Short tour of Japan.
Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 9:11 am
I've got a couple of weeks in early October and am planning a short Japan intro tour with panniers and stuff of the southern Kansai and Shikoku Is. areas. Never been there before and two weeks is a bit short, but the more I read the more I like the sound of it. If it works out OK I'll come back for a solid look next year.
My rough plan is to fly into Osaka and work south and then by ferry from Wakayama to Tokushima and etc. Pretty vague, but that's OK.
A couple of questions for anyone who may have done a bike trip from Osaka before:
1. Does the whole trip sound like it'll work ?
2. When I've travelled before I've packed the bike and some panniers in a cardboard bike box from a shop here, and then tossed out the box when I've arrived at the destination. Then chased up a new box for the flight home from the place of departure. Is that going to work OK with Osaka ? Will I be able to find a friendly bike shop when I get back there to come home ? Some of the stuff I've read suggests getting a regular bike bag to pack the bike into for transport, but........where does the bag go when you're touring around ? I'm hoping I can just chase up another box when it's time to come home. Realistic ?
3. I'm a bit anal when it comes to navigation- like to know where I am. And I've heard that the signage, not surprisingly is in Japanese script. So I was wondering if there's some downloadable map that can be used offline in the iPhone 3, that gives enough detail for backtroad touring ? Google Maps has plenty of detail, but only seems to work when you have plenty of reception. I'm not worried about being able to make phone calls- just using the phone as a GPS with inbuilt mapping. Is that possible ?
4. If I do use the iPhone for mapping offline, will it go flat in an hour or two as it does when using Google maps ?
5. Has anyone had any experience using these portable solar usb chargers on a bike ? I've seen people with them on their backpack when bushwalking. Any reason to think it'd not work strapped somehow to a pannier ?
Cheers,
Nitram
My rough plan is to fly into Osaka and work south and then by ferry from Wakayama to Tokushima and etc. Pretty vague, but that's OK.
A couple of questions for anyone who may have done a bike trip from Osaka before:
1. Does the whole trip sound like it'll work ?
2. When I've travelled before I've packed the bike and some panniers in a cardboard bike box from a shop here, and then tossed out the box when I've arrived at the destination. Then chased up a new box for the flight home from the place of departure. Is that going to work OK with Osaka ? Will I be able to find a friendly bike shop when I get back there to come home ? Some of the stuff I've read suggests getting a regular bike bag to pack the bike into for transport, but........where does the bag go when you're touring around ? I'm hoping I can just chase up another box when it's time to come home. Realistic ?
3. I'm a bit anal when it comes to navigation- like to know where I am. And I've heard that the signage, not surprisingly is in Japanese script. So I was wondering if there's some downloadable map that can be used offline in the iPhone 3, that gives enough detail for backtroad touring ? Google Maps has plenty of detail, but only seems to work when you have plenty of reception. I'm not worried about being able to make phone calls- just using the phone as a GPS with inbuilt mapping. Is that possible ?
4. If I do use the iPhone for mapping offline, will it go flat in an hour or two as it does when using Google maps ?
5. Has anyone had any experience using these portable solar usb chargers on a bike ? I've seen people with them on their backpack when bushwalking. Any reason to think it'd not work strapped somehow to a pannier ?
Cheers,
Nitram