Hello fellow travelers/redditors. I am in the midst of planning a trip for the end of April, and having trouble making up my mind on where to go.

Right now my decision is between 10 nights in Japan split between Tokyo and Kyoto. Or 10 nights in Scotland with a few nights in Edinburgh and then renting a car and traveling through the highlands. At the moment I am leaning towards the Scotland trip...at one point I was a click away from booking my flight, but somehow Japan keeps pulling me in, with its unique ability to blend old and new.

Just a little background on me to start: I'm 25M, fairly active. I enjoy history, architecture, nature (hiking, beautiful scenery,kyaking etc),a decent enough nightlife (just a few nights here and there) and pretty much anything else. About the only thing that isn't a big deal to me is food, I am just not a big food person. I do enjoy trying a few things while traveling but it is not one of those things that is really important to me.

Now back to the dilemma

As I mentioned I am currently leaning towards the Scotland as it was one of my finalist last time as well and I've always been interested in Scotland's history. Also in all honesty I think I am probably leaning that way because its the safer choice (in terms of what I know/used to). There are just a few factors about traveling alone to Japan that I keep coming back to, and I think are ultimately preventing me from pulling the trigger. But as I continue to browse the sub reddit I see hints that maybe my concerns are unfounded. I am hoping some people reading this will take pity on me and maybe provide their own experiences with concerns they had, but ultimately found there was nothing to worry about. I have listed my own concerns below if anyone wants to weigh in on them.

1) Language barrier: One of my biggest concerns was the not knowing any Japanese and struggling to get around. As someone who typically likes to wander and doesn't have international data, I was worried about getting turned around and not finding my way to my destination or back to my hostel via signs, and then not being able to find someone to point me in the right direction. Every destination I've been to so far English has been very widely spoken and I am not sure that if that is the case in Tokyo/Kyoto.

2) The price, I've heard that Japan can be expensive depending on what you do. My budget planned is around $1500 for 10 nights (not including flight) and I am worried that this may limit me. I have spent time in Copenhagen, which is generally considered a pricier city, how does Japan/Tokyo compare, what would a night out with a few drinks cost?

3) Length of the trip. I was worried that with a such a short trip, due to the 14 hour time difference on top of the 14 hour flight, a 10 night trip may not be worth. This is probably all personal preference and how quickly people get over jet lag but it still played a role as Scotland only has a 5 hour difference.

4)"Golden Week" - during the majority of time I am looking to travel, Japan has what is called "Golden Week" or pretty much back to back to back to back holidays in Japan where the majority of people have off for a week. I am worried about how busy everything is going to be with the extra holiday crowds. Does anyone have any experience in Japan during this week, are the extra crowds miserable? Also this will probably require me to do quite a bit more planning because of how busy it will be, and I do prefer to stay flexible.

As I said I am hoping some people can provide me with their own experience if they had similar concerns and found that they had no reason to worry.

Or on the flip side maybe someone can provide me with just that extra little nudge i need to book that Scotland flight.

I sure either trip will be a blast and both are great destinations in their own right, its just with only being able to do one big trip a year, I want to make the right choice.

Any questions just comment or shoot me a DM, and thank you in advance for any comments/suggestions you are kind enough to share!