Travel Plans: Japan

Time is flying by in Korea, and our winter break is fast approaching. As part of our contract, we can take nine vacation days in winter and nine in the summer. After a lot of daydreaming and researching, we chose to split up the nine days and go skiing in Japan for one week and relax in Thailand for another.

As of last night, our Japan trip is fully booked! On Jan. 19th, we will fly from Incheon to Osaka, then connect with a flight from Osaka to Sapporo, and from there it is a short shuttle bus to Mt. Niseko. Sapporo is the capital of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island.  Mt. Niseko is famous for always getting a dumping a snow. The average snow fall is 14 m at the base, and I read that last year, 15.3 m of snow was recorded at the base of Hirafu village. Mt. Niseko receives so much snow because there are seasonal winds that pick up moisture from the warm currents of the Sea of Japan that then travel over to Hokkaido.  Mt. Niseko is said to have some of the lightest and driest powder in the world!  We plan to have five full days of skiing. Mt. Niseko has four resorts located around the mountain and we will be staying in Hirafu village. We have been told there are a lot of Australians that come up to ski and board. Even while researching hostels, there were several with names like "Australian House". Hirafu village is a popular resort to stay at, as it has more of a night life and a lot of foreigners. My main co-teacher will also be boarding at Niseko that same week with her boyfriend, so we are already planning on meeting up with them.

After five days of skiing, on Friday January 25th, we will take an early shuttle bus back to Sapporo and have the morning and part of the afternoon to explore the city before our flight back to Korea. I almost forgot to mention, we are not planning on checking any bags for this trip, as it costs extra and may complicate things when we are connecting flights. My first reaction to this was that only carry on bags for a ski trip is going to be impossible! Then, I had to remind myself that we don't have skis, boots, or helmets, and we will be wearing our ski jackets (and maybe even my ski pants if necessary). My parents both always travel solely carry on, so I am hoping we will be able to do the same. I guess it will just involve a lot of strategic packing and outfit planning.  

Ian and I are both very excited for this trip, and I am already counting down the days (57 as of today)!

If you want to check out Mt. Niseko, here is a good site
http://www.niseko.ne.jp/en/index.html

http://www.jnto.go.jp/tourism/en/s007.html

http://onechicamanyadventures.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/skiing-mount-niseko/