#131 JR Pass June 2016

The JR Pass is a discounted railway ticket that allows for almost unlimited travel on trains (including the bullet train) in Japan for a set number of time, usually one or two weeks. It is only available to buy in advance outside Japan (either online or via travel agent) and it is for foreign tourists to Japan.

It is not for people who live/work in Japan. It is not available to buy in Japan.

A 7-day pass is about 29,000 yen and considering the return trip from Tokyo - Kyoto is 26,000 this pass can offer absolutely huge discounts. This is probably also why foreigners coming to Japan for work are so desperately blind to the fact it's unavailable to them. It's hard to accept that you have to pay regular Japanese prices and be bankrupted each train you take.

Anyway, since this is such a recurrent issue with so many people I thought I'd post about it again in case someone has missed it.

The hugely misleading headline of this article from April 2016 led many to believe that you can now buy the JR Pass in Japan.

But if they had actually read the article, they would have seen that what it actually says is “Japan Railways Group (JR Group) plans to make the value-for-money passes available to visitors....”. The key words in the sentence being plans and visitors.

So if you’re coming to Japan on JET or with another English teaching company/just to work in general/live here and do nothing, no you still can’t get the pass. 

And if you have people coming to visit, for now they still have to buy online in advance, and with my inside knowledge of Japanese bureaucracy it’s likely to remain that way for the foreseeable future.

#120 Sample prices of Flights from Japan 2016

When I was going to Japan, I thought I could easily get a €40 return flight to Korea, considering the low cost airfares for around Europe these days. However, this is definitely not the case and it is almost impossible to escape Japan for less than 10,000 yen (€80).


I fly out of Nagoya (Chubu Centrair) because it's my closest airport. Flights are usually a little more expensive than Tokyo or Osaka, but since it's faster and cheaper for me to travel to Nagoya it usually evens out. It's also won Best Regional Airport in the World a few times and is a really nice, clean, modern facility so I enjoy using it.

Here is a sample of the prices of return flights I have paid, the airline and when I was travelling:

Tokyo Narita - Dublin €701 (for December 2015) Etihad Airways

Nagoya - Manila €78 (for February 2016)* Cebu Pacific

Nagoya - Beijing €266 (for May 2016) Etihad Airways

Nagoya - Seoul €157 (for July 2016) Asiana Airlines

Nagoya - Bangkok €257 (for August 2016) Vietnam Airlines

*From what I have seen, the only real bargain I got was for my flight to Manila, which was very cheap. Flights are usually closer to €200+. 

The good thing is that despite the higher air fares in comparison to Europe, you usually get a decent baggage allowance. Etihad give about 23kg, while Vietnam Airlines are giving me a massive 40kg!! Which is ridiculous, it's twice the amount British Airways allowed me for moving across continents...Anyway!

Similarly to other countries, flights go through the roof on weekends, long weekends and holiday periods, especially to close destinations like South Korea. 

You can also get cheaper flights from places like Fukuoka which is geographically closer to places like Taiwan, S Korea, Philippines etc.

If you constantly scour airline comparison sights you could get lucky and find a cheap flight - I once saw €50 flights to Thailand from Osaka...never booked them in time though :( 

#76 India: The Travel Show

The main issue I have with going on holiday to somewhere like India, is the fact that it is so far away from Ireland. Return flights at the moment are about €500 cheapest to Mumbai or New Delhi. This is actually quite cheap considering the distance, but it's still €500 before you even pay for accommodation or entertainment or anything else. But then again, these are all very cheap!

So I'm posed with a problem: travel within Europe for flights under €100, but where accommodation and food is more expensive, or travel outside Europe, where flights are more expensive, but everything else is cheaper. Destinations outside Europe are also usually more drastic and exciting for someone who lives within Europe.

But anyway, before we start discussing India, here's a map to help you, so you won't get confused. I don't think it is likely that someone would visit both Kolkatta and Mumbai for example, as they are quite far apart (a 3hr flight), and these are just a few ideas for each place in India. There are hundreds of things to do near each of these cities if you do your homework!

India Map

New Delhi

This is the capital city, so it is where you can expect to find a lot of stuff, such as;

Askhardham Temple

Lotus Temple

Varanasi and the Ganges River

The Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal is located in Agra, which is accessible by train by New Delhi. From what I've heard, these trains are INSANE cheap,  possibly under €10 for a first class ticket! They take about 3 hours, and from the train station there it's about 15mins by bus.

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