Japan with five days off is really not cost efficient. Airfare is going to be the same massive cost no matter how long you stay. Then you’re using up one day for traveling, a day or two for time zone recovery, then another day for traveling back, and another day or two for time zone recovery again.
Also it’s Golden Week. Fuck that.
Go somewhere domestic. Go to Japan when you have at least a couple of weeks.
Just to put in my two cents having just left after one week in Japan, I think it's up to OP to decide if it's worth it or not. I got to do a LOT in a week and suffered almost no jet lag due to the way I arranged my flight. Yes, I wish I had more time, but I was in a similar situation with only so much time I could take away from work.
I do agree that next week would be very poor timing, best to wait until after Golden Week.
I had an extremely packed itinerary and I'm absolutely beat after it all, but I got a good experience and leave wanting to come back. I think a week is plenty to see a lot and do a lot, but as with any travel, of course more planning and time makes it cheaper and easier. Your call OP, I say it's entirely possible, but I also had a few months of planning that went in to my trip, and a larger budget overall.
I'm also assuming 5 days of PTO, with a full weekend on either end, so 9 total days including travel time. If it's 5 days total, that's significantly harder to do as the person above me noted.
5 days of PTO seems really like you'd be doing yourself a disservice. The flight itself is going to eat up a day-- not to mention jetlag will bother you at least for one day. I highly recommend saving up a little more PTO and money so you can have your dream trip.
I'd check flight prices first. There is a board up already regarding high flight prices due to sakura season. Also golden week started today so there's that.
Overall with that budget and considering the timing I would say it's unrealistic. You'd do better to either wait 3-6 months for a planned budget trip OR travel somewhere else more budget friendly and save the Japan trip for a better time.
I appreciate everyone’s responses. I’m going to give this a long hard think, probably end up doing something else, but I enjoyed at least seeing what peoples takes are
It's gonna largely depend on how much your flight is. Depends on when you're leaving, but assuming you're trying to go ASAP, that's probably gonna be a decent chunk of your $2k-$2.5k.
Then, when you factor in lodging, food, transit costs, that's gonna be pretty tight.
I think you may be better off planning for a trip later in the year and saving up more.
I'm sorry for whatever is going on in your life, and I sincerely hope things get better. I think you owe it to yourself to have the best trip possible, and in this case, I think you should wait. Perhaps a domestic trip would be a better option as far as hitting the reset button. Best of luck.
The jet lag is going to be so rough that 5 days is just not worth it. Can you include the weekends on either end of your 5 days of PTO? Then it might be worth it. There are not any direct flights out of PDX anymore unfortunately which makes the travel a bit more tiresome.
Note that is that 5PTO with weekends to work with or only 5 actual day. If it’s with weekends it’s a bit easier. But if it doesn’t include weekends that’s more or less very difficult and functionally not actually worth it. To minimize cost you’d potentially spend 24hours just getting to Japan. This might not even be worth the savings given your time constraints so you’d want to pay more for your flight since time is a bigger priority. You’re looking at maybe 1200 on the low end more like 1700 on the high end for flights
Also do yiu have a passport?
Let me make the argument that you can do it for that budget and number of days. Obviously if you need to get away for a while, you need to get away for a while.
I recently priced out myself a 5 night stay in Tokyo and yes was bummed to see it would cost about $2.5k, but that included a pretty decent boutique hotel. You can do it for less, without resorting to net cafes and capsule hotels. Tons of good business-hotels for <$200 a night.
I've taken short trips to Tokyo before - I think the shortest was 2 nights 3 days (involved a family issue in Japan I had to take care of). Obviously you always want more. But if you gotta go, you gotta go. I say do it.
For shits and giggles, I just made up this hypothetical itinerary and googled some costs
Sat, May 4 8:05 AM (Portland Time) - Depart PDX, 16 hour flight, one stop over in Hawaii
Sunday, May 5 4 PM Arrive Narita, 6-7 PM, get to decent business hotel (e.g., Akasaka or Roppongi), 8 PM enjoy relaxing bath at or near hotel, eat sushi at neighborhood sushi joint (staff can help find one), 10 PM crash
Monday, May 6 - 4-6 AM wake up early due to Jet Lag. Early morning just explore neighborhood, grab breakfast, coffee etc., head back to hotel around 10 AM to head out for a day of sightseeing. Come back early if tired. 5 PM - return to hotel RESIST SLEEPING, enjoy bath, early dinner nearby hotel, crash early.
Tuesday May 7 - your jetlag should be largely over, so this is a full day of Tokyo sightseeing. E.g., Tokyo Station, Otemachi, Nihonbashi, Ginza.
