We decided that visiting Japan again would be a wonderful way to finish our trip – heading out of Tokyo to visit Kyoto, Hiroshima, and we were especially looking forward to cycling the Shimanami Kaido cycle way over two days towards the end. Our flight to Tokyo was uneventful, having wheelchair assist at both ends made it a straightforward transfer, but it was a long day. Leaving our Munich hotel at 8am local time, flying 12 hours (landing at 6am Tokyo time), a train into Tokyo and madly trying to work out where to catch the Shinkansen from to Kyoto in a very busy train station was fairly stressful, then arriving way too early to check in to our hotel and having to try and fill in another 5 hours made for a very tiring day. Trying to keep active, we took a trip up the Kyoto tower for a view over the city, found an air conditioned coffee shop (Tullys) for a couple of decent caffeine hits, found another mall for lunch snacks and a supermarket and a wander the shops but by 2pm we were almost dead on our feet. It was good to finally check in to our hotel, setting our alarms to enjoy a short hour long siesta to hopefully rejuvenate ourselves. It absolutely helped!

Our hotel was a bit out of town, but that meant that the restaurant choices nearby were much less tourist oriented and more authentically family run. We love the range of Japanese (and Korean style) food on offer – it’s cheap, its tasty and filling, so different in style to Europe. One of the fun things is the option of DIY cooking, often sitting at the table with a hot plate or hibachi and grilling meats, or cooking the delicious okonomiyaki savoury pancake.

It was still very warm in Japan, mid-high 30’s but not as unpleasantly hot as Europe had been. With the help of the very efficient public transport system and Ubers, we made our way around some interesting and historic parts of Kyoto. We wandered along empty traditional narrow lanes in the mornings – by nighttime these places would be heaving with locals and tourists, traditional Geisha and busy restaurants. The old town was beautifully restored, traditional wooden buildings, narrow lanes, temples and then the busy CBD with modern shops and markets. We wandered into one such shopping lane, overwhelmed that it went back from the street front for so far, and then spread out sideways too. I got waylaid by a 1-hour spectacle shop at such reasonable prices, I had to stop and order a new pair for myself. (Because I have progressives, it took longer than 1 hour, but they would send them to our hotel in Osaka for the following week. – total cost was NZ$360 for frames and thin progressive lenses – about 40% of what I’d pay back home – and they fit and work very well!) Another fun thing in these malls were the kitty, puppy and micro pig cafes! We didn’t indulge but they seemed popular.

Our final day in Kyoto saw us catch the train out of town to the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. This was a highlight to wander down to the river and then hire a rickshaw to take us into the forest and around the town. Our guide was good at stopping to take photos of us and give us a bit of background information about the forest and the sights. 45 minutes seemed a good time to take and explore the area and, on a hot day, our guide was probably thankful it wasn’t longer. Disembarking, we grabbed a nice lunch at a local cafe and then on to the next adventure, a traditional train ride through the river gorge bounded by trees to the next town. A local train took us back into Kyoto for our final evening meal.

We were starting to get the hang of the busy train stations in Japan, and managed to get ourselves onto the high-speed Shinkansen from Kyoto to Hiroshima with our bags and Chris’ crutches. These trains travel at very high speeds, and what would be a 4-plus-hour highway trip takes just over 1 1/2 hours by train. Our Hiroshima modern high-rise hotel had a wonderful rooftop lounge with stunning views over the city and, relaxing on the 25th floor on arrival afternoon, I commented to Chris – Is that the building swaying? Is that an earthquake? Sure enough, we later discovered that the adjacent island of Kyushu had suffered a very serious quake, what we felt was minor.

The views over the city daytime and evening were lovely, and we enjoyed our stay here, closer to the action and easy to access the sights. Our first stop was the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, a sobering reflection of the devastation caused by the first atomic bomb deployment on this city. We spent a good hour looking at the exhibits and hearing and seeing harrowing stories of the damage caused to property and people. It was very sobering and a reminder of the tragedy of war. No photos allowed in the museum, but plenty to see outside with different memorials. The Atomic Bomb Dome was a stark testament to the destruction caused.

The following day, we took the ferry to Miyajima Island, a short 45 minute hop over the water. We enjoyed wandering pretty streets, fighting off the pesky deer looking for a free feed, and looking for respite from the 35-degree heat inside air-conditioned shops. Once again the 7-11 convenience shops provided us with a tasty and very inexpensive lunch (hot and cold bakery goodies) and the local lemons flavoured our cold tipple at a nearby bar.

One of the highlights of our time in Japan was to be cycling the Shimanami Kaido on islands north of Hiroshima over two days. I had arranged the accommodation either end of the trail and been in touch with a company that would supply/deliver the bikes to the start, transfer our luggage and provide midpoint accommodation and meals. Sadly, we had to cancel – due to Chris calf tear; it was just too risky that he might exacerbate the injury which was still causing him pain and limiting his mobility; we didn’t want to be possibly stranded with two bikes right at the start of this tour and no language skills to communicate for assistance. We were very disappointed but thankful that our accommodation and bike hire were all cancellable free, we only had to pay 20% of the cost for the middle day. We had to come up with Plan B to replace these three days with something, deciding that we’d take a beach resort and just chill ( in the heat) by the pool and in the sea. No sightseeing, reduce the walking load on Chris and just catch our breath after some busy weeks. Finding a beach resort in Japan wasn’t easy, but we ended up on the island of Kyushu (there was a major earthquake on Kyushu not far from our resort only 3 days before we arrived, with extensive damage to a town about 60km away. The area we stayed was not affected thankfully! ) at a beautiful beach resort in Karatsu. It certainly met our needs with a beautiful sandy beach, warm calm water, numerous pools to lounge by and a local town for traditional evening meals. We were amazed at our spacious room – we got a free upgrade and the space to spread out and relax was much appreciated.Being the cost-conscious kiwis we are, we were still doing our own breakfasts in our room, muesli, yoghurt and fruit was all we needed, we certainly didn’t need to pay equivalent of NZ$40 each for the buffet. Each evening, we caught the local bus into the town and found some delightful local restaurants to enjoy authentic Japanese meals. We certainly were the strangers, we saw no other Europeans in the hotel or around the town at all. Our three days here were very relaxing and it was good to have no sightseeing or pressures on our time at all just swim, relax repeat.

