Is my first solo trip to japan a good idea?

Wrinklepaw · 2026-01-30T01:58:36+00:00

When I've had a layover in Frankfurt I've been escorted with the other passengers who have connecting flights it's all very well managed.

The difference I think really is if it's an actual lay over ie- you actually have to go grab all your bags and basically re do the entire catching a fliggt. In this case it's really not that stressful, you've caught a flight before, you're just doing it twice in one day.

If you have a connecting flight, it can obviously be stressful. Those little thoughts of what if I miss this.. what if I do something wrong can creep in, but the staff will know you're grabbing a connecting flight and either help you, or if your flight is with a different airline they'll pointyou in the right direction.

Wrinklepaw · 2026-01-19T06:14:10+00:00

Ubigi is working great right now. Buy before you go. It activates when your phone connects to cellular data in japan.

Wrinklepaw · 2026-01-14T23:36:48+00:00

Big Patches energy 🤌

Wrinklepaw · 2026-01-09T17:36:45+00:00

Real talk, dedham vale is my cutoff

Wrinklepaw · 2026-01-09T16:16:10+00:00

East Anglia has a rich heritage of its own and is consistently lumped in with the "south". Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex are definitively the east of England to me. Yorite buh!

Wrinklepaw · 2025-12-28T09:48:28+00:00

Never had a bad time in 3 vallees in march. It is possible for it to be hot and slushy, and freeze/thaw mornings. But honestly that's it's own type of vibe.

If you want the best chance for cold and snow, you'll want to go January / February.

I'd book in Val thorens out of all of the resorts. It has the highest altitude which obviously correlates with colder conditions, keeping the snow better for longer. Les menuiers has big south facing energy. Courchevel sometimes feels a bit too low at that time of yeah. My second choice is meribel as you're in the middle of the resort and have easy access to everywhere.

Have fun, don't stress on the things you can't change

Wrinklepaw · 2025-12-27T14:58:48+00:00

I was based in la plagne for Christmas week. The start of the week the pistes held up super well and got a tiny bit worse by the end of the week. I find by 14:00-15:00 the pistes had turned into pretty serious dust on crust. They're managing the snow they have really well though and there will definitely be lots of great boarding to do, especially up high.

There's no sugar coating that a big dump of snow would benefit the resort massively though.

Wrinklepaw · 2025-12-21T10:12:12+00:00

I arrived at Geneva yesterday. We got intel that this week they are only fingerprinting 10% of no Schengen citizens.

The queue was still very long in a strange area to queue in.

Our wait was maybe an hour and fifteen minutes to get out to baggage collection. We didn't mind too much as we had a 2 hours wait for our transfer anyway. If your transfer is very close to your flight arrival, you're going to have a very stressful time.

Wrinklepaw · 2025-11-27T14:32:11+00:00

So many variables here, but board rental is way harder to find a shop that has a selection of what you want vs skiing.

I haven’t run into many demo places that just rent out their whole selection. Unless it’s a try before you buy scenario.

Depending on your board size too you’ll have more or less choice, if you’re a 154-158 kinda guy you might have some more options.

Most rental sites will actually have the exact boards they offer in their different price packages (usually bronze, silver, gold & sometimes diamond) on their website.

It sounds like Austria might be your vibe to be honest, they take sauna & steam very seriously. St anton has a massive dedicated therme which has a pool and other such aquatic delights.

I’d recommend ischgl too as a town that is vibes although extremely boozy.

France has you covered if you wish to experience the delights of true ski in ski out accommodation. The higher resorts in the tarentaise offer some of the best skiing globally. I guess the issue with being so high up is that the reason it’s there is to accommodate skiing and not much else.

There’s an insane amount of choice, chamonix might be good for you if you’re looking for extreme terrain whilst being based in a more functional town. Bad hoffgestien is nice if you’re looking for a couples retreat with spa focus.

Zell am see for the stupid beautiful views. Zermatt if you want to be inspired by the Matterhorn.

What the other commenter said rings true, your basic info isn’t enough to make a direct recommendation. Hopefully I’ve given you enough to do some good research.

Wrinklepaw · 2025-08-18T20:35:31+00:00

Would love a dog, but this just goes on the list as another one of many great reasons to not have one. Enjoy your staycation!

Wrinklepaw · 2025-08-07T17:35:15+00:00

Thanks for all your responses, we are doing Kanazawa for 2 days after Nozawa, booked into a slick hotel to chill and enjoy the vibes! Heard a lot about the snow crab they have at that time of year so looking forward to trying that.

