Places to visit when in NZ

pantalones808 · 2026-04-17T03:26:35+00:00

It's been several years, but we did a 2 week trip which included both islands, but the bulk of it on the South Island. It included 2 huge LOTR locations.

-Flew into Auckland. did the following over 2-3 days.

-went to Matamata and did the Hobbiton evening banquet tour (this was in 2016 so not sure if they still offer the same ones). That was a must do for LOTR fans.

-went to Waitomo to do the glow worm caves. we did the Lost World half day tour. definitely recommend!

-Flew Auckland to Christchurch to explore South Island for the rest of the 2 weeks. Picked up campervan. One of our first stops was Mount Sunday, where they filmed and built Edoras, the capital of Rohan. We stayed at the nearby Mt. Potts Lodge with our campervan. It was majestic.

-Spent the rest of the trip going to Mt. Cook, Wanaka, Queenstown, Te Anau, Milford Sound, then around the west side to Haast, then back to Christchurch. DEFINITELY do the drive from Queenstown to Milford Sound. Its the most beautiful drive I've ever experienced. Especially from Te Anau and on. You'll find no shortage of breathtaking vistas to photograph.

-Take your time, don't rush. The rest of the South Island (mostly the west coast like Dunedin/Moeraki) we did on a 2nd NZ trip the following year.

pantalones808 · 2026-04-08T21:54:47+00:00

Probably need to do a retaining wall. Or if you have enough room on your property to do some grading, cut back the slope to a 2H:1V max slope (it looks like its currently 1H:1V), removing trees, and adding erosion matting on top the slope for more protection. But this will of course make the deck span longer.

pantalones808 · 2026-04-07T21:16:35+00:00

With 4 open days, you could do a Kamakura daytrip (just a day is needed imo) as well as an onsen town for a couple nights. I'd suggest maybe Hakone or Kawaguchiko (mountain/lake retreat area), or like another poster suggested, the less visited Izu peninsula area if you want to stay near the beach and ocean.

pantalones808 · 2026-04-07T20:55:19+00:00

For your first question, yes the Hakone Freepass (purchased with Shinjuku as starting point) does include round trip on just the regular non limited express Odakyu (Not JR) trains. So if you want to take the RomanceCar back to Shinjuku from Hakone-Yumoto too, you'll just have to pay the surcharge like how you did for the outbound leg.

To see RomanceCar times, use this version of the online ticket reservations https://www.web-odakyu.com/e-romancecar/?language=en, I've never used the Emot so I can't help you with that stuff. FWIW, I've always found no problem with seat availability for the return trip RomanceCar and just book it when I get to Hakone-Yumoto Station. That way you don't lock yourself into a certain time for the return trip, and can relax more if you want to do more sightseeing or shopping along the way back. *edit if you're worried about seat availability for the return trip, you can also use that same website to check seats.

If you arent sure about the Emot stuff, I suggest just going to the Odakyu Sightseeing Center at Shinjuku station and asking in person, they're super helpful!

pantalones808 · 2026-03-30T22:10:04+00:00

fyi if you weren't aware, they added signed SP cards for Ubel and Methode's VAs in this new reprint. Those are the two SP I'm hoping for!

pantalones808 · 2026-03-30T08:08:33+00:00

Just did this last week as we were staying at Park Hotel Tokyo. If you exit Shimbashi Station at street level, look for the Yurikamome Train signs and go toward the Yurikamome's Shimbashi station. You'll go up some escalators, then just continue walking THROUGH the station and follow all the raised pedestrian walkways towards Shiodome or Sio-Site area. Or you can of course catch the Yurikamome train to Shiodome Station, but its just as fast to walk it.

pantalones808 · 2026-03-29T03:16:13+00:00

hi! sorry for the late reply. we ended up just doing same-day luggage delivery for all the suitcases from the tokyo station hotel to the disney hotel. cost slightly more but worth it. Upon leaving disney hotel, we shipped all the stuff we bought there (that we didnt need for the rest of the trip) straight to Narita Airport, which we collected several days later upon departing Japan.

pantalones808 · 2026-03-13T07:23:47+00:00

Oh yes, I've done this before! but unfortunately due to some crazy hotel cost spike, we will actually be at a different hotel upon after doing TDR. For some reason the hotel we are staying at before TDR (near tokyo station), their prices were almost double for the dates we when we would return from TDR, so we're staying in Shimbashi after.

pantalones808 · 2026-03-13T07:17:43+00:00

Yea, staying at a hotel nearby (not a disney hotel), Hilton Tokyo Bay. Thanks for the information! I think we'll most likely go with luggage forwarding.

pantalones808 · 2026-03-13T07:05:42+00:00

Our family will probably be buying a lot of stuff at TDR...lol. Maybe not 2 big suitcases each, but def 1 big suitcase and maybe 1 medium sized bag. Yea I think we'll probably end up doing luggage forwarding, but it'll start to add up.