We headed back north to Osaka on another Shinkansen; arriving to an intense rainstorm, that saw us get very wet in the 200m we needed to dash to our hotel, was not the best introduction to this town. But our hotel welcomed us and checked us in. Arriving at our room and swiping the key, we were shocked to see suitcases sitting inside and the occupants were just as surprised to see us in “their” room! It turns out they confused the 507 on their card with 509 of our room, and as the door had not been locked properly, they had entered and made themselves at home. We went back to the front desk and after to-ing and fro-ing, decided they could stay in 509 and we would have 507 since the rooms were exactly the same.

This hotel had a laundry so we could catch up on a couple of weeks of washing, as well as a communal lounge area with free coffee and, at last, breakfast included -which was extensive and very good value. The location of this hotel was excellent for us to get out and about, exploring the old town and new town. Restaurants nearby fed us up with more delicious treats and the local shops also gave us a chance to catch up on retail therapy – especially UniQlo, one of our favourite Japanese experiences. We caught the train towards Osaka Castle, unfortunately heading off in the wrong direction when we disembarked, sweating profusely in the heat as we finally made it up the stairs (rather than the level access) to the castle area. First stop was our recently favourited Japanese coffee chain, Tully’s, for an iced coffee. We wandered around the outside of the castle – to enter without pre-purchased tickets involved a long wait in the heat!

We had decided to enjoy the evening atmosphere of this city down by the river – the town was alive with locals and tourists, many more that we had seen previously, but we usually kept to the side streets and earlier dinners, so this was a departure from our norm. The canal area was lit up with neon lights, the streets busy with restaurant touts, the bars just opening for patrons. It was a fitting farewell to our travels in the region south of Tokyo. Chris was also very happy to leave his crutches behind (and the hotel was happy to put them behind the desk for any future patrons in need of assistance, thanks NHS!).

One more Shinkansen to Tokyo, heading to what I had promised Chris was a “treat” hotel – paying over our budget for a luxury hotel near Tokyo station. Sadly, the hype did not match the reality. Check-in was a shambles and our small dated room was a disappointment. I’ve decided that mid-range/budget hotels often pack more bang for buck and don’t disappoint. Still the location was good to wander through Ginza and find another delightful local restaurant for our final meal in Japan. I don’t think any of the meals disappointed us and they were always such good value (Cheapest was about NZ$35 for us both, most expensive $55 – for two including beer/wine/spirit). We checked out the next morning, off to enjoy our final day in Tokyo, heading to Shinjuku where we had stayed previously and enjoyed wandering the shops and basement food courts. Shinjuku station is huge and busy and very very confusing! It took us a good 45 minutes to work out how to get out and head in the right direction to the areas we knew, not helped by internal construction going on in the station and detours and exit closures. Finally getting to ground level and orienting ourselves (finding the 3-d cat helped) we enjoyed a wander around the shops and heading to the basement of the Takashimaya store where we knew there were so many interesting goodies for sale, and bakery lunch options to see us through to dinner. All too soon, it was time to try and find our way back into the station, back to the hotel to collect bags and head off to the airport for our trip home.

It was a wonderful reminder of home to board the Air New Zealand flight and enjoy the friendly Kiwi hospitality missing from our other international airline experiences. Air NZ really does deliver with its service and the new layout of the plane was also a step up from some other flights we had experienced. Back home at last to the cool of late winter was a pleasant relief from the heat of Europe and Japan. A fabulous 84 days, so much seen and enjoyed, family time and new sights, people and food. We’re already planning more adventures in the next 12-18 months, watch this space and thanks for coming with us on our adventures!

Some minor facts and figures – planning a trip like this involved a bit of organising and also trying to budget for 3 months was a bit hit and miss. I always mock up a calendar to plan possible destinations, distances between, and confirming accommodation as we book it. We tried to keep to an average of NZ$200 per night for the 60 nights we needed hotels and accommodation – we ended up averaging $280, but there were a couple of splurge items in Salzburg and Karatsu, and London is always over what you hope for! We did save on our fuel estimate because we had a hybrid car that reduced our mileage significantly and we always kept our eyes open for the best petrol prices. We also saved on our road toll estimate by keeping to the more scenic minor roads.

We are not ones for travelling with backpacks/carry on luggage only as there are a few essentials we have to carry. I always pack my pillow – it squeezes into my bag quite nicely, and another must – especially in summer – is a top sheet. The majority of our beds had duvets, and some were quite heavy, so having our own top sheet to replace the duvet meant we could sleep in more comfort. And the most essential items were a sharp knife, collapsible bowls and spoons so we could make our own breakfasts and lunches no matter where we were. Our much travelled, 9 year old Kathmandu trolley cases have seen us do numerous extended trips and it will be a mission to replace them when they finally expire, but they are holding up well. We were able to keep under the 23kg weight limit, scraping close for the final trip home.