Take a Vacation

[Pelado]

Sounds amazing...except the fact you are taking kids

I'll be in France in early June. I'm taking my two youngest and my in-laws, so with MJ there will be 6 of us. It's amazing how going from 5 to 6 people can make Europe insanely expensive. We ended up realizing that flying out of London would be $1k cheaper in total, so we decided to extend for two days, take the train to London and spend two days there. I'm not looking forward to vacationing with my FiL since I think he'll hate Paris (he's a farmer from Oregon) but I think he'll love Normandy.

Surprising - seemed like there were a lot more fees flying out of London than Paris. Maybe that was just for award flights.

[Moliere]

I have been planning a 2 week trip to Spain, mainly to visit my oldest daughter's mission. We promised her we would take her back when she recovered from her accident. And last summer didn't work with everyone.

So we are doing mainly her mission in Barcelona (4 days) and Mallorca (5 days) and then a jaunt over to Madrid for 3 or so days. There are 7 of us so it is a headache, but she is so excited it is all worth it.

Then she and her sister are staying around and doing a study abroad 5 days after we leave, so I get to help them plan that too. Once you are in europe, flights are so cheap they can go anywhere.

Sounds amazing...except the fact you are taking kids

I'll be in France in early June. I'm taking my two youngest and my in-laws, so with MJ there will be 6 of us. It's amazing how going from 5 to 6 people can make Europe insanely expensive. We ended up realizing that flying out of London would be $1k cheaper in total, so we decided to extend for two days, take the train to London and spend two days there. I'm not looking forward to vacationing with my FiL since I think he'll hate Paris (he's a farmer from Oregon) but I think he'll love Normandy.

[BigPiney]

Nice!

Are they going to Nice?

[Pelado]

Nice!

Are they going to Nice?

[Bo Diddley]

I have been planning a 2 week trip to Spain, mainly to visit my oldest daughter's mission. We promised her we would take her back when she recovered from her accident. And last summer didn't work with everyone.

So we are doing mainly her mission in Barcelona (4 days) and Mallorca (5 days) and then a jaunt over to Madrid for 3 or so days. There are 7 of us so it is a headache, but she is so excited it is all worth it.

Then she and her sister are staying around and doing a study abroad 5 days after we leave, so I get to help them plan that too. Once you are in europe, flights are so cheap they can go anywhere.

Very cool!

[BigPiney]

I have been planning a 2 week trip to Spain, mainly to visit my oldest daughter's mission. We promised her we would take her back when she recovered from her accident. And last summer didn't work with everyone.

So we are doing mainly her mission in Barcelona (4 days) and Mallorca (5 days) and then a jaunt over to Madrid for 3 or so days. There are 7 of us so it is a headache, but she is so excited it is all worth it.

Then she and her sister are staying around and doing a study abroad 5 days after we leave, so I get to help them plan that too. Once you are in europe, flights are so cheap they can go anywhere.

[Jeff Lebowski]

How was Tokyo Disney?

Way more fun than I expected. We had our 2-yr-old (almost 3) granddaughter with us and she loved every second, so that was fun. The food was great - variants of japanese dishes and cheap. And it was fun to watch the Japanese visitors. They go all out - most of them were dressed up. Park admission was $65 per person.

[Donuthole]

Yes, of course.

https://www.ohsho.co.jp/english/

By the way, our trip to Japan in November was fantastic! We were in Tokyo for half of it and Osaka for half (with day trips to Kyoto and Nara). Japan is such a great place to travel. Everything is clean and easy to navigate via mass transit. But my biggest shock was how cheap everything is now. We got an AirBnB in Tokyo big enough for 6 of us for only $200/night. And in Osaka it was $150/night. Both were great. And we would go to a restaurant each night and have a great meal and the bill for all of us was typically $60-80.

We flew there in ZipAir which is a budget airline subsidiary of Japan Airlines. TIckets were cheap ($800 for adults, $300 for a child - R/T). But you have to get to San Francisco, Seattle, or San Jose. They recently opened a route to DFW. I am praying that they open service in SLC soon. That would be a game changer.

Can't wait to go back. We are thinking of going in spring of 2026 to catch the Japan Formula 1 race.

PS: our AirBnB in Osaka was by Abeno and Namba. Can't believe how much both places have changed.

How was Tokyo Disney?

[Jeff Lebowski]

JL

Is Osho's Gyoza still in business?

Yes, of course.

https://www.ohsho.co.jp/english/

By the way, our trip to Japan in November was fantastic! We were in Tokyo for half of it and Osaka for half (with day trips to Kyoto and Nara). Japan is such a great place to travel. Everything is clean and easy to navigate via mass transit. But my biggest shock was how cheap everything is now. We got an AirBnB in Tokyo big enough for 6 of us for only $200/night. And in Osaka it was $150/night. Both were great. And we would go to a restaurant each night and have a great meal and the bill for all of us was typically $60-80.

We flew there in ZipAir which is a budget airline subsidiary of Japan Airlines. TIckets were cheap ($800 for adults, $300 for a child - R/T). But you have to get to San Francisco, Seattle, or San Jose. They recently opened a route to DFW. I am praying that they open service in SLC soon. That would be a game changer.

Can't wait to go back. We are thinking of going in spring of 2026 to catch the Japan Formula 1 race.

PS: our AirBnB in Osaka was by Abeno and Namba. Can't believe how much both places have changed.

[happyone]

JL

Is Osho's Gyoza still in business?

[happyone]

I was in Abeno (the bldg behind the chapel was the Missionaries apt until they split the stake and made it the stake offices for the new stake) and when I returned we were in a apt in Ikuno-ku

Have some Osho's Gyoza for me

Enjoy!!!!

[Jeff Lebowski]

I am officially jealous

I lived in three of those five cities on my mission - Kobe 3 times, Osaka twice and Kyoto - I went in a big circle

It's been so long, just under 50 yrs, I probably would not recognize anything

I was in Osaka.

[happyone]

Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe.

I am officially jealous

I lived in three of those five cities on my mission - Kobe 3 times, Osaka twice and Kyoto - I went in a big circle

It's been so long, just under 50 yrs, I probably would not recognize anything

[Omaha 680]

I am shocked at how cheap everything is. We just booked an AirBnB in the middle of Tokyo big enough for 6 of us with room to spare. $250 per night. Found a similar deal in Osaka.

It's amazing what accelerating population decline and demographic collapse can do for housing/lodging prices.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Going to Japan in late June. Probably Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima but don't have the in-country itinerary planned out yet - I only have flights across the pond booked at this point. Interested in any recommendations.

The Mrs. served in Sapporo but we're not going up there. She's trying to resurrect her Japanese skills over the next 8 months using Duolingo.

I am shocked at how cheap everything is. We just booked an AirBnB in the middle of Tokyo big enough for 6 of us with room to spare. $250 per night. Found a similar deal in Osaka.