Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:
Working with Jeff at Rediscover Tours was a wonderful experience. He helped me plan a 10 day trip of a lifetime to Japan with my mother, and it was nothing short of fantastic! The process was seamless and he took care of everything including hotel reservations, train passes and reserved tickets, restaurant reservations and a private guide for one day in each city we visited. We went to Toyko, Kyoto and Hakone. Each city was unique and so much fun to explore for us, and we enjoyed each day tackling both traditional Japanese sites and more contemporary experiences. We still got to pick and choose what sites we wanted to see on our own, but all of the heavy lifting was done for us so we had nothing else to do but enjoy the culture and explore the cities. I can't recommend Rediscover Tours enough for planning a trip to Japan! Our trip exceeded our expectations, and our expectations were already pretty high!

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?
Both our private guide in Tokyo and our private guide in Kyoto were fascinating women who showed us some places off of the beaten path, and this was especially helpful during cherry blossom season when the crowds were dense. We also really enjoyed our hotel in Tokyo because it was across the street from Tokyo Station, which helped us to get around the city quickly, catch our trains to our other cities, and Tokyo Station itself has so much to explore inside of it. This was definitely an unforseen advantage that added a lot to our stay in Tokyo, particularly. In Kyoto we really enjoyed seeing the cherry blossoms in a local park with our guide, away from the crowds. We also really enjoyed visiting the Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine, we went very early in the morning and it was a site we will never forget. And finally, Jeff at Rediscover really pushed us to do one night in Hakone, a mountain town outside of Tokyo. This experience was like none I could have imagined. We stayed in a ryokan with our own hot spring bath, and the hotel and room were like something out of a movie - breathtaking is an understatement. We also experienced a kaiseki dinner there, which was another out-of-this-world experience. My mother and I had a truly fantastic experience there, and even had time to go to the Hakone Open Air Museum which was another trip favorite. Then overall, we just enjoyed the food and culture of the Japanese people so much. Thank you to Rediscover Tours!