Day 1 was pretty uneventful except for the crazy amount of travel time my group put in. By the end of it, I want to say the total amount of hours was around 20. A lot of it was spent waiting around - either for flight delays or on the flight itself, which was about 11 or so hours from Chicago to Narita.

Because of our delays we were about 2 hours behind schedule, so we were expecting to roll in to our Kyoto rental house around 10pm.

Chicago skyline

Japanese hospitality is amazing! I would definitely recommend Japan Airlines, as they took very good care of us during our flight. (Multiple free meals, free blanket and neck pillow, plus friendly service)!

Thanks to the JR Line receptionist at Narita for running (litterally in heels) with us to catch the last train! Amazing.

To get from Narita to Kyoto, we pre-ordered our Japan Rail (JR) passes. Due to the delays though, we missed the last train and made a quick decision to catch the last train of the night, but at a pricey cost ($130). It definitely wasn't how I wanted to start the trip, but we got there eventually around midnight - 1am. Overall the JR pass was worth it because not only can you use it for Shinkansen (bullet train), but also some above-ground local trains.

Here's a shot of where we stayed! (Here it is on airbnb)

We never met Akane (our landlord), but the house was spotless and in a very quiet neighbourhood. It was about a 10min walk from Kyoto Station too, which was perfect. It was very easy to find given the instructions by Akane. There was a little sign above the alley that the front door is accessed by. Lots of great cafes and Yoshinoya just down the street. If you're staying in Kyoto, I would highly recommend!

The place looks exactly like the photos in the listing above. There was one bedroom with a door, a loft, a tatami room, and a futon. Plenty of sleeping space for the 7 people we crammed in there. If you're tidy with your luggage, I have full confidence that you'd be comfortable there! The house was also extremely well stocked with bath essentials like hair dryer, shampoo, conditioner, and even toothpaste. The kitchen had all you could ever need for making meals at the house, but we never used them since we ate out mostly. Akane had even provided us with snacks and instant coffee!