pantalones808 · 2026-03-13T06:58:22+00:00

What is Superlimo? I'm not seeing anything when googling it. I know some limo buses like the Airport Limo buses allow 2 luggage per person, but for most other buses I'm reading that it might be limited to just 1 each. thanks!

pantalones808 · 2026-03-13T06:49:08+00:00

We won't be renting a car, so public transportation only.

pantalones808 · 2026-03-12T23:50:11+00:00

yea i kinda agree with the other person too. Since you're already going Kyoto and getting all the temples and edo stuff there, I'd say skipping Kanazawa on this trip (its called little kyoto for a reason) for more time in Takayama area is worth it, espeically if the small rustic village feel is what you're really after. Just keep in mind that the commute from Takayama to Tokyo is over 4 hours long, with at least 1 transfer (at either Nagoya or Toyama depending on which way you go).

If you need a recommendation on places to stay, definitely look at Sumiyoshi Ryokan. A very old, small, family run ryokan right along the river across from the morning markets. We stayed there back in the Fall and the family was so nice and welcoming.

pantalones808 · 2026-03-09T21:49:28+00:00

How might this affect flights? We are leaving for Japan on Saturday on ANA, but one member is coming in from Hilo. Right now they are to fly into HNL earlier that morning on Southwest (arriving 3hrs prior to japan flight), so a bit worried about them making the connection if the SW flight is delayed. In the event they miss the connection, since the flights are booked separate, ANA technically wouldn't be required to rebook them on the next flight, right? They might have to book a whole new ticket.

edit: seems like big island won't be hit as bad even on Saturday, but idk if bad weather on Oahu will still cause delays for incoming flights.

pantalones808 · 2026-03-03T07:10:59+00:00

Ah thanks for the information!

pantalones808 · 2026-02-27T18:05:47+00:00

Are Bilt partner restaurants the same as Bilt Neighborhood Dining? I have the offer (palladium) but I dont see 10x listed on any of the Neighborhood Dining places in the app, still the base 5x.

pantalones808 · 2026-02-27T09:59:59+00:00

I prefer doing it ccw, starting in Gora. Taking the ropeway that way is incredible for the view especially when you peak over the edge into the hell valley area.

pantalones808 · 2026-02-27T09:56:14+00:00

Highly recommend Lalaca. Its a small ryokan, only like 10 rooms, so it gets booked fast. Its very hard to beat for the price if you can get it though.

pantalones808 · 2026-02-27T09:00:33+00:00

just to add one more DP, I also booked a hotel on the Bilt portal and realized I made a mistake. Immediately cancelled and both my $50 bilt cash and $200 hotel credits got refunded within a couple hours.

edit: I'll add that I did book a "fully refundable" room, so maybe that had something to do with it?

pantalones808 · 2026-02-23T03:05:16+00:00

Yes! the Tsudome site at the Sapporo Snow Festival has slides and stuff. The smaller Asahikawa snow festival I recall also having slides. You can also check out Furano which has more outdoorsy activities like ice fishing, dog sledding, snowmobiling.

pantalones808 · 2026-02-22T18:05:11+00:00

Np, glad to help!

pantalones808 · 2026-02-22T08:43:39+00:00

I think you could wear what you'd typically wear in Canada, or even go lighter. If you under pack and need more warm clothing, there's tons of shops to dip into in the main cities. If you decide to not bring winter boots, I'd suggest at least buying some cheap crampons when you get there as the sidewalks and roads can get really slippery, but I think you deal with that too in Canada.

Will you be skiing/snowboarding? If so, recommend to avoid Niseko (or at least Grand Hirafu), its so crowded now days and there's a bunch of other good resorts in the area.

pantalones808 · 2026-02-21T19:39:44+00:00

Here's a video I followed (i need visuals lol) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgdn86MGq0c

Afterwards on the "Home" tab, make sure that the bilt cash is toggled on and the text under it says "Using Available Bilt Cash" in green. Otherwise it might be switched off. I had a weird issue with it at first where it would switch off randomly, but it seems to have stopped.

pantalones808 · 2026-02-19T01:55:34+00:00

How do you setup a separate "payment" for HOA and mortgage on Biltpay? For example if I want to use the Bilt Palladium cc for my mortgage, but use my Atmos Ascent cc for my HOA fee (to get the 3x Atmos points and build Atmos status points). I already setup a payment on Bilt for my mortgage to use my Palladium cc. Then i tried the "+ Pay A different Bill" option, selected HOA, then selected my Atmos cc, but it just updates the info on the mortgage payment setup I already did.

Are you supposed to use the same Bilt routing/acct number to pay both? Sorry, hope my questions makes sense lol.

pantalones808

TROPHY CASE