The Sights Jioufen is hardly an off the beaten path destination while touring Taiwan, but with its proximity to Taipei, ample hiking opportunities, its promise of old world charm and the coincidental placement of it during a significant Taiwanese event made it an obvious choice for us. The seductively ramshackled village dotted with crimson lanterns, meandering alleyways and loads of sights…
First we wrote this: "We made it through after three winters in 2023! Yes, today we bid farewell to several layers of winter clothes because, as we head toward the Tropic of Cancer, we don’t plan on seeing winter for a very, very, very long time. To fly four hours southwest across the East China Sea, we used a Jetstar flight…
Cold Monkeys We’ll never forget the day when we first saw a photo of fuzzy little rosy-faced monkeys without tails basking in a pool of piping water. It was years ago in some travel magazine, or book, and quickly gained a well-deserved spot on both of our “60 by 60 Lists.” The Japanese macaque is known as the world's northernmost…
Arriving to Tokyo & the Battle of Jet Lag In mid-February 2024, the day came for us to leap the pond...again. But, this time we were westward bound just in time to leave US election coverage behind for a year. Shucks. You may not recognize the badasses we were wearing sunglasses inside because we were testing out an app called…
Night Six: Staying in a Ryokan An absolute must on any Japanese itinerary should be staying in a ryokan, which is exactly what we did after returning from Snow Monkey Land. And although we had stayed in one the night before in Yamanouchi, we were also excited to know they offered such options in Tokyo as we found at Ryokan…
It’s a wrap! Although we’re not usually big city people, we truly believe Tokyo…the biggest metropolis on the planet of 37 million…should be on every traveler’s list. This fascinating, futuristic and other world is a thrill for the senses and the mind in every way possible, with an abundance of new and edgy experiences you cannot get anywhere else. And,…
After 4+ years of nomadic life and a whole lot of experience, we finally feel like we’re figuring out our ideal pacing. The first two years (because we thought we only HAD two years) we whipped through 36 countries at practically breakneck speed. And since COVID, it’s often been…too fast…too slow…too fast…too slow… But now, we think we’ve cracked the…
From Finike, we again tossed ourselves in the squishy back of our friends’ Jimmy Jeep to be whisked away to a part of Türkiye we definitely wouldn’t have seen otherwise... Side, one hour east of Antalya, and a terrific blend of Las Turkus with themed all-inclusive hotels, miles of sandy beaches, a polished Ottoman old town, some genuinely authentic ruins…
