to go to these places? Isn’t this my vacation? Why am I letting the internet convince me that omakase was something I HAD to do even though I do not like a lot of fish, or that I HAD to shop at these huge stores and do all these things? This is my money, my vacation, and my time that I am ultimately investing to make my dream vacation come true, so why am I copying other people’s itineraries to make myself feel like I’ll have a “productive” trip?
I scrapped my whole old itinerary, deleted the document, and did not look back.
Instead of googling, “Best things to do in Kyoto”, I tailored my searches toward my interests. I now feel so confident in my trip and my planning abilities, that I will share with you now how I am personalizing my trip.
M.I.Y.O.G (Make it your own, Girl!) <3
Let’s MIYOG people, no more googling the best things to do in XYZ, and let’s discover things that resonate with us!
I have four categories for this section: Shopping, Food, Hobbies/Interests, and Sights.
Shopping:
I HATE TOURISTY SHOPS WITH SH*T I DON’T NEED DAMN IT! I do not want to leave Tokyo with a shot glass that says “Konichiwa from Tokyo!” or a pair of chopsticks mass-produced in a factory in Japan. I WANT THINGS I LIKE, that are unique, and feel like me. Again with the internet, for some reason, it is so hard to find shops that align with your interests/your aesthetic. I found a cheeky way to do so, for at least a few leads. Here is my example.
I notice that shops that sell Baggu and Dusen Dusen tend to be my vibe. I went to both of their websites and did retail near Kyoto/Tokyo Japan. I found a ton of unique curated boutiques and small shops that are my feel. From there, I would go to the shops/boutiques Instagram, and find what other small businesses they are following in those cities. It snowballs and sends you on a journey of finding unique hidden gems that the internet would never show you.
This next one I got as an idea indirectly from a blog that I, unfortunately, do not remember the name of! This blogger recommended that when you go to Japan, do not go into Google Maps and type in SUSHI. It will give you a bunch of tourist reviews/tourist traps. Go to Google Translate, type in what you want from English to Japanese, and copy and paste the Japanese inquiry into Google/Google Maps. You will find what locals and Japanese residents are rating high, without having to do some extra digging. I know that technically Google Translate is not always accurate/exact, but for situations like this, it seems to get the job done.
Food:
I am a verified foodie, (I hate that word???) so eating well in Japan is a top priority of mine. TikTok *And the internet!! seem to recommend the same 5 places. Places that are Michelin starred, or viral online, or chains such as Ichiran. I was not having it.
The Michelin Guide gives awards to places that do not necessarily have stars, but are high-ranked. There are pages and pages of amazing restaurants ranging in cuisines and prices.
In addition, being more specific about your queries can help you find better restaurants. I used to Google “Where to get the best Meal in Kyoto”, but now rather tailor my search to “Udon in Kyoto”, scroll through the results, and read reviews myself. A huge thing I hear about people going to Japan is that they fall into tourist traps with food, and that is something I want to avoid at all costs.
To be honest, this part of my trip is still a huge work in progress. :-)
Hobbies/Interests:
I am really excited about this category because I feel like these are the nuggets of my trip that will be super memorable. I started by having my fiance and I talk about things we love, and how we can work them into our trip.
Things I love (and that my fiance loves):
Japanese Artist, Yoshimoto Nara
Snoopy
Studio Ghibli
Natural Wine
MTG (Magic the Gathering)
Fashion
Sneakers
Kitchenware/Cooking
Ceramics
Coffee
I will give two examples from these of how I am working them into my trip, Yoshimoto Nara and Natural Wine. With Yoshimoto Nara, I knew that the majority of my inquiries would be about museums, galleries, and merch to buy. I wanted more than that, but I did not know what to look for. Through research and several forms of research (Sigh, TikTok, Instagram, Google dig for the good nuggets..) I found an izakaya, a type of Japanese bar in which a variety of small, typically inexpensive, dishes and snacks are served to accompany the alcoholic drinks, that has Nara’s doodles that he drew there IN THE BAR.
Tatemichiya: 30-8 Sarugakucho, Shibuya, Tokyo 150-0033, Japan (Photo by TIMEOUT)
Regarding natural wine, there are a bunch of amazing resources out there such as the natural wine site Raisin, but I have stumbled across more natural wine in unexpected ways than just scrolling through webpages on my computer. This is not a shocker, but a lot of people on YouTube make beautiful artsy videos of Japan! My favorite channel is Sam and Victor, they have the same vibe as me and go to a lot of cool places. I watch their videos and just let the YouTube algorithm send me video after video. In one of the videos, (I LOST THE LINK I AM SORRY!) they briefly mentioned amazing natural wine and Japanese food at “Lanterne Tokyo.”
Lanterne: 〒153-0043 Tokyo, Meguro City, Higashiyama, 3 Chome−1−11 サンサーラ東山 1階 (Photo by Timeout)
With finding gems like this, you stumble upon blogs that review wines and food that align with what you like. I’d say my favorite research method is a snowball rolling down a hill. or like an onion. You peel the outer layer and you’re like WOW! This is so great, BUT THERES LAYERS BENEATH IT FOR YOU TO DISCOVER!! Ahem.
Sights:
I am still of course going to some of the cool places and shrines that are super popular. Re: Nishiki Market, I love food and little bites, so why would I NOT go? That’s so me! I do not care what anyone else says, and I will form opinions myself.
For example, I wanted to visit a cool shrine that had lots of statues, or anything unique that piqued my interest. I found Otagi Nenbutsu-ji Temple when looking up “Temple with lots of statues.” (lol why does that sound stupid now.) I found this through “Studio Ghibli temples” also.
Otagi Nenbutsuji Temple 2-5 Sagatoriimoto Fukatanicho, Ukyo Ward, Kyoto, 616-8439, Japan (Photo by Never Ending Voyage)
So…Where do I stay?
Hotels felt daunting to me, I have only booked my own hotel room ONCE for a wedding Tom and I went to, and the concept of that was so stupidly stressful for some reason.
One day when I was watching House Hunters when I was working, I heard them talk about things that were important to them in their house. I hear people on TikTok (how many more times will I mention that app after trash-talking it) say that "hotels in Japan “are not important” because you will be out and about all day. Okay, sorry, hotels are “are important” to me, and I want to find a nice place to unwind at the end of the day! Hotel research is maybe the most daunting of them all because, in most places where tourists tend to go, there are thousands upon thousands of hotels.
I used House Hunters as an inspiration for booking my hotels.
What is important to me?
What do I need from a hotel?
Location concerning where things are that I want to do
………overall aesthetic
I will use my Kyoto hotel as an example for you lovely people. These were the queries I looked for in Kyoto hotels:
Traditional feel, but modern
24-hour check-in
Hot baths in some capacity, whether that is hot springs or just nice tubs
Proximity to places important to me to go to
Laundry
I found Nol Kyoto Sanjo, a hotel that checked ALL my boxes! I booked all of my hotels through Capital One Rewards. (Sponsor me!)
Nol Kyoto Sanjo: Japan, 〒604-8182 Kyoto, Nakagyo Ward, Osakazaimokucho, 700番 (Photos by Nol Kyoto Sanjo and Booking.com)
That’s all I’ll chat about today with planning, my next post will be about places I found, and will be going to.
U ARE A GEM
XO SABRINA