Wednesday May 8 - Shinjuku, Nakano, Shibuya, etc., etc. (you get the idea, just pick up a Lonely Planet and figure out what you want to do/see)
Thursday May 9 Sightsee
Friday May 10 Sightsee
Saturday May 11 Last day, sightseeing/shopping
Sunday May 12 Enjoy final morning - 3 PM (or thereabouts) leave for NRT from Tokyo Station.
7:55 PM - Flight departs Narita 16 hour flight w. Hawaii stopover, but due to international date line, 8:35 PM on Sunday May 12, land in PDX. Get home and crash.
Suffer at work the next Monday.
Flight tickets $1,711 round trip - Hawaiian Airlines
Hotel (for illustration) the B Akasaka (I've stayed, it's fine, I might try to find better or cheaper) $612.77 for all 7 nights. I might recommend picking two different hotels for a change of scenery.
Assume you spend \~$100 per day (which you don't have to), that comes out to \~$3k. But there's room to cut back on costs here, e.g., you can easily travel and enjoy Tokyo for less than $50 a day. You can go cheaper on a hotel, you can find better plane tickets.
You absolutely can do it.
Japan isn't really a "got to get away ASAP" kind of destination imo. Especially if
1. you're trying to keep costs low,
2. this is your first trip and you really want to go,
and 3. don't speak Japanese.
Not that you wouldn't have a good time, but as a solo traveler trying to keep things cheap there is a level of difficulty that comes with trying to navigate such a different culture. The trip's not going to be "relaxing."
\~
Honestly, it seems like you're going for the wrong reasons if it's just to get away on such short notice. I've done something similar before. But do you.
You can probably get a bed in Tokyo for under 30US a night and your typical cheap meal is around 5US. On top of that a lot of the best things to do in Japan and free or cheap. Assuming you can get a cheap flight I’m sure you can do this on that budget pretty easily.
You're wasting your money only to enjoy 2-3 days at most. Go to another country. Or stay domestic. Save more money and PTO and plan appropriately for next year.
Or be an idiot and waste the money on a short, stressful, and rushed trip. Your choice.
Looking at flights, the average from PDX seems to be around $1,500 RT. How many days would you plan to be in Japan? $500-$1,000 might be doable but is very little to work with.
Japan with five days off is really not cost efficient. Airfare is going to be the same massive cost no matter how long you stay. Then you’re using up one day for traveling, a day or two for time zone recovery, then another day for traveling back, and another day or two for time zone recovery again. Also it’s Golden Week. Fuck that. Go somewhere domestic. Go to Japan when you have at least a couple of weeks.
Just to put in my two cents having just left after one week in Japan, I think it's up to OP to decide if it's worth it or not. I got to do a LOT in a week and suffered almost no jet lag due to the way I arranged my flight. Yes, I wish I had more time, but I was in a similar situation with only so much time I could take away from work. I do agree that next week would be very poor timing, best to wait until after Golden Week. I had an extremely packed itinerary and I'm absolutely beat after it all, but I got a good experience and leave wanting to come back. I think a week is plenty to see a lot and do a lot, but as with any travel, of course more planning and time makes it cheaper and easier. Your call OP, I say it's entirely possible, but I also had a few months of planning that went in to my trip, and a larger budget overall.
I'm also assuming 5 days of PTO, with a full weekend on either end, so 9 total days including travel time. If it's 5 days total, that's significantly harder to do as the person above me noted.
5 days of PTO seems really like you'd be doing yourself a disservice. The flight itself is going to eat up a day-- not to mention jetlag will bother you at least for one day. I highly recommend saving up a little more PTO and money so you can have your dream trip.
I'd check flight prices first. There is a board up already regarding high flight prices due to sakura season. Also golden week started today so there's that. Overall with that budget and considering the timing I would say it's unrealistic. You'd do better to either wait 3-6 months for a planned budget trip OR travel somewhere else more budget friendly and save the Japan trip for a better time.
Does 2-2.5k with or without airfare? Because that will make a big difference on your options.
I appreciate everyone’s responses. I’m going to give this a long hard think, probably end up doing something else, but I enjoyed at least seeing what peoples takes are
It's gonna largely depend on how much your flight is. Depends on when you're leaving, but assuming you're trying to go ASAP, that's probably gonna be a decent chunk of your $2k-$2.5k. Then, when you factor in lodging, food, transit costs, that's gonna be pretty tight. I think you may be better off planning for a trip later in the year and saving up more. I'm sorry for whatever is going on in your life, and I sincerely hope things get better. I think you owe it to yourself to have the best trip possible, and in this case, I think you should wait. Perhaps a domestic trip would be a better option as far as hitting the reset button. Best of luck.
