Cousin Connect Adventure 2026

Hey there, friends! I hope you’re having an amazing Tuesday. I wanted to pop in and share our exciting travel plans! On Sunday, my travelling cousins and our family got together and booked our flights. Once we made that financial commitment, I thought, “Yep, we’re locked in,” and now I can finally share. Our next Cousin Connect adventure will be in April, and we are off to… Singapore and Japan for 11 days! Eeek!!

It’s the same crew as our USA trip—my cousin, her husband and two kids, plus our family of three. Yay!

Up until our last trip, overseas travel wasn’t really on my radar. I’d been to North and South America when I was younger, and that felt like enough for me at the time. I was happy to live on those fun memories. But ever since my travelling cousins opened our eyes to overseas adventures, I think we may have caught the travel bug. Nobody is more surprised about this than me, because I was totally happy to leave flying for the birds—they’re made for it!

But here’s the thing: post-holiday blues are a real thing. As soon as we landed back in Sydney after our last trip, the excitement of being safely home lasted about five minutes. Then I started missing everyone. The adventure was over, life would go back to normal, and I wouldn’t have anything to look forward to. Dramatic much?

I thought it was just me, but nope, we were all feeling it. Then, not long after, my cousins said, “We need to plan another trip,” and just like that, I was cured.

Our Trip Plans So Far

On the way to and from Japan, we will have roughly a day in Singapore each way. That should give us just enough time to stretch our legs and explore Jewel at Changi Airport, a huge mall with an indoor waterfall, a rainforest, and plenty of shops. It is all inside the airport, can you believe it? I think we also talked about maybe visiting Marina Bay Sands.

And it should come as no surprise that this Disney-loving family is planning to visit both Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea. Universal Studios Japan is also locked in. That’s about all we have planned so far. It’s still early days, and our mission now is to work out what we can squeeze into the time we are there. Planning is so much fun!

Places On Our List

These are the places we’re currently talking about. Some are locked in, others are still a maybe.

• Singapore
• Tokyo
• Kyoto
• Osaka

Some Places We’re Thinking About

Here’s a mix of places and experiences that have caught our eye so far.

• Tokyo Tower or Skytree (views)
• Shibuya Crossing (famous busy street)
• Ueno Park/Shinjuku Gyoen (pretty cherry blossoms)
• Arashiyama Bamboo Grove (tall bamboo)
• Fushimi Inari Shrine (red gates)
• Dotonbori (street food)
• Osaka Castle (castle)
• Shinkansen (bullet train)

I’m sure we’ll have a few planning meetings in the next couple of weeks, and my cousin J and I have already been sending each other some ideas we’ve spotted on Instagram Reels.

Apparently, there’s a trend of running through the busy Shibuya Crossing solo and striking a pose. Haha, I wonder if the seven of us will be brave enough to try that one!

The travel YouTube videos I’ve been watching say it’s a good idea to learn a few handy Japanese words. So far, all I know is ohayou gozaimasu (good morning) and arigatou gozaimasu (thank you). Looks like I still have a ways to go!

I’ve also picked up a few cultural tips: jaywalking could apparently cost you a $5,000 fine, and eating while walking is considered rude. On trains, everyone keeps it super quiet, so we’ll need to remember our manners.

It’s probably also a good idea to figure out how to use their high-tech toilets, so I think I need to watch a few more YouTube tutorials on that. I know, right? I had no idea toilets came with so many options besides just flush.

And apparently, there’s a drink that can get you more than tipsy in no time called Strong Zero. I’ll taste the sake, but I’d better keep away from that one.

T-Shirt Drama

We are all super excited, and I just can’t believe we’ll be visiting another Disneyland so soon! One of the first things we need to sort out is our personalised T-shirts. I think the drama from our last family T-shirt plan has finally passed enough that I can talk about it.

For our USA trip, we ordered the cutest personalised T-shirts for Disney and Universal. They had amazing graphics, and we ordered them about six weeks before we left through Printerval. As the trip got closer, and they hadn’t arrived, we started to worry. We sent emails and WhatsApp messages, but nothing. Zero response. Do you know when they finally arrived? When we were already in the second week of our trip. Excellent.

Luckily, just before we left, my cousin organised a quick plan B and got some T-shirts from Target delivered to our hotel. They weren’t exactly what we planned, but it all worked out, and we all matched. And the original T-shirts? I haven’t even opened the package. I just shoved them in a closet, and I still can’t look at them.

So that’s my exciting news! If you have any tips about Japan, places to see, things to try, or even travel hacks, I’d love to hear them. Every little idea helps.

I’m off to watch more YouTube videos about Japan, and yes, I also need to listen to some Lovefly podcasts to get myself ready for flying again. If you have a fear of flying like I do, you might want to check out their website too. My word for 2025 was brave, and for 2026 I’m adding a new one—confident 😬

Thanks so much for stopping by!