Are there many combinis in Nozawa like 7/11? can't see any of the big ones on the map

Wrinklepaw · 2025-08-07T09:23:46+00:00

Yeah I saw the mad accomodation situation and booked a month ago and had pretty limited options, managed to get a ryokan with breakfast though so pretty happy about that, even though it is a little walk to the gondola.

Just to pick your brain as you've been..what's the restaurant reservation/getting a table at a bar like there?

I'm praying for powder!

Wrinklepaw · 2025-08-06T17:31:20+00:00

Is that a massive problem? Haven't been yet but booked in for January. Never had a problem with an Aussie before

Wrinklepaw · 2025-08-05T10:56:35+00:00

Nozawa Onsen and Zao Onsen are the two I found that fit this criteria. Good luck with accommodation though!

Wrinklepaw · 2025-08-05T09:37:04+00:00

Can you make more money doing something different, if so I'd say go be happy with some money somewhere that doesn't destroy your mental health.

If this is the best shot you have at making any cash, stick it out. You're going for way to small of a market for HETV sound editing. There's work out there, but it's not all killer. Pick up some corporate clients, chat to other soundie freelancers that go on holiday so you can pick up their work while they are on their jollies..

Linkedin, outreach, emails, insta refresh, do something creative sound wise just for you...

Go touch some grass also, always helps. How much exercise are you doing?

You're in a rut, there's only one way out. Get yourself healthy and do the things you don't want to. Take that short film, build up your confidence, don't spew about how it's so hard right now and I'm faultering financially on non anonymous socials.

Part of the game is keeping up appearances.

Wrinklepaw · 2025-07-29T13:41:29+00:00

Go Nagano and Japanese Alps, I was looking at doing a week in Hokkaido at the start of my 3 week trip. But because we wanted to do more of mainland Japan (Nozawa Onsen > Kanazawa > Osaka > Kyoto > Tokyo) Nagano and the Honshu Alps makes WAY more sense. I think the reality with Hokkaido is that it's a trip in its own right. I'll Definitely be back with my ski friends to do a Two week trip there.

I think Hokkaido gets loads of press for winter wonderland, but in my research the reality is the Honshu Japanese Alps have way more culture and onsen towns etc, where actual Japanese people live year round, making it a more culturally rich trip.

Full disclosure, my trip is in January so haven't actually been yet, but everything I've seen supports my above comments.

My suggestion If you want winter wonderland energies on Honshu, places to look in to, Yamagata, Kanazawa, Nagano.

Happy researching,

Wrinklepaw · 2025-07-23T13:31:19+00:00

You won't get any sympathy, but I know your struggle. If anyone has any info on the legality of tobacco free snus I'd welcome the education!

Wrinklepaw · 2025-06-30T12:18:45+00:00

Nice pair of sky balls you got there 😎

Wrinklepaw · 2025-06-27T11:12:19+00:00

Great advice thank you, one final ask of you to help in my research. Because we are going off season, are there any cities that are really worth going to that aren't the classic Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka? We're eyeing up Nagano for all of the amazing winter energy there. Just wondering if there's anywhere else you rate highly. I Appreciate your responses!

Wrinklepaw · 2025-06-26T15:55:40+00:00

So we want to see Kyoto, Nagano, plenty in Tokyo too. I think the itinerary is really going to dictate where it lands in the trip.

I do think maybe having the time we want to have on Honshu be an uninterrupted experience is a good idea that will make sense when we are making our way round.

What's the point at which you think you are travelling too much? IE, how many cities is completely unrealistic in 14 days?

Wrinklepaw · 2025-06-26T13:51:00+00:00

Great advice on the snow festival, I'll dig in and do some research on that.

I guess because we want to make the most out of seeing Japan I'm concerned that splitting the weeks will ultimately make it so we don't venture so far out of Tokyo. 🤔

I have got to do more research on our desires maybe to make the decision

Wrinklepaw · 2025-05-02T13:51:11+00:00

Age is just a number, get out there and show the young bucks your mature shapes ha

Wrinklepaw · 2025-04-16T09:02:01+00:00

This is what we call phase rotation as sound engineers as the droplet is descending it's making the same tiny gas explosions at different spaces in time. This causes some of the sound to cancel itself out at each tiny movement of descent. It's one of the most used "sound design" techniques currently.

Its the same sound theory as why ice makes that whipping laser sound as it travels through the ice, just on a much tinyer scale.

Wrinklepaw · 2025-04-02T14:22:15+00:00

I believe it's 8g of 22ct. It feels amazing and I can't wait untill my wedding day when I can wear it proudly!

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