This is a first for Team Dwyer. A winter vacation! Normally, we want to escape the cold. We typically plan a trip where packing involves bikinis and board shorts. This is the first time we have ever packed snow pants and parkas. When I mentioned this to Dave he said this will probably be the last time as well!

We are flying out of Haneda Airport. We took the train from the station by our house. I planned our trip so we didn’t have to switch trains. A very nice convenience when pulling luggage. Here was our train route.

The flight to Sapporo takes about 1.5 hours from Haneda. Sapporo is located on the northern island of Hokkaido. It is due north of our location on the main island. Here are a couple pictures to help you identify where we are and where we are going. We are the blue dot near Tokyo.

Once we arrive in Sapporo, we will have about an hour train ride to our hotel from the airport.

Our hotel is about a 5-minute walk to the Sapporo Snow Festival.

According to my research, the first Sapporo Snow Festival was in 1950. In the town center, teenagers created six large snow sculptures. Over the next few years, more entertainment and food vendors began to organize and create a festival atmosphere. The size and complexity of the snow structures also improved. The Sapporo Snow Festival soon became a world renowned event. To date, the festival attracts more than 2 million visitors every year coming from all over the world and Japan.

We put the Sapporo Snow Festival on our Japan bucket list shortly after we arrived our first summer. We’ve been planning this trip since April! Needless to say, we are excited! I’ll be back soon with more pictures of the festival.