Category: Destinations

Top 10 Things that Went Wrong on Our Trip to Japan

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We’ve been pretty lucky with our travel, which I think made us a bit cocky. When we lived in the UK, I remember thinking about how we always had good weather while taking our weekend trips to different European destinations.

Our luck has run out, it seems. The trip to Japan was full of various misfortunes. I’d like to think that these adventures made the trip more memorable (we definitely have stories to tell our friends and relatives), but I hope that we’ve suffered enough setbacks to buy us some luck in the next couple of vacations. The world has to maintain balance.

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Autumn Trip to Japan (Tokyo, Kanazawa, Kyoto): 2 Weeks Itinerary

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When people ask us how we liked our vacation in Japan, we say, “it was interesting”. We also use words and phrases like “educational”, “culture shock”, “takes getting used to”. Tanya and I debated how we would describe our experience to others for the entire 2 weeks. We finally agreed that it was one of the most unusual trips and a true adventure.

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How to Spend 4 Days in Kyoto in November (Foilage, Kurama, Uji)

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Kyoto is famous for its temples (over 1000) and shrines (more than 400). Clearly, there is no way to visit all of them, but here is the good news: you can always find a temple or a shrine off the beaten path and enjoy it all by yourself.

Of course, when you come to Kyoto in November during the peak of the fall foliage season, this task becomes much harder. This was our experience, and we lived to tell you all about it.

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10 Best Places to Visit in Europe

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We love Europe. Maybe because we grew up there (Russia). Maybe because we lived in the UK for 2 years and used that time to explore nearby countries on the short weekend trips. Maybe because we swear by Rick Steves’ travel guides, which taught us so much about traveling.

There are many “best destinations in Europe” lists online, and every one of them is different. The “best” depends on what you are looking for, what gets you excited, what makes you go “wow”. For us, it is finding places where history, nature and good food don’t come with crowds and super-high credit card bills. The rankings below are based on our own experiences, so your mileage, as they say, may vary. If you have similar tastes, however then read on.

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The Best First Time Greece Itinerary (Athens, Santorini, Naxos): 10 Days

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Greece was on our bucket list for a long time, but we kept pushing it to the bottom for some reason. There were always other exciting destinations on our bucket list.  One day, after re-watching the teen flick “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and seeing Lena riding a donkey in Santorini, we decided it was time to go.

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The Taste of Maine (Portland, Bar Harbor, Acadia National Park): 4 Days Itinerary

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Hello, my name is Michelle, and I am a guest writer on this blog. My parents asked me to write about our 4 Day Acadia National Park Itinerary because Mike (my husband) and I recently went on this trip for our 3rd wedding anniversary. I hope I do a good job with this post so they will ask me back again. He-he.

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How to Spend 3 Days in Zurich and hike in The Alps without a car

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When my husband first brought up the idea of going to Zurich, I couldn’t get excited about it. We’ve been to Switzerland a couple of times already. On our first trip, we visited Lucerne, Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen Valley and spent most of our time in Murren, which is until this day was one of our most beloved destinations. We later took our kids there again; it was probably the only time we ever came back twice to the same place.

Everything I read about Zurich paled in comparison to Switzerland we had remembered from these trips. Yes, it was on the lake and surrounded by mountains, but nobody online was writing anything exciting about the city other than it was expensive and full of rich bankers. I never expected to fall in love with it over a short weekend visit.

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