Self-drive Holiday in Japan (Part 1)

Hubby loves to take overseas holiday trips every year.  He would make sure we go some places to spend time together and to appreciate the world better.  I always struggle with the thought of going overseas.  The process of convincing me that we both need to take some "timeout" and enjoy the world and finalising the places to visit has always been a tough task for Hubby.  No matter how difficult the process is, he never gives up and he will make sure we both take that trip even if he has to compromise on the choice of places.  I am glad Hubby has this dedication and effort, as without that, I will proabably not have such an enriching life.

December 2011. Hubby finally worked out the trip itineraries we would both embark on.  The trip was to Nagoya, Japan and we bravely decided we would do a self-drive up north from Nagoya and spend 2 weeks in Japan.  Self drive trips are not new to us.  We have given up the idea of tagging along tour groups as we always have to compromise on time and the places we really would like to visit.  Plus, the travels were tedious as we would spent sitting in a coach travelling on the road for many, many hours.  Just 3 years ago, we decided we will enjoy the holiday trips the way we want.  Self-drive trips is a very good option.  We have since taken such road trips in UK, Australia, New Zealand and now Japan.

The thought of holidaying in Japan was thrilling but the thought of driving in Japan was a little scary.  You see, Hubby said we will get GPS to help navigate around and if all fails, I can still practise speaking japanese to the locals.  Although I have learnt the language, it has since been 20 years in which I never have much opportunity to use it.  Despite my reluctance to be relied on to converse with the locals (stressful!), we decided to take the challenge as we both love to visit Japan again.  Not just for the scenaries and shopping, I truly admire the good-mannered culture there is in Japan.

To reduce the stress level I anticipated I will have to go thru, I convinced Hubby that we ought to finalise our road itineraries and to make accommodation arrangement prior to our travel.  We have taken self-drive trips without making prior arrangement for accommodations as we discovered the joy of searching and looking in at the plenty lovely B&B that are so available in Europe, Australia and NZ before deciding which are the ones we would love to spend the night in. BUT, to do that in Japan will be tough with my little spoken (and rotten) japanese and my little courage.  So, we planned, researched and finally made all the necessary acommodation arrangement.  We will be staying in a Ryoken with shared bathroom and toilet, and that sent a chill down my spine.  Why?  I am a freak for clean toilets and bathrooms!  I compromised so that Hubby can enjoy the holiday trip the way he wanted to. 

Hubby did a research and decided on the choice of car to be rented.  He said to me "Dear, the car we will be driving in Japan will be a very small car (unlike those we have driven in Europe).....rates are very high for rental cars in Japan." I frowned a little but well.....so Hubby proceeded with the online application on a car rental company's website.  After half an hour, I have an upset and grumpy Hubby.  The online application which he spent almost half an hour completing was rejected, and the reason for rejection was that he has forgotten to request for snow tires as December is winter time in Japan.  Haha!  Hubby didn't give up although he had wished that the japanese can be more flexible in the application system design.

Finally the day came and off we go.  We landed in Nagoya to pick up the rental car before heading up north to Takayama.  We hit our first challenge (!) - The counter service girl at the car rental company does not speak English.  After a series of briefing and me trying very hard to comprehend her explanation, we checked for the snow tires and the GPS that we have asked for and were ready to hit the road.  Not before too long, we met our second challenge.......