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February 2024 Family Ski tripFebruary 2024 Family Ski trip
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February 2024 Family Ski trip

February - March 2024
7 nights atShiga Kogen, followed by 5 nights in Tokyo Read more
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  • TravelerFebruary 2024 Family Ski trip
    Day 1

    Departure day

    February 17 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    We left home at 6am and parked the car nice and easy, arriving at the airport just after 7am. The flight departure was at 10:25am. So we had a short wait for checkin to open, then we were 2nd in line. Once checked in we had some food then passed through security.
    On the plane we had noone in the middle seats so had the 2 rows to ourselves. The plane was not full there were a few spare rows people had nabbed. We were close to the front of the immigration line and ski bags came out first, so our wait at baggage did not take long. Cleared customs easily around 7pm.
    Had some food at the airport and made our way to terminal 2 and the trains. We caught the 8:41 Narita sky access arriving at 9:41. From here we walked a block to our hotel. We are staying at the Tobu Hotel Asakusa in a room with 4 beds. We were showered and in bed by 10:45pm Japan time, but for us it was nearly midnight. A long and tiring day.    Read more

  • TravelerFebruary 2024 Family Ski trip
    Day 2

    Shiga Kogen

    February 18 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Today was travel to the snow day. We woke up early at 5am. Around 6:30 we took a stroll around Asakusa, its lovely early in the morning. We had a 7-11 breakfast and scoped out where the elevator was to the metro.
    Around 9:30am we headed off and rode the Ginza line to near Tokyo station, from here we walked about 350m to the station, pulling the wheeled ski bags along.
    At the station we made our way to the Shinkansen platform and had an hour wait till our 11:24 shinkansen. The Shinkansen luggage was packed, so glad we reserved the end row. The train personnel even removed a ski bag from someone who had not booked the rear seats.
    An hour and a half later, we disembarked at 12:50 at Nagano station and headed straight for the bus stop.
    We had an hour or so wait for the 2:30pm bus to Shiga, tickets were Y2,500 for adults. So Dale and I we to Donki to stock up on some snacks. Plus some cheap Coolish (108y).
    Arriving at the Prince Hotel around 4pm, we checked in, got our skis in the locker, unpacked in the room and headed out dinner at 5pm to the Ramen place at Prince. Food was good and most dishes were under $15 dollars.
    Onsen done, till tomorrow.    Read more

  • TravelerFebruary 2024 Family Ski trip
    Day 3

    Day 1 on snow - Monday

    February 19 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    Woke up early to a blowy day. Breakfast was at 6:45am where we were happy to have our usual assortment of food that was on offer. We got ready and headed down to the snow around 8:30am. We rode the quad chair up to C1 run and did that, then we repeated the chair, this time taking E1 to the South hotel, here we discovered the gondola was on lift hold. So we were now faced with a long line of many school groups. Luckily the line moved pretty quickly. So we headed back over to the West hotel via the slow romance pair chair.

    Here we just lapped the C1 run, it was spring snow and getting quite moguled due to the traffic. So we hit up the Family fun park for a few laps on the ski bikes.

    At 11am, we decided to head over to the South to go to the izakaya under the South gondola. They now have ordering via QR code and no table menus. I noticed the prices had gone up a fair bit since last year, but still reasonable at 1,700yen for a pork katsu curry with rice. 600yen for fries. The portion sizes were large and quality was good.

    After lunch, as only 2 lifts were operating and only 2 runs were available we lapped them alternating between C1 and E1. The ski schools seem to have gone during lunch. At 2pm we called it quits and headed for the onsen, followed by the obligatory Coolish.

