Family-Holiday Trip to Dieng, Central Java

Liburan sekolah kali ini kepikiran pengen ajak anak-anak jalan-jalan yang bisa ditempuh dengan road-trip. Terus Ayah ngide mau ajak liburan keluarga ke Dieng, nah tumben kan kali ini dia punya ide dan konsep liburan, biasanya harus agak dipaksa dulu dan Bunda tentuin sendiri tujuannya kalo pengen liburan hahaha. Tentu kalo Ayah yang ajak kita harus gass berangkat kan, walaupun sebelumnya udah pernah 2 kali kami sekeluarga ke Dieng, Wonnosobo dan sekitarnya. Namun kali ini Ayah cari penginapan yang agak proper, karena pas awal banget ke Dieng kan emang belum terlalu banyak penginapan yang lumayan bagus sehingga kami menginap di homestay. Nah pas kunjungan kedua, karena perginya pas longwiken dan agak mendadak sehingga cari penginapan yang agak proper luamayan susah karena udah fullbooked semua, jadi terpaksa kami kembali menginap di homestay kembali. Barulah pas kunjungan ketiga ini, akhirnya kami berhasil menginap di villa yang yahh.....ga bisa disebut memuaskan juga sih tapi setidaknya lebih private aja. Jujur agak sedikit kecewa ya karena pas liat dari website visualisasinya cukup menarik, tapi ternyata agak kurang rekomended, nanti deh dispill honest review villa nya. Overall Dieng-trip kali ini not bad lah ya, untuk ukuran trip yang tanpa menyusun itinerary, jadi yah kita langsung lesgoh aja pas berangkat tempo hari itu. Setidaknya pas ke Wonosobo bisa kulineran rujak yang enaakk, terus pas iseng-iseng ke lokasi Telaga Menjer kami ga sengaja nemu resto yang cukup proper untuk lokasi, restonya itu sendiri, juga menu dan harganya yang affordable. Selain itu juga bonusnya dapet foto-foto yang baguss selama di Dieng. Mungkin kedepannya kalo penginapan-penginapan di Dieng ini dilengkapi dengan pemanas ruangan akan jauh lebih nyaman untuk berwisata di Dieng.

Afternoon-walk at Serbaraja Toll Park BSD - The Breeze

Setelah sebelumnya nyobain jalan pagi di jogging track Serbarja Toll Park - The Breeze, kali ini nyobain afternoon-walk nya, walo pun kali ini vibesnya jalan-jalan aja sih bukan olahraga. Nah ternyata kalo jalan sore berasa gerah banget tapi nilai plusnya bisa dapat sunset yang indah. Terus habis jalan kita mampir bentar di store Chagee buat ngadem sambil menyeruput Boya-Jasmine Milktea favorit.

Morning Walk at Serbaraja Toll Park BSD

Sebetulnya udah lumayan lama penasaran pengen jalan pagi di Serbaraja Toll Park BSD ini, walaupun udah sering banget ke The Breeze tapi belum pernah beneran muterin sampe seluruh path Taman Toll Serbaraja. Kebetulan wiken beberapa minggu yang lalu akhirnya nyempetin jalan pagi ke sini bersama keluarga. Dan ternyata beneran sebagus itu areanya, mungkin karena terbiasa dengan jalur loop-line Bintaro yang pemandangannya jalan raya dan lalu lalang kendaraan, sehingga pas jalan ke sini kok berasa adem banget karena disamping banyak pohon-pohon, juga jalurnya berada disepanjang sisi sungai Cisadane, terus tracknya juga unik, mana banyak cafe/resto pula di sekitar situ,jadi kayak berasa lagi di luar kota eh bahkan vibes Singapuranya udh dapet sih, mirip-mirip lah yaa. Such a nice view for morning walk, will be back for sure.

