Non UK Going to Tokyo…

We have Tesco mobile - they have an “at home” thing - but not for Japan! We should be getting a couple of compatible USB plugs in the next day or two so will hopefully be able to charge okay.

I booked this week and we go early March. It felt soon on Monday and now if feels like forever away.

Decided that the 20-60 will be fine. It is light. Thinking also the the 50 1.8 will be fine for night pictures and is also fairly light. If I take other lenses it’ll be a 24-70 and drop the 20-60 but thinking a trip to WEX for a play is probably best option.
 
nandbytes said:
3 feel at home thing is still in place according to their website. 71 destination supported apparently.....
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If I were on the old contract….I renewed to a new one in the pandemic…which is now gone for new contracts. Smarty has the feel at home thing…I am going to switch to them when my contract runs out.
 
Raymond Lin said:
If I were on the old contract….I renewed to a new one in the pandemic…which is now gone for new contracts. Smarty has the feel at home thing…I am going to switch to them when my contract runs out.
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for new contracts they have "go roam" thingy now
www.three.co.uk

Go Roam | Roaming in over 160 destinations | Support | Three

Go Roam lets you call, text, and use your data in over 160 destinations around the world. It’s made up of three parts - Go Roam in Europe, Go Roam Around the World and Go Roam Around the World Extra.
www.three.co.uk
www.three.co.uk

Roaming Abroad - Destinations | Support | Three

An A-Z listing of all the destinations Three customers can roam in.
www.three.co.uk

I am on a new contract myself.
Can use data up to 12GB in Europe out of my allowance. Seems plenty.
 
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nandbytes said:
for new contracts they have "go roam" thingy now
www.three.co.uk

Go Roam | Roaming in over 160 destinations | Support | Three

Go Roam lets you call, text, and use your data in over 160 destinations around the world. It’s made up of three parts - Go Roam in Europe, Go Roam Around the World and Go Roam Around the World Extra.
www.three.co.uk
www.three.co.uk

Roaming Abroad - Destinations | Support | Three

An A-Z listing of all the destinations Three customers can roam in.
www.three.co.uk

I am on a new contract myself.
Can use data up to 12GB in Europe out of my allowance. Seems plenty.
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Not the one I am on, I pay £2 a day for Europe, £5 a day outside Europe. I didn’t bother to top up my European esim when I was stuck in Paris for a day as it’s only £2.

My old contract is was free and included.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Not the one I am on, I pay £2 a day for Europe, £5 a day outside Europe. I didn’t bother to top up my European esim when I was stuck in Paris for a day as it’s only £2.

My old contract is was free and included.
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ah looks like I need to pay the £2 too to unlock it
what a pain....

a quick google shows me Lebara which gives free roaming all around EU and you can get single month contracts. 20GB for £10 seems like a good deal if you are staying more than 5 days.
smarty has a 12GB fair usage limit while lebara has 30GB.....

interesting stuff.... sorry Chris, for derailing this slightly. I will leave it here.
 
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Tulipone said:
We are going into Haneda. I have been reading about Suica card and not too sure that I like the idea of it being on a phone. My wife takes forever getting her phone out and think that we are going to get along far better with a physical card. The idea of an eSIM and off straight away really appeals.
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Haneda is a great choice being so much closer to the centre. I caught the Monorail which costs ¥500 and takes you into Hamamatsucho Station on the Yamanote Line.
 
1dmouse said:
Haneda is a great choice being so much closer to the centre. I caught the Monorail which costs ¥500 and takes you into Hamamatsucho Station on the Yamanote Line.
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That is the plan for us also. There is some irony we get in early morning then will have all day to get the suitcases booked in - and the transport time is pretty swift. The plan is to hope the hotel will look after them for us for a few hours.
 
Tulipone said:
That is the plan for us also. There is some irony we get in early morning then will have all day to get the suitcases booked in - and the transport time is pretty swift. The plan is to hope the hotel will look after them for us for a few hours.
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They will, it's pretty standard practise to send luggage ahead, or drop it off before check in.

Also, the Yamanote line is a lovely ride!
 
Tulipone said:
That is the plan for us also. There is some irony we get in early morning then will have all day to get the suitcases booked in - and the transport time is pretty swift. The plan is to hope the hotel will look after them for us for a few hours.
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If you have any problem with your suit cases I put mine in a locker at the station and went off exploring for a few hours before heading to my hotel in Shinjuku. I arrived early on a Sunday morning so not so much of a problem during rush hour
 
I've never been to Tokyo (but planning to once kids are older).

My S5 holiday kit is the 20-60 and 70-300 and I find both those lenses deliver great images.

They may not be the fastest lenses but S5 is great in low light so shouldn't be an issue.

Often pondered a 35mm 1.8 but I have the 24-105 and that's one of the lenses I use the most if I'm honest. Can even do a little macro with it.
 
Thanks Adam. I think that the final plan is to just go with the 50mm and 20-60. I was thinking the 24-105 gives a lot more flexibility but so far have decided that the lightness of the 20-60 wins. If I already owned the 24-105 it would be a bot more of a struggle. That and the 50mm will do - I was walking around with the 85 yesterday and it is just too long for me. Great portrait, not so good for me for anything else. I have a few weeks yet for the plan to change though!
 