    We caught the 5:05pm shuttle to Ichinose. Dinner was at Shiga Kogen tacos. They are now in the Olympic hotel. The vibe is not as good, and prices are higher. Headed back via the 6:17pm shuttle.    Read more

  • TravelerFebruary 2024 Family Ski trip
    Day 4

    Day 2 - on snow

    February 20 in Japan ⋅ 🌫 3 °C

    A fine mist was around this morning. We still headed out and skied for most of the day in a cloud, at least all lifts were running today. We had some fun at the hooded quad and the D runs from there. The gondola we rode was the love one. We had lunch at the same place as yesterday and were sqeezed in between ski school groups. Dale and Oscar hit up all the trees they could find, with Dale coming unstuck a few times. We finished skiing around 3 pm and hit up the fun park to cap off the day. The onsen was a treat at the end of the day. This was followed by chocolate Coolish today. We then headed out to Ramen for dinner at 5pm. I had the miso corn ramen.Read more

  • TravelerFebruary 2024 Family Ski trip
    Day 5

    Day 3 -on snow

    February 21 in Japan ⋅ 🌧 4 °C

    Went started our day like all others, getting ready and heading down to breakfast. After this we went out all set to ski and it started with light rain, we pushed on and skied in and out of rain, heading to the gondola and seeing if we could get above it, which we did in part. The wind picked up a bit and the rain came back, so we webwet and didn't want to get stuck by shut gondolas, so we called it a day early around 11am. We then dried out a bit and rested, before walking into Ichinose, where we noted a lot of places were shut. We grabbed lunch at Hi Happy cafe. Their sandwiches are huge. After walking back to the Prince we did some laundry, while the kids hit up the family fun park. It was raining again around 5pm, so we just dashed across to the ramen place again for dinner. We were back in the room by 6pm.Read more

  • TravelerFebruary 2024 Family Ski trip
    Day 6

    Day 4 - on snow all mountain

    February 22 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ -2 °C

    Something different today. We woke to maybe 1cm of snow on the ground. Today was the start of our all mountain time, so after breakfast we purchased our all mountain tickets for the next 3 days. They were 21,900yen for adult child pack, 21,500 for adult and 18,400 for student. So the adult child pack saved us about $100. While we were buying the tickets the snow started for real, yet the rain affect slush had now all turned to sheets of ice. So we had dust on sheet ice. With the top temp of -5 it was not going to soften.

    We left Yakebitaiyama and skied down a hard ichinose Diamond, and over the bridge to Family. This too was hard and icy, and the quad chair to the top was not yet loading people. We ventured further to Takamagahara and skied a few runs here. Still hard ice, but the snow had started to add a bit of dust on top. By now the kids were cold, it was 10:30am, so we headed in for some hot chocolate, and found they also had a cake set. So cake and hot choc it was. Oscar and I had a lovely choc cookie piece cheesecake, Dale had strawberry cake and Jason had apple cake. We watched the snow fall steadily while we ate.

    Warmed up we headed up Takamagahara's quad to the top then headed over to hoppo-bunadaira. Here we found some creamy powder, it was devine, and a nice change from scrapping ice. So we lapped this using the small gondola about 4 times. We ended up at the bottom of Giant and went to our fav, Aspen Shiga for lunch. As it was a bit later, around 1pm, they had sold out of their devine pastries. The kids got spaghetti, I got corn soup and Jason got pizza.

    From here we walked to the gondola and went to the post office to send a postcard to Oscar's Principal. We also withdrew some cash. The machine charges 220yen fee. Now it was time to head back, all the higher elevations were in cloud. We caught the quad from near the small gondola, and skied towards Takamagahara and ended up on the other side of the road. So we crossed over and rode the quad up. Shortly after getting off we hit a slope full of sheet ice. Both kids had a few falls and butt slide the rest of the face. Once we were back in Takamagahara greens it was still hard ice, with a bit of dust to turn in.

    A run of ichinose Family finished off this side, we then crossed the bridge rode up Diamond back to the Prince at 4pm. Ending with a last run of C1, which was scrapped and icy in places. We were cold, and headed straight for the onsen to warm up.