Japan Trip 2026 Itinerary

This time I would like to share our latest itinerary during early spring 2026 in Japan, actually we spent 9 (nine) days around Tokyo and it's surroundings area in 2 different accommodations; Airbnb around Shinjuku Area (near Shimo-Ochiai Station) and Hilton Tokyo Bay (near Disneyland). So this is our itinerary:

Day #1: (17.03.2026)

We're landing at Narita Airport in the afternoon, and catched up the train to Shinjuku area since we've already can check in into the Airbnb, the unit was quite nice and located near the Shimoochiai Station (Shinjuku area), we loved the environment it was clean and quite just like common neighbourhood in Japan. Although the unit is quite narrow, it's consist of 1 bedroom, and 1 sofabed in the living room, kitchen and it's equipment, and what i loved the most is the unit equipped with washing machine (it's common actually), and also clothes drying panel, so i can washed every day, yeaayy. You guys can check the Airbnb unit thru this link.

After get a bit rest we're heading to Akihabara area, since we've been planned to find some Fujifilm camera and get some dinner (break fasting ) at Gyu-kaku Restaurant our fave yakiniku rest in Japan because the beef quality was great and it's affordable. After that we went to Ueno Park (it was unplanned), and we saw sakura for the first time in our life, even it wasn't full blooming yet.

Family pic day #1

Night Stroll at Ueno Park

Day #2: (18.03.2026)

Based on our previous itinerary we went to Gala Yuzawa Snow Resort for our second day in Japan. We departed early in the morning, and using shinkansen to the .

GALA Yuzawa Snow Resort is one of the most popular winter destinations in Japan due to its very easy access from Tokyo. The resort is located in Niigata Prefecture and is known as the only ski resort in the world that has its own Shinkansen station right inside its main building. Thiago really loved to play snow and sliding in here, even it's early spring season we still can enjoy to play snow in Gala Yuzawa. The scenery is truly breathtaking, I can't even describe in words.

We went back in the afternoon and then visit Akihabara area (again) to bought camera and Dinara's new mobile phone. For dinner we came to one of most popular unagi restaurants in Akihabara from the Google Reviews called Unagi Dokoro-Aoi.

Family pic day #2

Gondola Riding to Gala Yuzawa Snow Resort

Day #3: (19.03.2026)

Since my husband already bought JR Tokyo Wide Pass for 3 days, so our next destination was Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture. Actually our first idea to go here was to see sakura since we read that Atami Sakura blooming earlier than any other location in Japan, but later on we realized it was too late to enjoy sakura in Atami in mid to late March because it was already blooming in mid January, but since the route of the Shinkansen track is along the seaside I still enjoy the trip. We visit Shimoda and Atami to enjoy the fresh seafood in local restaurant, and walked along the seaside. But unfortunately we can't visit the Ginza Atami Shopping Street for culinary because when we reached there at 6 pm, most of the shops already closed. Nor we can't visit the Atami Castle since it was already closed around 4.30 pm when we reached there, it's was just too bad because I really wanna visit the castle because from what I've read, there're observatory deck at the top floor of the castle where we can see the city and ocean views.

Family pic day #3

Atami Ocean Side-walk

Day #4:

Next itinerary is museum hopping and visit Odaiba area. Our first stop was National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo located near Ueno Park. The museum offers a wide variety of natural history exhibitions and interactive scientific experiences, it;s divided into several area/categories: animal, geology, botany, humanity and so on. Actually it was quite interesting how the museum can provide any kind of materials for the exhibition. Next museum destination is The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation which is located in Odaiba area. National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation is a place where we understand what is going on in the world right now from the perspective of science, and think and talk together about what kind of future we are going to create. 

One of the most interesting exibition for kids are Hello ! Robots. In this exihition allows us to imagine what it might be like to live alongside a variety of robots in the future, through interacting with robots and introducing the lates in robotics research. Thiago was very interested in the various exhibition in the museum.

Exploring Odaiba area was so much interesting, we've seen sakura for the first time also in Odaiba area near Symbol Promenade Park, eventhough it wasn't full bloom yet but it was one of the most beautiful sakura we've ever seen during the trip. We've spent some time in DiverCity mall and enjoyed one of the best Japanese BBQ for our early dinner.

Family pic day #4

At The National Museum of Nature and Science

At Miraikan The National Museum Emerging Science and Innovation

Tulip Garden at Odaiba Area near Miraikan The National Museum

Day #5:

Finally Lebaran Day has come yeaayy, Alhamdulillah!! All of us went to Embassy of Indonesia in Tokyo for Ied al Fitr prayer. We've been did research how to get a seat for Lebaran prayer since I've read that we need to booked thru online registration provided by The Embassy. The prayer it self will be done in several batch since the limitation of the praying location. Women area located in the building but unfortunately, men's area were located in the parking lot outside the building, since the weather that morning were around 5-6 degrees, Thiago feel asleep during prayer, and Farabi got shivering, poor them huhuhu.

