Travel to Japan 05

Travel Tips and Advisories
Department of State

When you are traveling from the US to any other part of the world it is a good idea to check the US State Department's Travel Advisory Website to find out tips and advisories about travel to that country.

The site gives requirements for travel, tips about avoiding problems at the airports and advisories regarding new developments. I checked their website to see whether there any points I should look into before traveling. At this time everything seems to be OK.

Travel Tip 01

Tracking Flight Paths
Real-time tracking
Thursday, May 29, 2008

While I was checking my itineraries both for Knoxville and Osaka I came across couple of websites that allowed me to track the flight paths and status of current and future flights. Some of the services, at least the basic and simple ones were free to the consumer.


I thought I will share these sites to those who read my blog. Only requirements you need are a web connection and some information about the flight you are trying to track. Easiest way to track is by the flight ID, that is airline abbreviation plus flight number. For example DL115 or DAL115 for Delta flight 115 or UA51 or UAL51 for United Airlines flight 51, etc. Of course, if you don't know the flight ID then you can go for the advanced search and start with a departure city and arrival city then select the air carrier name and time of departure or arrival.



The two sites I found useful are: www.flightview.com (top picture) and www.fboweb.com (bottom picture).

Travel to Japan 04

Registration

21st Congress of the InternationalUnion of Crystallography

Osaka, Japan

I went ahead and filled out the registration form for the IUCr conference in Osaka, Japan and submitted via web. They were ready to take American Express CC to for the registration. Soon I received the confirmation of my registration and receipt of the payment.

Trip to Konxville TN 02

Car Rental from Hotwire
Trip to Knoxville TN

After booking my flight and Hotel together using Expedia, I found out that if I booked car rental separately I would get a cheaper deal for my travel location of Knoxville for the specific time period of early summer. So I decided to do the car rental using Hotwire.

The difference between using services like Travelocity, Orbitz and Expedia as well as car rental companies like Budget, Avis, National, Enterprise and Hotwire is that in Hotwire you have to book and purchase the reservation at the same time. There are no refunds or changes allowed which are routine and easy using other rental outlets. That means if you decide to book using Hotwire that should be your final itinerary and you should be fairly certain that you are NOT going change any plans.

The positive side of this means that you get a good price for the rental. They advertised in the $14 while I was searching for the location and time while other rental agencies that allow for cancellation modifications were advertising in the $20 range. The difference per day was substantial but the purchase had to be final.

Another point with Hotwire is that you won't know which rental agency your car is going to come from. But they will be from one of the big four or five agencies mentioned above. I was happy to accep these conditions and booked using Hotwire.

Travel to Japan 03

Accommodation in Osaka
Near Grand Cube Osaka
Osaka, Japan

I needed to get some accommodation in Osaka for my trip to attend the 2008 Congress of the International Union of Crystallography. I wanted the accommodation to be closer to the conference site which is Grand Cube Osaka. I contacted the organizers and found out the first choice I had requested was no longer available.

However, I was able to find some accommodation in a nearby hotel called HOTEL OKUUCHI OSAKA, 3-8-8 Utsubo Hommachi, Nishi-ku, Osaka-city, Osaka. The price was reasonable running around 110 range. The Kinki Nippon Tourist Co., Ltd from Chuo-Ku, Osaka handled my reservations.

Once I reach Osaka I will find out the convenience of this place.

Travel to Japan 02

Purchase of Japan Tickets
Tickets to Osaka via United
Friday, March 28, 2008

I have started to inquire about my upcoming trip to Osaka, Japan in late summer 2008. I first started my search using the regular websites like, Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, and OneTravel. However, since I am leaving from a small town in the USA my flight options in late March 2008 for a trip in late August were not good. Several of them quoted prices in the 1500 range.

So I decided to modify my plans so that I will leave from a bigger city in the US and try to fly to Tokyo or Nagoya both of which have relatively larger International Airports compared to Osaka. In addition, since I will be traveling to Japan just after the Olympics in China gets over, I assume that may contribute to the high cost of the ticket.

Even after exploring the options I was unable to find good fares either through the above mentioned sites or even through airlines themselves like Delta, NorthWest, and Continental.

Then I spoke to people who are native of Japan and they suggested I contact Travel Agents who specialize in travels to Japan. One such vendor was IACE-USA Travels. They have offices in Orlando, Atlanta, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and other places.

I sent out my plans and the next day they sent me an itinerary via e-mail. Then I spoke with one travel agent who helped me fine tune my departure and arrival as per my request. It turned out that if I traveled out of Orlando (MCO) and arrived Nagoya (NGO) they would offer me their best price. So I decided to go with that itinerary. This meant I had to travel to Orlando by car and take a train to Osaka after arriving in Nagoya. Another option would have been to arrive at Tokyo/Narita (NRT) International Airport and change to Haneda (HND) Domestic airport in Tokyo and arrive in Osaka. I preferred to fly to NGO and take the train rather than shuttle between two airports after a long journey.

Once I gave my selection they sent me the tickets in United Airlines. The tickets were reasonably priced in the 1300 range.

Trip to Konxville TN 01

Annual Meeting of the American Crystallographic Association
Knoxville, Tennessee

I wanted to travel to Knoxville, TN to attend the Annual Meeting of the American Crystallographic Association at Knoxville Convention Center. Since Knoxville is served via Delta (I always start my searches with Delta, since Tallahassee is well connected via Delta than any other carrier), I tried to look for flights that left late evening and arriving their in before 10 PM (CDT).

I found couple of them and decided to book one of them using Delta's own website. But when I tried to book reservation for my stay and flight, Expedia turned out to give me a better deal for the combination rather than separate reservations. So I went with Expedia.

My flight routing was TLH to ATL and then ATL to TYS. The return journey was simply the reverse of the forward journey. When I tried to combine hotel, car rental, and flight that combination was more expensive. So I decided to do car rental separately.