    For dinner we thought we'd try something new. We caught the 5:35pm shuttle to ichinose and went to the izakaya down from the teppa room. The food was good, but not ideal for our family's tastes The 500yen per person table charge added an extra $20 to the bill. We left as a fight was breaking out between a group of patrons and the owner, and walked back to the Prince rather than waiting 45min for a shuttle.    Read more

  • TravelerFebruary 2024 Family Ski trip
    Day 7

    Day 5 - on snow all mountain

    February 23 in Japan ⋅ 🌫 -4 °C

    Today is Dale's 14th birthday. We woke to some snow on the ground and a bit in the trees. Regular breaky routine took place, and we were out by 8:30am. (Today is an eating and snow day, you are forewarned).

    The plan for today was to head straight to Aspen Shiga to actually have some pastries before they sold out. So out of Prince, down Diamond (less sheet ice today thankfully), across the bridge and up Family quad. From here, we deviated into Terakoya and then down to Hoppo- Bunadaira. Then powder had been well and truly tracked out.

    It was 10am, Aspen Shiga was open, there was pastries. But they were all savoury (I'm a sweet tooth). Hot chocolates were had Jason and Dale had a pastry. As we were sitting there, out came a few more trays of bakery goodness. The custard bread that is just devine. Oscar and I got one, hubbyhad one too (to split with the b'day girl).

    From here, we decided to head to Yokoteyama ski area. We have never been in all our trips to Shiga Kogen. Probably best to visit the 2300m elevation when its not like pea soup, but alas, we ventured onward and upward. By the time we got to the top. We were very cold. We saw the crumpet cafe but also saw the Mt Bakery. So we headed into the bakery for more hot chocolate and some lovely filled bread. Hubby got curry, Dale got cheese, and Oscar and I split a chocolate and custard one.

    We worked out which way was down and began our descent. Some of the switchbacks were very icy. The lower parts under the chair were nice. It was 12:20 when we were down, so we decided to ski Kumanoyu area. Now I'm sure there is an easier way to get to it from the bottom of Yokoteyama chair #1. We were directed to go down the road and then decend off the side, a path that was frozen solid and looked like it had 2 tracks where everyone had slid down. This was with skis off, after we all made it down (kids but slid) we put the skis on and headed through what seemed to be a carpark towards a hotel entrance. Now where do we go we thought. We a guy skis past us and heads to the door, but then turns left, there was another path. Equally as dubious as the first, this one however we climbed a bit, ski on and went through some garden and around a few buildings. The rest of my family skied down the icy path and ove rthe bridge to where we found some lifts (up on a hill). I, however, saw a remove skis here sign, and did so, trying not to slip on my pick you way through the frozen footsteps down the path.

    We ended up doing one run at Kumanoyu, before deciding we should aim for the 2:20 bus. Now we just needed to find where the bus stop was. Asked a local, found it, got in line, a bus came, but those in front of us did not get on. A person behind us got on, so we did the same. The bust went back up to Yokoteyama. As it was the last stop, the driver made us get out, so we joined the line and got back on. 3 out of the 4 of us got a seat. Now we realise why those in front of us did not get on.

    Back at the Shiga Kogen bus station, we caught the gondola back down, the quad up, and headed through Takamagahara to Ichinose, over the bridge and back up Diamond and down to Prince, the back up C1, and down to the door. The return journey was cold and just as icy as the day before. The new snow was all but scraped off.

    Back just after 4pm, freezing cold, the onsen was calling loudly. Then we were on the 5pm shuttle to Dale's birthday restaurant selection, the junk food cafe. They gave her a complimentary piece of cake and took our picture on a polaroid. She had never seen on before and was astonished by being given the picture. We were back at the Prince via the 6:15 shuttle to end our day.    Read more

  • TravelerFebruary 2024 Family Ski trip
    Day 8

    Day 6 - on snow (the last one)

    February 24 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ -1 °C

    Woke to a cloudy sky with small bits of snow falling few and far between. As it was our last snow day, we decided to head over to the Okushiga kogen side of the mountain.

