Why Hokkaido?

"Why Hokkaido?", some would ask. 

"Why not!", that would be my reply.

Hokkaido has long been a tourist mecca for both Japanese and gaikoku-jins, especially in the summer and winter months. I have longed to visit Japan in summer, and when AirAsia started its launch of KL-Sapporo flight, I literally leaped and booked almost immediately as the promotion fares were quite attractive. The aftermath of buying cheap AirAsia tickets - 10 months of anticipation! The tickets booked were 10 months later (July 2016), hence we had plenty of time to think and plan about the trip.

Nonetheless, procrastination caught us red-handed and it was only like 3-4 months ahead which we felt the urge to really sit down and decide where and what to do during the 18 days we had in Hokkaido. Yes, it sounds crazy, but we allocated 18 days in Hokkaido; since we have come all the way this far, why not linger longer?

The thing about Hokkaido is that it is such a popular destination that all the good stuffs are fully booked by 3 months ahead! I was shocked at first, when most of the affordable airbnbs were already fully booked. Consequently, we jump-started our planning within that month, met up a few times, and had the trip details ironed out.

Trying to fit in every single thing into 18 days was not easy, especially when the other visitors had so many nice things to say bout Hokkaido. We booked a rental car for 13 days, as the public transport in Hokkaido was not as intricately accessible as the other main islands, since most of the places we are heading definitely requires one! Eventually, we  finalised our itinerary, and it was definitely not an easy one. 

18 days of Hokkaido, here we come!