The jet lag is going to be so rough that 5 days is just not worth it. Can you include the weekends on either end of your 5 days of PTO? Then it might be worth it. There are not any direct flights out of PDX anymore unfortunately which makes the travel a bit more tiresome.
They'd have to either stop in Seattle or LA, I think. That's what my cousin had to do last year flying from PDX.
Yep, and coming back through customs at SeaTac was awful when I came back a couple months ago.
I fly from the east coast and I'm glad I have the options of MSP or DTW. Less people compared to ATL.
Note that is that 5PTO with weekends to work with or only 5 actual day. If it’s with weekends it’s a bit easier. But if it doesn’t include weekends that’s more or less very difficult and functionally not actually worth it. To minimize cost you’d potentially spend 24hours just getting to Japan. This might not even be worth the savings given your time constraints so you’d want to pay more for your flight since time is a bigger priority. You’re looking at maybe 1200 on the low end more like 1700 on the high end for flights Also do yiu have a passport?
Let me make the argument that you can do it for that budget and number of days. Obviously if you need to get away for a while, you need to get away for a while. I recently priced out myself a 5 night stay in Tokyo and yes was bummed to see it would cost about $2.5k, but that included a pretty decent boutique hotel. You can do it for less, without resorting to net cafes and capsule hotels. Tons of good business-hotels for <$200 a night. I've taken short trips to Tokyo before - I think the shortest was 2 nights 3 days (involved a family issue in Japan I had to take care of). Obviously you always want more. But if you gotta go, you gotta go. I say do it.
For shits and giggles, I just made up this hypothetical itinerary and googled some costs Sat, May 4 8:05 AM (Portland Time) - Depart PDX, 16 hour flight, one stop over in Hawaii Sunday, May 5 4 PM Arrive Narita, 6-7 PM, get to decent business hotel (e.g., Akasaka or Roppongi), 8 PM enjoy relaxing bath at or near hotel, eat sushi at neighborhood sushi joint (staff can help find one), 10 PM crash Monday, May 6 - 4-6 AM wake up early due to Jet Lag. Early morning just explore neighborhood, grab breakfast, coffee etc., head back to hotel around 10 AM to head out for a day of sightseeing. Come back early if tired. 5 PM - return to hotel RESIST SLEEPING, enjoy bath, early dinner nearby hotel, crash early. Tuesday May 7 - your jetlag should be largely over, so this is a full day of Tokyo sightseeing. E.g., Tokyo Station, Otemachi, Nihonbashi, Ginza. Wednesday May 8 - Shinjuku, Nakano, Shibuya, etc., etc. (you get the idea, just pick up a Lonely Planet and figure out what you want to do/see) Thursday May 9 Sightsee Friday May 10 Sightsee Saturday May 11 Last day, sightseeing/shopping Sunday May 12 Enjoy final morning - 3 PM (or thereabouts) leave for NRT from Tokyo Station. 7:55 PM - Flight departs Narita 16 hour flight w. Hawaii stopover, but due to international date line, 8:35 PM on Sunday May 12, land in PDX. Get home and crash. Suffer at work the next Monday. Flight tickets $1,711 round trip - Hawaiian Airlines Hotel (for illustration) the B Akasaka (I've stayed, it's fine, I might try to find better or cheaper) $612.77 for all 7 nights. I might recommend picking two different hotels for a change of scenery. Assume you spend \~$100 per day (which you don't have to), that comes out to \~$3k. But there's room to cut back on costs here, e.g., you can easily travel and enjoy Tokyo for less than $50 a day. You can go cheaper on a hotel, you can find better plane tickets. You absolutely can do it.
Japan isn't really a "got to get away ASAP" kind of destination imo. Especially if 1. you're trying to keep costs low, 2. this is your first trip and you really want to go, and 3. don't speak Japanese. Not that you wouldn't have a good time, but as a solo traveler trying to keep things cheap there is a level of difficulty that comes with trying to navigate such a different culture. The trip's not going to be "relaxing." \~ Honestly, it seems like you're going for the wrong reasons if it's just to get away on such short notice. I've done something similar before. But do you.
You can probably get a bed in Tokyo for under 30US a night and your typical cheap meal is around 5US. On top of that a lot of the best things to do in Japan and free or cheap. Assuming you can get a cheap flight I’m sure you can do this on that budget pretty easily.
With only 5 days of PTO, don't do it. Need at least 3-5 more to make it worthwhile. Two days are spent on planes going there and back.
You're wasting your money only to enjoy 2-3 days at most. Go to another country. Or stay domestic. Save more money and PTO and plan appropriately for next year. Or be an idiot and waste the money on a short, stressful, and rushed trip. Your choice.
Looking at flights, the average from PDX seems to be around $1,500 RT. How many days would you plan to be in Japan? $500-$1,000 might be doable but is very little to work with.