    At 8:30, we were full of our usual hotel breakfast fare and riding the quad chair up to do runs E1, to D4 and over to the A gondola. At the top of this gondola, we headed off towards Okushiga-kogan, walking the traverse that goes uphill.

    From here, we played around on the runs off the chair at the edge of the resort. They had some fun kids runs, a mellow through the trees experience, and some bigger rollover jumps (last ski day they were under instruction not to break anything). The sun came out while we were over this side enjoying some blue sky. Around 11am, hubby reminded me we wanted to have pizza for lunch from the place beside the bridge at Takamagahara. (Oh, and my previous reports I have Tanne and Takamagahara switched around)

    So we headed off up the chairs, back across to Yakebitaiyama, down B1 to C2, and to the chair to take us up to Diamond. Down Diamond, across the bridge, up the middle chair at Family, through Tanne, and across to Takamagahara. Then it was unclip and walk across the road. The pizzas are fantastic (around 1,400yen) and their fries are great too (at only 350yen old). The view from our lunch table was just beautiful under the blue sky.

    After lunch, it was time to head back. The snow was a lot more sugary, boarding on slushy in the sunlight, but sure beats sheet ice, though that was still lurking in places. We reversed our journey without incident. Dried and packed the ski bags up (each just under 25kg) and sent them to the airport for 6,300 yen. Money well spent.

    Had our last dinner at the Ramen place, and our last onsen.    Read more

  • TravelerFebruary 2024 Family Ski trip
    Day 9

    Shiga Kogen to Sumida

    February 25 in Japan ⋅ 🌧 5 °C

    We got up at 6am and were ready to go for breakfast at 6:45am - our last buffet breakfast. Then we checked out and rode the 7:57am bus back down to Nagano. From here we caught the 10:56 Shinkansen arriving in Ueno at 12:14pm. We then picked up our subway passes for later in the week, and boarded a train for Oshiage.

    Here in the giant mall maze that is Skytree. We found where the luggage storage was and off loaded the bags as check in was 4pm. Then we tried to find food, the mall and the food court were packed, so we ended up at the family mart across the street. Then there was a capsule toyshop, so the kids each got one. Back into the mall we found a Hello Kitty and Pokemon store where the kids spent up a bit.

    As it was time to walk to the house, it was steadily raining, so we went back in and bought a few umbrella at Daiso. Then walked to our house, dumped the bags. After only a few minutes it was time to walk back to skytree to catch the 5:04pm train back to the airport to collect mum.

    After we collected Mum, we had some airport food for dinner. Then it was back on the train to Oshiage.    Read more

  • TravelerFebruary 2024 Family Ski trip
    Day 10

    Kamakura day trip

    February 26 in Japan ⋅ 🌬 12 °C

    We had an easy start to the day and introduced mum to the combini breakfast.

    After this, we set off to Kamakura. We walked up the old shopping street, tasting some goodies along the way, such as curry bread, awesome fresh Taiyaki, and an amazing chicken curry croquette. We walked up to the temple and the back down the main street, stopping at stores along the way.

    We then stopped in at Saizariya for a sit-down lunch. After this, we caught the bus to Daibutsu, the giant Budda. Mum wanted to see this as her father, my grandfather, had photos here from after the war. We also paid the 50yen extra and went inside.

    From here, we walked down to Hase station to Enoshima and then caught the Shonan monorail back up to Ofuna, and from here, the train back to Yokohama.

    At Yokohama, we visited the showroom of Nissan world headquarters. Jason and I got to sit in a GTR, Dale and Oscar got to have a go at driving a simulator. Then we went to Suraguya and the kids had a ball spending money on lots of cheap stuff. Namely, a giant goat stuffy from Disney wish for 300yen. After we managed to drag the kids out of the store we went and had dinner at Wendy's - teriyaki burgers were nice.

    It was late and we rode trains bavk to Oshiage (skytree) where we were staying.    Read more

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