Right after the praying finished we've got rushed into Shinjuku Station to catched a bus to Gotemba Premium Outlet, because we want to shopping till drop hahaha. Unfortunately the traffic was very bad that day, congestion everywhere, it took more than two hours to get there. First of all, our destination of course Shake Shack Burger, we were starving. After that visit  Lego Store of course, Farabi my second one actually such a nice boy, he is a simple child who doesn’t ask for much, except for lego collection. Gotemba visit was never enough, but we need to catched the last bus to get back to the station. The good thing is we still have plenty of time to catch up some night-snack (taiyaki) at Shinjuku area when we touched down Tokyo.

Family pic day #5

On Our Way to Indonesian Embassy for Ied Prayer

The Boys Were Got Freezing During the Ied Prayer :(

Day #6:

Seventh day is about "free time", there was no tight schedule like previous day, our activities was only strolling around the city, we visit Roppongi area: Roppongi Hills. We also visited the Lululemon store spontaneously, because they said it was the biggest Lululemon stores in Tokyo. Actually it was a great investment for me since i've got brown jacket (and then become one og my favorite) and jogger pants, and Dinara also bought her dreamed (tight) jacket, we was really happy because when we compared, the prices was so much cheaper. In the afternoon we're also strolling in Shibuya area for sakura hunting photos and videos along the road.

Family pic day #6

Maman Spider Sculpture at Roppongi Hills

Day #7:

It was time to check out from the AirBnB in Shinjuku area ahead to our next hotel: Hilton Tokyo Bay which was surpisingly had a great sea-view. But since the check in can be done only around 3 p.m so we had plenty of time for sight seeing, that's why we decide to strolling around Tokyo Station and Marunochi area. Marunouchi is bordered on the east by Tokyo Station, one of Japan's busiest railway stations and the terminal of multiple shinkansen lines. Thiago had so much fun playing with the doves at the Marunochi Plaza.

Anyway about the Hilton Tokyo Bay, it's one of the Tokyo Disney Resort official hotel, which was located between Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney-sea, across Bayside Station. The room was so nice, the amenities was standard, there was also convenient store at the lobby: a livesaver when hungry.

Family pic day #7

The Ocea-view From Our Bedroom

Day #8:

Family trip to Disney-sea, yeaayyy!! We had so much fun, spent time until late at night inTokyo Disney-sea. And also watched fireworks which we didn't do when we went to Disneyland last year because none of us can handle the weather since it was late winter season. A dedicated post about Disney Sea will be posted separately.

Mandatory Family Pictures at The Tokyo Disneysea

Day #9:

It was time to say goodbye to Japan, huhuhu we wish we can spend time longer in Japan. I hope we can back to Japan together next year :)

Japan Trip (Again) in 2026

Well hellow all, we've just got back from Japan (and SG) Trip 2026. Ternyata bener yaa Japan Trip tuh senagih itu, seperti yang sering dibilang orang-orang "impiannya sih keliling dunia, tapi tiap ada rezeki selalu balik ke Jepang lagi, Jepang lagi" ahahah. Alhamdulillah tahun ini masih dikasih rezeki sama Allah untuk balik ke Jepang bersama keluarga tersayang.

Thank you Ayah sayang udah mau dirayu untuk mempertimbangkan trip ke Jepang kali ini, walaupun awalnya sempet beberapa kali menolak karena pertimbangan biaya. Duhh sejujurnya bingung mau mulai nulis dari mana tapi yang jelas trip kali ini pun kami kembali gagal ke Kamakura huhuu.

Yah sebenernya kalo dipikir-pikir ya Jepang tuh kan luas banget terus jarak antarlokasi tujuan jauh-jauh sekalipun hanya di area Tokyo saja, jadi kadang saat menyusun itinerary tuh jadinya terlalu optimis, belom lagi kalo jalannya sama bocils, ada aja ceritanya, yang mogok karena capek lah, pun yang udh remaja dikit-dikit ngilang mampir ke stores barang-barang lucuk or mampir ke setiap kombini yang dilewati, ada juga anak abege yg kadang ngambekan hahah, tapi biar gimanapun memori setiap perjalanan ini akan menjadi kenangan tak terlupakan bagi kami sekeluarga.