Raymond Lin said:
I just install an e-sim, £20 for like 20G which was more than enough.
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We are getting sorted and just got a bit of time to get through before we go.

I not that if you have a referral code I can use it’ll give you US $3 from each of us. If you can be bothered we’d be very happy to use it (twice).
 
Just to update this - currently waiting to board to come back.

The 20-60 and 50mm both perfect for this trip and looking forward to seeing what images we have.

The Airalo eSIM was a great suggestion and worked perfectly and fast for our entire trip. We got 2x 10gb and used Google maps extensively throughout and used around 3gb in total. Both sims cost less that £9.
 
Tulipone said:
Just to update this - currently waiting to board to come back.

The 20-60 and 50mm both perfect for this trip and looking forward to seeing what images we have.

The Airalo eSIM was a great suggestion and worked perfectly and fast for our entire trip. We got 2x 10gb and used Google maps extensively throughout and used around 3gb in total. Both sims cost less that £9.
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Perfect, I'm glad you had a good trip.
Thank you for reporting back, very useful for rest of us.
 
Tulipone said:
Just to update this - currently waiting to board to come back.

The 20-60 and 50mm both perfect for this trip and looking forward to seeing what images we have.

The Airalo eSIM was a great suggestion and worked perfectly and fast for our entire trip. We got 2x 10gb and used Google maps extensively throughout and used around 3gb in total. Both sims cost less that £9.
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This is very helpful as we have a trip planned for October. We are going to look at the eSIM as we both have iPhones. I might have upgraded by then as am on a 12. Did you have a real or virtual card for the trains?
 
You are going to Tokyo? We flew into Haneda and had absolutely no problem with travel cards - when you get to arrivals the train lines run straight in and there was a choice between Suica and, I think, Pasmo straight from the machine. Credit card in, 4000 yen onto two cards and onto a train. No problem at all. We decided against the virtual cards for two reasons. Didn’t want to have to get a phone out each time you pass through a turnstile and if we lost a phone we still had travel cards. Each to their own though. Transport is cheap, quick and clean.

If you are going to get eSims give either myself or Raymond Lim a shout and can arrange an invitation that'll save $3 off each. We got a 10gb sim each and used probably 3gb in 9 days mostly using Google maps.

Being used to London prices we were surprised how cheap it was to travel and eat there. The holiday was a bargain.
 
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Hi. We are going to Tokyo in October. We have downloaded the Suica App to our phones now. We also want to get an Airola Japan SIM pack. Is this only activated on arrival? This page has been very helpful and got us doing something about it early.
 
You install the eSIM at home and then activate when you get to the airport in Tokyo. Worked brilliantly for us - if you need links and a $3 discount please let me know.

We are also back in Tokyo late September into March again and looking forward to it. First time you go is a bit scary but nothing to worry about.
 
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Tulipone said:
You install the eSIM at home and then activate when you get to the airport. Worked brilliantly for us - if you need links and a $3 discount please let me know.

We are also back in Tokyo late September into March again and looking forward to it. First time you go is a bit scary but nothing to worry about.
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Yes please - thanks Chris.
 
Above is the referral code. Hope it works as we both get $3 off and we are soon to buy another pack each - we got a 10gb pack each and that was more than we needed in 10 days. You can use it more than once if you are going as a couple and need time each.
 
Tulipone said:
Hi,

We are off to Tokyo for a few days in March and would be very grateful for advice on what equipment you'd advise I take. There are lots of opportunities for different (at least to my very western eyes).

I have a Panasonic S5 full frame, currently 20-60, 50mm, 85mm and flash. I have never been completely happy with the 20-60 and have dithered about buying a 24-105 or 24-70 but wonder if this'd be a good opportunity to replace the 20-60. I definitely find the 85mm too long for most uses, the 50mm I prefer, but have always hankered after a 35mm. All of that mute as I have no idea what I am going to need.

Grateful for thoughts, advice, Japanese adapters and anything else I'm going to need.
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I'm in the boat with you. Don't really find a use for non-zoom lens. Seems your always ether to close or not close enough, I had a couple lens for walking around that were great. 18-105 Nikon worked really well but 18-140 even better. Lot of people claim the primary lens are much better but I'm not much better so use what works for me. Today my most used lens is an 18-200 Tamron for a Nikon. I seldom use either extreme end of the zoom and never need to worry about being in the right spot. The 18-200 is a fairly small lens so no problem carrying it around.
 
I took the 20-60 and 50mm and used both extensively. The 20-60 during the day and the 1.8 50mm more at night. Both were fine for what I used them for but would have preferred a bit wider and a little longer. We are back in Tokyo next month and still considering what changes I’m going to make and what’ll go next time.
 
I’ve just had 2 weeks in Japan (am typing this in Haneda airport in fact!), and had a few days in Tokyo. I use Nikon Z, and lens wise I took a 24-200, 14-30 and 40mm. Probably 95% of my photos were using the 24-200 simply because of its versatility, but I took a lot on my iPhone as well as it’s just so handy and can swap focal lengths at the touch of a button. For holiday snaps, this setup is more than good enough for me quality wise. My output will be our annual blurb yearbook, so I’m not looking for critical sharpness across the frame and ultimate level of detail and resolution.

Following advice on this thread, I used an Airalo eSIM, dead easy once you’ve got it setup and topping up is a breeze. Cheap as well, definitely the way forward when abroad.
 
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