Semoga Dinara, Farabi, dan Thiago selamanya akan mengenang momen perjalanan ini dan jadi lebih saling menghargai dan menyayangi satu sama lain. Aamiin

Japan (Family) Trip 2025

Ohh My God, ternyata selama tahun 2024 kemarin ga pernah ngepost apapun sama sekali huhuhu. Banyak banget momen-momen luar biasa yang ga terarsip di blog ini. Anyway, baiklah mungkin ini salah satu awal yang baik (mudah-mudahan ga males ya Allah). Postingan kali ini sesuai judul, jadi alhamdulilaah akhirnya kami berdua kesampaian ngajak anak-anak liburan keluarga ke Jepang di periode winter season, walaupun awalnya sempet rada ga yakin bakal bisa berangkat atau pending karena issues cuti Ayah dan Bunda yang kurang mulus approvalnya, walaupun akhirnya kami tetap nekat berangkat hahah.

Dengan waktu yang cukup mepet (kurang dari tiga minggu), kami berdua sejak awal bulan Januari 2025 berjibaku mempersiapkan segala keperluan, itinerary, dan segala per-booking-an (tentu saja urusan booking-bookingan ini menjadi kewajiban si Ayah seorang hehe). Kebayang lah yaa bepergian berlima selama hampir dua minggu perjalanan di waktu musim dingin rempongnya kayak apa, terutama karena harus mempersiapkan barang-barang yang harus dibawa jauh lebih complicated karena musim dingin butuh perlengkapan yang lebih kompleks. Mulai dari berburu inner heattech, sewa jaket winter, cari-cari sepatu winter (yang walau akhirnya kami beli di Tokyo).

Tapi alhamdulillah semua kerempongan dengan persiapan sat set itu terbayarkan dengan pengalaman luar biasa yang memorinya akan melekat selamanya di hati kami sekeluarga terutama anak-anak, karena ini pertama kalinya kami bisa menyentuh salju secara langsung (kecuali Ayah, karena beberapa tahun yang lalu sudah pernah main salju-saljuan pas bussiness trip ke Hangzhou), yang beneran kayak powder snow, serius deh salju di Sapporo tuh bersih dan haluus banget. Semoga ada rezeki di masa datang untuk perjalanan ke Jepang berikutnya, karena ada beberapa itinerary kemarin yang belum sempat kesampaian huhu.

Anyway sebelum lebih lanjut, mungkin itinerary awal sebaiknya saya share terlebih dahulu sebagai gambaran tujuan wisata Japan Winter Trip kami kali ini, thanks to kemajuan teknologi informasi dan social media yang membantu segalanya lebih mudah, here you go: Japan Trip 2025 Itinerary

Secara umum itinerary kami selama di Jepang masih sesuai dengan agenda di atas, hanya saja yang tadinya ada tujuan ke Kamakura ga jadi, karena ternyata ga keburu waktunya, lalu beberapa agenda selama di Hokkaido jadinya banyak improvisasi diantaranya karena heavy snow cukup menjadi kendala terutama buat kami (baca: Bunda) sebagai warga tropis ini, ga kuat dingin euy terutama jari-jari tangan yang tiba-tiba aja mati rasa sama bagian muka dan betis yang berasa banget dinginnya walaupun udah pake pelindung. Disamping, karena winter season dan waktu di Jepang itu lebih cepat dua jam daripada waktu di Indo dimana jam biologis kita masih menyesuaikan, jadi berasa mager banget mau mulai aktivitas pagi-pagi banget tuh. Kayak kalo di agenda kan jadwal mulai aktivitas tuh di jam 8.00 pagi, kenyataannya kami biasanya baru keluar apartemen paling cepet di jam 10.00, itu pun Bunda udah bertanduk ngomel-ngomel biar pada gercep hahaha. 

Alhamdulillah, kami sekeluarga sehat-sehat selama di sana, terutama anak-anak, yang ga terlalu kaget samsek dengan perubahan suhu yang cukup drastis, termasuk si anak pinguin Thiago yang santuy banget hahaha, pun hingga pulang dan langsung beraktifitas ke sekolah dan kerja kami semua tetap fit alhamdulillah wasyukurillah.

Next post are about detail each destination, stay tuned!!

PS: *By the way, ternyata bikin itinerary pake aplikasi numbers (iOS based) ini tampilannya jauh lebih menarik daripada excel loh, terus templatenya juga variatif, luvv banget.

Japan Trip : Part I

Okeh sesuai postingan sebelumnya bahwa Japan Trip 2023 ini akan dishare dalam beberapa postingan berbeda kalo ga males dan ga lupa yaa haha. Untuk Part I, sebagai informasi nih bahwa dalam perjalanan training kali ini si Ayah nyusul juga untuk ngetrip ke Jepang selama 2 minggu, kan lumayan tuh itung-itung Anniversary Trip kan pas banget ada di tanggal 5 Oktober 2023 pernikahan kami genap 15 tahun Alhamdulillah. Walau agak sedih karena terpaksa melewatkan ulang tahun Thiago yang ke-5 ditanggal 7 Oktober huhuhu, maafin Ayah Bunda yaa dek. Tapi syukurnya keluarga Wak Ibu dan keluarga Cek Hanum tiba-tiba datang ke rumah bawa kue dan traktir Mc D, jadi rumah rame deh Thiago bisa tiup lilin sama Zavi, yeaayy makasih yaa Wak Ibu dan Cek Hanum.

Nah berhubung Bunda setiap hari tuh jadwalnya penuh dari pagi sampe sore, jadi untuk jalan-jalang yang jauh hanya bisa dilakukan disaat weekend, sedangkan kalo seputar Tokyo masih bisa pergi bareng Ayah selepas kelas (kelas selesai biasanya antara jam 16.30-17.00).

Weekend I : Kawaguchiko and Saiko Lake

Berhubung Ayah udah nyampe di Tokyo di hari Jumat minggu pertama, jadi Jumat malam kami langsung otw ke Kawaguchiko Lake, karena belum sah kan kalo ke Jepang tapi ga foto di Gunung Fuji hehe.

Jadi begitu Ayah landing hari Jumat sore kami langsung janjian di area Shinjuku, dan naik bus dari Shinjuku langsung ke lokasi Kawaguchiko Lake, kebetulan kami kebagian bis jam 22.00 lewat. Tadinya mau rencana naik Shinkansen aja tapi yah karena gada persiapan sebelumnya jadi kehabisan tiket, untungnya tiket bus masih available. Dan yah emang area Kawaguchiko Lake ini tuh emang nyaman banget lingkungannya, didukung pula cuaca lagi bagus-bagusnya suhu berkisar 18-19 derajat Celcius walaupun cuaca cerah tapi gak panas. Nah kalo gimana-gimana perjalanan di area Danau Kawaguchiko ini silakan googling ajalah lah yaa banyak kok infonya bertebaran hehe.

Ohiya btw kami nginep di Toyoko Inn Fuji Kawaguchiko selama 2 malam, harganya 1 jutaan lebih kayaknya sih, soalnya yang urus semuanya si Ayah jadi sayah terima beres hehe. Kamarnya bersih banget walaupun agak sempit, tapi fasilitasnya oke kok, kamar mandi pakai bathtub, dan yang paling oke dari semua standarisasi hotel-hotel di Jepang itu, closetnya dilengkapi tombol-tombol gemes, dan dudukan closetnya hangaatt. Bisa jalan kaki juga ke salah satu spot Danau Kawaguchi, tapi dari lokasi ini Gunung Fuji nya ga terlalu keliatan, jadi kami ke salah satu spot atraksi wisata Saiko Lake dimana puncak Gunung Fuji terlihat jelas, walaupun saat itu puncak gunungnya gak bersalju huhuhu. Agak kurang afdol gimana gitu yaa, mana waktu itu agak ketutupan awan pula, walaupun cuaca masih terhitung cerah sih. But still, unforgettable memories Fuji-san, semoga suatu hari ada rezeki bisa sekeluarga ajak anak-anak  ke sini lagi. Aamiinn.